Fishing is awesome right now to say the least, we caught 665 lbs+ of cats in 2 days with 24 eating size cats ranging from 5-15 lbs a piece....We also broke some personal best (PB) Frank broke his personal best several times but ended the trip with a 52 lb flathead standing as his new big cat PB. Terry Wagnor also caught several PB's but we hooked into a whale drifting on the second day which turned out to be a massive 63 lb flatty that is now Terry's big cat PB. Uncle Champ and Chan Wagnor have been fishing with me for several years and we could not get them on a bigger cat this year, But the 78 for Champ and 77 for Chan they caught with me on a Winter trip will be hard to beat....Champ is a flathead fanatic to say the least and everyone was catching huge flatheads and all he could catch was blues, but in the last hour of the last day Champ finally got his 3 lb. lunker flatty....Chan caught the biggest blue of the trip at 55 lbs.

 

 

 

 

 

Not only did we catch the first flatheads of the year but we caught the biggest catfish of the year an 89 lb. monster blue...Anthony caught this beast which is a new personal best and man did it fight, I really thought it was going to be a giant flathead the way it was fighting, probably top 2 fighting fish ever in my boat....it was in about 17ft of water.....Aaron caught a 55 lb flathead which is his biggest flathead to date...we caught over 350 lbs all together with a lot of eating size fish in the mix

 

 

 

 

 

Sorry I haven't been adding many report's to the website, but you can stay up to date with me on Facebook here SouthernCats Guide Service I had clients this morning we fished out of Decatur, AL. it was a beautiful day bright bluebird skies but the fishing was tough we managed a 38 and 12 lb'r fairly quick though. Later that day I went out by myself for some scouting and found a sweet spot catching a 49 and 58 lb blue, not a bad 6 hours of fishing. Like I always say sometimes it's just that one bite that can make a slow day a great one. I would Like to thank my sponsor's for making great equipment that I trust to land these river giants with, Thanks Capt. Mike

 

 

14 cats today on a 5 hour trip on Guntersville Lake with 235 pounds total...9 cats were 8-14 lbs were kept for table fare and the bigger fish weighed 16, 18, 26, 29, and 60 lbs.....The 60 pounder was a new personal best for Geno........the fish are not heavy right now due to the spawn, if this beast was filled out in the winter or spring it would have pushed 70 easy.....once again we did not loose a single hook-up

 

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Great day on the river with Ken Smith and his Family from Georgia with 12 cats weighing 247 lbs. including a 61,48,33, and 25....fish were 35-40ft deep caught drifting fresh skipjack...Thanks to Team Catfish Tackle we did not loose a fish and the Catfish Warrior rod and Monster Rod Holder combo is a deadly duo when it comes to hooking up with the reel locked in the holder.....just set them and watch'em load up, that slow take me down is what we like to see.

 

 

 

 

Video Report (11-19-11) By: Boatwright Family

 

 

 

Shemwell Catfish Outing (10-22-2011) Written By: Charlie Jo Shemwell

Our fishing guide Mike Mitchell of Albertville, Al. really lived up to his reputation as being one of Alabama’s premier catfish guides. Special thanks to the kind folks at Craw Momma’s, Lk. Guntersville kind towns folk, and our catfish guide Mike Mitchell 256-673-2250

 

 

 

 

It's been awhile since I've posted a report anywhere, turns out I have been fishing quite a bit lately...I thought I'll post a report on my wife's new laptop....I have a smart-phone, but our home computer is about shot...so I guess that's my best excuse for not posting much lately.

