Anyone jugging Livingston on Saturday???

[Gator gar]

I'm thinking of heading out and setting some deep water anchored jugs and might free float some up around White Rock creek with about 4 foot drops. Most of what I am reading, indicates that they are biting in the shallows and on the upper portion of hooks out in deep water.

[Gator gar]

Well, I didn't fish as much as I wanted to this week-end, but me and little Boo Boo did get out for about four hours and caught a bunch, but managed to keep about a dozen out of that bunch. I think I caught a couple more after the picture was taken. All in all, it was a great afternoon.

[RAYSOR]

Great pictures makes me want to go

[spitfire]

Do you guys do any noodling?

[Gator gar]

If you mean jugging, when you say noodling, then yes, that is all I do. The only reason there is a fishing pole in the boat, is because she likes to cast. If she is not with me, then rarely is there a rod and reel in my boat. I am strictly a jugliner. Unless of course ,when I am gar fishing, then I have rod and reel in hand.

[dbullard]

Gator gar did you get them on anchored or free floaters?They were hitting shad under a cork in less than two feet.I was in the pontoon or I would thrown some out.The kept me busy with rod and reel the first couple of hours.

[Gator gar]

Believe it or not, I didn't catch hardly squat on my free floaters. I had 16 free floating with about 3 foot drops. So I pulled them up and set 20 anchored and started catching fish.

I was fishing in about 8-10 feet of water max. I have five stages on my anchored jugs and only two were in the water, the rest was rolled up on my jug. I'm used to jugging in 35 feet plus of water. But hey, I'll adapt to whatever enviroment I'm in.

The water was nice and muddy. The wind was blowing in one direction and the free floaters were going in the opposite direction. I guess there was some river action heading opposite the wind.

Anchoring those jugs in shallow water seemed to be the ticket.

[dbullard]

That's catfishing adapt to what they want.I noticed the water was a liitle muddy.I found a spot where the muddy water stopped and clearer started along the river channel but that around lunch time . Shad was popping everywhere but nothing bitting.

[shadslinger]

You guys fish a up the lake from me a ways, the water at the South end is still pretty green, but the cats I caught this morning were also hitting on a shorter leader under the cork. dbullard the shad were also popping all around the state park jetty but the white bass had slowed down as well as the cats. I did notice a lot of egrets in places where they have not been lately untill way up in the morning, I moved around looking for the "instant" bite when the cork hits but never found it. So I went back to the jettys and scratched out a few. I may recover enough to go back in the evening.
GatorGar, it looks like you have a pretty nice channel cat in there with those blues.

[Gator gar]

Yes, I had a big fat channel cat in there. I'm not real accustomed to seeing them. All of these fish were fat and healthy and not one of them had eggs in them. That channel looked as if was cross bred with a flathead. He had a big round body.

My wife is in the kitchen getting them ready for me to fry tonight.

[seawings]

Fishing off our dock has been sporatic this week...didn't have time to take the boat out (landscaping our new place) anyway...monring action (0700 to 0900) has been fairly good with shad. Shad are up against the bulkhead and Lady Wings (the avid fisherperson in this house) has been fishing both bottom and with corks...both sucessful at different times. Later in the day the shad disappear and so do the catfish, until after four. A good sign is when the egrets start working the docks.

We do have a question...we're new to Lake Livingston and catfishing...we've been keeping the small to medium ones and have thrown back a few large (what is large?) four to six pounders (females, heavy with roe) ones. The question is...is the eating quality of the large ones as good as the mediums?

We are sure enjoying the eating as both of us love catfish! A platter of them with coleslaw and hushpuppies....hummmm good.

[dbullard]

The channel I caught was full of eggs.I caught in about 1ft .I think I had 2 blues with small eggs but they were stuffed with shad.May just might blow wide open in the shallow water.

