Photo courtesy ERIC FINCHER Eric Fincher of Mt. Pleasant landed the 89-pound state record blue catfish from Badin Lake in 2006.

During recent years, Lake Norman, a member of the Catawba River chain of lakes and Badin Lake, a member of the Yadkin River chain of lakes, have emerged as the state’s premier reservoirs for trophy blue catfish.

The two lakes have yielded state-record blues with Badin recently usurping the title from Norman with an 89-pound blue taken in 2006 by Mt. Pleasant’s Eric Fincher, a carpet technician, who landed the big fish while trolling for striped bass with live shiners.

Fincher’s fish toppled the previous state-record blue of 85 pounds taken from Norman in 2004 by Joel Lineberger of Long Island, who was fishing within view of his home.

Lineberger’s fish had eclipsed the old record blue catfish of 83 pounds taken from Badin Lake in 2003 by Concord’s Andy Richmond.

Turnabout is fair play, and Badin Lake reclaimed the title for the state-record blue with Fincher’s trophy fish.

While Norman’s smaller neighbor out west, 3,235-acre Mountain Island Lake, has also established itself as another hot spot for big blues, another Yadkin River lake, 5,260acre Lake Tillery, situated in Stanly and Montgomery counties, has emerged as a big blue catfish producer with limited fanfare.

Last winter, Robert Tomasek of White Wolf Guide Service decided to sample the fishing at Tillery for winter blues and show a visiting writer just how good it could be.

Tomasek’s job with the Charlotte Mecklenburg County Sheriff’s Department allows him to fish during morning hours before he has to leave for work in the afternoon.

For that reason, Tomasek, who’s been guiding for cats at Tillery for about four years, said we should meet at 3 a.m. at the Highway 24/27 landing at the Progress Energy lake.

During an earlier phone conversation he some of his best catches had taken place when he had to clear ice off the seats of his boat.

“The best time to catch blues at Tillery is from December through March,” he said. “That’s when the big ones hit.”

That morning when I left Lexington for Tillery, I hoped Tomasek would arrive at the landing before I did so he could wipe the ice off the seats of his boat. It was that cold.

After I turned off River Road onto N.C. 24/27/73, I couldn’t see the landing, which was shrouded in darkness, although I knew its location would be on my left.

Finally, an isolated street light gave me bearings, and I turned onto the landing where a lone boat slowly idled towards shore.

Tomasek hailed me, and yes, the boat seats were free of ice.

Our first task was to catch 4- to 5-inch gizzard shad for bait, not an easy undertaking at Tillery, which unlike High Rock Lake, isn’t blessed with an overabundance of shad.

“There are two places where you can catch shad fairly consistently at this lake,” said Tomasek as we slowly motored out from the landing amidst the biting cold. “One place is at the southern end of the lake, and fortunately for us, the other is right here near the landing.”

After flinging his cast net into several small pockets near the landing, Tomasek eventually collected enough shad for the outing.

We slowly putted out to the main body and headed upriver towards Morrow Mountain State Park with the boat lights, residential lights, and random pier lights illuminating the way along the highly-developed shoreline.

As we gradually made our way upriver amidst the numbing stillness, Tomasek indicated the types of places we would try for blues.

“During the winter months, the blues move upriver,” he said. “They like a hard bottom and clear water. Unlike High Rock, Tillery remains clear throughout most of the year, even the upriver section.

“We’re going to try outside bends in the river and deep holes along the river bed plus flats and ledges near deep water.

“Blue cats move around a lot and hold in 12 to 30 feet of water. Current makes the fish move shallower. The more current the better. If there’s current, the water color doesn’t matter that much. Otherwise, blues prefer clear water.”

The first place we tried was a deep hole where Tomasek anchored before setting out five 7 1/2-foot casting rods with reels spooled with 25- to 30-pound-test monofilament line to which he would add a Carolina rig.

The weights for his Carolina rigs vary from 1 1/2 to 4 ounces, depending upon the depth and current. The greater the depth and stronger the current, the heavier the weight.

For his Carolina rigs, he used leaders consisting of 30-pound-test line and at the ends of the leaders, he tied Eagle Claw L42 No. 4/0 hooks.

“I use circle hooks when I’m fishing heavy cover, but I’m not using them today,” he said.

After cutting the bait into three segments, he uses the bloodier portions, the midsections and the heads, running the hook through the bait to make it hold fast. The tails are usually discarded.

