The Hunt For The 100# Catfish Day 1 Canyon Lake Dam

Day 1 of my hunt for the 100# catfish, since i have to wait a few more months to catch alligator gar again i have set out to catch a catfish near 100 pounds from the kayak and get a new personal best flathead or blue catfish. I don't Know a whole lot about huge catfish but im going to hit a few different body's of water that are rumored to have huge catfish and fish for them with with heavy gear and as much bait as i can find. I fished Canyon lake dam on day 1 for about 8 hours while chumming common carp. i fished heavy gear with a single 7/0 gamagastu J hooks on 80 pound mono leaders with 100# braid mainline with chunks of carp and a few live perch as bait in about 80 feet of water. I didnt manage to land one but i did see what looked to be a 4 foot flathead under the yak while i was chumming but didnt have a live bait for him. i think im either going to head to a lake further north or maybe the same waters but just closer to the rock cliff where my chum will be trapped more in one area.

any help is appreciated gonna spend a few weeks trying to land a huge catfish within 2-3 hours of atx. going today to hunt down some gizzard shad with my heavy 7 foot net. and also might go a little lighter on leaders

8 to 10 ought double action team catfish circle hook. Preferably a 10 ought for a 100lber.

Guadalupe River between Lake Wood and Gonzales.

under the dam of lake wood or further downriver?

This! But I don't think they have a 10/0 double action. Gotta switch to a supper circle when you go bigger than 8/0.

Closer to Gonzales. Where the San Marcos joins the Guadalupe. Access is either Lake Wood or the paddling trail take out at Gonzales Dam and paddling upstream.

thank you guys for the help, what about about leaders? should i go to 50# mono? or no leader and just tie to 100# braid?

Id go with the 50# leader, just to relieve some tension when you hook into the beast!😎

Personally I don't like my hook attached directly to braid. Go with a mono leader at least #50 for abrasion resistance against the roughness of a big fishes mouth. I use #80 mono for leaders with braid mainline. Be sure to snell that hook as well!

Right. I have just been sucking up all the 9's and 10's I can get at my local Academy. Didn't even really notice they were'nt double action. Lol!

I like em.

I have also changed to using ballons on my liters instead of corks because I had a cork smashed which caused a monster to spit my bait. Wish I would have made the change when Planojames told us about it.

You might try for a 30# first.
http://tpwd.texas.gov/fishboat/fish/action/waterecords.php?WB_code=0143

The all tackle isn't much better:
http://tpwd.texas.gov/fishboat/fish/action/alltackle.php?WB_code=0143

http://www.cabelas.com/product/Mustad-D-...1006&rid=20

and the whole carp (2-5 lbs) for bait could possibly yield a monster if you use http://www.tackledirect.com/bg312515.html

big ol 80 pound Flathead on that list haha that will work for me

I have threatened to do this for years! Keep us updated.

Are you using a chum bag or just throwing chunks of fish in the water?

On the 80# leader it is handy to use crimps like you would shark fishing. Instead of a knot. Texoma man, Texoma. I've seen fish close to 100lbs noodled in certain areas around here (Weatherford, tx), but catching them would be a diff story.

How does this balloon rig work for you ?

Ok there are two ways this question could be interpreted so I will answer both ok.

1.). The balloon in this case which use to be a cork will suspend the bait a foot or two off of the bottom keeping it out of the silt and right in the fishes line of smacktalk when cruising the bottom.

2.). As for using balloons instead of corks, the balloons are more work but better to have on the line than a 2 to 3 inch styrofoam cork. If a big fish inhales the bait far enough to get to a cork you will most likely be screwed when he bites down which is what happened to me and the smashed 3 inch orange styrofoam cork that was formed into the shape of an opened up C told me the sad story.... Now, I will say this... There are days that Monster fish lose there brains and can be fooled and caught very easily, but there are also days they are very smart and can cause a disrespecting individual to fail over and over again like it was nothing. Timing and respect is everything...

I see someone has been watching Steve Douglas/Larry Muse youtube videos.

Rolling on the Floor Laughing!!!!! Jerry, I watched the Steve Douglas video about it but only because PlanoJames posted about it, and I have never seen or heard of Larry Muse. I wish that guy that won the tournament in Steve Douglas's vid that told us about the balloons would have told us that he had lost big fish because of the corks, but I understand why he didn't. He only said " so if a big fish bites down on it he won't feel it ". He didn't say " because I had a 3 inch orange styrofoam cork crushed ". Also, you would not believe how hard it is to crush a 3 inch styrofoam cork into a C shape. My good buddy MjMetro estimated about 80lbs of bite force. I have now felt there " pain " bro, which is why I have made the switch and honestly I would still be using the corks if I had not encountered the exact problem that I encountered and the very telling way it all went down . I feel blessed in a way, but the truth is there is nothin worse than putting all that effort into chasing that one fish and knowing that for a moment you had em fooled but for not long enough...

Oh... and I forgot to say this... " OPTIMUS PRIME... OUT "!!!!!

Thanks for sharing with us Rick! I saw the video with the balloon float in place of the styrofoam cork right after the video came out. The balloon float theory made sense to me but honestly iv been to lazy to give it a try. After hearing your story im going to switch things up a little.

Balloon floats are handy when fishing behind the dam at PK for Stripers. Never really tried them for Catfish.

I had a big bite while drifting with a cork.. When i reeled in the rig to check the bait I noticed the line had actually sliced through the cork.. The line was was covered in slime but it ruined the cork and could be why the hook didn't set. Hard to say... But the cork def didn't hold up, a balloon might be a good replacement.

Jermy wade don't use no corks... I'm catch a 100 pounder. I just ordered aglow Berkeley pole on eBay supposed to be lucky. Serious business I'm going to tell you what you need to do you need to go to Africa and find one of those witch doctors and get them to do a spell on you and your fishing pole in your gear and everything and show them a picture of a catfish like you want to catch and they're going to do some black witch magic and you're going to get lucky and you're going to catch that damn fish.

Just wait till you got the big big bait on there and something finally actually takes it and it breaks the line like nothing. your not going to feel great about that. I caught alive 8 foot alligator on rod and reel but at the same time I've had a big big big bait on there and some fish took it and just broke the line like nothing.

lmao im dying

im using my gar gear, i have 3 heavy spinning reels with 100 pound braid and baitrunners, the same gear has caught me amberjack and grouper up to 100 pounds i think i should be okay for big catfish as long as i can keep them out of the snags which from a kayak is easier said than done.

Research lake and river records to see where big fish are caught fairly consistently. I don't like using carp, I prefer large shad, cut for blues, and live for flatheads, simply because they are more prevalent as their nature food source. Go to circle hooks and offset them, remember not to try to set them. Always snelled, ending with the main line out the point side. If you are drifting with your lines out a ways the the balloon will help. From a kayak you can drop straight down then roll up a few rounds to get it off the bottom. The Steve Douglas videos on YouTube will give you a crash course in cat fishing basics. Granted, all predator fish all follow some simple patterns, but each also has their own particularities. Steve covers a lot of those things.

I started cat fishing heavily about a year and a half ago because someone told me I couldn't catch a 20 pounder from the bank within 30 days. I had a 22 in a week. At that point I became a reformed bass fisherman. lol Once I felt the monster on the line I was hooked. I then set my sights for a 30 but I caught one between 65-70. So I guess I'm after one over 75 now. This is all from the bank, and now I have to find a boat to really pursue the monsters. I do consistently catch fish over 25 now, but I want a beast!!