Bankline success w/ pics

Been trying out a line of banklines for the first time this year. I set them out on my weekends and check them every morning. Baits used have been pork liver, bluegill heads, and nightcrawlers, with nightcrawlers having the most success. It's been going well, and the kids love it. We're checking in a kayak, so we get splashed plenty. It's been interesting seening how the river level changes every single day, I don't normally notice it. And I've lost a couple to bank cave ins, which was interesting. Thought I'd share some pictures

I love limb lining . Not sure how much rain you've had , but crawlers are the ticket in areas that have had heavy rains . Well done !

Congratulations on getting out after some fine eating fish ! I remember when both my daughter's were great helpers when they were that age ! Now it's grandkids for me that I hopefully will get them excited about spending more time in the outdoors.
Keep up the good work !
Allan

Drill a hole a couple feet up from the bottom of the bank pole through the PVC and tie a loop of trotline cord onto that. I half hitch a 2" loop in the middle of this cord so it sticks out when I tie this cord tight to the pole. Now you can take another piece of cord and bowline to that loop and tie off to a tree or whatever behind your bank pole so in case the bank does cave in or Moby Dick takes off with your pole it's still attached and you can retrieve it.

Nice job with the little one. Frame that bottom pic and hang it in your office. Time goes by too quickly.

Ah the Big Blue! Try some live sunfish 2-3" long.

That's quite a Little girl !!! AWESOME!

Great family photo. Looks like a great place to raise a family.......jk

Banklining is great for kids. Always catch something!

That's quite a Little girl !!! AWESOME!

Great picture!
We used a few ways to catch catfish with bank lines.
One was a throw line. One end tied to some thing solid on the bank. A length of line that held 6 or 7 hooks some distance apart so they would not tangle with each other and then a good stout anchor on the end.
We used window weights for anchors. From the bank, we just stretched the baited line and tossed the weight. From a boat, it would be easier.
This would be like a small trotline.
Worms make great bait unless you are fishing in daytime and the water contains many panfish. The panfish will eat your bait in daylight and not get caught on large catfish hooks.
we used to bait with large minnows, crawfish and cutbait.
Those baits, at times produce large snapping turtles as well.
Great to see a dad taking his young girl with him. A couple of ladies and girls I know can out hunt and out fish some of the fellers i run with.
I have taught some of them. It's a satisfying feeling.

Good job. The flatheads otta start here any time. Like Gary said, Put some live feesh on them, and get ready for some reall good eating. Bullheads were always my go to for flattys, they are tough and live forever on a hook! I used to fish the blue down here, when I lived in Manhattan. Caught some big ones out of the blue and Ks rivers. Good luck!

Live bait seems to work best around here. Have you tried hot dogs?
just

This!!

And good job!

Thanks for posting. That story reminds me of my pre-teen years when I was running bank lines in the White River about 4 miles down river from Clarendon Arkansas. Best baits for me in those days were crawfish, baby 'grinnel' (bowfin), and chunks of white P&G soap. There were no flood control dams on the river then and my dad's quarter section of bottom land would become completely submerged in the Spring floods some years. Our house was elevated about 5 feet above ground on cypress blocks. Checking a trotline in our yard one Spring day I had caught two cottonmouth moccasins. They were about 3-1/2 feet long and with hooks in their mouths both had drowned in the currents. I cut off those two drop hooks without removing them from the snakes.

Used to be, fish could only get up the Big Blue out of Tuttlecreek as far as Marysville, but that dam washed out a couple years ago. Now they can get to the Barneston dam, and to Fairbury up the Little Blue.

Dad always said Bluebarrel soap. I never ever got a bite on the stuff.
just

One sport I can't partake in here in northern Wisconsin. Looks like fun and has some parallels to trapping!
Nice photos!

Chris

Can someone explain why catfish would be attracted to soap?

Kansas used to be legal to trotline in lakes. Dunno if it still is? That could be fun.

Tuttle creek used to be fun to run big trotlines in, but I haven't fished it in years. Lots of feesh in it, but lots of anthrazine and other bad stuff too. All that farm runnoff from up in the Ne corn country! They recommend, last I heard, to not eat the fish out of tuttle more than once a month. It's a crying shame!

I've heard the same about the feesh Loosgoose is catching. DDT residue from days gone by.

Perhaps the good stuff is made from lard. ???
just

I seen some guy catch a good mess on lye soap. There is recipes on the internet for it

That Zote soap is pretty dandy too. It is made from lard. caught many a blue cat on it down this way.

Im partial to live bait. I had my mouth soaped plenty enough when I was a kid!

The state fishing guidelines say you can't use live bait (which would include sunfish) that didn't originate in the body of water being used. Obviously all the local lakes where I could go catch some bluegill drain into the river, so in my mind they're all the same body of water, but I need to contact a CO to confirm.

Not entirely true. If you read the guidelines sports fish can be used if they're purchased from a licensed bait seller. There's one here in town if you don't know where he is hit me up. You simply have to have a receipt that shows you purchased the bluegill. Some guys purchase bluegill at the start of the year and that dozen magically lasts the entire summer.

I think the regulation is in place to prevent an invasive species from being introduced and becoming a problem in a body of water. A common sense warden probly wouldnt give you a bad time about using sunfish for bait in the Blue. Also, you couldn't legally have more of that baitfish in a bucket than the daily bag limit would be, which is 15 sunfish in NE I believe. I like Green Sunfish, which is different than Bluegill, but many ppl call sunfush bluegill. Green Sunfish are hardier and will stay alive much longer than a bluegill or hybrid bluegill.

That's really cool. Your daughter is adorable..

I've never seen a live hot dog.

They call them weiner dogs.

LOL

LOL