Fishing guide Mike Mitchell had father-and-son Kentucky-based clients Forrest and Bob Winters on 69,000-acre Lake Guntersville on the morning of Jan. 17. They were slow-trolling six rods from planer boards not far from the Goose Pond mid-lake area.
“We were just easing along in my 21-foot aluminum boat, slow draggin’ big cut gizzard shad baits along bottom in 50 feet of water,” Mitchell told Wired2fish. “It was a little foggy that calm 40-degree morning, and we got a later-than-usual start at 7:30 a.m.”
The Catches Begin
First, they caught and released a 20-pound flathead catfish.
But things heated up quickly that morning when Bob Winters hooked, fought, and landed a huge, pot-bellied blue catfish. Mitchell says that in the frigid 45-degree water, the cat fought deep and sluggish against heavy boat tackle and a Shimano lever-drag reel. Bob battled the brute for just a few minutes before Mitchell netted it.
They weighed it at 70 pounds. Bob lifted it high, cradling it in his arms for a photo. Then they released the oversized blue catfish.
“We don’t keep any of the big cats we catch on the two boats we run guiding,” said Mitchell, 47, who owns SouthernCats Guide Service with his son. “Guntersville is full of big cats – blues and flatheads – and releasing them to fight another day is important to keep our fishing good.”
Mitchell trolled around the area for a while where Bob caught his catfish but didn’t hook another fish. Then he ran his boat about 20 miles across Guntersville to another area. There, he set up slow-trolling again, using his bow-mount electric fishing motor, with six rod-reel set-ups pulling deep gizzard shad baits astern.
An Even Bigger Cat Bites
As they trolled, at about 1 p.m. Mitchell’s side sonar marked a huge fish on bottom that he thinks hit a bait soon thereafter.
A little after 1 p.m., a rod bowed. This time, Forrest picked it up. A rugged five-minute fish fight began. He used 100-pound braided line with a 100-pound test mono leader tied to an 11/0 circle hook.
Then he worked it close to their boat, and Mitchell netted it. They weighed the fish on a digital scale at 84.3-pounds. Forrest hoisted the massive fish up and onto his shoulders for a photo. They then released the big cat into Guntersville.
The Seasons for Giants
“The fishing is just not beginning to turn on for big cats in the lake,” said Mitchell, who lives in Russellville, Ala. “There may not be many fish caught in a day this time of year, but they can be huge.”
Mitchell’s personal best blue catfish from the lake is a 117-pounder he caught in 2020. One of his fishing clients caught a 102-pounder, and quite few fish in the 90-pound class have been caught from his boat since he started guiding in 2004.
“We may not catch as many cats in winter as some other times of year,” he began. “But right now is prime for giant fish.”
