fox river catfishing (yorkville)- guest post

It’s 5:30 in the morning and I’ve got just one thing on my mind, that’s catching me one of those Fox River catfish. Not just one of those ordinary fox river cats, but a fish that is over ten pounds. I knew the area I’m fishing had a good population of catfish because I had fished there a couple months prior from the shore. On the last trip, the water level was a lot higher from all the spring rain, but we still had a half dozen bites. Out of those bites, we landed four nice cats in the three to five pound range and one scrappy carp. This time I came equipped with my john boat and my same fishing buddy to aid in launching and loading the boat.

It started out a calm warm summer morning with just enough wind to cool the sweat on your body. Even though it was overcast with some sporadic sprinkles the air was still heavy with humidity and I knew we were in for a hot mid-summer day. We dropped the boat and I took note that the water had to be at least two feet down from last time. We slowly made our way out to our very first spot of the day and geared up to make our first casts of the day.

I lit up a smoke and patiently waited. It wasn’t even fifteen minutes before I had my first bite. This wasn’t the normal bite that I had become accustom to. This was one of those bites where the rod tip almost smacks the surface of the water. I’m convinced that my rod would have been lost if it wasn’t for the position it was rested. I had secured the rod between the clamps of my trolling motor and without that I’m sure it would have gone overboard.

I grabbed the pole and gave it a nice yank to set the hook properly, and there my battle began. In the shallow water the fish began to splash on the surface nearly forty yards out. Even from that distance I could tell that this wasn’t one of those average catfish I had become used to. This was a bigger fish and I chose to let the fish run. I kept constant pressure on the fish as my buddy slowly motored after the fish, never letting it get too far away. After what seemed like an eternity, the fish rose up off of the bottom next to boat. After a few nerve racking moments of the fish thrashing on the surface, my buddy nets my biggest catfish to date!



a fox river catfish

 

fox river channel catfish

This is my first year fishing and this was no doubt the biggest fish I had ever caught or even seen. Needless to say, I was thrilled. This beauty tipped the scales at ten pounds and seven ounces. When I first began fishing, I promised my grandma I would bring home a “big one” and it didn’t take very long to make good on that promise. Fishing in Yorkville has been a great experience so far. I have heard that even further south there is some better big cat water and fall is an even better time to target them. I plan to continue to explore the Fox, enjoying all that there is to see as this journey of a young angler begins.

Written By,
Matt