My friend Nick who is a member on the board (flicknanders) was kind enough to take me on his boat to do some afternoon fishing at Hog Island since we have been dieing to get out. We loaded up on some bait, menhaden, croaker, shrimp, and fresh shad that Nick had caught the previous day. We left the Hog Island ramp at 1 pm, targeting nice size catfish...We found some good current by the Surry Power Plant and threw out the anchor. Water temp was 55, then dropped to about 50 towards late evening. Put on some shad and within seconds we had a fish on! (shad was the best bait of choice, menhaden was the second) (used 8/0 circle gamakatsu hooks) We had caught 16 really nice cats and we missed a few that just didn't want to commit to our baits....We fished till about 6:00pm and had a great time...It had slowed down for a bit due to slack tide, then it eventually picked up again. Thanks Nick for such a great time, looking forward to doing some more fishing with you bro! It was a nice day and pretty calm for the most part. Had a great time setting the clicker on the reels and listening to those catfish burn some drag...Yes burn, one of the cats Nick caught almost spooled his Abu Garcia baitcaster! What a great time, the biggest cat went 28'' 10lbs....Rest of them were between 24-27inches...Had some really hard runs but never hooked up, also caught some dinks with them! Pics of fish below! Thanks again Nick, cant wait to get you out on Bring Em In!!! Tight lines fellas, cheers

-Chris (Nick has more pics that I will send once I get them)

Nicks Big Cat


My Cat

Chris, nice post, you summed up the day well, nice pics and I sent you an email a minute ago with my two. I had a great day too man, it was about time, I hope we can get out fishing again soon!

Here are the other pics from today.......

Nice Cat


Another Nice Cat

Good job guys. I have a buddy that wants to catch big cats.Chris maybe you can give me the inside scoop.

You guys leave out of the public ramp?

Eric

Thanks Eric! Yes, we left out of the public ramp! Depending where you or you buddy is coming from, you get there by going down Rt 10, Like you are going to Hopewell Virginia. Keep going until you reach Surry county and it wont be long till you see signs for Hog Island boat ramp. You take a right on Hog Island Dr, keep going straight for about 10 minutes until you see a huge sign on the right saying Hog Island wild reserve and public boat ramp, you wont miss it...Once you make a right it is only a mile from there...Very nice little area, one launch ramp, but there isn't a whole lot of people that leave out of there so its no hassle. Can get low, but average it is about 5-8ft...When you get to the launch ramp, you can see the Ghost fleet from there. Couldn't ask for a better location. Hog Island is awesome, good luck,

-Chris

nice one chris! sounds like a great day!

bo

Do you guys eat cat ?

Nice job Chris and Nick!! Great report guys...keep it up!

If you go up river about 10 more miles there are some bigger ones to. I try to catch some bait at the power palnt then go up near Claremont and fish the wrecks
We fished the power plant alst Friday and got into them as well, heading back there again today until the water settles in the bay. The plant is so much fun because the action is steady, but up near claremont it is much slower, but they are bigger. Thanks for the update and if you ever head up river more give me a shout for a more specific location.

What bait are you catching at the Power Plant?? I am trying to go up river Sunday if possible, thanks.

Pretty work guys! Keep it up!

Thanks everyone!
Nice catfish! We probly could make it up there to Claremont if we really wanted too, but we were fishing in a 14ft Alumacraft and we need to be cautious when we are that far away. Great cat though, may have to give it a try up that way someday! And as for bait, we dont catch it at the power plant, we both live close to the water such as Jones Creek, around that area and we use a cast net to catch shad, croaker, etc. Then we get the bait on ice (we dont freeze it) so it will be really fresh. Tight lines,

-Chris

I don't know if those guys eat cats or not but I grew up on them in Missouri. It is absolutely one of the finest tasting fish out there. Skin em and fillet them and baste them with garlic herb oil and smoke them until they fall apart. Or you can fry them with beer batter. Anythings better with beer.

oh man chris that was some nice cat...very clean as well....they sure are good eating.....loved the report......Might be heading out to willoughbe tomorrow...I will let you know ,a nd see if your intersted......I will probably have to go after 3...i work til then...have a good buddy, and hope all is well..

Thanks Mike,
I may not be able to make it out there tomorrow, since today is my b-day, my girlfriend and there family wants to take me out for dinner tomorrow, so I cant make this one bud! If you get out there, best of luck to you! Hope you get into some trout man, maybe next time I can make it out there! As for eating catfish, we released all of them! Just wanted to have fun catching some nice catfish and take some photos to remember them by.... Take care,


-Chris

Growing up we filled out freezer every year with Catfish and shrimp.

Nothing beats fried shrimp and catfish!

Awesome tasting fish. I heard the big ones can contain some bad toxins though.

Chris, Happy Birthday brother, from the mrs and I.....I hope u enjoy....your getting old man...lol....My neighbor just got a 14' John boat, so i might have to call you so can give me directions to that spot, i have never been on rt 10...have a great b day bro and we'll talk soon......I will let you know how i did tomo.....

We went to the discharge today. The bite was fair, we did get 4 that were about 15lbs, and about 20 others 2-8lbs. We caught some on live eels, cut eels. live bunker, cut bunker and cut shad. You can catch fresh bunker and shad in the blowout with the castnet. There always seem to be some action there. We do not keep them either, just let them go. There is a health advisory abou them if they are over 32" you are not supposed to eat them at all due to the toxins. Under 32" so many servings per month, but that is enough for me to let them go. Back to the bay tomorrow.

Thanks for the report and good job! Mike, thanks a bunch man! And what is this im getting old stuff ?!? Haha, but anyways man, it has been the best b-day yet!!! And its not a problem for giving you some directions...As for tomorrow, best of luck to you man, I hope you get into some feeeeeeesh Tight lines,

-Chris

They taste Good ,I know that much.Nice Fish thanks for the repoprts.

Nice fish. Sounds like a good day. Thanks for the report.

JHurst, thanks for the report, just so you know there are some trophy-size fish at Surry as well, I caught a 38 inch citation there back in March on shad. I've never thrown my cast net in the discharge there, but always thought about it, so thanks for letting us know I will have to try that next time. That is a big catfish in your picture, and I really want to learn more about catfishing farther upriver. Is there a reliable boat ramp that you use to fish up at Claremont? Anyway, if anybody plans to launch out of Surry make sure that you check the tides and be extremely careful around low tide there, the ramp drops off and at low tide you have to be really careful not to back your trailer off the end.

I Have been putting in at Tyler's Beach wich is in the town of Rushmere. It's about 5 miles to surry and 15 to Claremont from Tylers beach. They have closed the ramp at Claremont for good. I know of a few other ramps, but I can launch a 22ft cat at Tylers with no problems. I hope to stick some big ones there, so far at Suffy we have come up with 20lbers, but that has been max size so far. I picked up a 15 horse merc.and a little v bottom today so I do not have to take my big boat any more.

Thanks for the info! Good job on those big cats as well, tight lines,

-Chris