Catfish fishing during the full moon and darkness.

June 2010...
Once again we are heading off into the distance. After a month's break without fishing, the feeling was, as always, simply great.
We agreed to meet at the river, where, after arriving at the place with Andre, I had already unpacked my fishing rod in anticipation of Kosta and Valera and tried in vain to catch the first catfish of June.

So, there were four of us: Valera, Kosta, me and Andre, who accompanied us with a video camera and wanted to fish for carp on the side.
The chosen fishing spot was quite busy. Athletes and locals with dogs were constantly walking past us, and there was a lot of activity on the water - like Venice.
Boats, kayaks, excursion boats, yachts and ships plowed through the water every minute. But we had a few tricks up our sleeves.

Each location requires a special strategy and adjustments in assembly.
We quickly sounded out the depth, placed a marker for Andre at a promising spot for carp, and fed him with boilies, dog food and groundbait.
Then we immediately started catching bait fish. The whole day was spent in futile attempts to catch at least a small bream.

The first day and night were fruitless. The carp rigs remained untouched.
Only I managed to catch a bream with a boilie in combination with fish pellets.

The next morning – shopping! Food and then the exhausting search for shops that still had bait fish.
After searching the whole area, Andre finally found some crucian carp in a fishing shop that were worth their weight in gold to us.
We did a bit of tapping with Clonk and brought some small catfish into the boat.
In the evening we started to spread the Welson days.

The first bites soon followed!
Before sunset we caught a few catfish with the catfish rigs

An evening bite on the fairway with an underwater float rig brought me a nice catfish.

My big bream with boilie brought success!

In the following days we struggled with the weather and natural phenomena.

The full moon was accompanied by an eclipse. The weather changed several times a day: burning sun alternated with rain and hurricane-force winds. You could experience August and November in one day!
We did not give up and constantly adapted to the conditions.
We also had to contend with an incredible number of missed bites!
The bait fish were constantly running out and we had to go out and get more.

On one rig I registered 7 bites in one day, but not a single bearded predator got caught on the hook. And that was not an isolated case!

The clothes were gradually smeared with catfish slime.

The supply of fresh clothes was running low - we had to crawl into the sleeping bag in dirty, wet clothes.
We could have taken our clothes off, but the thought: “What if the camera is on?” kept coming back to us.
Every time the bell rang, Andrei had his camera ready. In short, you had to be in shape!

After a few days, a strange smell began to bother us.

We found the source: in the bushes behind the path lay a dead catfish about 1.5 meters long.
It turned out that the carp anglers we had replaced at this spot were throwing caught catfish into the bushes. These "catch and release" propagandists with double standards!!!

Kosta tied a cloth around himself and dug in the carcass with a shovel.
I filmed the process and promised into the camera: “We'll do the same with the carp!” A joke, of course. For us, every fish deserves respect.

Andre, an enthusiastic carp angler, could not stand aside.

He was promised the first catfish – and soon he held his first catfish in his hands.
"Now I want a big catfish!" he announced as he released it. It had grabbed him.

We hardly slept the whole time.

We fought against the thief catfish that either stole the bait fish or bit them to death!
But every day, despite many failures, we managed to land some catfish.

On the last evening I brought the assembly to the opposite bank.

Exhausted, sunburnt and ruffled by the wind, we caught several beautiful catfish!

In the morning I experienced an epic fight: the catfish had become entangled in the branches and I pulled it together with a branch on the braided line.

At the edge of the boat I noticed that the carabiner was barely holding, but I still got the catfish into the dinghy!

The result: In 3.5 days – 16 catfish and 11 of them were mine!

Despite the full moon, darkness and unpredictable weather, we learned:
There is a way out of every situation. There is no such thing as bad weather! You just have to be on the water and adapt to the conditions.

On the last day, Andre improved his personal catfish record.

The next fishing trip is not far away!

Vitali Dalke