Was micro cranking again and thought I stuck a solid bass, turns out it was a scrawny channel cat 17 or 18" long. Pulled pretty hard on a light spinning rod with 6lb test, even jumped! I had never seen a cat jump before that.

nice fish.  And catfish jump all the time.....i have caught them on topwater on my fly rod before when chasing smallies on more than one occasion.

Poor thing was hungry!

Poor thing was hungry!

Yeah he was, but the angle of the photo makes it look a lot worse than it was. I'm not sure why he was skinny, there is plenty of food in the pond.

nice fish.  And catfish jump all the time.....i have caught them on topwater on my fly rod before when chasing smallies on more than one occasion.

Jump while they are hooked?

I have it happen on more than one occasion....is it the norm, nah.

Cool

Jump while they are hooked?

 

The only catfish I've ever had jump during the fight was a small channel cat similar to the one in the photo.  I can't remember for sure, but I think it hit a small Beetle Spin when I was fishing for panfish.

 

Tight lines,

Bob