I decided to fish by myself on Wednesday, December 14th and went to Kerr Lake with a cooler full of fresh white perch, on the hunt for some blue catfish. I got to the ramp around 8:30, set-up my kayak, and started scanning the channel with my fish finder. After 5-10 minutes of looking around and not seeing much, I decided to set out all of the gear and zig-zag across the creek, just to see if I’d have any luck.
I’ve had an Old Town Autopilot 136 kayak for a little over a year and really love it. It has a built in trolling motor that allows me to fish hands free most of the time Recently, I learned that the remote can be programmed for precision course and speed control, so I started playing around with slow trolling for catfish. I bought a pair of planer boards after fishing with Zakk Royce a few years back. (He’s an excellent catfish guide on Lake Gaston, who has broken the NC blue catfish record twice!)
I deployed the planers on either side of the kayak, then put two additional rods directly behind the kayak at different lengths. As long as I don’t make any sharp turns or a fish doesn’t take off sideways, the set-up works pretty well.
In the first hour, I managed two fish that were 11 and 14 lbs. The bite remained fairly steady and over the course of the day, I estimate I caught at least 20 fish, including 3 doubles. My biggest fish came towards the mouth of the creek. While I was motoring in one direction, the kayak started rotating in another. I looked over my shoulder and saw that the planer had completely disappeared, indicating that it was either snagged or a fish had grabbed the large perch head it was dragging. A few violent pulls on the rod indicated it was no snag and I struggled to turn the kayak around while reeling in the planer with the large fish attached.
I eventually got back on track and removed the planer from the line. I installed a Garmin Livescope fish finder on the kayak last fall, so I rotated the transducer around to see the fish. I could tell it was larger based on the squirming image on the screen. I brought it up slowly, giving it time to release some bubbles and decompress, and it emerged like a small whiskered submarine next to the kayak.
Whenever I’ve caught a large fish from my kayak, there’s a sense of both exhilaration and dread when it comes time to land the fish. Will it stay hooked? Can I use the fish grips or will I need to put on the gloves and grab it with my hands? Is it going to be cooperative or will it thrash around the kayak?
I used a combination of fish grips and old fashioned noodling to get the beast into the kayak. After getting the hook out, I attempted to measure it on my musky bump board. However, the fish was too fat and I struggled to get an accurate length (it was at least 41-42”, the best I could tell). So I did the next best thing and attempted to weigh it while standing in the kayak.
I don’t know if you’ve ever tried to weigh a wiggling fish that weighs as much as 7-year-old child, but it’s not easy, even on steady ground. In a kayak, it’s downright idiotic, and after finally getting an accurate weight (52 lbs) after several attempts, I realized that I shouldn’t be weighing fish that large again while standing in a kayak in the middle of a lake in December.
Of course, I left all of my new GoPros at home and was desperate to get a decent picture of this beautiful beast. The only person I could see around me was a bass fisherman that was about a half mile away. I carefully lowered the fish back into the water and held onto it with the fish grips while I headed at top speed towards the bass fisherman. Although I normally make almost 4 mph, I was only going a little over 2 mph with the heavy fish and my other planer board dragging behind (I found out later than I had another 10 lb catfish on the other planer board, which I had dragged behind me the entire way).
Eventually, I made it to the bass fisherman and sheepishly asked if he could take a picture of my catfish. “Sure”, he said. As I edged closer to him to hand him my phone, his eyes got big. “Oh dang,” he exclaimed, “I thought you had a 10-15 lb fish”.
“Nope”, I said proudly. “Just this one”.
After a few pictures, I slipped the fish back into the water and rocked her back and forth until she was ready to go. I watched her slip off into the deep and breathed a sigh of relief. I thanked the bass fisherman for his help, then started motoring back to the middle of the creek, texting all of my fishing buddies on the way. Like a proud new dad, I pictures to share with all of my friends…
–Chris DiGiovanna: Chris is an avid kayak fisherman and fishes all over North Carolina. His catches are logged on the Fishbrain app @trader_chris and can be reached at chris@traderchris.biz
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