Anglers don’t have to put up their rods and reels during winter if they like hunting monster catfish.
During recent years, Lake Norman, a member of the Catawba River chain of lakes and Badin Lake, a member of the Yadkin River chain of lakes, have emerged as the state’s premier reservoirs for trophy blue catfish.
The two lakes have yielded state-record blues with Badin recently usurping the title from Norman with an 89-pound blue taken in 2006 by Mt. Pleasant’s Eric Fincher, a carpet technician, who landed the big fish while trolling for striped bass with live shiners.
Fincher’s fish toppled the previous state-record blue of 85 pounds taken from Norman in 2004 by Joel Lineberger of Long Island, who was fishing within view of his home.
Lineberger’s fish had eclipsed the old record blue catfish of 83 pounds taken from Badin Lake in 2003 by Concord’s Andy Richmond.
Turnabout is fair play, and Badin Lake reclaimed the title for the state-record blue with Fincher’s trophy fish.
While Norman’s smaller neighbor out west, 3,235-acre Mountain Island Lake, has also established itself as another hot spot for big blues, another Yadkin River lake, 5,260acre Lake Tillery, situated in Stanly and Montgomery counties, has emerged as a big blue catfish producer with limited fanfare.
Last winter, Robert Tomasek of White Wolf Guide Service decided to sample the fishing at Tillery for winter blues and show a visiting writer just how good it could be.
Tomasek’s job with the Charlotte Mecklenburg County Sheriff’s Department allows him to fish during morning hours before he has to leave for work in the afternoon.
For that reason, Tomasek, who’s been guiding for cats at Tillery for about four years, said we should meet at 3 a.m. at the Highway 24/27 landing at the Progress Energy lake.
During an earlier phone conversation he some of his best catches had taken place when he had to clear ice off the seats of his boat.
“The best time to catch blues at Tillery is from December through March,” he said. “That’s when the big ones hit.”
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