Catfish Tournament at Twin Bridges

DavidB · Sep 7, 2009

I'm new to this board and after reading several posts about pay lakes, I decided to take a ride to Twin Bridges Lake this afternoon. I fished there several times the past couple of summers and had little success.

I spoke at length with the owner ( he's owned the lake since 1982!) and found out that he is starting the Friday and Saturday night tourneys again. He said he stocked a bunch of big ones several weeks ago, 2,000 lbs. of big ones about 2 weeks ago, and 3,000 lbs. of eating sized channel cats just this past Thursday. Anyway the pot will be $20 per person in addition to $10 to fish. Tourney will be from 7PM to 7AM. Big fish takes the pot.

No this isn't an advertisement, I just hope some of you guys come out so one of us can win a big pot!

bassmassey · Sep 7, 2009

next time ya talk to him you should ask him who he buys his fish from.

Jeff C. · Sep 7, 2009

Welcome aboard!

Steve78 · Sep 7, 2009

bassmassey said:
next time ya talk to him you should ask him who he buys his fish from.

I know back in the day, he got them from someone who would get them from the Tennessee River.

DavidB · Sep 7, 2009

He told me that the channel cats came from a fish farm and the big blues and flathead's came from Santee Cooper. I didn't ask who actually supplied them since I figured it was none of my business.

The biggest surprise to me was that he has owned the lake since 1982. I've heard so many stories over the past 15 or so years and as it turns out none of the " owners " over the years actually owned the place. They just ran the bait shop, in effect, employees of the owner as far as I can tell. Apparently the last couple of guys pretty much ran the place into the ground. As I told the owner, I would like to see the place make a comeback, as there aren't many places where you can take anyone from young children to serious fishermen and catch some fish to eat or tangle with a monster cat.

I know a lot of guys don't like the concept, but consider the fact that most people don't have the money to own a boat or have the time or knowledge to go to the places where these large cats are found naturally. I used to own a boat and spent a lot of time and money chasing stripers on Lanier. I loved it and miss it. Unfortunately, circumstances forced me to sell the boat. Although pay lake fishing may be a sorry substitute in others eyes, I would be grateful just to have a place like this to go when I can while I keep dreaming about the possibility of ever owning another boat.

Tim L · Sep 8, 2009

Twin Bridges has been a popular lake in Gwinnett for a long time; very well stocked bait shop. Only thing I would say is if a person has never fished there, be sure you know what your fishing for. It's full of catfish of all sizes; also a fair number of carp. But if your going there to fish for bream or bass your likely be disappointed; it's defineately a catfish/carp lake in that order.

Steve78 · Sep 8, 2009

Rouster said:
Twin Bridges has been a popular lake in Gwinnett for a long time; very well stocked bait shop. Only thing I would say is if a person has never fished there, be sure you know what your fishing for. It's full of catfish of all sizes; also a fair number of carp. But if your going there to fish for bream or bass your likely be disappointed; it's defineately a catfish/carp lake in that order.

When I used to fish there it was run by Bob Marshall, he knew what he was doing too. He was in several catfishing magazines back in the 90's, he had that place fishing awesome, then somebody else took over who did not have a clue about anything. Now I can't think of the guy who runs it now, a very nice man, drives a red van. The owner is indian or something, and I don't mean American either, but anyways a super nice guy also. As far as bass fishing back then there were some nice sized bass in there and caught alot of good crappie while bait fishing. We used to put a line through in between the boards on the bridge and carefully pull them out. Good luck to everyone out there, I have been hearing alot of good things about Twin Bridges and its nice to see it coming back like it was in its hey day. Guess I'm gonna have to respool my catfish rods and get my butt back out there and wear them out like I used too. :biggrin2:

Dan the Man · Sep 9, 2009

Twin Bridges

I fished there quite a bit over the past 2 years. I live in a subdivision right down the street. Got to know the 2 guys who ran the bait shop pretty well Mark(Mo) & Bruce. Nice old school guys. In effort to try and spruce things up a bit I offered to upgrade their rules and regs sign on the front of the bait shop this past spring. I did it for free and got some nice fishing comp time for it! The owner and his employees have always been super nice to me. And I even buy my bait there when I'm not fishing that lake, just because of the convenience factor. (And because they are the only place in town open @ 5-6am on weekend when I need some trout bait to hit the river). I have caught my fair share of medium and large cats, but when Mark and Bruce left there was a bit of a lull in productive fishing, not sure it was stocked all that well throughout this past spring/summer. But apparently they've stocked it well in recent weeks and are doing a bang up job trying to clean-up and make it a nice little spot. I like the idea of doing the fri or sat night tourneys... I'd drop $10 or $20 once in a while for the chance to win a big pot.

