Catfish tips? Now We're Talkin'!

[PEARL DRUMS]

I know a lot of fellas like stinky baits and I know they work. I have targeted channel cats for the last 20 plus years and my best, most consistent fishing comes on fresh cut bait or fresh frozen shrimp. Plus, my hands and nose prefer fresh

It all works, try several baits every time you go. Its never the same preference twice. I'm getting ALL excited just talking about fishing!

[PEARL DRUMS]

One other tid bit. Channels have an under bite which makes eating food just off bottom easier for them. Flatheads have an over bite and that makes eating bait right off the bottom easier for them. For channels I prefer to use a slip bobber with my weight on the tag end and my hook/ bait tied off 4-6" up the main line. The weight on the bottom keeps you pegged right where it lands while the bait hangs just off bottom. You will get more bites this way and hook for fish that do bite. And if you fish at night you can push a small chem light into the foam bobber. It makes seeing takes VERY easy.

[Zuma]

I like to do what Hawkdancer said. Let some beef liver get a bit ripe. Another thing is not to set the hook to quickly. Our Chanel Cats like to pick up the bait and drop it. I've watched them do this in our pond at least. I usually let them hold it awhile before it set hook.
Bjrogg

Pressed for time so I agree with BJ totally. I would use a live minnow rig in the Deleware River. Run an open needle tru from mouth to butt then snap on double hook to swivel. The Cats in my back yard N.VA are  way different.
Maybe this advice is posted above. Best ever catfishing is during or right after a heavy rain.
Fresh bait is best, chicken livers good but you need to know how to keep em on hook.
Nightcrawlers UNIVERSAL. Large totally fresh cut bait for big channels. Oh fast water near bank or the center of a backwater swirl. Zuma

[bubby]

That's a monster Outlaw.  Awesome thread too... has just about any and all the tips a feller could need. I think I might try Pearl's shrimp idea tomorrow. Fresh chicken liver was no good for me tonight. 

The problem was the fresh part, i set it out in the sun all day, hotdogs too. I have taken old frozen sardine from salmon fishing and let it get ripe and it worked good too. Caught a 5lb blue cat on the top 5ft of a fenwick fly rod with the reel tapped on, that was a ride😀

Thanks for the input boys!

[upstatenybowyer]

Well, I went the stinky route all day goin' for channels and I came up with nothing. I was using rotten bullhead cuts. Tried hotdogs too.

Pearl, next time I'm following your lead. Fresh shrimp, and I'm gonna study what you wrote above about getting the bait in the right place before I go.

Zuma, holy shinikies! Those are some beauties. I'm gonna try what you said as well.

I refuse to give up!

[Will Tell]

Best bait I ever used for cats was soft shelled crabs. We would catch them and wrap in a wet paper towel and put them in the fridge until we went fishin. Try it you'll like it.

[Zuma]

A buddy from the bay used frozen shrimp here and did ok. May resemble the big ole June Bug
larva.  May be very good for the more northern cats that hold and turn there catch before  swallowing.
On a good day I could fill the bottom of a John boat with the cats here.
Zuma

[H Rhodes]

I love catching catfish! Blues, channels, and flatheads are all very different fish and to really catch them, you need to give their habits some thought.  Flatheads are serious predators.  I target them in deep holes in the outside bend of a river where they spend their days waiting in ambush in woody cover.  They hunt the nearby shallower flats at night.  Use live shad, bream, or big goldfish and don't skimp on your tackle.  50 pound flatheads in heavy cover can rape light tackle.  I think of big blue cats as being a pelagic baitfish school follower.  They hang out underneath big schools of shad.  Some of my favorite blue cat days have been drifting down big open water stretches on the Tennessee River in the winter baiting up with big cuts of skipjack herring.  For any old fish fry the best tasting fish to me is a channel cat under 5 pounds that is pulled from a swift flowing undammed creek or river. Tight line the deep holes with night crawlers, minnows or shrimp.  Dang it!  It's raining outside.  With all this catfish talk, I want to hitch up the boat!

[PEARL DRUMS]

Howard you're my brother from another mother!


