Catfish Tips For A Big Catch
This is a picture of my nephew who caught these catfish in my lake. I live on a lake in Conroe, Texas with lots of catfish, bass, and perch. There is a small island in the middle of the lake and we will sometimes jump in our little dinghy and row to the island for a picnic and to do some fishing.
If you want to learn some more about fishing, please visit my fishing site where I talk about all kinds of fishing including fly fishing, bass, etc.
Best Catfish Bait
Use The right Bait and You'll Catch Plenty
Some of the best baits to use to catch catfish are shrimp (medium sized) and chicken livers. Be sure and remove the shrimp's skin and tail.Crawdads are also great for catching catfish. The most productive way to use these is to use the tail after removing the shell. Just put the white meat on the hook. Sometimes it won't stay on the hook very well, but keep trying, it will be worth it.
Other baits you can use for catfishing are:
Clams
Worms
Bologna
Minnows - dead or live
Hot dogs
Cheese - American or Cheddar are best
Snails
Small fish - dead or live
Have you got a favorite catfish bait? If so, let me know in the comments section so I can try it.
Catfish Fishing Tips and Techniques
There are many varieties of catfish such as the leopard, the shovel billed, the saltwater cats, the flat heads and the channel catfish, to name a few. The most plentiful and popular is the channel catfish. When you are eating catfish nuggets in a restaurant, then they are most likely channel catfish. Channel catfish are easy to catch and sure taste good.
The best bait to use to fish for catfish is live bait. Some of the more popular ones are minnows, worms, grubs, leeches, small sunfish and crawdads. The top choice would be the nightcrawler when you are fishing for catfish.
Make sure you have some sturdy gear that will handle a large catfish if you're lucky enough to hook into one. You can use a 10-15 lb test line with a medium heavy pole. With this you can handle a fairly big fish. Although they need to be strong, the hooks don't have to be really large. Even a small hook can hold a large fish.
A good rig to use is a sliding sinker using an o-ring to keep it from sliding to the hook and tie a 16" leader to the hook. This way the cat won't feel any resistance when it picks up the bait. Leave the creel open and let the catfish run with the bait and then set the hook. This way you will have less chance of losing your catfish.
Using nightcrawlers as your main bait when using the sliding sinker rig makes a good combination. Sometimes this will depend on the area you are fishing and sometimes crawdads and small minnows are the best to use. Try to find an area with a point, cove, dips, or large rocks to really do some good fishing in. Behind a point or rock when fishing in a stream or river where the current won't be so strong will likely bring in many fish.
A lot of people use homemade baits such as liver, stinky cheese, fermented cornmeal or sour corn. These baits will not always assure you of catching a large catfish but some fish can be caught using the homemade baits. But using live bait or even a freshly killed bait can usually always do the trick. Nightcrawlers tend to be the best bait to consistently give you the best results.
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Guide to Fly Fishing Knots: A Basic Streamside Guide for Fly Fishing Knots, Tippets, and Leader Formulas
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Some Catfishing Tips
Catch Some Big Ones
One good rig for catfishing is a sliding sinker with an o-ring, because you don't want it to slide down to the hook, and then tie a 16" leader to the hook. The fish won't feel any resistance and will pick up the bait.
Fish in an area that has some type of structure such as rocks, a dam, dips, etc.
Don't fish in an area that has too much of a strong current because your bait won't stay in place and you would have to use a heavier sinker.
Big catfish can usually be caught when fishing in a medium or large lake off the deep part. Just use a nightcrawler and slip sinker rig and you can catch plenty of big catfish.
Great Pics
Fishing Pics
A picture is worth a thousand words.
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Catfish Fishing Gear
Catfish can be pretty hard on your fishing gear. You need to have an outfit that can handle a large catfish if you hook into one of them.You could go with a medium heavy pole and 10 to 15 pound test line. A pretty big fish can be handled with this outfit.
The hooks don't have to be real big but they should be strong. A small hook can hold a pretty big fish.
