Lake Champlain United - Forums

6/8/2016 fished this morning for catfish and bowfins and had a decent morning with variable winds and light after noticing the weather report said 15 mph northwest winds. set up one rod with worms for some pan fish and my cat rod with cut bait on it for catfish and bowfins. started fishing at 6:50 and 7 am had my ist run and landed a nice short fat catfish approx. 6 lbs. then i started getting into the white perch with my worm rod and some big ones. then another run at 7:30 am and i landed a 29 inch bowfin approx 9 to 10 lbs. then another run at 8:20 am and i landed another bowfin 27.5 inches. the pan fishing is now mixed with white perch gills seeds and yellow perch. then at 9:40 am another run and i land a 28.5 bowfin. ended up at 11 am with 4 runs 3 fins and 1 catfish and some good eating pan fish. i am a registrant in the lci lake champlain basin derby and got to weigh in 2 nice white perch.

Yup let'em run and then add some pressure and stand pulling them in. In the last 10 years of using circles I don't think I have gut hooked 5 fish. I never used them until I was stationed down south and started fishing saltwater, for whatever reason they were way ahead of us on the circle's and I quickly became a believer.

SEMPER_FIshing wrote:Yup let'em run and then add some pressure and stand pulling them in. In the last 10 years of using circles I don't think I have gut hooked 5 fish. I never used them until I was stationed down south and started fishing saltwater, for whatever reason they were way ahead of us on the circle's and I quickly became a believer.

they have been successful in the ocean i know for years i have read up on them. wonder why our guys are having gut hooked catfish. we have lost some points in the fathers day derby because of this. they have also lost big ones before the net. any peticuliar size works for you? i know jimbow uses the 7,s.

Big, the bigger the better, I will have to look but I want to say 6/0. For catfish my favorite bait is shrimp and I snake a circle inside a jumbo shrimp. Catfish have big mouths and aren't line or hook shy so no need to use small hooks.

Just checked I have 8/0 and 10/0. They are very big I have a pic here for comparison but can't remember how to post it from this damn iPhone.

SEMPER_FIshing wrote:Big, the bigger the better, I will have to look but I want to say 6/0. For catfish my favorite bait is shrimp and I snake a circle inside a jumbo shrimp. Catfish have big mouths and aren't line or hook shy so no need to use small hooks.

with the circle hook where are the catfish hooked the most. with the j hooks it under the lips and that really holds them tight. just wondering why my team keeps losing those big cats and fins with those circle hooks. jimbow uses a size 7/0. i think he said. for now im going to stick with the j hooks because i have had great success with them . i use a 1/0 j hook and use a #32 doubled snell eagle claw with two tied to the line and i hook one in the upper jaw and lower jaw of its mouth.

Corner of the mouth 99% of the time

Good info on this thread! Thanks fella's.

6/9/2016 strong winds kept me off the lake this morning around 5 pm the winds dies down so went over and jumped in the boat and set the anchors for some pan fishing and cat fishing. 5:30 pm started fishing and the white perch were on fire i was so busy i didnt notice my cat rod had a run until i heard the rod banging on the boat. grabbed the rod and fish on landed a 29 inch plus fin. put another seed on and threw it out and before it hit bottom another run and fish on another 29 plus fin. i said wow what a start. finally got back to pan fishing and landed 3 big mouth bass in succession the n my cat rod took off again and fish on . landed a nice 30 inch catfish. started catching some gills and yellow now and real nice ones. sorted them and kept some for the frying pan. then between 7 pm and 7:45 pm when i quit had 3 more runs and fish on landed 2 more fins and one 31 inch catfish. what a 2 hours and fifteen minutes it was. was trying to answer my texts and send pics but just to busy reeling in fish. i had 6 runs and landed all 6 fish what a blast. had to change hooks twice as the fins crippled them . wondering how i would have made out with 2 cat rods and didnt fish for pan fish. all fins and catfish were released.
here is a good size fin in the net.




30 inch catfish


screen capture tool

screenshot software

When I was tarpon fishing in the Keys this Spring, the guide only used circle hooks. He had to remind me almost every hook-up to not set the hook, very hard to do. He would yell "reel, reel, reel," every time. I had many break off's , but almost no hooks pulling out. I think another advantage to using circle hooks is not surprising a fish with a sudden, hard yank to set the hook. There was a few seconds where you could actually lead the fish your way. We had to quickly get these fish away from bridge abutments and piers and we had a small, momentary advantage that helped gain precious line before they were able to rub the leader on barnacles. Also all fish were easily unhooked in the dark and lived to give someone else the same thrills that I had.
Pretty good fishing Matt, we used to catch channel cats to 15lbs. in the Connecticut River, I lost more than one pole by not paying attention.

C-Hawk wrote:When I was tarpon fishing in the Keys this Spring, the guide only used circle hooks. He had to remind me almost every hook-up to not set the hook, very hard to do. He would yell "reel, reel, reel," every time. I had many break off's , but almost no hooks pulling out. I think another advantage to using circle hooks is not surprising a fish with a sudden, hard yank to set the hook. There was a few seconds where you could actually lead the fish your way. We had to quickly get these fish away from bridge abutments and piers and we had a small, momentary advantage that helped gain precious line before they were able to rub the leader on barnacles. Also all fish were easily unhooked in the dark and lived to give someone else the same thrills that I had.
Pretty good fishing Matt, we used to catch channel cats to 15lbs. in the Connecticut River, I lost more than one pole by not paying attention.

thanks for the info jeff. i am pretty much from the old school and whatever way i have success with i hate to change. i have read alot on the pros and cons of the circle hooks in the past 4 or 5 years.

6/10/ and 6/11/2106 i had 2 good days of mostly pan fishing since i found some schools in 2 feet of water. did set out 1 cat rod in the shallow water that produced 2 fins approx 7lbs each. but what a blast with the sunfish and white perch in that shallow water. i have had lots of questions lately of what size sunfish do i keep and whites and yellows to. i dont usually keep yellows under 8 inches unless their badly hooked and same with the whites . sunfish family i keep to eat 7 inches and up and dont usually keep any spawners with eggs in them. the sunnies have nice thick fillets on them 7 inches and up and are one of our favorite fish to eat. i use worms with a 1/4 ounce bell sinker on the bottom of the line and a single snell hook above it and just drop it straight down from the boat as sunnies like to school under the boat.
free upload pictures
here is a male blue gill
a male pumpkinseed these 2 sunnies are the size i prefer for keeping.

click image upload

Matt, if you want to clean pan fish we will get a 55 gallon drum loaded up and toss all the kids in the boat keep the reports comming

Good to see the reports still coming in Matt. I had some Lake fun before I fractured my foot a few weeks ago with bowfin, gar and panfish on flies. Now I'm stuck home watching videos and reading reports. Nice fish!

Matt wrote:Good to see the reports still coming in Matt. I had some Lake fun before I fractured my foot a few weeks ago with bowfin, gar and panfish on flies. Now I'm stuck home watching videos and reading reports. Nice fish!

Sorry to hear about your misfortune Matt. Wishing you a speedy recovery. We miss your fishing reports.