Milford Lake, Kansas

[Catfish Fever]

Here's three Bluecats me and my fishing buddy caught lately. His were a 28 and 30 pound caught while on my Catoon, mine was caught from the shore, also a 30lb Blue. All were tagged and released.

[Stump Bumper]

Nice looking Blues Catfish Fever! Also look's like you got your boat set up just right to do the job. Good luck....Ray

[capt.kirk]

Catfish Fever,now thats a fine bunch of cats,keepem comin:cool: KIRK

[Timotha7]

Great looking fish Jim! Thanks for sharing them
with fall coming up I expect you will be posting a great many more pictures
like those
Tim

[gofish]

some good ones for sure.the taggin thing for a state or local agency or just for you?

[Catfish Fever]

Ray, thanks, yep, bought'er with nothing but a console and a chair(and motor) and set it up for strictly fishing.

[Catfish Fever]

Cpt Kirk, if I can keep catching, I'll keep posting the pics.

[Catfish Fever]

Hey Tim, nice to see you again, like I said above, if I can keep hanging them, I'll keep the pics posted.

[Catfish Fever]

Joe, I mainly do it for my self, but I share all the info I gather with the fish biologist. I've caught quite a few Cats that I'd tagged earlier, it's just interesting to see how much they've grown and how far they've travelled.

[Timotha7]

Great to see you too Jim! Where was it you get those tags for fish again??

My grands are just getting to an age when they understand that fishing isn't catching and they enjoy just going out and being there on the water

Getting a family CPTagR thing going with them would be somthing I think they might really enjoy

Tim

[nosnag]

Catfish Fever,
Really a nice catch.Tagging and releaseing sounds neat.That "toon" fishing rig must be a pleasure to fish from.Nice set up for fishing and allowing you to stretch and get the kinks out for extended time out on the water.WTG
Keep recording your trips and sharing with us.
BILL

[Timotha7]

Bill the Cattoon is SPECIAL,

we need to get Jim to show us some photos with descriptions of some of the different things he has done to trick her up
it is a SERIOUS FISHING MACHINE!

Tim

[gofish]

catfish fever have you been able to put any patterns together for seasonal habits. or have you recaught enough of em yet? never tagged any fish but have clipped a few caudal fins and recaught em later.(muskie) neat to see how far theyd move from spring to fall

[wewamohawk]

yes thats some nice looking fish you guys got i hope to get some on sept. the 8th and 9th i am fishing the 3rd westville catfish rodeo the wewamohawk

[Catfish Fever]

Evenin Tim,
I'll post the contact here, don't have a link for you, hope it's okay, the name of the outfit is Floy Tag, the lady that owns it is very helpful, her name is Betsy. Her email is betsy@floytag.com. phone number is 800 843 1172. She has quite a variety of tag sizes, types and colors. She also sells the guns you need to implant them. Whoops, just looked closer in the catalog, heres a web page (I think), www.halcyon.com/floytag (http://www.halcyon.com/floytag). I'm going to go look at it when I leave here. I had this catalog for about 5 years and never noticed it, oh well, I just turned 70 so that probably explains it LOL. Nice talking with you again.

[Catfish Fever]

William, thanks for the compliments. I used to have a $$as boat, now, I wouldn't part with my Catoon for anything, I've had'er for 16+ years now, it's just about "perfect", BUT, I'm still making modifications every now and then, LOL.

[Catfish Fever]

Joe, not to much info comes in from the tagging, although I've recaught a few myself. Most of the big fish are kept and wind up in the frying pan I'm sad to say, the mentality around here is, you can't fish out a lake this big, this year, everyones wondering why they're not catching any "bigones". GEE, I wonder where they are? I'd put a LOL in here, but it's not very funny really!

[Stump Bumper]

It's a shame that more folk's don't pratice CPR (catch....photo....release) on their big fish. I'm all for eating what you catch, but it kill's me to see those BIG Blues and Flatheads go to waste....Ray

[Timotha7]

Thanks for the info Jim! I will be looking into gettin some tags
I am particular interested in using them for flats in some of the small rivers
we fish here
I talk to some of the guys that really know the water and they tell me they
been catching the same fish for years out of the same stretch of river
and putting them back to be caught again
Be very interesting to see how those patterns work
Tim

[gofish]

weve got that problem here. mill creek used to give up 20 lb plus channels every year for me. its fished so hard now that your lucky to get one over 15 now.

[Catfish Fever]

Tim, she's a very nice lady, she'll get you squared away. It's pretty neat catching one the second time and seeing how much it's grown, gained weight, etc. Also seeing how far it traveled. I've tagged'em up at the North end of the lake, and caught'em at the dam, and vice versa. I tagged one one year, caught'em a month later within a hundred yards of where I got'em the first time. How did I know? I mark my big fish on the GPS with a big fish symbol, caught this one almost on top of that symbol and it had my tag, same SN, only difference was it'd gained 2 lbs.
The other night Jerald caught an under 2lbr, which we also released, but it's dorsal fin was clipped, so he'd caught and released it a couple of evenings earlier. I clip the pecs on mine so we know who caught it first, then he clipped the pec when we released it this time, LOL.