9-9-11
Round 1
My In-laws were camping out and I took the boat along for some fishing on Friday afternoon after work....I stayed out with all three of my boys Jackson, Josh, and Jared about 2 hours before we ran back to the campground for some supper. We ended up catching 4 nice cats Jackson hooked into a healthy 49 lbr while fighting that fish another rod goes down and I grab it thinking it's a fish, but turns out it was hung so I backed off the drag and put it back into the rod holder...after we got Jackson's fish in the boat I trolled back towards the rod that was hung only to feel a tug on the line...I let Josh reel this one in, which turned out to be a 20 lb Flathead, Next it's Jared's turn and he cranks in a nice 26 lb Blue....Later Josh gets a eater all of maybe 8 lbs to round off the afternoon

Round 2
After we eat I decide to go back out since the bite seemed to be on and try a little nite fishing....this time it was just Me and Jackson....Jackson fell asleep after a little while of no bites so I had all the fun, first fish was a feisty 20 lbr, next one I up-sized to a nice 44 lb blue, well by this time I'm tired as well and near the edge of the channel where I was planning on ending my drift, when I hook into a hawg....yes it's been awhile since I've caught a hog, but in the back of my mind I was thinking this fish could be the one (100+?)...it was most definitely having it's way with me for awhile....I woke Jackson up by hollering at him to get the net, the fished turned out to be a very long and lean blue that tipped the scales at 61lbs.

Trip total was 61,49,44,26,24,20, and 8 pounds.. not bad for 4 hrs....all caught drifting frozen cut skipjack in the main channel 40-47 ft deep.

9-10-11
Two of my boys had soccer games the next day, and I'm a MS State Graduate....So I was hoping to get to see some butt kicking on all the fields, but guess what everyone lost...So I couldn't think of a better way to lift my spirits but by catching a few Monster Cats. I wanted to try some new water first about 4 miles from the place we caught fish the previous evening...This time Jackson stayed at the camper playing with Bream and Crickets, so I let the younger boys catch the cats....Not long after we stop for our first drift a rod really takes a dive with drag peeling action involved, thanks to my Monster Rod Holders I can feel safe that my boys can catch these cats and that my equipment is safe....Josh fights this fish awhile, before we can see it I know it's a "Good Old Big Un" after we finally net and weigh it turns out to be his new PB at 58 pounds...after a long drift another rod goes down and Jared catches a new PB at 36 pounds.....later on we move down to the honey hole only to find that the fish weren't cooperating but I did manage to entice a 40 lb blue into the boat.......the bite was definitely slower than the afternoon before, but with a 5 and 6 year old in the boat, it's kinda hard to get too serious about it.

 

9-12-11 & 9-13-11

I took out some guys from South GA that had fished with me twice before, last time they brought along a buddy who caught most of the "Big Old Good Un's", including a 63 and a 68 lber...so this time they left him at home....we started fishing late on the first evening and it didn't take long to find the blues and when we did boy was it on.....I say there goes one give him a minute let him hook-up alright get'm, then i look to the back of the boat and say hey that rod's hooked up get'm get'm....as we are netting the first one I turn and another rod is going to town "get'm he's a biggun".....very nice triple cat action a 22, 34, and 40 lbr....not to far we ended up fishing a total of 3 hrs catching 2 more nice cats in the upper 20's.

We start earlier the next day and did run into to two nice cats while drifting a deep scour hole on Wheeler, one would have been a excellent tournament fish since we got the new 34inch rule, now the under size fish make a huge difference in a tournament...this cat was a true fatty at 32inches long weighing 28 lbs...we took a lunch break and headed back to the are where we had done so well the day before.....we struggled until the afternoon only catching a 10 lbr, but we stuck it out and the generation got about right around 4:30 and the fish turned on....we hit a very nice double at 36 and 32 lbs, a bit further down in the hole and the old pole goes to bending slowly to the water, the further, and I said that's going to be him (100+) you never know....but Ken did great and slowly let the fish steer him around tiring out the both of them, all the while I was filming the action with my droid, I see another rod getting reeled up in the back of the boat and I say you've got one don't you, and we aren't sure as the blue is swimming straight for the boat, after a short battle he surface's with a splash near the boat and it's a 47 lb tank....Meanwhile on rod number one this fish swims close to the other fish and doesn't care for the commotion and takes off for another run and then some surface splashing of his own, turns out to be another long, lean fish....which weighed 65 lbs, but had the length to push 80+

 
Both days combined we fished a total of 11 hours catching a 65,47,40,36,34,32, 28, 28, 26, 24, 22, and 10 pounds....all fish were 40-48ft deep drifting fresh skipjack.