While flatheads prefer live bait, blues will hit live and cut bait, yet the bait must be fresh. Once the bait becomes discolored from use, it should be replaced.

With darkness slowly giving way to daylight, I noticed something peculiar about Tomasek’s rod arrangement. He had rod-holders mounted at the back and sides of his boat, but the rods rested free from the holders.

“The rod-holders are mostly decorative,” he said smiling. “I don’t use them any more. I found I couldn’t react quickly enough to set the hook with the rods in the holders.

“If a big blue hits, the fish can put so much pressure on the rods, it can be difficult to release them from the rod-holders.”

Tomasek anticipated my next question.

“I've only lost two rods and reels fishing this way,” he said. “I lost one to a big striper, the other to a big flathead.”

The other oddity I couldn’t help but notice was the enormous size of his net.

“This net can probably hold a 100-pound fish,” he said. “You never know what you’re going to hook into when you’re fishing for big cats. I’ve been catfishing since 1994, and the fishing keeps getting better.

“The blues at Tillery used to run from 10 to 20 pounds. In the past few years, 30- and 40-pound blues have become fairly common in this stretch of the lake. My biggest blue went 65 pounds. You need a big net.”

As a further indication of the winter catfishing at Tillery, this past February the N.C. Catfish Association Tournament Series visited the lake for one of its events.

Joe Montaigne of Statesville and Chris Kerley of Troutman won the event with a five-fish catch totaling 80.15 pounds with the Mt. Holly team of Chris and Jim Fraley in second place weighing in 72.40 pounds.

The Fraleys also had the big fish of the day with a hefty 51.05-pound blue catfish.

At first, nothing took our baits that morning as Tomasek tried different areas upriver. Then one of the rods took a plunge.

“It’s a good fish,” Tomasek said as he began reeling the belligerent fish towards the boat.

Then the hook slipped free.

“That was at least a 20-pound fish,” he said. “I don’t know why the hook came out. Big blues usually engulf a bait. They don’t nibble.

“If a fish gets free, it’s often because the line breaks rubbing against the rocks. A lot of fishermen don’t realize how powerful these blues can be. They can snap a line in a heart beat.”

Tomasek said blue catfish travel in small packs, but the bigger ones are loners. Once the water temperature warms, blues spread out and become hard to locate.

“That’s why winter is a better time for blues, although they are caught year-round,” he said. “After the water warms, it’s better to try for something else, like flatheads at Badin. Tillery has flatheads as well, but Badin is better for bigger flatheads. The flathead fishing at Badin is really good from May through June.”

The morning hours passed, and the day slowly warmed, but the bites didn’t come despite motoring to several more key areas. To make matters worse, a stiff breeze began blowing which made anchoring almost impossible.

Tomasek let the boat drift slowly with the anchor dragging along the rugged bottom.

The wind finally took us close to where the Uwharrie River empties into Lake Tillery, a short distance from the Morrow Mountain State Park landing.

Suddenly, one of the rods buckled.

Tomasek grabbed the rod and buried the hook.

“This is the one we’ve fished all day for,” he said. “It’s a grown one.”

Each time Tomasek pumped the rod forward, the fish moved backwards. The strong wind didn’t help, either.

The struggle ensued with the fish mostly getting its way until the big blue decided to change directions and swim our way. Its own momentum helped us get the gigantic fish into the net.

Tomasek estimated the fish would weigh close to 50 pounds.

Fortunately, I had my camera handy so the big blue was captured on film, then released into Tillery to fight another day.

Tomasek tried drifting through the area again, but the winds were gusting and churning Tillery into a white froth, making additional passes impossible.

He had no choice but to call it quits.

During our return to the landing, Tomasek informed me about his catfish guide service.

“I guide mainly in the mornings because of my job,” he said. “I’ll take two clients out at a time if they wish.

“I like to go after big cats rather than numbers of cats. That’s why I don’t fish too many catfish tournaments. Tournament fishing is a numbers game, and I’d rather get a couple of bites from trophy blues than a lot of bites from smaller fish.

“But I’ll make adjustments for my clients.”

In addition to catfish, Tomasek guides for striped bass at the Yadkin River chain of lakes.

For fishermen suffering from the winter blues, there’s no better way to remedy the situation than to hook into one of Lake Tillery’s trophy catfish.

Tomasek’s got the net for the job if you’ve got the time.