Catfish Radio – August 29
This week on Catfish Radio with Luke Clayton and Friends, Luke and his guests cover fishing from the Texas coast to two of the state’s most productive inland lakes.

Larry Weishuhn shares stories from a memorable coastal fishing trip with Jim Zumbo and Rick Lambert. Bill Carey provides a late-summer and early-fall striped bass report from Lake Texoma, while Tony Pennebaker explains how anglers can catch both channel and blue catfish on Lake Tawakoni.

Luke and Larry close the show with wild-hog trapping advice, game-meat cooking, specialty hunting knives and a reminder that Catfish Radio is built around useful information, outdoor fellowship and positive conversation.

Segment 1: Campfire Talk with Luke and Larry

Luke Clayton and Larry Weishuhn open the show with another relaxed campfire conversation about hunting, fishing, friendship and preparing for the approaching fall season.

Larry discusses sighting in rifles and Taurus handguns with Hornady ammunition, along with using Stealth Vision scopes and red-dot sights. He also reflects on his continued work with the Dallas Safari Club in conservation, education and hunter advocacy.

The conversation then moves to Larry’s recent trip to the lower Texas coast with legendary outdoorsman Jim Zumbo and songwriter Rick Lambert, whose songwriting credits include work with his daughter, Miranda Lambert. Calling themselves the “Three Amigos,” the friends enjoyed fishing for red snapper, speckled trout and sheepshead near Port Mansfield.

Larry describes catching a sheepshead measuring more than 22 inches while using live shrimp and light spinning tackle. He and Luke discuss the fish’s strength, its tendency to run toward barnacle-covered pilings and why sheepshead may be one of the most underrated eating fish along the Texas coast.

The trip also involved Tom and Mike Snyder and Mike’s wife, Mary Beth, whose work with Trinity Oaks helps provide outdoor experiences for wounded veterans, terminally ill children, families and young people.

Luke and Larry then look ahead to a Dallas Safari Club gathering where Larry plans to cook buffalo burgers made from meat provided by Steve Hornady. Luke is responsible for preparing pulled wild pork.

That leads to a hilarious story about Luke’s lightweight aluminum hog trap. During a previous trip with Larry and Jeff Rice at the Buck and Bass Ranch, four young hogs managed to wedge their heads between the trap’s bars. After several unsuccessful attempts to free them, Larry tapped the bars with a hammer, allowing each hog to pull loose and escape before anyone remembered the original barbecue plans.

Luke now has the same trap set near his home, where trail cameras are showing two sounders containing approximately 15 to 20 hogs. This time, he promises to keep a hammer nearby. 

Segment 2: Bill Carey’s Lake Texoma Striper Report

Bill Carey of Striper Express joins Luke with an update on striped bass fishing at Lake Texoma as the lake begins transitioning from its summer pattern into early fall.

Bill explains that the stripers are beginning to leave deeper water and move up ledges onto flats. Anglers are still catching fish by working slabs near the bottom, but the changing pattern can also produce sudden topwater action when stripers push schools of shad toward the surface.

Luke recalls a recent trip with Bill when they caught a mixture of larger stripers and smaller “box fish” while drifting slabs up a ledge and onto a flat in approximately 30 feet of water.

As September progresses, the fish will continue moving onto shallower flats. Topwater activity may still be inconsistent at first, but anglers should remain prepared because a school of stripers can erupt on the surface without warning.

Bill also explains that gulls will begin returning to Texoma toward the end of September. By November, thousands of birds can help anglers locate feeding schools of stripers, sometimes proving even more useful than expensive sonar equipment.

October brings another exciting opportunity as falling water temperatures move baitfish toward the banks. Stripers follow, creating excellent conditions for blind casting large pencil poppers, Choppos and other topwater lures.

Bill emphasizes that anglers should focus on banks with nearby deep-water access, creek channels, ditches and other natural travel routes. Even when no fish are visible, subtle clues such as a bird sitting along the bank or a swirl on the surface may reveal the presence of feeding stripers.

The aggressive nature of striped bass makes this fishing especially exciting. Fish frequently follow hooked stripers or chase lures all the way to the boat, sometimes striking just as an angler lifts the plug from the water.

The segment also highlights Lake Texoma as a family-friendly destination, with convenient lodging and guided fishing opportunities available through Striper Express. 

Segment 3: Tony Pennebaker’s Lake Tawakoni Catfish Update

Tony Pennebaker joins Luke from Lake Tawakoni with a late-summer report on channel and blue catfish.

Channel catfish are actively feeding around baited holes in approximately 10 to 25 feet of water. Tony recommends looking for creek channels, humps or other forms of structure and using sonar to locate fish before locking the boat into position.

A small amount of soured corn, cattle cubes or other chum can attract fish and keep them concentrated beneath the boat. Tony often throws out a cup of corn and a handful of cubes before fishing with his Tony P’s punch bait.

