# SS report 2-3 Exclusive drone video report of big cat drifting



## shadslinger (Aug 21, 2005)

It was my pleasure to experience the coming together of some very 2cool ideas yesterday.
I posted some time back in the "Hobbies" forum requesting help with videoing the catching of a big blue cat from a drone.

Cat fishing when I posted it was at a peak and I hoped for a quick reply, but none came. Then this week Mike Willcox answered my post and after some quick communication we found a way to pull the project together yesterday.

The whole thing hinged on a 2nd boat to help with the videoing. 
And some help from an experienced cat fisherman like trapperjon.
Ducktracker answered the call for a little help with a 2nd boat and what a great time we had!
Johnny and his fine ride were essential to the day and I can't thank him enough. Trapperjon came out in my boat and helped Alex, "the client" catch his fish. It was good to work with him again.

Alex is Mike's father-in-law and did not speak English, other than a fine " Thank you!".
I understand they do not get to have fishing experiences like drifting for big blues in his home country.
It was great to put him on a good cat.

Besides the big boy, several nice box fish to 21 pounds were caught and kept, so they took home two gallons of trimmed fillets.

I'll let Mike's excellent production speak for itself. I know you will enjoy it.






See you on the water.

SS


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## Little Mac (Apr 29, 2015)

That's cool 


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## Whitebassfisher (May 4, 2007)

Loy, that is really just 2Cool!


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## Northern fisherman (Sep 16, 2014)

That really awesome can't wait to see some smokin white bass action (topwater) from that view I know it's gonna be good great work guys!!!


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## Flyingvranch (Mar 10, 2014)

Excellent video production! Nice fish too!
Well done guys!
Bud


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## dbullard1 (Jun 29, 2016)

cool video wtg .


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## texcajun (Feb 22, 2009)

Outstanding Loy! Very slick production.


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## Danny O (Apr 14, 2010)

Nice Loy!


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## Bankin' On It (Feb 14, 2013)

That was top shelf Loy!


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## Ducktracker (Aug 1, 2011)

What a cool video! Mike did a great job on the video. What a day, thanks for letting me be a part in it. That was some serious catfishing in tough conditions. 


Good fishing to all!


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## RAYSOR (Apr 26, 2007)

Very cool Mr Hollywood. Great video.


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## lx22f/c (Jun 19, 2009)

Excellent job , Great video. 


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## GaryI (Mar 18, 2015)

I agree with everyone else - excellent video, great production, and fantastic that you were able to catch a huge cat during filming. Really gives one the feeling of being there.


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## Catfish Kyle (Mar 7, 2016)

Great job Loy !


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## Bottom bouncer (Jul 26, 2010)

Very cool video !!


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## Chunknwind (Jul 28, 2015)

Two Thumbs Up.!!! Great job guy's.


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## Mattsfishin (Aug 23, 2009)

Cool video Loy.


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## PAP'S BOAT (Jul 7, 2016)

Awsome video Mr loy. Can't wait to see ya on the water soon. 

PAP'S BOAT


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## Rivercat1860 (Dec 10, 2014)

Thanks for sharing, great job on the video!

Red


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## Gofish2day (May 9, 2006)

Now that was a great vid!!!!!


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## shadslinger (Aug 21, 2005)

Ducktracker and trapperjon ( I'm working with Mike to change his name spelling on video to the correct *Jon Oates*) get a lot of credit.
Johnny's boat was a great platform for the drone, and he did a perfect job of keeping Mike's camera and drone in the action up close.

Jon's help is invaluable when fishing as always, it felt great to have our team back out hunting catfish!

Mike Willcox gets all of the credit for the outstanding quality and and the excellence of the video itself.
That is his wheelhouse, and I feel very lucky he answered the post I made on the Hobbies forum.
Never in my wildest dreams did I think someone of Mike's exceptional skills and creativity would respond.

And the big cat was a gift from the lake for Jon and I after putting in our dues at a less than great place to fish in a limited time frame. The wind kept us out of where we wanted to fish and we had to go with what was close by and protected.

He was a brute too, and shredded the 50# leader for two feet up from the hook. 
From fighting and trashing his head and rolling up the line and then popping it off of his pectoral fin trying to break it.
When in the boat and trapperjon showed us the tiny thread of skin hanging in the bottom of the hook's curve by which the fish was hooked I nearly fainted.
I can't believe we got him in the boat.
It was a day of things coming together around a plan, which is always a blast!


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## Momma's Worry (Aug 3, 2009)

*Cat Smack...*

way 2Cool ......


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## creeker (Feb 14, 2005)

Nicely done Loy & Co.


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## Bankin' On It (Feb 14, 2013)

All I know is now I gotta go get ma' hair did before I goes fishin' 


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## SetDaHook (Oct 21, 2010)

Very cool Loy. I hope you do one this summer of some WB schooling action. Might have to watch out for the birds with that drone sharing the same air space!!


