Trotlining

Just wondering if anyone has been haveing any luck yet thes year ? If so Post some pics .

Haven't set any trot lines yet but ran some jug lines at tawakoni last month and did really well.

'bout another 2-3weeks.
Caught 2 mudcat shallow at city lake. While getting shad.
Little more temp. Them bait with Mudcats.

Right now in Wight Patman the cats are in flooded timber and are hungry they are starting their pre spawn gorge caught 11 today and all over 3 LBS. They had a gut full of everything you might think one had his belly full of brown bugs.

Love it thats what i want to hear , I just want ot get a early start this yr . Something about how i grew up makes me love running lines , i think everyone in my family asfar back as i can remember had their own way of doing it and listening to them all fuss about who's doing it right or wrong is memories i'll never forget .

Redmist220 what lake do you trotline on?

Limestone

Where abouts on Limestone?

before you get north of the bridge

My area is from Running Branch Marina heading down into the bottom of the lake. Main areas are about middle of the No Wake Zone coming out of RB Marina, the Near Corner (inside & outside where Running Branch fork enters the bottom of the lake), midway across the bottom, and the Far Corner (about where the opposite side heads up out of the bottom of the lake).

catfish how deep of water you running your lines in ?

Depends where at, water depth & when (time of season).

Basically, I like my trolines to where the main lines are at about 2' to 3' off bottom with 18" long leaders (to have the hooks ranging about a foot off bottom).

The main areas I fish, the water depths run as noted:
No Wake Zone (areas I fish)- 8' to 13'
Creek on left heading out from No Wake Zone- 16' to 20' (a few times we tried my "Planter" trotline style here)
Near Corner- 24' (Juglines here)
Far Corner- 28' (near water station buoys- mostly jugs now, but did run my "Planter" trotlines here 2002 thru 2006)
Middle of lake out from dam- 30 to 35' (my "Planter" trotlines)
Far Corner- 33' to 38' (my "Planter" trotlines)

My special design "Planter" trotlines (I can plant them anywhere on a lake, as they "Plant", needing nothing else to tie to such as a stump or tree) use my DW or Deep Water main line setup & can be used in depths of greater than 16'. They incorporate 60 to 72 pound main anchor weights (3.5 gallon buckets with concrete & galvanized loops), one on each end. They work great in 30' to 40'. However, best due to depths of hooks not to be set for just above bottom during Thermocline. Best when used from November thru May. In the No Wake Zone, my SW (Shallow Water) main line setup do not seem to encounter any thermocline problems even just off bottom. The SW lines are set up to keep the lines low & out of props within 1.5 to 2' of the stump tied to.

I have found that at the bottom of the lake, trying to get above mid-level (out of thermocline) is much harder to maintain. Several reasons include "black water" (due to all the water sport boats). One summer it actually looked black. Another is that if I set depth of main line at 10 feet, a huge or fairly big ski boat, can literally take off plunging the prop as low as the line & therefore safer to be at 15' to keep a prop from cutting it. But then at a depth of 30', you just entered the thermocline, or sit at its borderline making it touch & go. Catfish or bait will not last an hour. In 2 hours or less they will be dead & have slime.

I am basically a river rat, but needed to research lake fishing & my "Planter" design (from the early 1980s to which I shared with a local Game Warden as to legality). He thought it was really neat. So the second phase of my Catfish Calendar research, including my "Planter" DW trotlines, as well as SW trotlines, has been conducted at Lake Limestone since 2002 out of Running Branch Marina to which Darrell & Nancy (owners) have helped in many ways. For instance, one T-Day (Thanksgiving) trip, my motor had electrical problems, so Darrell shut down the store & took me out in his boat to run the lines once a day.

Thats pretty cool , we was actually thinking of the same idea as your Planter idea this yr .But we did real well last yr tying to stumps in the 10-15 ft range . So we are going to go with that again this yr .Like you i grew up on the Brazos river and always lines on it. But after getting married my f-i-l set lines on RC and the yellers he pulled out of there was awesome , But he ended up with real bad health problems and wanted to line out on Limestone , but we never got that chance .

OOPS!
Correcting two of the listings as to my reference names for areas ...
Near Corner (inside)- 24' (Juglines here)
Near Corner (outside)- 28' (near water station buoys- mostly jugs now, but did run my "Planter" trotlines here 2002 thru 2006)

I consider the "Near Corner" on the Running Branch fork side as it hits (enters into) the main bottom of the lake, as running across from the water station (has 3 buoys out from it) to the angle corner of the "flat" (the base of the penensula that lies at the top side of the bottom of the lake. Out of the center depth of the inside Near Corner at about full lake level, it is about 24' (it was 14' when the lake was 10' low back on my T-Day trip in 2011). The depth of 28' is mainly off outside of the 3 buoys by the water station at the outside Near Corner, but is also out towards center (speaking of the creekbed, well before finally hitting the hump which is farther into the main lake bottom).

They used to keep the lake level at 6" low to help prevent flooding. Due to the recent droughts, not sure if they adhere to that still. The older maps (I have a 1985) the depths are deeper. And when I started Phase 2 of the Catfish Calendar research, in 2002, in the past 10 years I have noticed the lake is filling in at the Far Corner. Possibly by as much as 2 feet. Originally mapped (1985 A.I.D.) as about 43', compared in 2002 it was about 38' to 40' (and on the 2001 A.I.D. map). But last few times I had the "Planter" out in the Far Corner before the drought, it ranged from 36' to 38'. They were mapping the lake depths again I think around 2008 or so. Not sure if they have out a new map yet.

The 1985 is an aerial map with contoured depth. The 2001 edition also has Fairfield on the back side & has GPS grid for Limestone with new contours. I have about 3 other less detailed maps as well.

Maps do help a lot. When we decided to go down the Trinity River from TX 21 bridge into Lake Livingston down to almost Rocky Creek, I had the A.I.D. aerial map plus the 2 large county maps on the western side of the Trinity River (you can get them from the Texas Highway Department). It was crucial as you can see the bends as you make each one & know exactly where you are at. Definitely as the River turned into lake (spread out) just before hitting the TX 19 Riverside bridge, it gets hard to define the actual river path. But maps are not perfect, & sometimes things change. And sometimes there are errors.

Going to try to get out there this weekend and set some lines , But with everyones work situation its hard to get everyone togeather and get it done . If we have any luck in the north end again this yr i 'll let you know .

Got out Saturday and set some lines , Went back sunday morning had 5 6-8 lb blues and 2 yellers . Yellers was 11# and the other was 16 and some change on my little bass scale . It's getten time fellers ! Going to go again this afternoon and run n bait them . Pretty much the way it goes untill first part of June . The lake is up and half the stumps i had marked on my gps was too deep to tie to , Lord plese let it stay this full this yr and yrs to come .

If you are tying to stumps in 15ft, are you weighing down in the middle to reach the bottom?

yes Sir , window weights with a 2 foot stage tied to the main line , so the line is not tottally on the botton and the bait should be about a foot off the bottom .