[Catfish Fever]

Ray, same here, we keep enough to eat and also share with our non-fishing neighbors, mostly to get some of their home grown t'maters, lol. The do enjoy the Cat's though, they're cleaned, vacuum bagged and froze, so they can eat them when they're so inclined.

[Catfish Fever]

Tim, here's a pic of the Catoon, it's kind of outdated as I've made some new modifications, but it give an idea of her. The truckbox (batteries, gear, etc) and the bench seat were bought. Every thing else is custom, I made the console and windshield, rigged the live well from a cooler, put in all the other stuff, I also made the cutting board hanging on the rail.
My latest modification was installing a 4 X 8 foot sheet of aluminum under the deck, it's bolted to the cross members that support the deck. I know go 3 miles an hour faster at 500 lell RPM's, even in rougher water I no longer get those big bangs and slams I used to feel, MUCH smoother ride, I'll take a pic and post it soon. Sorry bout that, forgot to put the pic up, it's in the next post:mad:

[Catfish Fever]

Here she is for those that'er interested. The gas tanks are custom made, 1/4inch aluminum, 17 gallons each, I'm running a 75Merc modified to a 90, (lots cheaper) tubes are 24 inch, I can get into 12 inches of water with no problem, using my trolling motor. It's rigged for fishing two, I can fish three, but then it starts to be a crowd.

[capt.kirk]

Looks like a good catfishing machine to me,now that sheet metal is
some good redneck enginnering,Good Job:cool: KIRK

[nosnag]

WoW, Catfish Fever,
I'm green with envy. I could really live with a rig like yours.They said it was a beautiful toon,but it has to be seen to be believed.Great work,and a lot of forethought.I can understand you being so proud of it.
BILL

[Soupy_1us]

That is a good lookin' rig ! All it needs now is some fish guts on that carpet....
I like the way you got 'er set up.

[Timotha7]

Thanks for the info on the tags Jim, will get in touch with them
Might be fun to use them in the spillway this winter on the walleyes, I know they have to be coming up in there from a long way down river
Would be interesting to see if a person could tag them in the spillway an find them later on downstream

An thanks for the pic of the Cattoon! I know there is just a ton of little things you have done to her to make her into a very SERIOUS fishing machine!

That is a great idea on the sheet metal Jim! Can see right off where it would
smooth out the ride, less wind and water drag, an give you more speed, gotta be saving on some gas too I bet!

Wonder if manufacturers have adopted somthing along those lines for newer boats?

Tim

[Catfish Fever]

Thanks for all the compliments guys, much appreciated. Plenty of guts, scales, etc. been on the carpet, lol. Here's a little better view, an "action" shot, lol.
The rod holders on the front of the console are homemade, holders are 1 1/2" PVC, the brackets are made from corian, a counter top material.
The livewell is a 100qt cooler, water pumped and drained out. The fish basket on the bottom right is a kids foam "noodle", in a 2' X4' mesh laundry basket from Wally world.

[Timotha7]

Beautiful shot of the Boat Jim
Sure am glad you are here posting!
Tim

[Catfish Fever]

Tim, yes they do as a matter of fact. Met a guy here at the boat ramp had it done to his Toon, same thing I did, his cost him $1200 bucks, his did have a foot longer sheet of aluminum though. I paid $86 bucks for a 4 X12 foot sheet, took me and my buddy about 4.5 hours. I just pre drilled all the holes where ever there was a bolt head on the cross members, and for the screws I used. The savings is buying a lot of beer, lol

[Timotha7]

That is what it is all about Jim! It is what I always liked bout the cattoon,
was all about QUALITY function at the lowest possible cost

I need to get down that your way, I been promising myself I am gonna share bank space with you an a lot of friends I have made down in KS

Some of those guys tell me aint' a doubt in the world the next world record
flathead is coming out of a Kansas river, and I believe them

Tim

[Catfish Fever]

Tim, I'd sure enjoy taking you out on the Toon, or bank fishing, either way would be a real enjoyable outing. I wouldn't be surprise at all to see the next "Big One" out of the Kaw, those guy's down there are really pullling in some nice Blues. The best part is they're putting them back, so there'll be a good chance they will get bigger.

[Timotha7]

Yep
Plus that ban on commercial fishing on the Missouri that 5 states put on
several years back has really got them coming back big time

Talked to Gary the other day on Email an he had nailed another big blue..there are
quite a few people down there I would consider it an honor to share riverbank or
boat space with, would learn a lot from you all

I am not sure that a total ban on commercial fishing is a needed answer,
cuz any more there just are not many that can even afford to try an make a living that way

But I sure would love to see other states start following Tennessee's lead
and put a slot limit on big cats, 1 per day sports fishermen over 36 inches an
commercial fishermen have to release any fish over 36

Was a group of fishermen that raised heck with Ohio an KY an ended up with Ohio passing slot limits on big cats

Got to get behind our DNR people an let the pols know we want things to happen

Tim