Oh, and just to reiterate the species comments from earlier, you will not find a bass in that pond! I have walked around the entire bank more than a dozen times and slung every kind of plastic, rapala, swim bait, and top water imaginable, and never so much as got a hit. Out of 30-40 trips out there, I've seen 1 bass in the entire pond. It was only 8-9 inches long, and it had tried to swallow a bream that was stuck sidewayes in it's mouth and it was struggling to swim and breathe as the fins from the bluegill were all mangled in his gills. I netted him out of the water from the bank did emergency surgery removing the still living bluegill and threw them both back in the water. Hoping to come back and catch him when he gets a little bigger, but it's never happened. They had a tree fall this past year in the back left corner and I thought that might provide some nice structure for some bass to gather, but nothing so far.

However a small roostertail (1/16 or 1/24) from nearly any spot on the bank will get you some bluegill/bream. Trust me, that's how I get my bait for the big cats.

Otherwise your best best for that pond is livers/shrimp or large nightcrawlers on large circle hooks for the catfish.

I have, on 2 occassions, reeled in a modest size carp 2-3 lbs. Once on a worm with a small hook and once with a small ball of dough bait on the bottom.

My 2 year stats in that pond are something like:

60-70 Cats ranging from 1/2lb. up to 20lbs.
100 or more bream (threw the big ones back, and kept the small ones for bait)
5 or 6 warmouths
2 Carp 2-3 lbs
1 bullfrog

Haven't been a in a while, but perhaps now that the heat is dying down, I'll go some this fall. I wouldn't mind meeting up with a few of you fellows and working up some healthy competition for a winner takes the pot deal. Here's a couple photos from a Twin bridges overnighter last fall.

DavidB · Sep 9, 2009

Dan, you truely are the man!. I was over there today and happened to take a long look at the regs sign. It looks very professional. Truth be told he needs you to make some more in Spanish for all the customers who don't comprende. By the way, he's starting the tournament Friday. $20 gets you in. If there's not enough turnout, he's going to return everyone's money. Hopefully that doesn't happen!

Chris S. · Sep 9, 2009

Did you eat the carp? :hair:

Dan the Man · Sep 10, 2009

Chris S. said:
Did you eat the carp?

I actually did. Wasn't as bad as it's reputation. At that size it wasn't too tough, etc...

Dan the Man · Sep 10, 2009

DavidB said:
Dan, you truely are the man!. I was over there today and happened to take a long look at the regs sign. It looks very professional. Truth be told he needs you to make some more in Spanish for all the customers who don't comprende. By the way, he's starting the tournament Friday. $20 gets you in. If there's not enough turnout, he's going to return everyone's money. Hopefully that doesn't happen!

Thanks DavidB... & yes, I was gonna do a smaller version in Spanish for inside the bait shop... still waiting on the translations.

Oh man, friday is bad for me. I actually am going up to Boggs Creek to camp out & try and take advantage of the last trout stocking of the season from just before labor day. But I may try to make it over to Twin Bridges Sat night?

Tim L · Sep 10, 2009

Dan the Man said:
I fished there quite a bit over the past 2 years. I live in a subdivision right down the street. Got to know the 2 guys who ran the bait shop pretty well Mark(Mo) & Bruce. Nice old school guys. In effort to try and spruce things up a bit I offered to upgrade their rules and regs sign on the front of the bait shop this past spring. I did it for free and got some nice fishing comp time for it! The owner and his employees have always been super nice to me. And I even buy my bait there when I'm not fishing that lake, just because of the convenience factor. (And because they are the only place in town open @ 5-6am on weekend when I need some trout bait to hit the river). I have caught my fair share of medium and large cats, but when Mark and Bruce left there was a bit of a lull in productive fishing, not sure it was stocked all that well throughout this past spring/summer. But apparently they've stocked it well in recent weeks and are doing a bang up job trying to clean-up and make it a nice little spot. I like the idea of doing the fri or sat night tourneys... I'd drop $10 or $20 once in a while for the chance to win a big pot.

Oh, and just to reiterate the species comments from earlier, you will not find a bass in that pond! I have walked around the entire bank more than a dozen times and slung every kind of plastic, rapala, swim bait, and top water imaginable, and never so much as got a hit. Out of 30-40 trips out there, I've seen 1 bass in the entire pond. It was only 8-9 inches long, and it had tried to swallow a bream that was stuck sidewayes in it's mouth and it was struggling to swim and breathe as the fins from the bluegill were all mangled in his gills. I netted him out of the water from the bank did emergency surgery removing the still living bluegill and threw them both back in the water. Hoping to come back and catch him when he gets a little bigger, but it's never happened. They had a tree fall this past year in the back left corner and I thought that might provide some nice structure for some bass to gather, but nothing so far.

