I just can't help myself. In an effort to rid my veins of more salt water left over from last year's many trips, my bud, Gene, and I ventured out again into the fresh water habitat of Lake Seminole. 
"Same Bat Place, same Bat Channel" - again! Yes, the Crappie and Channel Catfish were there waiting on us, again. 
Only this trip these fish were larger than before. One 3# Speckled Cat, one #4 Channel Cat, and one monster, #8 Channel Cat all fell to our big pond worms, cut bait, and corks among the timber in 5-feet of water. I tried chumming our kitty hole with a mixture of cat & dog food this time. It seemed to help some, but who really knows. The "Specs" were magnums this time = 15 large ones that scaled 3/4 - 2#'s. They really liked our combinations of Halflies & minnows or the ole standby of "Perch" jerking with minnow & bobber in eight feet of water out in a bay area away from the shore. 
The weather was most kindly last Friday in that it was sunny, nearly cloudless, and warming up to the low 70's during the afternoon. We started fishing around 10:30 a.m. and finished up about 5 p.m. First, we eased into our kitty hole on the electric motor and chummed it up. Then, we quietly left on electrics to thrash the Crappie in a few of our marked places. The "Specs" did not let us down and we left them biting to go play "here Kitty-Kitty"! Catfishing is a slow business. One must have some patience because the bite usually takes 20-45 minutes per cat, but what great, big kitty cats these were indeed.
We were hoping that the chum would call in a bunch of big cats, but this is not what happened. In fact, I essentially tried this "chumming" the last trip (forgot to tell you about that technique - sorry) with the same slow results. The technique involves making up a mixture of cat & dog food recipe (one can of cat to two cans of dog food). Roll the mixture into baseball sized balls and freeze them, at least, overnight (2-3 days freezing time is a much better time line). The "catfish chum balls" become solid and are easy to deal with instead of all that messy semi-solid form of chum that you have to deal with using unfrozen mixtures. Then, when you are out in your choosen place, throw a few "chum balls" into the water (they will sink to the bottom) and allow at least 30 minutes before "show time" as it takes that long for the balls to start thawing out and releasing the food scents! 
After we grew tired of catching the catfish, we eased over to a small boat with an old fisherman in it to give him our remaining minnows. He was quite an "old salt" that had many years of knowledge fishing these spots and catching big cats & specs (yeah, I marked his hole on my GPS). His theory was that several catfish farm ponds were distroyed by heavy rains & floods many years ago and these catfish were washed into this basin where they exist today in good numbers. These big kitties roam around freely searching all the tree areas for something good to eat and, if you are in their way with some good bait, they will grab it. I changed tactics on the cats this time out when Gene caught three big shad while casting for Crappie. Being an old catfish hunter, even prior to my days of seaborn Capt. Reggie, I knew "cut bait" would work on these big Channel Cats!
It did - nice to be right once in awhile, eh? 
We scored two of the three catfish on the Shad cuts! Well, I have pictures of this and the other trip on a disc so I can put them in an "after action report" as soon as I get them back from WalMart later this week. Until then, these fish are still out there and we shall return at least one more time to beat them up. However, for now, my partner is begging me to go over to the St. George Island Bridge and show him how to catch Sheephead around the pilings. Ah yes, some salt in my pores again - yes, yes, yes. I'll let you all know "win, loose, or draw" in the next few weeks!
, and I'm off to Destin Friday with Gerald on FBBF business! 
So, weekend warriors, or next week day fishers, what say you? Call me, email me, message me - whatever, and I will try to set up a date with you soon. By the way, this pattern will not last too much longer...the specs go on the bed this full moon and the cats are, well, there when you find them, nothing is guaranteed.