Childress catfish pay lake

[first2fish]

I WENT TO CATCH SOME CATS ON VACATION THURSDAY. I ONLY CATFISH PROBABLY 4-5 TIMES A YEAR. CHILDRESS LAKES HAS 3 LAKES, FRT LAKE IS THE TROPHY LAKE WITH THE BIG CATS $20.00 TO FISH THE FRT LAKE AND CANT KEEP ANY CATS FROM IT. $15.00 TO FISH THE 2 BACK LAKES. I LIKE TO CATCH THE BIG CATS AND HAVE NOPROBLEM RELEASING THEM BUT THEY ARE VERY PICKY AS TO YOUR EQUIP. TO FISH THE FRONT LAKE. I HAVE A NET THAT WILL HOLD A 50-60 PD. CATFISH AND THEY WOULD NOT ACCEPT THAT SIZE NET. TOLD ME I HAD TO RENT A NET FOR $5 THAT LOOKED LIKE IT WOULD HOLD A 150 PD FISH. ALSO TOLD ME THAT I HAD TO HAVE A LARGE PAIR OF NEEDLENOSE PLIERS TO FISH FRT LAKE. I HAVE A PAIR O NEEDLE NOSE PLIERS BUT NOT A PAIR OF 8-10 INCH PLIERS IN MY TRUCK. I WAS PISSED ABOUT THIS ! MAIN REASON BEING THAT THEY MAKE A LOT OF MONEY ON THOSE PAYLAKES AND SEEM TO BE WORRIED ABOUT THERE BIG CATS. I KNOW FOR A FACT THAT CATFISH CAN SURVIVE FOR AT LEAST A HOUR OUT OF WATER AND ARE ONE OF THE TOUGHEST FISH IN FRESH WATER. I THINK THEY ARE WAY TO PICKY AS TO EQIP. TO BE USED TO FISH THE FRT LAKE ! I WILL NOT GIVE THEM ANY MORE OF MY BUSINESS AND THERE ARE PLENTY OF OTHER PAYLAKES WITH BIG CATS IN THEM IN THIS AREA ! WOULD LOVE TO KNOW WHAT YOU GUYS THINK ABOUT THIS ?

[jlawson435]

used tp fish there but not anymore. did not seem to friendly of folks to me. I ususally fish Gilberts right down the road.

[first2fish]

Gilberts will getting my business from now on !

[riverrat12]

First2fish some of the older cats do stress out easily in the heat and can die if not taken care of. I'm not a fan of any pay lake and I would suggest save your money and by a big cooler of your favorite beverage and head to the river. If you are catch and release any way it won't matter.And believe me some of those lakes that say all there cats are grain fed from such and such..well I fish such and such river and have stocked a few of those so called lakes good luck Chuck

[first2fish]

Your right riverrat ! Theres a lot bigger cats in the river anyway. I usually have good luck at the river no matter what type fish im after. See ya down there sometime maybe. Later jc

[pseshooter09]

They are so picky about the equipment because the big cats have to be returned to the lake and the big cats are easily stressed and will die under a lot of stress...they arent as picky on the top two lakes because those fish are gonna be killed and eatin anyways so they arent worried about the being stressed and dying...childress is by far my favorite paylake in the area and i will be there quite a bit this summer as i was last summer. they are friendly people if you follow the rules...you would be the same way if you owned a business and people didnt follow the rules and you were losing money because of there stupidity. I have never had any problems at this lake.

[PRO V LE]

Just where do you think these big and little catfish come from for these "PAY LAKES" ?
Have you ever seen a commercial fish "rape" on the Ohio river? Just recently the head man of KDFWR John Gasset (sp) said he had no idea that there was such a large interest in the trophy catfishing on the Ohio river.