Luke prefers a number-four treble hook because the larger hook is easier to remove from a catfish’s mouth and holds slightly more bait during hot weather. Tony notes that a number-six hook is also popular, but the additional bait carried by a number-four hook may provide another bite or two before the hook needs to be re-baited.

Tony recommends keeping cheese-based punch bait cool during hot weather. Once the bait reaches the bottom, anglers should raise it slightly and wait. Tony often receives a bite within 60 seconds.

When a fish pecks at the bait without getting hooked, anglers should avoid immediately reeling in. Leaving the bait in place may produce another strike, and Tony says some of his largest fish often come after the second or third bite.

The discussion then shifts to blue catfish. Although many anglers associate blues with cooler weather, Tony reports that Tawakoni produced excellent blue-cat fishing during July. Summer anglers may catch fewer blues than channel cats, but the blues are often larger and can produce considerably more fillet meat.

For the best flavor, Tony and Luke stress the importance of removing the red meat from blue-catfish fillets. Anglers should keep the knife slightly above the skin instead of scraping away every possible piece of meat. On larger fish, the center strip of darker meat should also be removed.

Luke and Tony compare the eating qualities of channel cats, blue cats and flatheads, with both selecting properly cleaned blue catfish as a favorite.

Tony can also be contacted for guided fishing trips or Tony P’s punch bait through **BestCatfishBait.com**. 

Segment 4: Hog Trapping, Wild-Game Cooking and Hunting Knives

Larry returns to close the show with Luke and continue their discussion about wild hogs and the upcoming Dallas Safari Club dinner.

Larry explains that landowners who want to reduce hog populations should attempt to remove an entire sounder rather than catching only one or two animals. He mentions lightweight net-style traps that allow hogs to enter beneath the netting but prevent them from escaping.

Luke’s immediate goal is more culinary than population control. He plans to trap enough young wild hogs to provide approximately 25 pounds of meat for pulled-pork sandwiches.

Because wild pork is usually very lean, Luke plans to cook it with domestic pork shoulder. The added fat will keep the meat moist while it cooks with garlic, jalapeños and seasoning. After the pork becomes tender, Luke recommends chopping it across the grain with a cleaver instead of serving it as long, stringy pieces.

The pulled pork will be served alongside buffalo burgers prepared by Larry using meat donated by Steve Hornady.

Luke and Larry also discuss Matt Burgess and **Dispatch Hunts**, a booking service capable of arranging hunting adventures ranging from squirrel hunts to international expeditions. Dispatch Hunts also offers specialty outdoor knives, including Larry Weishuhn signature models.

Larry explains that the designs of his knives are based on more than 70 years of experience as a hunter, guide and wildlife disease specialist. Some limited-edition models feature handles made from antlers or horns collected from animals Larry personally hunted.

Luke then shares plans for a future episode of **A Sportsman’s Life**, available through CarbonTV. Trail-camera and conventional footage will document Luke’s hog-trapping process and may help viewers learn how to approach trapping on their own property.

Once Luke catches a hog, he plans to arrive at daylight with plenty of ice and quickly remove the quarters and backstraps. For his purposes, he does not need to open the body cavity because the hog population provides plenty of opportunities to obtain additional meat.

The show closes with Luke reflecting on a listener’s message praising the program’s positive tone. Luke and Larry emphasize that Catfish Radio is not built around politics, arguments or attacking other people. Its purpose is to provide useful outdoor information, enjoyable stories and good-natured conversation.

After 20 years on the air, that commitment to fun, friendship and the outdoor lifestyle remains at the heart of the show. 

In This Episode

* Larry Weishuhn’s fishing trip with Jim Zumbo and Rick Lambert
* Red snapper, trout and trophy-sized sheepshead
* Trinity Oaks and its outdoor outreach programs
* Preparing for the Dallas Safari Club dinner
* Luke and Larry’s hilarious hog-trap escape story
* September striper patterns on Lake Texoma
* Fishing slabs along ledges and deep-water flats
* Early-fall topwater fishing and the return of the gulls
* Baiting holes for Lake Tawakoni channel catfish
* Punch-bait hooks, presentation and hot-weather storage
* Summer blue-cat fishing and fillet preparation
* Catching entire sounders of wild hogs
* Preparing pulled wild pork and buffalo burgers
* Dispatch Hunts and Larry Weishuhn signature knives
* Outdoor education through A Sportsman’s Life
* Twenty years of positive outdoor radio

From sheepshead on the lower Texas coast to aggressive Texoma stripers, hungry Tawakoni catfish and wild hogs destined for the smoker, this episode offers plenty of practical information and good outdoor storytelling.

It is another reminder that hunting and fishing are about more than the harvest. They are also about friendship, tradition, learning something new and enjoying time together in the outdoors.