You will catch fish on fresh cut bait or shrimp If you are certain there are channels in the river/stream you are fishing. The shrimp represent crayfish. They have almost zero vision so Its all about scents and oils and shrimp smell just like crayfish. Replace your baits every 20-25 minutes of soaking. Keep them fresh and keep the scent rolling down. With channels you have to move often. They are either right there and will eat, or they aren't. Its not uncommon to hit 15-20 holes/runs in a 3-4 hour fish.

[mullet]

I use shrimp and deer liver. Works great for butter cats and channels.

[H Rhodes]

  you are speaking my language Chris and I agree with you about keeping on the move with channel cats.  I think they are the perfect species for float fishing small rivers. Alabama is blessed with canoe streams that have everything a catfisherman could want. I have spent many a summer day paddling from hole to hole and taking the hungriest 3 or 4 cats from each spot. It may be the only thing that rivals bow hunting as my favorite means of acquiring protein!

[PEARL DRUMS]

1200 miles apart and we fish the same river

We have a river called the Maple, its more of a big drainage that collects dozens of small drains over several counties. Its exactly as you describe. 3 or 4 hungry cats out of each hole or log jam, every hundred yards or so. Its slow moving, stirred up murky water. Every once in a while we will pull a smallmouth, northern pike or walleye out. An occasional juvenile flathead will eat our cut bait. I've had some great float trips the last 20 years.

[Zuma]

I use shrimp and deer liver. Works great for butter cats and channels.

I saved some deer liver and tried it the next spring.
They threw it back on the bank sinker and all.
Zuma

[upstatenybowyer]

Okay, first of all, Pearly, you are absolutely right about the shrimp... they love it! I had about 2 hours yesterday to fish and they were hitting almost instantly on every cast. But... I still didn't catch one! PLEASE tell me where I went wrong...

I set the shrimp on a barbed Eagle Claw hook (not sure the number, but fairly large) with a heavy split-shot 4-6" above that, and a slip bobber above that. This kept the rig in place in the slow-moving water. The cats would start hitting and then stop. I'd reel in a bit and discover I was snagged. I'd then get it unsnagged, they'd start hitting again right away, then I'd get snagged again... repeat, repeat, repeat until either I got totally stuck and lost the line, or was too close to shore. 

I moved around to different spots, but this kept happening. Do I have to just keep moving till I find a spot where I don't get snagged, or is there a way to avoid the snagging?

[H Rhodes]

  Fresh whole shrimp stay on the hook better, but like Pearly suggested, you have to change your bait often.  Once an unpeeled shrimp gets mushy, it won't stay on the hook very well.  For channel cats, a big hook isn't necessary.  My favorite hook for eating sized cats is a No. 1 or 1/0 Eagle Claw 84.  A channel cats mouth is pretty fleshy and a small hook will catch a big fish, but a big hook just isn't going to catch a small fish.  Depending on the bottom composition, weight of my tackle, and the current, I use anywhere from a 3/4 ounce to a 4 ounce slip lead.  Run it up the line and tie on a barrel swivel.  Tie 14 to 20 inches of line below the swivel and tie your hook at the bottom.  Your lead should be heavy enough to hold the bottom with all the slack reeled up.  I favor bright colored line in muddy water and a more natural color in clear rocky streams.  I am sort of old school and haven't embraced the new braided lines.  I like an abrasion resistant monofilament like Ande, Stren or Berkley Big Game.  Spinning rigs for small cats are usually spooled with 20lb test.  One bump of the rod is time to reel up slack and wait.  Multiple bumps or lateral movement of the line is a reel up the slack and set the hook type of proposition.  Bigger fish usually don't play around with your bait - when you set that hook you are usually rewarded with one spiraling his way to the frying pan.  Little pecker heads can be aggravating bait stealers and will send me to the next hole.   Big flatheads in heavy cover are a whole other ball of wax.  Nonbelievers see me heading down to a little muddy stream called the Sucharnochee River here in Livingston toting heavy saltwater looking catfish rods with 80 lb. Ande line, 4 oz. sinkers and 6/0 hooks with 3/4 pound goldfish in the bait bucket and they think I am delusional - until they see the 40 - 60 flatheads that come out of those root wads and tree tops.  Tackle for catfish really depends on what you are fishing for.    Rain again today - this is killing me.