Catfish tips? Now We're Talkin'!

[PEARL DRUMS]

Get yourself some Dutys baiting needles. The ONLY time I use snelled hooks is for cats. Hook the needle on the loop end of the snell. This allows you to thread the shrimp on the hook and up the line. I start at the tail so when Im done the hook is just off its tail. Haint nothing getting away! I agree with Howard on hook size. Consider most fish you are messing with are 1-4#. I do this for two reasons. It keeps my bait on securely for long casts and short bites.

Your biggest issue last night was baby channels. They will HAMMER that bait like they are 5#, but yet never get hooked. Keeper cats don't bite, they simply eat and run in about 3 seconds. I cant tell you how many times I reached out and barely got a hold of my rod flying off the bank or out of the boat. You turn your head and next thing you know its gone.

[mullet]

Another one I found that works real good and stays on a hook is frozen squid.

[Zuma]

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?

I think what's going on here is there are no big cats there.
 If they were they would swoop that bait away from the mini fish in a heart beat.
Actually it's a good sign if the small fishes start bitting. I will start a feeding frenzy.
Then the big boys move in. Anywho, how'd ya know they were cats if ya didn't score any?
Those fish will educate you because you ain't afraid of no Cats.
IMO if you use a Carolina rig and can successfully score 10 lb cats you are ready for
almost any fish with bait. I use the basic same rig for Sheep head, snapper (turtles too)
Whiting, Redfish, Black Drum, shark,Grouper, bass, sunnies, chubs, suckers eels etc on and on
.
Zuma

[upstatenybowyer]

Holy #$$%! That is one beauty of a snapper Zuma!

Well I actually caught one! Not the biggest cat in the world, but my first.  It's probably between 1-2 pounds. It put up a good fight though, fun as heck. I know there are bigger ones cause the record in this river is something like 30 pounds. I know a guy who caught a 20 pounder out of this exact spot.

Now that I got a taste of this catfishing I think I might have a new addiction. 

Thanks to all of you for getting me started. I'd love to get down where some of you are to go for some real monsters one day.

[H Rhodes]

Congratulations.  That is a thing of beauty!    Whisker fish can be habit forming....

[bjrogg]

There you go Jeff, can't stop now. I think lb. for lb. catfish put up the best fight of any fish I've ever caught. However my fishing has pertty much been pike, bass, walleye, perch and suckers. Might have to add to that list some day but I do enjoy catching cats.
Bjrogg

[osage outlaw]

Congrats on the catfish.  That's a good size to eat.

[Zuma]

YeHaaa
Zuma
OK now how did you do it?? LOL

[mullet]

Those aren't Snappers, upstatenewyorker, Croaker, Redfish, and Sheephead.

Chris, I target catfish more than any other down here, always food on the table. I started using very small treble hooks buried in the bait and that solves the problem with the "pecking" the smaller ones do. I'll let them swallow the hook and get it out when I clean them.

[mullet]

Now, that's a nice Cat, Congratulations!

[JW_Halverson]

Don't overlook "bank bait" either!  Frogs have surpassed every bait I have ever tried, and as a great plus, they are tough baits and can be re-threaded on the hook after a mauling.  One night three of us fishing caught 11 channel cats in the 5-7 lb range.  We took a pound and a half of shrimp and caught one frog. The guy using the frog put seven of those 11 fish on the stringer in the first hour and next four took all three of us another three hours.

I have had pretty good luck with freshwater clams that I only rarely find in this creek.  Grasshoppers, too.

[PEARL DRUMS]

Nothing wrong with that channel. That's a fine fish. Those guys definitely aren't the ones short biting your bait.

[BowEd]

Congrats Jeff.Nice fish.During the right time of year in the summer I pick up my bait right at the river.Tiny little toads.They stay on the hook good and the cats love them.Otherwise I bring frozen chubs with me.Still a night crawler is the most universal bait there is.
I remember fishing a secluded pond once found while coon hunting all night using crawdad tails.Caught 150 catfish wit the biggest 8 pounds.I personally think the size you got there are the best eating kind.
I always get a kick out of cat fishing.Especially when they bite & then the fight of course.They give you 2 maybe 3 warning thumps then off they go on a run.I give them an arms' length distance of a run and set the hook.Within a few seconds you can tell if you got big one.

[osage outlaw]

When I caught that big one he didn't put up a fight until I got it near the bank.  When I was reeling it in I told my friend that was with me that it wasn't anything big.  I got it to the shallow water and it exploded.  That was a fun fight.

[JW_Halverson]

Sometimes the channel cats move up into the swift water below the damn on the Missouri River here in the Dakotas and will hit shallow Rapalas close to shore.  One night we were working eddies for walleye and doing ok, but then the cats moved in!  It was both thrilling and terrifying at the same time. Thrilling because they were running around 8 lbs each, strong as an ox from constant effort while living in the current, and fast as cheetahs with Ben-Gayed buttholes!  Terrifying because it was almost moonless and were were dashing around on wet, slimey, slick rocks the size of random pieces of furniture...but they were NOT comfortably upholstered or cushy.

We ended up with a lot of excellent filets and some epic bruises.