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## housewolf (Nov 24, 2014)

Awesome video. Thanks for posting it


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## McSpoon (May 18, 2016)

Very cool video, thanks for the report!


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## Duckchasr (Apr 27, 2011)

Too Cool Video.


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## jas415 (May 25, 2009)

That wasnt 'good' Loy and company, it was OUTSTANDING!!! I suppose we will have to go through an 'agent' to speak with you from now on, Mr Hollywood! lol

Thanks again Loy! Excellent!


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## markbrumbaugh (Jul 13, 2010)

*Wow!*

Great video. i posted on FB!


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## whsalum (Mar 4, 2013)

Well done guys, well done indeed !!!


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## goodable (Feb 27, 2015)

Cool Video, thanks for sharing. What's the green thing hanging beside your boat in the water?


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## shadslinger (Aug 21, 2005)

The green thing is a sea anchor or drift sock to slow the boat down and keep it drifting straight 


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## Little Mac (Apr 29, 2015)

Loy when does the fishing die off for the trophy cats ?


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## shadslinger (Aug 21, 2005)

Anytime between now and the first week of March when it slows down for a bit.
I'm not sure what happens, if it's the water warming up so they leave where they winter. Or they start following shad into shallower water or up river. 
They do seem to be hard to catch for a little while between march and the last of April, but by the time the white bass are back in the lake they can be caught underneath the schools of white bass pretty often. 
When I first learned to drift it was considered a winter time method.
I like it so much I have tried it all year long and have been successful at any time but during a thermocline.
Over the years September through January has been the best time of year for numbers of big fish for me.


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## shadslinger (Aug 21, 2005)

A couple of more pictures.


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## Ducktracker (Aug 1, 2011)

I think I see Roberts(lx22f/c) boat down there!


Good fishing to all!


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## lx22f/c (Jun 19, 2009)

Ducktracker said:


> I think I see Roberts(lx22f/c) boat down there!
> 
> Good fishing to all!


And my camper!!!!
Awesome picture.

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## shadslinger (Aug 21, 2005)

It was sure a good time and I hope to get another chance soon to do another One with mike. The drone perspective is super cool.


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## Little Mac (Apr 29, 2015)

shadslinger said:


> Anytime between now and the first week of March when it slows down for a bit.
> I'm not sure what happens, if it's the water warming up so they leave where they winter. Or they start following shad into shallower water or up river.
> They do seem to be hard to catch for a little while between march and the last of April, but by the time the white bass are back in the lake they can be caught underneath the schools of white bass pretty often.
> When I first learned to drift it was considered a winter time method.
> ...


Thanks Loy. I guess I was under the impression that it was a winter time method. Will have to try it some year round if I can get away from the whites. Thanks again.

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## 4 Ever-Fish N (Jun 10, 2006)

I didn't really know what to expect but that was one dang cool video. Awesome job guys.


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## fishinganimal (Mar 30, 2006)

Very cool SS. When does your outdoors show start?


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## BSchulte (Apr 21, 2014)

Wow. That's a hawg. Job well done. And excellent video. Really liked the parting "spiral" shot.

Now a little anatomy of the day... was the pressure dropping/wind picking up when the bite was on? I'm more of a river cat fisherman but that's when I've noticed the best bite for BIG girls. Just curious if this lake drifting bite has the same weather pattern.


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## Emowillcox (May 5, 2016)

Shadslinger trying to give me way too much credit on making the video. We had a great time and I learned so much in a short amount of time about Lake Livingston and the fishing there. I can't wait to go again..... The real credit goes to Loy, Jon, and Johnny who helped to make the video happen. With out Loy putting us on the big catfish the video would not have been near as cool. 
I was lucky a little over a week ago my buddy Casey mentioned the post he had seen here on 2cool from Loy about looking for some drone footage of his fishing. I sent Loy a PM and we had a trip set up with in a few days. Weather this winter has been pretty mild except for a few cold fronts. Just our luck one blew through the night before we were going to make the video... dropping the temperature about 10-15 degrees from the day before. Fishing conditions were a bit windy and limited us to where we could go. Everyone was still game to do the project that morning. 
Loy and our crew set out early that Friday morning in search of some big blue cats... but we were working on plan B a different more protected location on the lake and not the main spot Loy wanted to go. Fishing started out slow with a few bites and the wind let up some so Loy decided to try to put plan A back in motion. Wow I had no idea how protected of an area we had been fishing in until we tried to go across the lake. I don't think we even made it half way when Loy decided it would be safer to go back to the protected side of the lake. Got back to where we started that morning ... now we were a little colder and still had slow action. Had about an hour left to fish and I was starting to think we would need to make plans to come back up for a second trip because it wasn't looking like we were going to catch any fish. 
I was in Johnny's boat with all my camera gear and drone about 50 yards away from Loy's boat when suddenly .. Johnny and I heard "Fish On" My fingers were cold and barely working, but I started quickly to fire up the chopper to get the aerial footage we were looking for. Everyone on both boats was very excited to finally have a fish on after a few hours of no luck. Matter of fact the guys on Loy's boat were so excited to get that fish in the boat that by the time I got the chopper warmed up... launched in the air and over to Loy's boat Jon had the fish in the net.
The good news we had finally drifted over an area that was willing to give up some fish. More bites and more fish. Loy had put us to the right spot and the fishing was on for the next hour... very cool to see how catching fish can make you warm again ;-) I think it was around the 2nd or 3rd fish that ended up being the "Big One"
Over all was a great trip..met some very cool people... learned a lot.. and Can't wait to go again with Loy and his crew. Running my own business and having new family with young kids has limited my time to get out and fish. So its a real pleasure and treat to get out on the water with guys like Loy, Jon, and Johnny. Would take me many trips to the lake to learn what they taught me in just a few short hours.
If you ever get a chance to go and fish with any of these guys ... go for it!
MIKE



