It seems like the movie perfect storm but for cat fish. I'm afraid I'll let the sit to long because of the weather and loose them. What to do, what to do?

I usually set mine out 4 - 6 and run them. I have never left them out overnight.

That�s why I�m starting to run trotlines...if I am not out there watching my jugs I prefer to set a trotline....it doesn�t run away

Depending upon weather & other items, I may run them during the night or wait until the next morning. I recall one July 4th trip on Limestone that lightning, winds & rain would hit in the afternoon as we would bait out. So we would have to hotfoot it off the lake to be safe, then go out about Midnight when the weather was clear. Several nice Blues were out there awaiting us for a ride home to the freezer. One of that trip's days, while we were trying to get back out of the summer storms, in the shallows, we had to stop & snip the sails. Meaning I had to snip the plastic ties & get the tarp down off the roof frame fast (oof the 14 foot MonaArk wide flat bottom), as the winds were blowing in big time before we got back to Running Branch Marina. We had the roof on, because of the very hot sun during the day.

I also weight my jugs, with a tumbler platic/vinyl cup filled with concrete. I know the depths where I set my jugs at & make the lines according to that. The jugs may be a hair loose or sit snug in the water, but it helps to hold the jugs in the area you set them at. Exceptions are high winds, causing waves to lift the weights and carry them off aways. And of course larger Blues & Yellows tend to take off with them. One of that trip's nights, we chased a 36# Blue that kept taking the jug under again & again, until we finally managed to get it.

Blues will take the gallon jugs under, but can't hold them. So eventually the jug bursts out of the water, just before they take another dive. Blues will get tuckered out doing this.

An Op or YellowCat is different. If a big one hits your jug, usually they put it into granny gear & dive hard to get under a log or perhaps try to burrow into the mud like a suction cup. And they stay there, even as the hook may be tugging at their lips. Until they decide to resurface again. In one case, we had one jugline that we could not find, at the bottom corner of Lake Limestone, as to where the Running Branch fork comes in. I usually set 4 or 5 in a line just inside what I call the Near Corner (about 24 feet deep). And about 4 or 5 in line just outside the Near Corner (about 28 feet just out aways from the water pumping station there). Anyway, We looked in quite a few directions, but it was not to be found. You can't retrieve what is not there, so we left. Guess what? The next weekend we got back, my Uncle spotted a jug & noted it (this was near where we had the inside Near Corner jugs set out before). At first I thought he was talking about a stationary jug that someone had out from the bank & said that was always there. Then he pointed & said not that one, but that one there. Off a bit, one jug was moving across the top, so we swung over & sure enough, it was our missing jug. The line was a mess, but it had a very nice & feisty 40# Op (spotted YellowCat) on it. It soaked me down trying to get it into the dipnet & my Uncle got a good laugh. But as he put it into the 55 gallon fish tub, it soaked him down, so I got my laugh.

So, sometimes when one (jugline) goes missing, all you can do is search & search. Eventually, it should resurface. I have had jugs taken from the middle of the No Wake Zone all the way down to the fork and get hung up just to the side, as well as just past the Near Corner, and heading for the dam (that was a 3.5 pound Blue). And these were from checking them before Midnight & then the next morning. So fish can travel quite a bit, if nothing hinders them. But if you have one that disappears & you just can't find it. Somewhere below, a big Yellow is probably on it, under a log, and only when they decide to move out again, will the jug resurface. You just need patience & faith.

Yeah, that's why I designed a whole need jug so they can't take it under. Yup, trotlines are the only real solution, but man the number of guy around here who leave their trotlines out and while I'm drifting all my lined catch their trotline. Makes me mad! Same problem in a different way.

I only run 15 jugs now, and that's about 5 too many, lol. 10 or 15 jugs is all I want to run. I lost one jug, a fellow eventually found it and gave it back to me because he saw my YouTube video about how I hate losing jugs.