Another Kind of Catfishing

Another Kind of Catfishing

by Travis Vanhoose

THE BEGINNING.

           It all started over 20 years ago when I was just a young boy. I remember time just dragging bye as I was sitting in school staring out the window day dreaming of my next Catfishing Adventure. Thank god for my papaw Ervin VanHoose. Every weekend that I got to see him he always took me and my brother Bryan fishing. At first it was just to local lakes and rivers. But after a few successful trips to some local paylakes I knew I had found my calling.

          I grew up in Eastern Kentucky and in that area paylakes had been around since back in the 1970's. Some of these lakes my dad and papaw even fished when my dad was a boy. Paylakes have evolved over the years. At first most of the lakes I fished stocked Georgetown Channel Cats. These catfish are farm raised and sold to fish markets and local fish haulers. The fish haulers had paylakes that would stock these catfish 3 to 4 times a week, putting in 500 to 1000 lb of catfish. With the average size being 2 to 3 pounds that's alot of fish. This is the kind of catfishing I grew up on. From the time I was big enough to fish until about the age of 16 I was at many different local paylakes catfishing for channel cats. So many days my mom would get up and take me to the lake, drop me off and I'd tell her to come back in 12 hours and pick me up. And even when she would come back in 12 hours I still didn't wanna go home. Always had that Onemore Cast Saying! As the years went bye I continued to share moments with friends and family that drove me to fish paylakes even more. Not just for the fishing but the friendships and relationships that I grew to love to be around. And most of all the Moments that I will never forget as long as I live. When I was 13 I was at a old paylake in Johnson County Ky. Getting close to when my mom was coming to pick me up. I'm getting nervous cause I don't wanna go home yet...I standing there watching the sunset when on the water I noticed these small bubbles coming up. I thought to my self....what is that? I reeled in my pole and put on a new night crawler. Casted behind the bubbles and started to drag my bait across the bottom. When it got to the spot where the bubbles had been it was like I hit a snag! It just stopped....I instanly jerked........and for a split second it did nothing! Then all of sudden it took off....Ripping drag and bout to pull me in! After loosing my drag and remembering what my papaw always said..."Take your time son, wear him out" Those words echo in my mind. After about 10 mins of fighting this fish I finally seen him! It was a huge Shovelhead Catfish. Thank god someone netted it for me. We got it on the bank and unhooked it....It was the biggest fish I had ever seen....It weighed 66 pounds! Just as soon as we weighted it guess who pulls in to pick me up! My moms first words was "THERE IS NO WAY YOUR MOUNTING THAT!" That is a moment I will always remember! That started what comes next.

PHASE 2!

       

         After catching a 66 pound catfish it all started to change for me. I still wanted to catch fish but I started to search for the big catfish. Most of these lakes stocked big flatheads caught from local rivers and lakes as a added attraction. They even had Jackpot Jars that you could pay $1.00 when you payed to fish to enter in. Every lake was different in how they ran this. Some had Jars that where set up in pound ranges. 20lb-29.15 the next jar would be 30lb-39.15......40lb-49.15 and then a 50lb and over jar. As people payed into these jars they grew. Some lakes would pay out half of the money at the time you hit the jar and other's ran it from Sunday to Sunday. The biggest fish in each slot would win half the money. The smaller jars got hit more and the larger ones always had more money! After hitting a few jars and starting to understand how to win money and catch fish at the same time! I was hooked to paylakin.....The spring of 1999 was when my obsession for Tournament Catfishing at paylakes all started....on 5-8-99 I caught a 29lb 6oz Bluecat. Busted the 20lb-29.15 Jar. Won me enough money to fish on for the next month! Two weeks later. On 5-22-99 I caught a 32.15 lb Bluecat. Again I busted a jar. This time it was the 30lb-39.15 Jar. That won me some more money! For the rest of that summer I fished at Bob's Lake catching catfish and winning small amounts of money. I fished my first $1,000 an hour tournament. That is my favorite kind of tournament to fish! You pay a entry fee of $100 and if 100 people come to fish the tournament that adds up to $10,000 in prize money. Now the way it was ran. Which is the most important issues with this tournament. When you sign up you get a number. When your number is drawn out of a bucket you go pick your spot to fish. After everyone is out. They start it. Each hour the biggest fish gets $600 and the 2nd biggest gets $400. And that is how it goes for 10 hours! So you see if you can just get lucky to win a hour or even a second you are coming out way ahead. And I've seen guys win $5,000 to $6,000 in a day before!! To me that is what really hooked me. 

PAYLAKE MADNESS!!!

With the rolling over of 1999 to 2000 came the explosion of the paylake world! It seemed everywhere I looked new paylakes where opening up and running there own tournaments. I found me and my dad starting to travel hours just to fish at different paylakes. We started tournament fishing every weekend. We would fish at Sky Lake,Lakewood,Sportsmans Choice,John's Creek Paylake and Catfishermans Paradise. As we went along and the years went bye we caught lots of big catfish and won lots of money doing it...and Most of all made some awesome memorys with my dad and friends from all over the mid west. For years I only knew and seen people from different states that I only seen while I was fishing. Still to this day I have friends that I only see when I fishing. It's really like a Brotherhood of what we are known by as "Paylakers" I don't mind that name. Cause I am..I love to paylake. In the summer of 2005 I moved to Central Ohio. As the sport continued to grow I noticed  I lived in the heart of paylake country and noticed as well a oppurtunity for a dvd about Paylakin. Paylake Madness was born. After years of being successful at catching big catfish and winning lots of money doing it. I decided to show others how I do it. In march of 2009 I set out on my mission to film my paylakin trips as they happened...and boy was it a great year. That year alone I caught a 70lb Bluecat,52.4lb Blue,46.2 Shovelhead and many many 20 to 40lbs...All on film and all as it happened. Currently the sport of paylakin is the biggest it has ever been. With in a 3 hour drive they are over 20 paylakes that all have big catfish. I choose to fish the elite group of lakes. Some of these lakes have 50's,60's,70's and even fish over the 80lb mark. Catfishermans Paradise in Camden Ohio stocked a 96lb Blue last spring! Clearwater Paylake stocked a 84lb Blue last summer. To check out even more info on Paylakin...go check out www.paylakemadness.com and order you a copy of Paylake Madness. Then get yourself some 10ft rods with 6500 Abu Garcia's spooled with some 30lb line. And get to a Ohio Paylake and find out what it's like to catch 10 plus fish over 20lb and if your lucky maybe get into the big ones and catch 4 or 5 over 50lb in a day! Hope to see you out there! Good Luck! Fish On!!!!!!

Travis VanHoose

Paylake Madness Founder.