shadslinger said:


> Ducktracker and trapperjon ( I'm working with Mike to change his name spelling on video to the correct *Jon Oates*) get a lot of credit.
> Johnny's boat was a great platform for the drone, and he did a perfect job of keeping Mike's camera and drone in the action up close.
> 
> Jon's help is invaluable when fishing as always, it felt great to have our team back out hunting catfish!
> ...


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## shadslinger (Aug 21, 2005)

BSchute86, the day was too windy to get to the spot I like to fish this time of year. I would say a stout 9mph out of the northeast.
The pressure was around 30.30 and steady, not good pressure conditions for fishing, but not the worst either.

In general the big ones bite on a wind gust peaks, I have found this over the years going back to see what conditions were like when we  caught a big one.
That day the wind would pick up then drop. but never getting much under 6mph.

This particular big one came a gust and I was contemplating moving back up closer to the bank to get a wind break and slow down when he hit.
We were going .6 to .7 when the big one hit.
The bite came on a minor feeding time feeding time, all of it. First we caught a nice box cat about 9 pounds and then a couple of more smaller ones. Then the big boy and a 21 pounder. All of the fish came in about a hour window.

I do wish we could have gotten the take down of the rod on video, it was frigging awesome when that pig slammed it. 
The first foot and a half of the rod was in the water and line peeling off of the reel making the clicker scream.
Man I love that!


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## Ducktracker (Aug 1, 2011)

Loy I realize that we have fished a few times together but never asked you what areas do you look for when targeting big blue cats? Depth, contours, river or creeks? I need to find some areas closer to home so on windy days I don't have to run as far.


Good fishing to all!


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## shadslinger (Aug 21, 2005)

Big blue cats are an open water predator fish and so can at times be found in the middle of a flat feeding away.
If I see them on my sonar doing that, especially under birds or a school of white/hybrid/striped bass I start drifting right there.
My best ever drifting trip was this year when I came across a large school of blue cats over 25# and up 53#.
I saw them on sonar and downscan as the boat drifted over and then was hooked up when the baits came through.
As I landed and unhooked three nice cats I noticed that birds were working the area, and a slick had appeared where I caught them.
So I went back and drifted it again and had all five of my rods go down in a matter of about 45 seconds.

This year I have worked on marking where I caught fish with a temporary "go to" on my unit and going right back if I don't catch a fish pretty soon to drift it again.

Blue cats are a school fish, but do not get close to one another like white bass or stripers, but scatter out a few yards from one another. In the winter big schools of big blue cats can be found. They tend to travel in smaller schools the rest of the year.

On days where I don't see them out in the flats I concentrate on creek channels that cut through flats, either pulling right down one or zig zagging back and forth across it.
The cats like to hang out along those submerged creeks. Even though most have silted in so little if any depth change is actually there, but they still make slight ledges in bends and blue cats do seem to like kind of structure. A slight ledge on the down wind side of a deep cove is often pay dirt.


After a few years of drifting you figure out where you can go in certain wind strengths and directions to catch fish.
And not hang up and loose gear.

It's easy to get a rut and fish the same payoff place over and over, so try new places as often as you can.
I almost always fish deep water 29' to 42". 
I do stay away from the river channel in most places, you loose gear there as the channel is the track all of those floating logs and those just under the surface travel as they drift southward.
I do have several spots that I can fish in the river and crossing back and forth over it.
I have only caught fish in the river channel a few times, one was this year when that was the only place I could find them and they would be gone the next day. Then be back in a few more days. I think this a transition time as the big cats moved toward their wintering ground and use the river channel as a highway.


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## Ducktracker (Aug 1, 2011)

Thanks


Good fishing to all!


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## smithdive13 (Jul 18, 2013)

not sure who did the video work but they did an outstanding job! What a cool idea I defiantly want to go on one of these trips!! Looks the customer was extremely satisfied.


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