What Other Ways And Places Can You Fish Yo-Yos

EDITOR'S NOTE: A couple of years ago I fished with Billy Blakely, a guide at Reelfoot Lake's Bluebank Resort in Tiptonville, Tenessee, and his roommate, Eric Ving, and learned about fishing with Yo-Yos for catfish.

Yo-Yo fishing will produce catfish on almost any lake, river or stream in the nation. You can fish Yo-Yos for catfish in the South when the temperature soars over 100 degrees or through the ice in the North in winter's below-freezing temperatures.

You'll also take numbers of catfish when you fish Yo-Yos with jugs. By tying the Yo-Yo onto the neck of the jug, pulling out the amount of line you want to fish with and setting the trigger on the Yo-Yo, you drastically increase your odds for catching cats with jugs. Instead of the cat's having to set the hook itself, when a catfish takes the bait, it trips the trigger on the Yo-Yo, and the Yo-Yo sets the hook. As the cat pulls against the jug, the Yo-Yo acts as a drag system, forcing the cat to pull against the spring on the Yo-Yo before it pulls the jug under the water.

Often when you catch a cat on a jug, and the fish swims up close to the surface, the hook may fall out of its mouth since the line no longer has constant pressure on it. But Yo-Yos solve this problem. Also when you use the Yo-Yo, it pulls the cat up and close to the surface instead of letting the fish pull the line down and get under stumps, logs and grass as they normally will on jugs. The stainless-steel spring on the Yo-Yo prevents the device from rusting. If you add a Yo-Yo rather than having a straight line on your jugs, you can expect your catch ratio to increase 50 to 80 percent.

You also can fish Yo-Yos effectively around docks at night. Simply tie the Yo-Yo onto the dock to allow it to fish all day or all night while you do something else. If a catfish takes the bait, the Yo-Yo will set the hook and play your cat until you return to the dock to get the fish.

To learn more about Yo-Yos, contact Mechanical Fisher, P.O. Box 1170, Diamond City, AR 72630; (870) 422-7715. For more information on BlueBank Resort, write Rt. 1, Box 970, Tiptonville, TN 38079; (901) 253-6878.

Tomorrow: Combo Boat Fishing