catfish tips

[crawfishking]

can anybody give me some tips on catching the big cats

[Rustyinfla]

They are bottom feeders so that's where you'll want your bait. Something that smells will work best as the scent is how they find their food.
   It may not be OK where you live so check your laws but some people put some bait like chicken livers in a can and weight it down. You can then throw the can in the water a day or so before you are ready to go fishing and it will act as chum. Since they can't get to the food in the can but can only smell it when you put your bait in the water they'll be more than ready to eat.

        Rusty <><

[John]

If you are after big flatheads, you need to use live bait, because they are very preditory. I catch them on large perch (sunfish) and seldom are they caught on the bottom. They're mouth is designed to strike a bait from underneath it, so floating a large live bait works well.

For big blues shad are hard to beat. They do not need to be alive, but they usually need to be quite fresh, so keep them on ice. Sometimes whole shad work, sometimes the head works, sometimes they want a shad fillet. Drifting the bait near the bottom is affective, but sometimes blues can be caught under water turkey roosts(cormorants) right on the surface.

Channels will eat most anything, but for big channels shad and perch work well....avoid those commercial baits....they are for the most part only good for small fish. Natural baits work best. Crawfish, earthworms, grasshoppers, even minnows as well as the shad and perch. Many times folks catch good channels on cut up carp. I have had luck with bloodbait, but it's hard to find now days....made from chicken blood.

[hillbill]

good advice all, but ive found the best way to catch cats is to be out on the lake. more time spent equals more fish in the freezer!

[TScottO]

States have different rules about live bait but if they are legal in your area, gold fish are tuff and live longer on a hook than sun fish. Also goggle-eyes (sp) are tuff and live a long time as well.

For blues most anything will work. Crawfish about the size of your middle finger, catobble worms are good too. When using these sort of baits do not bait up until just before dark because the bream and perch will eat them and you’ll have bare hooks in the water at night. Chicken hearts are fine for leaving out all day but make sure to set them in the sun for a day or two and get them smelling real ripe.

I’ve never used cut bait unless I was in a pinch but I know a lot of folks who have good luck with them.

I find a lot of people use bait that is too big. Bigger the bait does not mean bigger the fish. We’ve caught oodles of 35 and 40 # cats off of gold fish the length of your index finger. We’ve caught a handful much bigger.

One biggest things about catching big cats is to set many lines, keep bait on them and work hard. It doesn’t matter what kind of bait you use or how good it smells, if your lines are not set in the right place you will not catch fish. It’s hard to describe how, when and where to set lines for the big ones. You just gain a feel for it after a while. Often times it’s simply trial and error from fishing the same areas over and over until you find the good spots. I’d suggest finding a few ol’ timers around that do a good job with the big boys and tagging along with them.

Also when fishing creeks and rivers you will usually have better luck if the water is rising or falling slowly. This will vary due to what areas you fish. Some holes I have you cannot buy a fish on the water rise but will tear them up on a slow fall and vise versa.

You don’t have to sink a bait  fish in the deepest hole you find either. Most big fish we catch are in about 3 feet of water upstream of a nice dark hole. The fish swim upstream to feed towards the shallows because the scent of food comes from up stream. Take notice on a river or creek one night along the shore line, when you see the minnows and small fish hugging the bank tightly that usually means the big fish are feeding.

Good Luck and Take Care,
Scott

[prairiedog555]

Around here there are some lakes that fish and game have installed "feeders"  they are like a deer feeder and spew out chum every so often.  They use dry dog food.  That is where I fish around.  If it is leagal try chumming with dog food.