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Post by flathead1802 on May 24, 2013 21:15:55 GMT -5
I was down by the dam last weekend and was marking a lot of fish right on the bottom at 125'. We couldn't get a bite on anything. We tried jigging, worms, shrimp, and anything that would go down that deep. Does anyone know what kind of fish we may have been seeing on the fish finder?
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Post by CorneliaGale on May 24, 2013 22:43:26 GMT -5
I really doubt there was anything down that deep in the lake.
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Post by 2 oars & a trash can on May 25, 2013 8:20:50 GMT -5
what happened was a catfish interbred with a musky during an extreme electrical storm. The resulting sub-species has never actually been seen except on sonar. They are rumored to be as big as 18-wheelers and subsist only on vegetation and canadian geese.
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Post by CorneliaGale on May 26, 2013 9:19:30 GMT -5
Most of the people who fish the lake have heard the story about the giant cats in SML.
Seems like the bunch of divers that APCO hired to go down and clean the intakes on the turbines saw a bunch of large catfish and would not go back down there. They claimed the cats were longer than they were tall and had mouths a man could fit into. They claimed that when APCO reversed the turbines and sucked water out of Leesville into SML the big cats went to the intakes which now was exhaust and just open their mouths and eat the baitfish that came up thru the turbines. I first heard this years ago, so who knows. I don't think they use divers to go down there anymore.
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Post by jb4sml on May 26, 2013 17:41:14 GMT -5
I don't think that the dam is the only thing that is DEEP... Just my opinion...
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Post by CorneliaGale on May 29, 2013 21:54:23 GMT -5
Heck, I've heard the story since I was a teenager, bunch of guys used to hang out in Mc Carty's Hardware in Vinton told the story. They all swore it was the truth.
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Post by mytoyzfishing on May 29, 2013 22:01:58 GMT -5
Ive seen some big cats pulled from the dam. A guy I have fished with set up a RC boat with a servo and attaches his line. Drops the RC boat on the other side of the bouys and drives it close to the dam then release's the line via the servo sending it to the bottom. Pretty neat to watch. He's pulled some big Cats up doing this
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Post by ray on May 30, 2013 15:50:44 GMT -5
I heard the same tale years ago. A couple years back had a fella tell me about a man that took him catfishing at the dam. Said it was back when you could get on the "catwalk " on the damn. Said the guy handed him an ocean reel with a huge rod, had him set in a special made chair which he strapped to the catwalk, My friend said he told the guy he done went nutz. Then the fella haited the rod with a 2 lb. shad and told him to lower it to the bottom. After bout an hour he said he got a run the man made him wait til it stopped then took off again at which point he told him to hit'em hard. My friend swore if it were not for the straps the fish would have jerk him off the catwalk. Ended up the fish dove down and got hung up and they has to cut the line. He claimed the fella had an underwater video camera that he lowered to the depth the fish was, went back to the guys house and watched it and claims he only could make out bits and oieces of it but from what he saw it was a catfish big as he was tall, said it's eyes looked big as tennis balls. Now I can't confirm nor deny this tale, but have known my friend a good while and always considered him to be a straight shooter. And think about it, have any of yall watched MUDCATS, A 65 lb flathead looks nearly big as a man. I guess it's possible. Watched a friend on Smith one day told me he bet is was a bass by that log, he liketa crapped his pants when that log swam off. That I did see. I looked to be 4-5 ft. long, Guess it was a big flathead. May have been offspring from the one on the back of that old chevy. ;D
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Post by Deleted on May 30, 2013 22:52:06 GMT -5
An old boy I know told me one time he caught a 70lb.- 5 ft. long flathead under the railroad bridge up hardy way...... told him that wasn't shat....that I was fishing under that RR bridge one time, got snagged on something, pulled it in, and it was an old RR lantern with the date 1898 on it....... and...... it was still burning. He said I was damn liar......told him, tell ya what...you knock off about 40lb and a foot and a half off that flathead, and I'll turn that lantern off I snagged. ;D
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Post by bigjon on May 31, 2013 6:20:53 GMT -5
Leo has told me that divers at the dam story since I was a kid except he always uses carp in the story and always has a glimmer in his eyes. ;D Moosies has the last pic taken of a giant catfish at the dam but they can't hang it, the picture weighs 265lb.  |
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Post by 2 oars & a trash can on May 31, 2013 7:18:06 GMT -5
Leo has told me that divers at the dam story since I was a kid except he always uses carp in the story and always has a glimmer in his eyes. ;D Moosies has the last pic taken of a giant catfish at the dam but they can't hang it, the picture weighs 265lb. There have been more than a couple late nights I have seen things considerably larger than 265 lbs hanging from the wall at Moosies.  |
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Post by slammer on May 31, 2013 13:08:23 GMT -5
;D Just about every lake that has a dam has the same story about the divers that went down and will not go back because of the huge fish down there! An urban legend if you ask me. Pretty sure too that those were not fish that flathead was marking at 125 feet. I would be willing to bet that the fish ID feature (fish symbols) was being used and the sonar unit was marking brush or something else as fish when it really wasnt fish at all. I am no biologist but I am willing to bet that NOTHING lives in the DEEP water at the dam due to oxygen levels etc..
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Post by flathead1802 on Jun 6, 2013 20:19:02 GMT -5
Where did this thread go? I don't know what you guys are talking about but my Lowrance Gen II indicated a lot of fish on or near the bottom by that little island between 120' & 125' deep. I don't buy those stupid huge catfish stories because I have been a SCUBA diver for over 45 years and have done some diving right near that same area as well as many lakes and rivers all over the eastern US.
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Post by Red Bear on Jun 7, 2013 13:03:03 GMT -5
Where did this thread go? I don't know what you guys are talking about but my Lowrance Gen II indicated a lot of fish on or near the bottom by that little island between 120' & 125' deep. I don't buy those stupid huge catfish stories because I have been a SCUBA diver for over 45 years and have done some diving right near that same area as well as many lakes and rivers all over the eastern US. isnt it a bit too dangerous to dive that deep at SML? thats what ive read. between the trees that you could get tangled in and the visibility of the water that deep... is it possible you just picked up some static or something? |
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Post by flathead1802 on Jun 7, 2013 16:52:38 GMT -5
Diving is always dangerous. You have to hit the weather conditions just right and carry a good light to get any good visibility at SML. I try to stay away from areas with a lot of trees. It's usually the crap man throws in that will get you; fishing line, hooks, glass, barbed wire, etc. That's why I like deep water. The shallow water is full of junk people toss in. I don't know what was on my chart. Just a whole lot of small fish symbols until I moved 100 yards or so. I had it set on fish symbols, not arches. I'm no pro but I know what a fish symbol looks like. I've seen them on car trunks!
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