Hunting - Fishing - Lone Star Outdoor News

By Nicholas Conklin
LSONews.com

While fishing recently on the canals that wind through the Valley Ranch area in Irving, I hooked into a fish that provided quite a surprise.

I had originally set out to fish the canals working several different colored bucktail jigs for carp. I recently caught one in the same area that weighed just over 9 pounds. I had all but given up hope of catching a largemouth bass.

My technique was to fish along the edges of the canals with a quarter-ounce green jig. The previous weekend I had landed the carp fishing in a similar technique.

I worked the bricked ledges of the canals, focusing on areas that seemed to be overgrown with algae. I even employed the self-coined “walking troll” method that I have adapted for fishing long stretches of canals. Essentially tossing my bait at a 45-degree angle downstream from my walking path, I slowly walk along the raised shoreline releasing line. After walking 20 to 40 yards, I close the bail and begin the slow retrieve. The slow walking combined with an occasional stumble on uneven ground seems to provide the bait with unique movement. It also allows me to cover more area than other methods.

I have used this technique since late May, and it has lead to catfish and carp being caught. It has also allowed me to test the depths along the waterways without the use of technology or depth-finding devices.

After not getting any bites on the jigs the other evening, I decided to switch to a soft plastic crawler. I had caught a small catfish two weeks prior this way, and decided to whacky-rig the worm in a similar fashion.

The blue/black 5-inch Berkeley shaky worm had enough movement on both ends to be rigged with a No. 3 hook through the middle.

I started fishing the worm under a bridge in a standard cast-and-retrieve method. But I decided to slow the worm down and started my walking troll.

After several attempts up and down this section of canals, I finally received the familiar tug of a fish. Except this fish quickly shot from one end of the canal to the other; I knew I had hooked a quality fish.

The battle continued for several minutes as I worked him in. Just when I thought the fish had worn himself out, he made another sharp run, peeling my drag out after him. Unaware of its species, I saw it surface a few feet from the shore with a big black tail sticking from the water.

The blue cat weighed nearly 6 pounds and had a strong fight for a fish that size living in such a confined area.

Not being an avid catfish angler before arriving in Texas, this blue was only the fourth cat I had ever caught. My pervious largest cat was a 19-pound blue I landed while fishing on Lake Texoma in early June. I have come to appreciate the fight they provide and the surprise I find while catching them on unfamiliar baits.