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| Fishing |
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| Jugging Up Cats On The Black Warrior River’s Holt Reservoir |
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| By Clay Richardson |
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Originally published in the July 2011 issue of AON
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After capturing his fleeing pool noodle, the author pulled a nice eating-sized catfish from the tailrace below Bankhead Dam, where fish congregate to feed on baitfish.
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Alabama is variously called “The Yellowhammer State,” “The Cotton State” and “The Heart of Dixie.” Many of us believe that we should add “The Catfish State” to that list. All of the states’ rivers and impoundments hold large populations of blue, channel and flathead catfish. Techniques good on one river are equally applicable elsewhere, and there’s no better fish in freshwater to fry to a golden brown.
I love to jug fish and frequently do so in conjunction with a crappie or bass fishing trip. It is particularly a good technique if you have children who get bored easily. Seeing a jug bounce violently a couple times then head down the river leaving a V-shaped swath in its wake is exciting to anyone — but particularly to a child. It is also an excellent way to provide the main course for a fish fry.
During the heat of summer, in reservoirs or riverine environments, catfish retreat to deeper holes to find cooler water. They hang out around any deep trash or structure they can find and will move up to shallow flats or points at night to feed. Usually, catfishermen will do the same thing, hole up in the air conditioning during the day and hit the water at nightfall to deploy jugs. However, jugging can be effective any time of day, as long as your bait is stinky enough to grab the attention of the whiskerfish.
This works especially well in riverine sections of reservoirs like Holt, where a steady current drifts the scent of the bait, as well as the bait itself, to any catfish that happen to be in the area. Cover enough water with your jugs, and you’re bound to put one on top of a hungry catfish.
PJ Sansing, of Woodstock, and I had just launched at Rocky Branch on the south end of Holt Reservoir. This 3,296-acre impoundment on the Black Warrior River just northeast of Tuscaloosa runs for 18 miles up to Bankhead Dam.
Our plan was to set out 25 jugs near the mouth of Deerlick Creek on the west bank and Eagle Cove on the east bank. We ended up changing the Eagle Cove set to one at Rocky Branch. Tornado damage had destroyed much of that area. Many boats were sunken or heavily damaged. Salvage and repair personnel were evident. They did not need us in the area.
The noodle jugs we had chosen all had lines ranging from 4 to 7 feet long; some had 1/2-oz. weights — not so much for depth control, but rather to slow them down on windy days. We stopped at Rocky Branch first, putting out four in the small cove at the mouth and then spreading another eight about 50 feet apart downstream toward the dam, which was still about a mile away.
Directly across the river is Deerlick Corps of Engineers campground. At its lower end is Deerlick Bayou, which is rich in an abundance of fish. Be wary when using the outboard to navigate this creek and all the other creeks on Holt. Most of the inside bends are very shallow, and numerous underwater trees are located very near the narrow channel. We went about 500 feet into the bayou and set 12 jugs from there back out to the creek mouth.
PJ and I have been fishing together for 20 years. From a fishing viewpoint, I would consider him a Jack of all trades... and a master of most. He grew up fishing the Tennessee River with his dad, a commercial catfisherman. He was a striper guide there for several years before moving to Bibb County. PJ also owned a charter boat in Panama City where, as a licensed skipper, he plied the Gulf waters for red snapper and other fish before returning to Bibb County. Holt is his home water. Most of us need a fishfinder to know what is underneath the boat, but on Holt he knows the location of shelves, drop-offs, sunken roads and underwater structure better than any person I know.
We finished setting the noodle jugs and got out our bass rods when the noodle nearest the boat bobbed violently then briefly disappeared from view. After a few seconds, it came to the surface and immediately headed for a brushpile along the shoreline about 30 yards away.
I put the 50-horsepower Mercury in gear and steered so as to get between the jug and the brushpile. As I got close, the half-submerged noodle sped up. When I reached for the line, it submerged again, coming up close to the brushpile. I grabbed my retriever pole — an 8-foot butt-end of a cane pole with a 10/0 hook laced to its end — leaned over and neatly hooked the line. After playing the fish, I hoisted a 3-lb. channel cat into the boat.
This fishing trip had come up on short notice, so I did not have time to obtain or prepare any catfish bait; we only had a short while to fish, so we decided to use “unseasoned” hot-dog wieners and — out of curiosity — to try a jar of Berkley’s artificial worms.