[shadslinger]

Seawings those that you have in the picture are about as good as eating as it comes in freshwater. I release those over 10lbs for sure as they are usually pretty strong tasting. From 6lbs up they get a little stronger untill you say to yourself, "think I'll eat those smaller ones".
Those big females over 10lbs are awesome spawners producing an unbelievable amount of eggs so I like to release them so they can resupply us with tasty blues.
GatorGar, the cats I caught this morning were ripe with bulging eggs and very fat too.

[dbullard]

seawings those 4-6 pouners are godd eating.If you keep the belly meat clean all the gray off it and also when I filet them I cut the blood vein out.

[Gator gar]

I clean all fat and blood that I can by hand and then I soak in a sea salt water solution to further draw the blood out. I clean my fish the old fashion way and if I can't get my left hand around it's head while skinning it, then I throw it back. I used to keep them all, but now have become kind of a conservationist.So the big ones go back to spawn.

[RAYSOR]

Is a Seawing just lihe a freshwater hardhead?

[dbullard]

It has been awhile since I caught any over 10 lbs to release.I do have one tip for you that my dad taught me years ago.Before I put a fish in the ice chest or on a stringer I always take my neddle nose and break the tips of the fins off.They don't get stuck in the side of other fish and you don't get finned dealing with a sink full of fish.

[seawings]

t a little stronger untill you say to yourself, "think I'll eat those smaller ones". Those big females over 10lbs are awesome spawners producing an unbelievable amount of eggs so I like to release them so they can resupply us with tasty blues.We did process one and found why she was so fat…so the next one like that we returned.

seawings those 4-6 pouners are godd eating.If you keep the belly meat clean all the gray off it and also when I filet them I cut the blood vein out.Yep…we are learning about the red vein, however, not sure what the “clean the gray off” means?

I clean all fat and blood that I can by hand and then I soak in a sea salt water solution to further draw the blood out. I clean my fish the old fashion way and if I can't get my left hand around it's head while skinning it, then I throw it back. So the big ones go back to spawn.I'll try the sea salt…wasn’t aware of that one. On processing, we’ve tried the electric knife filet method and the skin method…certainly the skinning produces more meat. As I said we’re novices at this and still learning. I agree on the keep what you can eat theory.

Is a Seawing just lihe a freshwater hardhead?Seawings is a blending of my flying career and love of water.

It has been awhile since I caught any over 10 lbs to release.I do have one tip for you that my dad taught me years ago.Before I put a fish in the ice chest or on a stringer I always take my neddle nose and break the tips of the fins off.They don't get stuck in the side of other fish and you don't get finned dealing with a sink full of fish.We are putting our catch on a stringer until processing…they seem to stay fresh and frisky, so I am guessing it does not hurt them.

Thanks all for your patience and guidance.

[Gator gar]

Here is yesterday's catch..........

[seawings]

Here is yesterday's catch..........Oh yea...now that's what I'm talking about!

[Gator gar]

When you split open a catfish, look at the inside of the wall of it's belly and you will see the gray he was talking about. That big slab of belly meat is pretty, but it is also full of fat. I don't eat it and I don't serve it. I chunk it in the bucket with the head and skin and guts. I'm not into that stong fishy taste. Although it might serve it's purpose in a Courtboullion (Coo-bee-yon) after it has been in a salted brine.

[seawings]

When you split open a catfish, look at the inside of the wall of it's belly and you will see the gray he was talking about. That big slab of belly meat is pretty, but it is also full of fat. I don't eat it and I don't serve it. I chunk it in the bucket with the head and skin and guts. I'm not into that stong fishy taste. Although it might serve it's purpose in a Courtboullion (Coo-bee-yon) after it has been in a salted brine. Ok...I know where that is. We've been throwing the "remains" back in the water...is that legal, ethical...any other suggestions?

[Gator gar]

According to the law, I think you are supposed to dispose of the remains by burying or any other method with the distinct exeption of throwing the remains back in the water.

I had a cousin that made a complaint at a local marina about an alligator coming up by the fish cleaning table. The warden asked was they throwing the heads and stuff back in the water.(feeding or baiting the gator). He was on the phone with the warden and told her yes and she said it was against the law to do so. That is why the gator was there.