 

 

Hey and if anyone wants to get out now seems to be a great time 

Thanks to my Sponsors
Monster Rod Holders, Team Catfish, TTI Blakemore, and Drop-N-Stay

 

 

 

Oct. 9, 2010 report written by Richard Simms

I played hooky today. All of the folks with the Southeastern Outdoor Press Association Conference in Hunstville were invited to a "Shooting Day" sponsored by the National Shooting Sports Foundation. It was an opportunity to go pop caps untils your shoulders, and ears, were sore.

However I had the chance to head for the lake with my friend and guide, Mike Mitchell. I'm a catfish guide and I specialize in (trying) to catch LOTS of catfish. And when you catch lots of catfish, the law of averages dictates that there are going to be some trophy fish in the mix.

Mike on the other hand, specializes in catching nothing but trophies. Don't plan on catching big numbers, but you can expect to have the chance of catching a fish of a lifetime. Mike doesn't get real excited until he see big blue cats in the 40 to 100 lb. range.

We were joined by good friend Sam Simons, a trophy cat addict from Chattanooga. We fished hard about six hours and we caught seven catfish. From the bottom up they weighed 5 lbs., 8 lbs., 15 lbs., 35 lbs., 37 lbs., 38 lbs., and topping out with a massive 47 lb. beast. Click HERE for a Photo Gallery.

 

Sam Simons Battles 47 lb. Beast


Richard Simms VS 38 lb. Big Blue

 

 

I had the honor of fishing with James Patterson from Memphis, TN. who also guides for catfish and is in my opinion one of the founders of the sport of catfishing. I jokingly called him the "Grandaddy of Catfishing" one time, but I really wasn't joking. He is a super nice guy and I jumped on the oppurtinity to take him out, because I knew there was a lot that I could learn from him. I'm hoping to get over on the MS. river and fish in some real current with him soon.

 

I always feel pressure to put people on fish while guiding, but I was quite nervous about this trip to say the least. James brought along his friend Mr. Scroggins from Troy AL. and we started out the day around 7:30. The weather was perfect bright bluebird sky's and very little wind on the TN. River (Wheeler) to speak of. James had just went on a bait run and he brought some fresh skipjack, which is always a plus and rarity for me in the Winter. With the water running slow I had an area in mind that I thought would be the place to be, turned out I was right for a change. We probably fished 3 hours on our first two anchors and we were steadily catching bluecats. We ended up with a 62,47,45,36,24,18,18,15,8, and 6 pounders, to tell you the truth we probably threw back a few dinks that we forgot about. We moved around and caught a few more dinks and had a few missed fish. The last stop of the day was a good anchor we had two fish hit about at the same time and one of them swam up river and the next thing we knew they were tangled up. While we were trying to untagle them one of the fish swam past the boat and then turned and went back down river and hung up into something about the time we got untangled. So we lost one the other one was a fat 35 lber. We were getting ready to call it a day and had another rod go down which turned out to be a 37 lber. Total fish for the day was 12 cats at 351 lbs.

 

All fish were caught off anchor in 35-45ft deep.

 

Thanks to Team Catfish Tackle, Monster Rod Holders, Drop-N-Stay, and Fat Cat Outdoors for making some fine catfishing products. If you haven't seen the Monster Cats Video it should be available soon at www.monstercats.com I watched it for the first time and it is awesome.

 

 

 

Myself, Dad (Jerry Cline) and brother (Josh Cline) had the pleasure to fish Wheeler Lake in Alabama with Guide, Mike Mitchell this past Friday, February 5th. This day was one that we will never forget!!!

We anchored on our second spot around 9:00 AM and the fun began. The first rod dropped and Dad uses a TWC rod to land a 30 lb Blue. The second TWC rod dropped and I catch a 40 lb Blue. No bites for 15 minutes and we go to our next spot. First rod drops and Josh uses a TWC rod to catch his PB a 66 lb Blue. Second TWC rod drops and Dad fights and land his PB 72 lb Blue. No bites for a few minutes and we move again.