A good rig to use is a sliding sinker with an o-ring to keep it from sliding down to the hook and a 16" leader tied to the hook. This will allow the fish to pick up the bait without feeling the resistance. Leave the creel open on the reel so the fish can run with the bait and then set the hook. This will get you a good hook set with less chance of losing the fish.
Favorite Fish Recipe
Yumm, Yumm
2 cups of cornmeal
1 teaspoon of black pepper
1 teaspoon of salt
1 tablespoon of chili powder
1 tablespoon of oregano
Mix these all up together and in another bowl mix:
2 eggs scrambled
Olive oil (just a little bit)
First dip the fish into the egg mix and then into the dry mix. Pan fry them until they are golden brown on both sides.
To make a great meal serve them with french fries, potato salad, baked beans, or rice.
Now sit down and eat up!
Fishing Is Great
Go Catch Some Catfish
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Homemade Catfish Bait
Want to make your own?
Some of the formulas for these baits include liver, blood meal, stinky cheese, fermented cornmeal and sour corn. These will catch you some fish but freshly killed bait or live bait work just as well or better.
Back Porch Relaxation
This Is The Life!
We can fish right off the little island in our lake and also off our pier. From my back door to the lake is about 30 feet. We sit out on the back porch in the mornings, drink coffee, and watch the fish jumping. Rigging For Catfish
If you are going to be fishing in still water just tie the hook on a leader about 18 inches from the end of the line. Tie a half ounce ball sinker at the end of the line. The bait will then be a foot or so from the bottom and the water action will move the bait.
Be sure and use the right size hook for the size of fish you expect to be catching. Usually a 3/0 or 4/0 hook will be appropriate when catching an average size catfish.
Catfish Tips
Catch 'em and cook 'em
Catching and eating catfish is one of life's little pleasures.
Fishing Blogs
Catfish
Fishing Tips
Did Your Big One Get Away?
Got a great fish recipe? Got some good fishing tips? Lets share.
Mr_Dont_Smoke_Pie wrote...
Great information for all the cats out there. Nice work!
Posted June 30, 2009
Brent wrote
Hey for sum fun i use small marshmellows on hooks with no weights but this only works on fish that are fed cuse if u get alot of lines out there it just looks like feedin time but it has to b small marshmellows with no weight so it will float
Posted June 25, 2009
ricedog wrote
what i use that works well is flyline (no weight). i have 1 leader with a hook at both ends then tie my line in the middle of the leader which produces 2 leaders. for the bait i use Hotdogs soaked overnight in a crazy concoction of ranch, garlic power, onion powder, anchovies, minced onions, relish, tater salad.. basically whatever you want that has a smell to it, take that and pop it in the food processor till it has the consistency of a milkshake then leave it out in the sun all day, then pop the dogs in the mixture and leave it in the fridge over night. take the hotdog piece and stick a treble directly through it till it pops out the bottom then turn it and pull so that the hooks are going into meat. then on the other line stick a FROZEN (they fly off if not) anchovy through the mouth with a red #2 hook, you can also on a second hook to stick through its tail tied to the first hook. try it out the whiskers usually dont give me time to set up my second pole when i rig it this way
Posted April 19, 2009
fggggg wrote
hi
Posted February 12, 2009
Trent wrote
The bait you named may catch some channelcat, bullhead and maybe some small blues and flats but doubtfull anything BIG. All catfish are not scavengers. Flathead preffer live bait, although cut bait works very well. Often times large live perch & shad are the best, and sometimes small carp or cut carp. Also I titeline and leaving your {creel open} on a spinncast would be a horrible idea, maybe a bait clicker on a baitcast but I dont recommend that. Chicken liver are you kidding me? Are you fishing for turtles or what? Maybe you guys are happy with [BIG] 6 pd channels but I will stick to my bait and 30 to 50 pd flats here in OKLAHOMA--------fishing small lakes
Posted January 20, 2009