So, even though it is still done. I think it is still illegal.

[dbullard]

seawings cutting the tips off don't hurt them.I don't know if it is legal or not to throw the remains in the lake.We don't because we don't want to many turtles hanging around the pier.I am not very good with the filet knife either so I skin them out and then filet them.

Gator Gar you going to eat all that? LOOKS GOOD!!!!!

[Gator gar]

I ate what I could, along with my wife and daughter. There is still enough for me to have a good lunch with the leftovers tomorrow. When I have a fish fry, that is what I fry, FISH!!! You don't have to worry about any fries, colesaw or hushpuppies cluttering up your stomach space. It's all you can eat fish, all of the time. Just like I like it. If there is ever a side dish, it will be shrimp or crab.

[seawings]

I did a little reseach and found that fish remains make excellent fertilizer....either through a complicated process of fish emulsions or just burying them under your roses. Well since Lady Wings has a nice garden going and a big rose bed we may try some of these processes and see what happens.

[capn]

The 4-6 pounders will eat fine, but the 2 pounders will eat better. If you already have enough, I'd keep letting them go. When I'm on a good catfish bite, anything over 5 or 6 pounds goes back. I do not like the taste of big catfish, and I have plenty to be picky! If I have others in the boat that really want the meat, they're welcome to keep whatever they want. I strongly recommend releasing anything over 10 though, they just aren't very good to eat.

Except for opps, they are different.

[bueyescowboy]

Hey the ole cowboy has been hitting the bulkheads some. Lets see Saturday morning I went into a cove and caught about 8 nice cats. I threw 2 back because they looked like they were full of eggs but the other 4 were keepers. Then Sunday morning as I was headed out of Penwaugh a friend said the shad where by the bulkhead to the left of the slough, so I head over there and caught about 6. I need to mention I was running late both mornings....sleepy head didn't want to get up at the break of day. And I might start going deeper...I did notice when I cast and let the shad sit on bottom I got some good bites...anyway still some nice mornings for fishing.
and I generally filet the cats. My best advice use a sharp knife.

[bonefish]

I fished this last weekend (4/26 - 27) and did great on jugs. I started out in about 20' deep with hooks as shallow as 8'. when the wind kicked up I moved in closer and did just as good. Ran 5 jugs (with 3 hooks each) 4 times and filled up 2 - 1 gallon zip lock bags with filets. We were fishing just south of the 190 bridge on the north side of the lake. I know everyone is preaching shad but give beef hearts a try. You may never go back to shad.
Good Luck,
Robbie

[Whitebassfisher]

Do you guys do any noodling?

That's illegal in Texas. The reason noodles are mentioned sometimes is that swim noodles are used on PVC pipe for the jugs that tip up when you get a fish.

[tufffish]

we fished whiterock creek last week and did fair. the wind would be ok for a while and then change directions and blow hard for a while. the sand bass were ok for 2 days and then left. one day the blues would be in deep water and the next day in shallow.

[bonefish]

Talking about cleaning catfish. When I first started catching a bunch I was skinning them and cutting off the filets but I didn't like the white membrane that was left under the skin. It seemed to give the fish a fishy taste so I started using an electric filet knife and now I have great, solid white fish filets with no menbrane. Just a thought.

[shadslinger]

Whitebassfisher i call them "flags" so nobody thinks that I'm reaching under ledges and grabbing them by hand. That is just like the ones i use, they are a lot of fun and catch catfish like crazy. Bonefish I always use an eletric knife and it works great, but can you catch beefhearts in a cast net? JJ. The guy who first told me about flags swears by beef hearts, I'm just to cheap to try them when shad are there for the netting. Speaking of which, it looks like the shad spawn is about over, maybe last a a little while longer but this morning they had moved out deeper and I didn't see any eggs in the ones I baited with. The blues should be staging up to spawn now.