catfish help

[bassmaster4]

I was at dunnville fishing for channel cats this past weekend and only caught a small carp and some bullhead. I seen people all around catching catfish in the 10-15 lbs range. Wat am i doing wrong? My set up was a slip sinker and a split shot with a size 6 octopus hook and a worm on it. Should i try something else? Or was i just unlucky?

[Daplumma]

Down here eating sized Cats are caught on chicken livers.Big blues and cats are caught on cut bait,shad seems to work well.Never had any luck with commercial prepared stink baits.Frozen makeral and other oily fish will do in a pinch.Shrimp have worked also.

Joe

[MCTFisher9120]

Try fresh cutbait, or huge minnows. Your rig should be fine but go to the bigger baits.

[bassmaster4]

alright thanks i will try out ur suggestions this weekend getting some chicken livers tomorow and letting them sit out in the sun for a bit!

Edited April 21, 2008 by bassmaster4

[HTHM]

alright thanks i will try out ur suggestions this weekend getting some chicken livers tomorow and letting them sit out in the sun for a bit!

I did the same thing this past week and found that I was able to catch cats on Fishmasters cut bait and not on the liver. I was fishing right of the point by his place, and had to cast out a very long ways to get to the fish. If your floatin' you may have better luck than I did I only caught 30lbs worth of cats, kept one for Sunday lunch, and enjoyed it immensley.

[Daplumma]

No need to let them rot in the sun.They work better fresh and stay on the hook better.Rotten livers will catch mudcats(bullheads).Good luck

Joe

[bassmaster4]

I did the same thing this past week and found that I was able to catch cats on Fishmasters cut bait and not on the liver. I was fishing right of the point by his place, and had to cast out a very long ways to get to the fish. If your floatin' you may have better luck than I did I only caught 30lbs worth of cats, kept one for Sunday lunch, and enjoyed it immensley.

 

this cut bait u speak of can i get it at his store?

[Marko]

Its sucker cut up in chunks

Yes you can get it in his store, zip lock bag costs about 5 bucks.

I was there yesterday and my friend caught one, i missed couple of really good hits.

Good luck to you!

[bassmaster4]

i was there yesterday too i think i saw you guys i was fishing further down from you guys if that was you.

[Minnow]

i used a sucker meat big chunks of freshly cut up sucker meat. I hada 5/0 hook with a 2 oz sinker and 50 lb braid and the big cats loved the huge chunks. I would let them run with the bait for about 30 seconds and then set the hook and hand on! Good Luck

[Marko]

I saw two younger guys come in further down and one cought either carp or a sucker on like a very first cast lol.

Did you guys not have your shirts on??

If you want to fish there you have to cast way out there to get into some cats.

I had a hard time casting into some holes even from where i was standing

[Daplumma]

Another good tip for catfishing is to use circle hooks.Keeps you from deep hooking the cats.No need to set the hook,just sweep the rod and you will cath Mr Whiskers right in the corner of the mouth.

Joe

[nancur373]

I'm planning on going to Dunnville soon for my first try at the cats. What's the difference in Cats and bullheads?

[uglyfish]

both are catfish. billheads are much smaller then channel cats. bullheads rarely grow past 2-2.5 lbs. but are nice eating fish. channel cats grow much larger and are the largest catfish we have around here. they commonly grow over 15lbs and its not uncommon to catch 20+ lbs fish. theres even some 30+lbs fish roaming the river.

[Marko]

Thats a great tip Daplumma, maybe thats why i kept on missing all the fish.

I was using an octopus hook, size 2 or 4

[smbhunter]

Visit Fishmaster and have a talk with him about rigging techniques. When I was there the other day he was very helpful. Basically, the idea is to use a heavy slip sinker, (2-3 ounce egg, pyramid or disc) to keep the bait stationary on the bottom. If the weight is too light, the bait will start to drift down river and reduce your chances of getting a hit. Circle hooks worked very well for us. We used eagle claw probaiter hooks in a size 2, which is quite a large hook. It's bigger than an owner circle hook in size 1/0 and has a wider gap. It's amazing how these circle hooks catch the corner of the mouth every time.

 

Good luck to you on your next trip out.

[Fishmaster]

I'm planning on going to Dunnville soon for my first try at the cats. What's the difference in Cats and bullheads?

Size is a big Diffrence ...here are some Hawgs Extreme Angler and I caught last week ..

[bassmaster4]

Marko, yea that was us haha and i caught the carp

Edited April 22, 2008 by bassmaster4

[Live2Fish83]

Maybe you just had some bad luck......i use beef/chicken liver, sucker meat and i usually cut some large minnows and freeze them overnight i found that these types of baits work really well...

[OhioFisherman]

Size 6 hook seems kind of small, I don`t fish for them on purpose but decent sizes ones have no trouble with a 3/0 or 4/0 3407 mustad. No experience with the octopus hooks. Bigger bait generally means bigger fish.

 

Daughter`s boyfriend got a decent one the other day on ground crappie in a mesh bag.