Outdoors - Big blue catfish catch thrills river runners

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers boat ramp at Lock and Dam No. 1 on the Cape Fear River was closed due to the construction of a rock arch rapid. A crane atop a barge lifted enormous boulders and carefully placed them in rows along the face of the dam. Below the heavy construction work, a row of white warning markers kept boaters a safe distance downstream.

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Anthony Sellers caught this blue catfish near Lock and Dam No. 1 on the Cape Fear River using a piece of shad as bait. Photo by Mike Marsh

Once completed, in theory, the rock rows or "vanes" will allow anadromous fish, such as shad and herring, to more easily swim upstream to historic spawning areas.

The fish should be able to rest in the pockets between the vanes, gathering the strength necessary for making the multiple jumps it takes to clear the dam, which has blocked the river for nearly 100 years.

Launching at the ramp maintained by International Paper Company at Riegelwood and heading to the lock and dam at Kings Bluff results in a 7-mile boat ride, compared to

barely wetting the propeller when launching at the ramp beside the lock. The lengthy ride may deter a few fishermen with small boats, but not Donnie Goff and Anthony Sellers who were fishing from a seaworthy skiff. Their boat was the only one remaining in the looming dusk. Other anglers had come and gone, many of them disappointed when they could not catch any shad. Goff and Sellers had caught a shad and were using it as bait to catch another fish.

"I'm taking a break from fishing to go fishing," said Sellers, a commercial fisherman from Hampstead. "A blue catfish is one of the biggest fish in the river and it puts up a good fight."