However a small roostertail (1/16 or 1/24) from nearly any spot on the bank will get you some bluegill/bream. Trust me, that's how I get my bait for the big cats.

Otherwise your best best for that pond is livers/shrimp or large nightcrawlers on large circle hooks for the catfish.

I have, on 2 occassions, reeled in a modest size carp 2-3 lbs. Once on a worm with a small hook and once with a small ball of dough bait on the bottom.

My 2 year stats in that pond are something like:

60-70 Cats ranging from 1/2lb. up to 20lbs.
100 or more bream (threw the big ones back, and kept the small ones for bait)
5 or 6 warmouths
2 Carp 2-3 lbs
1 bullfrog

Haven't been a in a while, but perhaps now that the heat is dying down, I'll go some this fall. I wouldn't mind meeting up with a few of you fellows and working up some healthy competition for a winner takes the pot deal. Here's a couple photos from a Twin bridges overnighter last fall.

So Mark and Bruce are really gone and Bruce is no longer the owner?

DavidB · Sep 10, 2009

Bruce never owned Twin Bridges, he just managed the place.

Dan the Man · Sep 10, 2009

DavidB said:
Bruce never owned Twin Bridges, he just managed the place.

That's right Mark and Bruce were brothers who were hired to run the bait shop and the lake. The owner lives in the house on the left-hand side of the lake and has now taken a more active role in running the lake.

Tim L · Sep 10, 2009

Hmmmm...All this time I thought Bruce was the owner and lived in that house...I hope the guy that worked the store/bait shop was able to catch on somewhere else; I kind of got the impression he was there 24/7.

Dan the Man · Sep 14, 2009

Sat night

Tried to fish the tournament Sat night... got there around 5pm to catch some bream for bait. Used bream heads and shrimp. Only got one fish around 9:30pm - it went maybe a pound & a half. Stayed another hour or two after that, but nothing. So I decided to pack it in around 11 or so. Not sure who won or if anyone landed anything over 5lbs? But I did talk to a guy who had caught a 37lbr right after the contest was over early sat morn around 7:30am... What a shame.

Was anyone else out there Sat night?

Steve78 · Sep 14, 2009

no, but may try it this saturday nite

DavidB · Sep 14, 2009

Fishing was slow Friday and Saturday nights. The 37 pound flathead was hooked at about 7:08 Saturday morning. I was privileged to act as " net man". He was weighed with a digital scale and immediately returned to the water. I was surprised how he took right off for deep water! Saturday night the only fish I was aware of was approx. 10 lbs. but the person that caught it wasn't in the tournament. He would have won. Since nobody in the tournament weighed a fish everyone received the entry money back ( $20). Hopefully the fishing will be better this coming weekend.

j_seph · Sep 20, 2009

DavidB said:
He told me that the channel cats came from a fish farm and the big blues and flathead's came from Santee Cooper. I didn't ask who actually supplied them since I figured it was none of my business.

The biggest surprise to me was that he has owned the lake since 1982. I've heard so many stories over the past 15 or so years and as it turns out none of the " owners " over the years actually owned the place. They just ran the bait shop, in effect, employees of the owner as far as I can tell. Apparently the last couple of guys pretty much ran the place into the ground. As I told the owner, I would like to see the place make a comeback, as there aren't many places where you can take anyone from young children to serious fishermen and catch some fish to eat or tangle with a monster cat.

I know a lot of guys don't like the concept, but consider the fact that most people don't have the money to own a boat or have the time or knowledge to go to the places where these large cats are found naturally. I used to own a boat and spent a lot of time and money chasing stripers on Lanier. I loved it and miss it. Unfortunately, circumstances forced me to sell the boat. Although pay lake fishing may be a sorry substitute in others eyes, I would be grateful just to have a place like this to go when I can while I keep dreaming about the possibility of ever owning another boat.

Since 1982
Best I can remember when we fished there every weelend, all weekend in the early 90's Taji, an Indian guy owned that lake and lived in the brick house which used to have the best hole to fish right behind his house.. We caught 750lbs of flatheads in there in one night before the outflow pipe broke and the lake drained. If he put 2000lbs of big fish in there from santee I would say they aren't big fish cause your only allowed 1 36" fish per day. The guy that used to stock it got caught coming out of Alabama with a load of fish and got caught :clap:

From what I hear it was one hefty fine

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