Jugging anyone?!

Ha ha I NEVER knew what it meant to "go jugging" until a few girls clarified for me at work one day. A co-worker of mine said she planned on going jugging during her vacation and I about lost it. I questioned her to no end on exactly what it is and how it works. I now know what it is and can honestly say, I've never tried this method of fishing.

To those that don't know, jugging means to take a empty jug and put a rope on one end and a hook on the other end. You throw the jug into the water and let it float hoping it'll get a fish.

I don't ever seeing myself do this. I can't stand to regular fish but I have two young children that have an interest in it.

 

We call that a trot line in Alabama, I thought you were going to say that she tied a bunch of jugs together to make a float for herself,lol! I personally have not tried jugging, but have heard from others that they have had success with it! We live in an area that likes to pride itself in the available fishing holes, near Guntersville Alabama! I moved here 20 years ago, and love it! I married a fisherman/ outdorsman, we both love camping on the water here in our area!

 

Actually, the catfish is not going to get into the jug, @campforums. This is basically an advanced version of the one that I said I used with the milk jug and the clothesline rope to catch catfish. The brick they put on sinks the line to the bottom, and the jug holds the line at the top. In between are several baited hooks for the catfish to bite on.

If there were catfish on the line, the jug would move some, but because it is anchored on the bottom of the river with the brick; it is not going to go very far. What I did was similar; but I didn't use a brick; just a sinker on the line and only one hook at the end. The jug floated around; but I had the clothesline rope attached to it, and tied to a sturdy tree branch, so I could reel it in when I caught a catfish.

 

The brick would be heavy enough that the catfish would not be able to drag it very far, if at all, depending on the size of the catfish, and how many were actually on the hooks. If you had several good sized cats on the line; they might actually be able to go a ways with the brick.

The jug would be an indicator of whether or not you have caught a fish (unless the current was too strong and the fish couldn't move the jug. The jug also has another important function in this case; it tells you exactly where your jug-lines are at. That way, when you are checking for fish, and you have several of these set out; you can see them as you row along, and know where you have lines in the water.

 

We live on the Little Kanawa River and ran a trotline for years. We caught catfish and occasionally snapping turtle and gar. The kids loved it as you never knew what was going to come up.

 

When I lived in Missouri, and I was out fishing for catfish, sometimes I would get a snapping turtle on the line, too. Catfish will eat almost any bait, the smellier the better, and I think the turtles have the same mindset. The turtle will just lay on the bottom usually and you drag it in to shore, so it is not swimming and fighting like a fish would do, although they can be feisty when they want to.

Once you haul in the snapping turtle, then the real problem starts. A snapping turtle has to have about the meanest temperament on the planet, and they will certainly attack you if they can! Those ugly puppies can stand straight up on all four legs and march right towards you, hissing and snarling as they get closer to you. There is no good way to get a hook back out of the snapping turtles mouth; so the best you can do is to cut the line from a safe distance and let the turtle loose.

We had a nice little creek just down the road, and I used to lure the snapper into a five gallon bucket, and dump him off at the creek, and hope that he did not know how to find his way back to my little pond. These turtles look like they still belong in the age of the dinosaurs. Here is a little video that shows what a snapping turtle looks like. These are called alligator snapping turtles.