# Catfish with a Bobber?



## the dunkle (Jul 11, 2005)

I have relocated from ohio to central texas ( a small town called killeen if any one has heard of it) any way the army base here, FT. Hood, has several good sized ponds and a pretty big lake. One pond imperticular is right behind the motorpool i work at. I've fished there for catfish with the traditional method i used back home and have had poor results ( a couple catfish but nothing to write home about) I've noticed that the catfish will come to the serface and eat bread and pretty much anything that u throw in there. The pond is pretty big but its not very deep maybe only 10 ft in its depest part. I was wondering if dangling a shad or some blue gill heads off a bober about 2 ft below the surface would help me to become more succesful in my attempts to catch fish here. Supposedly the bass fishing here on base is excellent but i've never been much of a bass fisherman and Im looking forward to getting into it.


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## coachfozz (Mar 19, 2006)

Catfish will hit a bobber just like any other fish. I use to catch a lot of cats that way. I think it would work just fine. They aren't going to turn away any shad, that is for sure


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## zachtrouter (May 1, 2006)

Try a crawler about a foot off the bottom. Also try chicken livers


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## ChachiSnips (May 4, 2005)

I used to get a lot of cats using a bobber and worm at a campground growing up and i've got a lot of catfish on a minnow under a bobber while crappie fishing. heck, i even caught a nice one on a spinnerbait in shallow water while I was pike fishing. what it comes down to is if u're not having much luck one way, never hurts to try something different. good luck to ya.


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## Wannabitawerm (Apr 13, 2004)

I only use floats for cats. Stay mobile. If you don't get bit after 10 minutes or so, move around. If the cats are hungry, they will bite.


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## bkr43050 (Apr 5, 2004)

I have only tried a bobber on catfish a couple of times and never did it growing up. My dad was an avid catter but he only knew the tight line bottom technique. I don't fish cats much any more but wanting to get my boys in some action. When you guys use the floats, do you use a slip float and totally suspend the bait? I am wondering about setting up a rig that has weight at the bottom to take the line to the bottom and then set the bait on a dropper line up the line a little ways. Does anyone do it this way? My reason for wanting to do it that way is that with a float totally suspended the wind or current takes me either too far into the shoreline or out of the targeted area.


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## liquidsoap (Oct 22, 2005)

If you use a bobber. Try a crawler about 5ft down. Ive caught alot of nice channels that way. But the big boys come out when you use chicken livers.


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## River Dweller20 (May 24, 2005)

You can't go wrong using a bobber on a pond. Liver works great for channels, but they'll bite just about anything, if you're talking about channels.


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## Wannabitawerm (Apr 13, 2004)

I have found that on some shallower lakes, (Findley, Spencer, etc.) the channels hang in the thermocline. As the summer wears on, the thermocline can get very shallow, sometimes as shallow as 4 feet. I have pulled monster cats off the shore in 3 foot of water pretty consistently. It also helps though, if you know the lake you are fishing. If you don't know whats going on, it's a crap shoot. I switched to floats after I caught 3 channels better than 5 pounds in 10 minutes using crawlers around brush piles from a canoe. (I was going for bluegill with my ultralight) My 2 biggest channels were on minnows while crappie fishing. I got an almost 15 pounder at Findley, and a 20 pounder (best guess) at Wellington upground. He got to boat side until the little crappie hook had all it could take. Largest cat I have seen up to that point. His head was as big as a football. I didn't get an official weight, but he was bigger than anything I have ever caught.


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## kmb411 (Feb 24, 2005)

In ponds where people hand feed the fish, an old man told me to use a cricket or grass hopper on a light wire hook, no wieght. Since the fish are use to feeding on the surface, go against all you believe. I fished for about 2 days in that pond caught a couple of bream. I finally broke down and caught a hopper- BAM instant catfish. Every time I threw out a hopper or cricket, another fish jumped on my line. It got to the point that I only had to cast about 10 feet. The fish seemed to swarm to anything on the surface.

As far as Ft. Hood goes, try black or dark colored plastic worms on a 2/0 AWG hook, no weight. Just cast it out, slow count to 30 twitch the rod, count to 30.... It should take 5 minutes or better to reel in a cast. That's the Texas non public water (read-pond) secret technique. You should be able to catch 3-5 lb bass, maybe bigger. 

Good luck! 

And Go Army!!


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## Shortdrift (Apr 5, 2004)

I have caught a lot of Channels using a slip bobber and worms, chubs, chicken liver, chunks of hot dog, bacon and balony. Have also caught them on inline spinners, rubber worms, jig and twister tails and etc, etc.  They are very selective when in a feeding mood.


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## misfit (Apr 5, 2004)

> They are very selective when in a feeding mood


yeah,so are misfits 

floating various baits can be very effective for channels.they are not exclusively bottom feeders and will often suspend.just about any standard bait will work.most of my float fishing is done in shallow water or streams,but it can be effective anywhere once you find the depth at which they're feeding.


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## H2O Mellon (Apr 5, 2004)

liquidsoap said:


> But the big boys come out when you use chicken livers.


Thats 100% different than my results. When I did use chicken liver, I never caught many over 2-3 pounds.


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## jkeeney20 (Mar 21, 2006)

Same here...I always catch smaller fish with liver....Last summer my 2 friends and I fished the river almost every weekend....the 3 biggest cats we caught were 28, 35 and 60lbs...all caught after dark using bobbers(light sticks taped to them) with a large bluegill or sunfish suspended about 3-5 below it....caught several 10-20 using the traditional bottom method....but never any of huge side....but this may differ in different waters...never know!


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## the dunkle (Jul 11, 2005)

well I went out on saturday evening for a couple hours to that spot. Had a little bit more succsess caught about 7 cats in about 3 hours. Biggest one was about 3to4 pound range. I used a bobber with shad as bait and it worked pretty good i quess. No monsters as soon as i get a camera im gonna start tacking some pics of the fish down here. I was hoping to catch a massive flathead but no luck this time.


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## liquidsoap (Oct 22, 2005)

H2O Mellon said:


> Thats 100% different than my results. When I did use chicken liver, I never caught many over 2-3 pounds.


Maybe because My Big catfish arent nearly as big as a Ohio river fishermans like yourself.
On a side not I caught 2 on twister tail at skeeter last weekend, and both were about 2-3 pounds.


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## chrisoneal (May 13, 2006)

Well if your wanting to catch a shovelhead. Try live bait. They will hit more on live bait then cut bait.


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