My rod goes down and I grab the rod out of the Monster Rod Holder and immediately know that this is a monster. It felt like I had just hooked into a car. I have never felt something so big and so strong in all my life of fishing! I kept telling Mike, my dad and Josh that this is a giant. After about a 10-15 minute fight Mike lands the fish in the net. Josh and Mike lift the giant Blue into the boat. After several minutes of extreme excitement it is time to weigh the fish. Mike pulls out his 100 pound scale and the scale reads FULL!!! I can't believe that I have just caught a 100 pound fish. Mike then brings out his 110 pound scale and the Blue weighs in at 102.52 lbs!!! The Blue was 54 inches long and the girth measured 40 inches. We take several pictures and release the big Blue back into Wheeler. The total for the day was 8 Blues for 420 pounds!!!

Guys I had a wonderful time getting to know yall better....that was definately a "trip of a lifetime" for the guide as well.....that fish has been swimming through my dreams for several years, now it will be replaced with a World Record Blue.

I would like to thank my sponsors for providing me with some great catfishing products
Team Catfish Tackle - anyone who doubted that a 8/0 double action circle hook could handle a 100+ lb blue in 8 ounce current, well we proved it....You can't go wrong with Team Catfish.
Monster Rod Holders - One thing Joe said is he was glad I was using Monster's because that rod would have been almost impossible to get out of any other holder.......truth be known a lot of the holders out there would have been ripped off the boat......never a doubt in my mind that the Monster Rod Holder will handle these big cats day in and day out.
Fat Cat Outdoors - I can't thank these guys enough for their support....MonsterCats is due to be out anyday and will be the best catfishing film ever.
Drop-N-Stay - Anchoring made easy....rough water and wind don't scare me anymore.

 

 

 

 

 

Well, old college roomate and friend of mine Dennis made his way to Chattanooga.  The plan was to hang out for a few days and go fish with Mike one day.  We went Friday afternoon, late into the night.  Started out catching some skippies, which are still abundant at Guntersville Dam.  I had a great time with the popping cork rig, sometimes 3 on at a time.
 
Denny has never caught a catfish before, so I knew this would be interesting.  I made a deal with him, he would get to reel in the blues until he broke the 30 lb mark.  We anchored up at the first spot, and within about 10 minutes, he puts a 39 lber in the boat.  Not bad for a first catfish huh?  After that, I pulled in a 41 lber.  Not a bad start.  Some of these are on video too, so be looking for a link to the video in the coming weeks.  We went ahead and moved to our next spot, with no takers.  On to the next spot.  The clicker is singing, and Denny picks up the rod and has a beast on the other end.  After several minutes, the 48 inch blue hits the bottom of the boat, and it weighed 65 lbs.  So his first goes 39, then 65 lbs, ridiculous.  Denny doesn't even understand, some of us cat guys grew up on 5-10 lb channel cats, he won't ever want to catfish in ponds now!  A few minutes later, I hook up, and it's a 54 lber.  The bite seems to be on.
 
Well after that, we had fun, but the wind was ripping upriver and made the bite a bit tougher.  I don't even know how Mike managed to stay anchored. Denny pulled in a 25 and a 31, and I brought in a 20 and 24.  Pretty great when those are the little ones.  Our total went 8 fish around 300 lbs.

 

 

 

Well I talked to Jason Bridges today about 6:15 too get a skipjack report, he said they were catching them pretty fast....I loaded up the kids and we headed to the dam, we got there around 7:15 and talked to Jason just as they were reeling in a skipjack......he said they have about quit.....we tried for 30+ minutes with only a few stripe to show for it....I brought the cat rods, so I got up a few bluegill and headed down river, stopped by the ramp and talked Jason out of one Skippy.

We hit our first stop at approx. 8:00 fished 15 minutes with only one bite a small one at that, second stop approx. 8:30 we were only fishing three rods two with skipjack and one bluegill, 5 minutes went by and outside rod gets hit a little and then starts steadily clicking.....I fought it almost within net range and the middle rod went off, both of the skipjack baited poles....I let it load up in the holder and told Jackson (6 Years Old) to Crank it in.....I'm still trying to fight my fish, and he says it got off and takes the rod out of the holder, I said reel reel it's just swimming at us.....Meanwhile Josh (4 Years Old) nets my fish like a pro which turns out to be a 34 pound flathead...While Jared (3 years old) was just taking everything in and who knows what he might have been throwing overboard to see if it would sink or float.....Jackson has now caught up to his fish with the rod in his hand holding on for dear life, I said you better go in the water with the pole before you let go of my rod......I never helped him, it had crossed the other line and I had a heck of a time trying to get it in the net.

