# i am new to catfishing



## larkin

can some one give me some catfishing tips? what to use?when to fish?what for bait?


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## phil999

chicken liver is an old favorite.


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## Ryan_Todd

frogs is what i like to use. i have pulled in some nice ones with them. i usually fish in the evenings. where are you located? the red is a good place for cats. try to find a hole or some slack water and eddies. walleyes also love frogs.


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## larkin

i live in kentucky near kentucky lake


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## win4win

There are some great catmen here but if you wanna get some local knowledge you can prolly find all the info youll need at the Brotherhood of Catfishermen site.

www.BOC.com

Its a free membership site, I joined last year and met some really friendly helpful people there.


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## Brad Anderson

cut bait.


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## larkin

yeah i go there win4win i am a member there too


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## Ryan_Todd

do you fish rivers or lakes down there? if your fishing in lakes i can't give you much help. do you ever bass fish in kentucky lake? i hear theres some good bass fishing there.


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## larkin

i fish in lakes mostly but sometimes rivers...i would like some good river fishing tips ... and yes i fish for bass out there and yes it is real good


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## Ryan_Todd

when i fish in the river i usually use a stiff baitcasting outfit with 20 to 30 pound test. i usually use a 3/0 or 4/0 hook with a sinker 12 to 18 inches up the line from the hook. good spots to check out are holes, eddies, current breaks and below dams. bank fishing works well but a boat allows you more mobility and better bait presentations. what i like to do is anchor up river from a hole and and present my bait to upstream edge of the hole. from my experience, it seems that a lot of cats rest in the holes and move upstream to shallower water to feed. when anchoring you want to anchor both the front and back of the boat so the boat doesn't sway in the current. hope this helps.

Ryan


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## larkin

thank you ryan_todd i will try this method


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## Ryan_Todd

no problem hope this helps. by the way my buddy went out on the river tonight and caught a couple around 15 using river chubs.


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## texasguy

always use fresh bait, the bloodier the better.
if you really want to get into the heavy catfishing, you should get an ugly cat rod, and an abu garcia reel, they are simply the best at winching in those ole whiskerfish. also big bait=big fish.
a 5/0 to 7/0 circle hook will get the job done, especially the VMC bleeding bait hooks.


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## Southwest Fisher

Texasguy is right on, he described everything that I do, except I prefer Gamakgastu hooks. I also purchased 50lb Spiderwire Catfish line for my Ugly Stick, since snags are so easy to find with big hooks. Now instead of losing everything on a snag I can uproot trees if necessary!


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## texasguy

that spiderwire is good stuff, i use the 30 pound for easy castability.

Hooks: when using a circle hook do not set the hook like on a regular J style hook, simply start reeling in to get the best hookups which are at the corner of the mouth where the really fleshy skin is.

Also do not use wimpy light wire hooks like a crappie hook or the like, use a big heavy wire hook.

happy fishing :beer:


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## rockinmichigan

Chicken liver works, I personally like to use nightcrawlers. Something I tried last year that works good for bullhead, catfish, and also white bass is if you put your nightcrawler on your hook, take a package of chicken livers and open it up, and dip the nightcrawler set up on your hook into the package, then go from there. I tell you what, white bass absolutely LOVE it.


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## crowmans dad

I live in tennessee on kentucky lake and i use shrimp & leeches they tear them up near evening hours good luck


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## rockinmichigan

I've heard that shrimp work real good for catfish bait. I've also heard of Kentucky Lake, there's good carp fishing there too right?


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## crowmans dad

yea I catch alot around this time every year


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## rockinmichigan

How big do the carp get down there? I don't target them but carp are sure fun to reel in, one of the better fights you could ask for.


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## crowmans dad

I have got one at 42 pounds that took a long time but there are alot of 20 pounders around here


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## rockinmichigan

I've seen and caught some bigguns out here. I haven't caught any quite that big, but the 5 pounders I've caught here and there fight like they're 15 or 20 pounds.


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## crowmans dad

yea they fight like they are about 5 times their actual size


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## rockinmichigan

Heck yeah they do, that's why I don't mind catching them. I'd rather catch a catfish, but I do like the fight of a carp. Same thing with sheephead, they fight pretty good but I'll take a good sized cat anytime.