Surprisingly, we caught four cats on the worms and five on the wieners. We also caught and released several bass on plastic worms fished along the shoreline while we watched the jugs. Typically, when a catfish took the bait, you would see the noodle bounce a few times, then maybe go under briefly before heading downstream as the fish tried to pull free from the line. You need to wait a minute or so before trying to land the fish. This gives him time to pull the hook completely through his jaw. Every pull the fish makes drives the hook deeper. Remember, there is no initial hookset.
The following week, my wife Judy and I camped at Burchfield Branch at the northern end of Holt about a mile below Bankhead Dam. This area is also called Lock 17. Jug fishing in this area is always productive. Catfish — and bass and stripers — congregate in the tailrace to feed on shad that have been drawn over the dam or pulled through the turbines during power generation. We fished several hours beginning at 9 a.m. I was enjoying waking up with coffee on the riverbank too much to go fishing any earlier.
For this day, I had brought only chicken livers, so I made sure to cut each into three pieces and transfer it into a large flat roasting pan. This pan provides a place for the excess liquids on the bait to drip into; otherwise, they will leave a big, smelly, fly attracting mess in the bottom of the boat.
We pulled up close to the dam and began to put out jugs when I heard someone shouting and whistling. Looking up, it was a worker motioning us away from the dam. Heeding his urging, we moved down a couple hundred feet and then looked back. They were opening the floodgates above the dam. Within minutes there was a 2-foot wall of water cascading down the dam walls, creating whitecaps and a strong current in the immediate area.
The noodles we had just set quickly washed several hundred feet downstream and scattered all the way across the river’s width, creating a multitude of problems. The first was that the jugs had now left the best fishing area immediately below the tailrace and had scattered into areas I don’t like to fish. Some were in a marked off area called “lock discharge;” this is an area where 40 million gallons of water come boiling up when the lockmaster begins locking a boat or barge through the dam. Others washed down in front of the lock entrance where the front of any barges locking through will catch any noodles in their path and take them away.
The water was swift and choppy enough to require constant attention to keep the bow into the current, and the individual lines were getting too scattered for my liking. We opted to recover our 30-hook set and go elsewhere. We moved downriver about 200 yards and put them out along the east side of the river. This is a long straight on the river that is deep but has a shallow, grassy shoreline. Catfish hold in the deep area but have a short trip to the shallows where they feed. I often fish this area in the mornings if fishing immediately below the dam is not practical (water too swift, too many other jug anglers in the area, etc).
I have fished with many types of jugs but have settled on swimming-pool noodles cut into 12-inch pieces as the easiest design. Jugs made from drink, oil or bleach bottles invariably let the hook and line become tangled. They also take longer to bait, set and recover.
I set a crate of noodles next to me in the boat (boxed in a milk carton rack), put the motor in gear, place the bait in a large pan (so it won’t drip on the boat) then bait and drop the noodles in the water. About one every 30 seconds works well to separate them by 50 to 100 feet as you idle with the current. This morning, we were using chicken liver, one of the best catfish baits available.
Actually, we had planned to use a cast net to catch shad, but I inadvertently left it on the porch. Three problems with liver are: it will not stay on the hook much over an hour, and, like chewing gum, it apparently loses its attractant flavor rather quickly. Liver also comes off the hook easily in swift water.
A cold front moved through the previous evening, slowing the fishing action considerably. In the next three hours, however, we caught 11 fish up to 2 pounds. Had we been using shad, bream or crawfish for bait, the average size would typically have been bigger.
It is exciting to see a noodle bounce around then head out leaving a V wake behind. A cat weighing more than 3 pounds can pull the noodle under for several seconds at a time. It is difficult to catch up to a fast-moving noodle and grab it without help. The fish is not going to cooperate when it realizes your boat is pursuing him. That is where the noodle gaff comes in. Hook the line near the noodle and play the fish as if it was hooked to the pole.
Other places I recommend on Holt are around the mouths of — and up in — Davis Creek up to the first hairpin bend, Pegues Creek, Blue Creek and Deerlick Creek. The east side of the river from mile marker 350 to 354 (Rocky Branch to above Daniel Creek) produces larger fish than many other places.
I have never come back empty-handed when jug fishing during the summer months. Perhaps the “dog days of summer” should be renamed the “cat days of summer.”
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