# Channel Catfish - Question?



## starcraft36 (Feb 16, 2005)

I don't do a whole lot of catfishing, but recently I have been doing more of it. I basically go to a small couple acre park lake and fish from shore. I just use spinning rods and set up a drop shot rig with chicken livers. I have been fairly productive (2-5 lb range) the past couple weeks. My questions are as follows:

1.) What would be the best rig for this style fishing (lake is probably only 13-20 ft deep at most)?

2.) Best kind of bait to use, as I have only used chicken livers?

3.) Any ways to keep the bait on better, get a lot of hits and then real in with no bait?

4.) Any other advice you have to offer to a rookie catfisherman just looking to catch a few nice ones and let em go to get bigger?

Thanks in advance!


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## ajangsta04 (Aug 7, 2007)

I don't know if this is a "better"method. But I've switched everything over to a Carolina Rig with a 18-26 inch leader. If I know the lake has mostly smaller fish, I'll use 1/2 oz egg sinkers. CIRCLE hooks are a MUST. These things have improved my fish hook up ratio up to 95%.

Bait-wise, I've learned that a lot of other fish like to eat and nip at liver. I've caught stripers and carp on liver. So I've switched half of my baits to cut shad.

If you are using liver, I use nickel sized pieces with a 1/2 oz sinker. The more the liver, the bigger the sinker. You also don't want to fling it out there. I usually just lob it.

Aside from that, you learn a lot from trial and error.


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## Bluefinn (Jan 26, 2007)

Try a chunk of hot dog & no weight & leave your bail open. Works great for me.


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## starcraft36 (Feb 16, 2005)

I have heard that shrimp works good to, is this just your basic store bought shrimp, or is there a specific bait kind you need to use?


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## bonsai87 (Sep 17, 2007)

circle hooks are a must....shrimp work great...yes just normal raw shrimp...bluegill works great too...small live ones...or cut..as well as shad


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## starcraft36 (Feb 16, 2005)

One more thing real quick.....is it better to tight line them when you use a carolina rig/slip sinker rig, or is it best to leave slack in the line?

Just curious as this lake has a really weedy bottom, thats why I was using a drop shot style and keeping the line tight, trying to stay out of the weeds some.


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## bonsai87 (Sep 17, 2007)

tight lines are always good...just make sure your drag is set right...when they hit your bait if they feel too much pressure when they go to run there is more of a chance they will spit the bait


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## C.O.CATFISH (Sep 10, 2009)

carolina rig is deff the way to go,as well as circle hooks,and the trick i use for liver is panty hose,cut a small diamond shape out of a pair put your liver in there and tie it in a knot,i have caught fish all night with 1 liver,that hose will not come off the hook easy,if you catch a fish remove the hook and liver hose,dip it in the blood and cast it back out...works every time,as far as bait just try a few diff ones...im still a fan of the all mighty night crawler


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## starcraft36 (Feb 16, 2005)

Thanks for the advice guys, I ended up catching 3 channels last night in about an hour and half. Biggest was roughly 8 lbs. Biggest one I have caught, the other were around 2 lbs. I caught them all on chicken liver, I had shrimp and hot dog out, but no takers on that. I did manage to hook to bluegills on the liver as well. The guy next to me hooked into a really nice one prolly 10-12 lbs on a minnow on a bobber. 

I was still using the drop shot, did not have time to switch to carolina rigs due to time constraints. I will switch the rigs over this weekend and invest in some better circle hooks. I will keep you posted, thanks for the help.


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## fishdealer04 (Aug 27, 2006)

If you are fishing a weedy bottom lake then you can try to use a slip float and suspend the bait above the weeds. I have had great success with this fishing weedy lakes. Active channel cats will come and get the bait. It does not have to be right on the bottom.

I fish the Ohio river a lot and I catch a lot of blues and channels suspended in the water column. If they are hungry they will come get the bait.

All I use are circle hooks and my hook up ratio has improved a lot. So that might be an option. The carolina rig is a good setup thats what I use.

As others have said with the chicken liver a lot of other fish will eat it too, but you can cut down on the size. It does not have to be a huge piece to catch a fish, if you size it down the fish will pick it up completley therefore getting the hook in its mouth and you should hook up.

Any baitfish will work well. I use exclusivley shad, skipjack, mooneye, and occasionally bluegill and suckers when catfishing, but shad seems to be the best bait right now.


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## bassattacker (Mar 14, 2007)

since its just a couple acre park lake, what i normal try in the 15 acre lake i fish is few things:

1. slip float, hook, no weight, liver, shrimp, etc... this allows the bait to basicly float down and channels will usually hit it on the down fall, the con to this is the gut hook percentage is higher cause they just pick it up and swallow

2. no weight just hook and lob it out with liver, shrimp, hot dog, dip bait, etc... this allows the same as above, no weight putting pressure on the line when there taking it.

3. on bottom with 1/4 oz. - 1/2 oz bank sinker, swivel with 10 inch leader, circle hook, gill head, curled creek chubs or head.

4. same as 3 with just a slip float.


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## Whiskerhunter (Sep 24, 2009)

bassattacker said:


> since its just a couple acre park lake, what i normal try in the 15 acre lake i fish is few things:
> 
> 1. slip float, hook, no weight, liver, shrimp, etc... this allows the bait to basicly float down and channels will usually hit it on the down fall, the con to this is the gut hook percentage is higher cause they just pick it up and swallow



Circle hooks will dramatically decrease the number of gut hooks you get, additionally, you don't need to cross the fish's eyes on the hookset, they usually pretty much hook themselves, just real down and lift the rod up when you feel the fish. They will shy from the line and put the hook right into the corner of their mouths. I started using circle hooks this season and have yet to gut hook one (have landed about 250 channels this season).

I agree, floating a bait can be extremely productive especially in shallower waters or around lillies or where you have a heavily weeded bottom. I often run one float rig, one bottom rig if I am unfamiliar with the local cats in a lake. Though I usually peg a 1/8 oz. egg weight or splitshot a couple inches above the hook just to get the bait to "punch through the weeds"

Raw shrimp is an excellent bait as it scents much like crawfish, which are natural forage for cats. Many will tell you "cats don't get big on shrimp" while this may be true, it is like candy to them... Kids don't get big on hersey bars, but given the choice they will chose them over broccoli. I have caught plenty of channels in the 20-30# range on shrimp.

And just a side note to remove that "dirt flavor" that comes from cats in highly weeded lakes... soak the fillets in buttermilk for an hour before cooking. Works like magic.


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