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## crowmans dad

yea i just went on a fishing trip in the gulf of mexico and hooked up witha 650 pound marlin that was one hell of a fight tha took around an hour and a half to work that baby in


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## rockinmichigan

I'm not even gonna ask what kind of line you had to use to get that son of a gun in. You might as well put a chihuahua on an anchor attached to a rope in order to catch a marlin LOL Its all good, I would love to go ocean fishing one of these days. I love joking about ocean fishing in the meantime


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## buchwheat

I fish in the red river in souther north dakota. I use frogs minows and nightcrawlers. Frogs in the fall. Nightcrawlers all season. Minows normaly spring and in the summer.
Last summer I reeled in a 15lb cat. It was a good fight.

Also i caught a big 21 pound carp. 
It took about 15 min. to reel it in.


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## rockinmichigan

buchwheat, I've caught carp that took me dang near that long to reel them in. Not quite as big as that 21 pounder, but carp fight hard, that's about the only thing good about them as far as I'm concerned. I've never tried or caught a catfish with a frog. I've had northerns get a hold of a couple frog lures I have, but never a catfish. Never hurts to try though.


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## buchwheat

Im glad someone other than me likes the fun fight of carp.

Ive been fishing the red river in north dakota for about 7 or 8 years now.
Im only fourteen so I started when I was about 6.

I love it.


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## rockinmichigan

Buchwheat, I used to catch them around 3-7 pounds where my grandparents used to live in Marblehead, OH, they lived on this channel that lead into Lake Erie, and 3-7 pounds might not sound like much, but these son of a guns would fight HARD! Felt like they were 15-20 pounders. I had something on my line a couple years ago in Luna Pier, MI, took my pole onto this sandbank below this peir, so I jumped down and grabbed it, and whatever it was it was zig zagging like it was the last fight this fish was ever gonna have. Snapped my 10# after about five minutes. I never got to see what it was, but the more I think about it I'd say carp, just because I've seen them take poles into the water.


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## buchwheat

I Think carp fishing is one of the easiest types of fishing you can ever do.
I like to use worms. The specialized carp bait works great to.


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## rockinmichigan

I haven't caught any carp in quite awhile, but then again I've been slowing expanding on my fishing practices, targetting all fish like pike, bass, perch, bluegill, etc. Nightcrawlers work, that's my live bait of choice when it comes to catfishing, and carp hit on them quite often. Ever try boilies? Supposedly they work quite well for carp.


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## buchwheat

What is a boilie.
I dont think I have ever heard of them.


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## rockinmichigan

Here's a link:
http://www.carp.com/carp-shop/product248.html I don't have a lot of time to do a real big search, this outta help some. Its a carp bait, but you can use them on catfish too I hear, since its hard to get one without the other.


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## buchwheat

thanks for the help. I will try that sometime. It looks like it will work.


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## rockinmichigan

Your welcome buchwheat, let me know if you try it and how well you find it working for you.


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## Annie

I've found that the big flathead catfish I have caught love live bluegill in our area ( IL ). Also, in the Ohio River you couldn't buy a flathead with live bait, so it depends on what their likings are, you just have to try different things.


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## rockinmichigan

Hey Annie, I've heard about flatheads that have come have come mout of the local rivers around where I live that have been caught on live bluegills, some in the 20-30 or so pound range. Fishing is funny like that, and part of the fun is finding out what exactly they're biting on and when, and where.


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## Gohon

Blues, whites, and Channel cats are mostly scavengers that will readily take just about anything. A Flathead on the other hand is pure predator. Though they will take dead bait on occasion if you want to get serious about Flatheads you need live bait, preferable that which is in their surroundings. Any kind of sun fish, whether it be Bluegill, Crappie or even larg minnows will work. Keep in mind that Flatheads are home bodies and don't roam very much so you need to go to them. Usually that is the nastiest tangled brush you can find. Set up upstream from their hole late in the evening and as the sun goes down they come out. Don't cast directly into their living room but in front of it......


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## Annie

agree with ya there gohon....we've caught SO many flatheads this year just from using bank poles in high brush areas, the flatheads are between 15-43 lbs that we've caught just by using that method! and its so much fun to check the lines in the morning when the pole isn't moving a bit, and you think there's nothing on the line, but there's a monster catfish just "chillin" in the water with your hook in its mouth!


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## rockinmichigan

LOL Annie, that kinda happened to me the last week. I had a couple small bites, so I picked up my rod and I kept the rod in my hand while feeling the line, couldn't feel a dang thing, so I set the hook anyways and as I was starting to reel in the lineI could feel something tugging a little bit at the other end of the line. Turned out just to be a small 5-6" yellow bullhead, but the little squirt was just layin' there chillin' like you mentioned with the hook in his gut. Love catching them, but I hate it when they swallow the hook every time I catch 'em. :eyeroll:


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