Anyway we got them both weighed and some fairly decent pics of my flathead and his new personal best bluecat at 51 pounds...we were back on the trailer at 9 P.M.

 

 

I was finally able to get back up to the Chattanooga area and try for some big cat's.......we started out on Chick and with the high bluebird sky's the fishing was tough.....we managed to drift around and locate some quality fish and we landed a 39,34,32,14, and 8 lber.....we decided to take out around 11:30 and see what Nickajack had to offer, we put in and the river was just barely trickling and boy was it hot.........we only managed one more fish......but it was a "Biggen" 60 pounder....we quit early due to the heat.....everyone was happy expecially the guide.

Most cat's were caught 30-45ft deep....all the big ones were caught on half-a-skipjack baits.

 

 

Report Written by Sam Simons

Every year I book a trip with Mike in the spring to celebrate the end of school and my girlfriend pays for it as an early birthday present. It doesn't get any better than that.

We started out catching skipjack and bluegill around 12:30. About 1:00 we went fishing. A few minutes later, I pick up a rod with a big live bluegill and feel some heavy weight. Then the fish goes nuts. The fight lasted several minutes and I could have used one of those ocean fighting rigs. I was hoping it was my first big flathead, since it was a bluegill. Turns out, it was a 58 lb flathead. Then Mike hooked a big one and handed the rod over to me. It got out near the fast current, and I finally broke off. We caught one more channel about 8 lbs, and that was it.

So we headed downriver and made our first anchor. No fish, so we moved spots and quickly put 52 and 45 lb blues in the boat. Both super fights in the current. We made our 3rd anchor and had a few takedowns and some 7-8 lb blues. We decided to make one last anchor and threw out some live bluegill toward some structure near the bank. We also had cut skipjack rigged. In 30 ft of water on cut skipjack, I caught a 26 lb flathead. Now that would have freaked me out, but the 58 would have eaten the 26, lol. It was crazy fun and a great way to kick off my summer break.

Thanks Mike, and I'm glad I rigged that bluegill. After I put it on the hook through the lips (Craig) Mike said, that looks like a 40 lb flathead. Definitely the meanest and baddest catfish fight I have ever had.

Driving to Canada in the morning, rough stuff.

 

 

I had another great trip yesterday with the water flowing like this the big cats are definately on the prowl and feeding up for the spawn....makes me wish I could fish everyday that's for sure.....we started the day out about 9:30 A.M. in a light rain.........the bite was on big time and the first rod I baited went down before I got the second one baited, it turned out to be a 25 lber.....we caught about 4 more including a nice 54 lber wich was one pound short of Gary's PB blue he caught with me last year......when the sun popped up it seems things just shut down for awhile but we still managed to catch 5 more cats between 5-18 lbs on various stops along the way.....the clouds rolled back in around 4 oclock and the bite turned on again we got 3 more teenie boppers and then the biggun hit all 88 lbs of pure muscle....I can say that my new Catfishsafari rod got broke in right and it done an outstanding job as well....I have used most brands of rods on the market and these are the best by far that have been in my boat....Of course the fish was CPR'd (Catch, Photograph, and Released) so he can grow big.....this fish was very healthy and definately has the potential to grow to be 100+

Most of the fish were caught in 10-20ft of water....all of them on cut skipjack.....we were snapping 4-6 oz bank sinkers on a #6 sinker slide, using a sinker bumper on the mainline (30-40 mono)...I pre-tie all my rigs with 80 lb mono and 8/0 and/or 5/0 double action circle hooks....depending on bait size I use single and double hook rigs....Team Catfish tackle has yet to fail me, so that's what I fish with.

