First cast.  ‘Bbbbrrrrrrzzzpppt”. My drag got to work. I thought I was gonna be posting up a DD pic.  The fish came up fast and hard and I thought it was going to jump. Nope. It just swirled huge. Swirled?  Bass don’t normally swirl.  I work it towards my kayak and my hook popped out. I run my bait back down the line and reset it.   I lost the next 6 bass!  Haha. I looked at my hook, and I didn’t notice the first mystery fish tweaked my hook a bit. It was too dimly lit for me to notice. I put on fresh stuff and went back to work. I got three modest bass. 
 

im fishing thin wire hooks. I was unwise not to closely check my hook.  Duh!    I then hooked another cat. This time I recognized the pull without head shakes. I played it into my lap. 12lb!   I let it clamp down on my thumb hard while I tried to take a pic.  It squirmed free and I think we both got a laugh out of it.  The cats were crazy today. My poor rod   they wouldn’t leave me alone.   I never redeemed a five bass limit.  Grrrr   
 

bass pics later if they don’t suck.  

IMO catfish fight harder than bass so if you're not keeping fish what's not to like?

Cats are a blast to wrestle with especially in the river current, i always play the big girls by loosening the drag and let them run because i catch 99% of them fishing for walleye using 1/8 oz jigs and they do bend the hook on those.

Catch most of my cats when the wife and are looking to fill the frying pan with bluegill.

We're throwing nightcrawlers and always catch a few nice cats.

Yes, they go into the frying pan as well and are a top 5 fish as dinner fare. Imo