Catfish Trotline

[jasperg357]

Currently here in Santee Cooper Sc. Drift fishing and trot lining for catfish on Lake Moultrie. Thought I would try to upload a few photos of the fish plus the surrounding area.

[rustyknife]

Nice pic's....wish I knew how to do that....The catfish reminded me of a time when as a kid I would go fishing with my grandpa...those memories a great.  I've never used a trotline before, maybe you can show some diagrams on how it is set up and used. What kind of bait did you use?

[jasperg357]

I am currently using a 100 hook trotline which is around 400 ft. in length. I have the hooks set about 10 ft off the bottom, will see what I can do about getting a diagram uploaded. I prefer using herring cut bait, but I have also used raisons, grapes, shrimp and hotdogs but I seem to have better luck with herring. Nobody seems to be doing very well fishing don’t know if it’s the warmer weather we are having here are what, but I currently have about 70 pounds of catfish fillets in the freezer last year I brought home around 312 pounds of catfish fillets.

[rustyknife]

Sounds very similar to a system I have used in the ocean to catch bottom fish. We used squid for bait since it was more durable than herring. We called it a "tub trawl" . Had about 100 hooks tied to the bottom line about 18 ft apart, each baited with a slice of squid. We would throw a buoy out attached to an anchor line, then the anchor, which was usually a sack of rocks. When you threw the anchor over stand back!!! The hooks would start flying out of the galv tubs we had them in.  Sometimes we would have five or six tubs all lined up and tied to each other end to end. As the last tub emptied out it was tied to another anchor, buoy line and buoy. We would let this soak for a couple of hours then haul it back. Depending on the wind,waves and current, we would decide which end of the line to haul in first. Sometimes it worked well and sometimes not. That's why they call it "fishing" and not "catching".

[Tommy Jefferson]

You make me so horngry! 

[jasperg357]

Heading home tomorrow morning,so far I have ended up with about 100 pounds of catfish fillets plus about 20 pounds of smaller catfish that I didn't fillet.

[Tuxdad]

Had the pleasure of fishing on the Santee about 20 yrs ago.. Had fun, not counting the dadblamed gar..

How do you deal with them on the trotlines ??

[jasperg357]

Caught two Gar on the trotline this year they were the only two I have caught in the three years I have been putting out trotlines on Santee, last year I caught three soft shell turtles.

[4bull]

jasperg357 nice job on the fish , are they mostly channel? gars fine far to if eaten before its stone cold.
1 looked like a blue , i run limb lines for flats and cold water blues, then if the bait dies then any old channel will eat it.
i run trot lines down the banks for channel in the spring. 2 foot of water and 3 foot out.

shade heads for bait Ive caught 4 lb bass on the river. and a 2 lb croppie. you never know what you'll get.

[jasperg357]

Pretty much just catch blues on the trotline with some channel cats and flatheads every now and then, I have my best luck using herring as bait. Sometimes you will catch a gar,turtle are eel.

[4bull]

the late seson big blues are nasty with slime and get a pressurwashing and soap bath before i cut em up .
@ here theres some whites ,blues , flates ,channles, big bullheads, spots,
i think they taste better if i can wash them with soap before i clean them.

[jasperg357]

Santee probaly has some of the best tasting catfish I have ever eaten. They have a very mild fish taste.

[smith06]

looks like a helluva haul there!! 

You run your lines off the bank or by boat?

[jasperg357]

I run them off the boat about 1/4 to 1/2 mile from the bank, and I keep the line about 4 feet off the bottom.