 

5/1/09 & 5/2/09 Wheeler Lake "Wisconsin Clan Vs. Trophy Bluecats"

 

I had this trip scheduled for several months now and these gentlemen flew down from Wisconsin (No Pressure).....I was worried because the current has been so slow and I haven't been able to get out much at all lately....oh and the weather it looked very grim indeed....I had a group of five so we split it up into two groups and fished a morning shift (John and Pete) and afternoon shift (Moose, Mike, and Tim).

Friday morning as we hit the ramp it was coming a monsoon, so we opted to sit it out for awhile.....It let up after about an hour so we got rain geared up and we made our first anchor which quickly yielded a 17 pounder.....the rain set in hard and some distant lightning so we called off first shift early......we took a break and hit the water about 2 P.M. the weather was finally cooperating and Mike struck first with a 40 lb Blue, then it was his Dad's turn Moose he landed the big fish of the day at 57 lbs.....It took awhile but we got Tim one as well at 32 lbs the weather was acting up again (tornado warnings) so we called it quits for the day.

Saturday was a much nicer day with only a few soakings.....John and Pete on first shift regained the lead with 5 cats at 60,45,35,16, and 8 lbs.....The rain had risen the water about a foot and the current was just right about 40k....John got the big 60 lber around 11:15 and we called it quits, so I had high hopes for round two and boy was we in for a treat........I found something on the sidescan marked it and within 5 minutes we had a 59 and 53 double in the boat, we caught two more there at 25 and 29 lbs.....we ran down river and caught a 5 lber but the rain chased us back up river where we got a 13 lber....Were down to the last stop now and the rod goes down big after a nice battle Tim had a big beatiful 84 lb Blue in the boat.

Total weight was 595 lbs for the two days......we would have had a nice sack on Saturday if we were able to fish in the bass pro tourney, probably would have gave jbridges a run for his money.....fish were all caught off anchor in 20-35ft of water on guess what?.....skipjack.......of course we were using Team Catfish 8/0 double action hooks, #6 Sinker Slides, and Sinker Bumpers......wish I could have broke in my new CatfishSafari fishing rods but the Fed-Ex man got lost and they didn't get here till Sat.

Edited by Southerncats 5/3/2009 11:30 PM

 

 

I got out Friday with Terry Miller from Illinois....Terry is an old pro and has been in the boat with some of the best catfishermen I know including James Patterson, Phil King, Jim Moyer, and Gary Haynes........He was after big cats and was hoping to break his personal best bluecat of 46 pounds.

I thought we was going to be in for a action packed day right off the bat when the first rod went down before I could get the second one baited...that fish turned out to be a 34 pounder, we quickly boated another 24 pounder then things got slow for awhile so we made a move to our second anchor of the day which yielded 3 cats at 76,40, and 75 lbs.....I told terry that it was extremely rare to catch two over 70 in a day and it looked like Terry had a new personal best at 76 pounds.......until we hit our last spot and caught a 51 incher which weighed in at 82 pounds....we caught one more which looked like a basketball that weighed 26 lbs and called it a day.

 

 

 

 

 

Some of you may know but my wife had our first baby girl (notice the outfit we have 3 boys) Wednesday so I was fortunate enough to sneak off and do a trip today that I had previously booked.

I got out with the Treadway's again today, we had a big time day and only missed getting that sought after triple digit by 2 pounds.......The current was really ripping today and some of the places I had been getting bit the fish had moved.....but when we found them today we found them...early on in the morning we doubled up with a 51 and 44 pounder within minutes we had a 23 Lber.....5 more minutes and a 54 pounder in the boat....later on in the day we hit another big time double 62 and 54 pounds....already a great day....Toni "Red" Treadway arrived late in the day and we were hoping to get her a 50+........but little did we know how big her first bite was, this was an epic battle of give and take for 10+ minutes, while she was fighting it another rod went off and that fish was around 30 lbs and it goes straight to tangle up in Red's line.....We got the 30 in front of the net and cut it off and scooped it and quickly unhooked and released it, another 5+ minutes and we have the big beatiful 98 pound blue in the boat....we weighed it several times trying to squeeze a few more pounds, measured it 54 inches x 38.5 inches, took a couple dozen pics on 3 different cameras, and released it back healthy as could be.