New Here, Looking For Info.

[Joe Adams]

I just signed up on here, and I know a lot about catfishing from being a member of the Brotherhood of Catfishermen (catfish1.com) but my problem with that site is that nobody fishes the local waters. I'm looking for information about the Finley River. I have a nice spot about 100 yards downstream from where the James merges with the Finley, so I'm hoping someone could tell me how the fishing is, and if it's slow, when I should expect it to pick up again. Thanks yall.

[Trav]

Cats will be slow for awhile yet in that neck of the woods. But, I have been told that the smallies in your area are being caught. Specifically the James where the Finley dumps. Just have to catch it between runoffs. That area is hard to fish when the water is high.

[Joe Adams]

Thank you! And catfishing is still good, even though the weather is cold, rainy, and pretty much everything else. You just have to use the right bait. I've noticed that in the Finley, if you use a 3-5'' creek chub or a small sunfish about that size, on a size 2/0 circle hook, and make your casts around log jams, and the deep holes, you should have no problem catching cats around 10 pounds. The largest I've pulled out is a 48 pound flathead, but the eating size cats are far more abundant. Hope this helps some of yall hook into them. Tight lines and full limits to yall!

[Phil Lilley]

Just curious... does your group prefer to release the big cats? I've heard a cat at 48 pounds could be as old as 30-35 years old. Seems like killing something that takes that long to grow to that size would be a detriment to catfish angling. It's one thing to kill a 6 lb smallmouth- it only may be 5-6 years old and that's about as big as it's going to get. Your 48 pound cat could keep growing for another 10-20 years theoretically.

I think the age of these cats is a pretty new discovery, isn't it? Has it changed the thinking of avid catfishermen?

[Joe Adams]

Just curious... does your group prefer to release the big cats? I've heard a cat at 48 pounds could be as old as 30-35 years old. Seems like killing something that takes that long to grow to that size would be a detriment to catfish angling. It's one thing to kill a 6 lb smallmouth- it only may be 5-6 years old and that's about as big as it's going to get. Your 48 pound cat could keep growing for another 10-20 years theoretically.

I think the age of these cats is a pretty new discovery, isn't it? Has it changed the thinking of avid catfishermen?

Our group promotes the CPR of all trophy catfish, meaning basically anything over 10 pounds should be released. A good way to remember was told to me by a man on the BOC site, "10 pounds and under, heat the grease, more than that, catch and release. Corny, I know, but it sticks. And by the way CPR stands for CATCH PHOTOGRAPH RELEASE, and I encourage everyone to turn back every trophy they catch so others can enjoy catching them, and so they can add to the gene pool, making the fishing better. If you're interested, look us up. I learned everything I know from the guys on that site, and most people on there have forgotten much more than I'll ever know about catfishing. http://catfish1.com is our site.