# Need some catfish help



## fishintiger (Apr 26, 2004)

Ok before you beat me with your giant cat rods and everything can you give me some advice/help on cats. I mostly fish for crappies, so I don't have a lot of "training" on cats. I've caught some in the past while crappie fishing. I'm planning on fishing a pond/lake this weekend that I know has a good population of smaller cats (I would say up to about 3 pounds). My main question is how do you hold a catfish? I've always used a pair of plyers or a towel and plyers combo to pull the hook out and let it fall back into the water.  I've always been told it's pretty painful if you stuck/stung with their wiskers. What's some good baits to use also? I've always got them on crawlers and minnows. I think I'm going to try crawlers and see what happens. When would be a good time to fish for them? I was thinking abuot going around 8-9ish as it's starting to get darker. Is this a good time? Thanks in advance for the help.


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## twistertail (Apr 10, 2004)

The best way to hold the smaller ones so they dont stick ya is to slide your hand up their belly and put one of the fins between your ring finger and your middle finger and the other one between your thumb and index finger. You can get a good hold that way with one hand. As far as baits and times I think some of the cat guys can help ya more than I can, I usually catch them while fishing for other stuff.


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## soua0363 (Jun 10, 2005)

I would hold a cat like Twistertail says...its the easiest way without getting stuck. I have been stuck a few times and it sucks ass. Now I use a fish holding claw..much safer and I just pull the hook out of its mouth like any other fish. I sometimes use a plier if the hook is on the hard part of its mouth where its kinda tough to get it out.

Baits...you can use nightcrawlers, corn, doughbait, stinkbait or dip bait, chicken livers, chicken skin, shrimp, crawdad, whole bluegills or cut up bluegills, shad, and skipjacks. Cats usually bite all day long as I have caught them during all times of the day, it just depends on if you want sit in the sun all day waiting for a cat to bite. Its easier on you at night as the sun isnt out baking you and usually the cats are more active when the water cools off some. 

You will also need a bigger rod than the ones you use for crappie fishing. I would try and get a medium to medium-heavy rod with a decent size reel so that it can hold a good amount of large line. I use Berkley Big Game 15# and 20# test line and have never had any problems bringing the fishes in. The Berkely Big Game 15# is pretty castable too for being a larger line than a 10 or 12# so you can use it for other applications like bass fishing or the sort. Hook size can be from a 4 to a 2/0 or even use treble hook. I prefer using a treble hook when using chicken liver as there are more hooks to hold it on. Hope this helps some and I am sure others have a few more tips that I may of missed or did not think of.


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## H2O Mellon (Apr 5, 2004)

Before I started 'cattin, I was affraid of getting stuck. And thanks to the original GFO CATFISH MAFIA & there famous post, the terror didnt stop, until...... I actually starting catching some. I tell ya, in my opinon the Crappie & Bluegill (espically the Bluegills) are harder to hold than the cats. Go through websites like Flathunters, Docs, etc...... look at the pics. You'll be fine. I wish you good luck, as you just may start looking at Crappie a different way........ AS BAIT!

Dont get discouraged if you dont get the monster Flats. As I have learned it takes most a long time to get the art of Flathead fishing down, but with practise & lots of fish time you'll be posting pics like KATFISH, MMAGIS, DOC, MR FISH OHIO, DIP, FLATHUNTER, etc.... Whoops, we'll maybe FLATHUNTER was a bad example.


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## H2O Mellon (Apr 5, 2004)

If you want something to get by for a year or so of catting, there are combos I think they are called MUDVILLE in the $35 range that would work. In fact later on you could probally keep the rod, but you'd want to upgrade the reel I think.


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## fishintiger (Apr 26, 2004)

Thanks for the info guys. I do have a "cat rod". It is a 7' Medium Heavy or Heavy with a big reel. I bought it a couple years ago when I first started fishing because it was some what cheap and I wanted a spinning reel. I used it all the time until I went crappie fishing with Misfit and it was a pain using a pole almost as big as his boat was. I think I have 12 or 15 pound line. It might be bigger than that. I know it is pretty thick stuff. I was actually thinking about selling it not to long ago but I think I will hold onto it unless I don't catch any big catfish then I will sell it. Actually I'm not too concerned about catching big catfish I just want to catch a couple of them.

BTW Mellon, I don't think I'll ever see crappies as bait. Just dinner.  

Maybe I can get some pointers from Catking on how to catch them.


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## zap (Jun 5, 2005)

Something I didnt see mentioned yet....the larger the catfish gets, the less likely you are to get stung.

I guess as they get older, they wear down the spines more. Once you start baiting for, and catching 2 pound or larger fish, you hardly have to worry about getting poked at all. 

Its thos little 6 inchers in my cast net that are dangerous 


......also.....if you do get stung....just soak your finger in warm water...it helps


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## Doctor (Apr 5, 2004)

Couple of different ways to do it, I don't catch that many small ones, not bragging I just use big baits most of the time and they can't handle it, but there are times when they think they can chunk down a 1/4# of Shad meat.









This guy here is the one that will nail you good, there spines are as sharp as hooks and they can whip around real quick and make you suffer, generally the spines that are laying on the edge of my hand are the ones that get ya.

Most generally on the larger cats I grab them by the head and slide the heel of my hand against the upper dorsal spine, now I have big hands so it's rather easy for me. When I take there pictures and they never like there pictures taken here is how I hold them.









Another way is to slide your hand under there head put the tip of your thumb at the base of there lower jaw and use your fingers of your hand to hook into the two outside barbs and then put your thumb in there mouth and then squeeze your hand, your fingers are on the barbs and your thumb is in there mouth this really locks them in place.

Don't be afraid to use a glove, somebody may hang the title of your a wimp, but they can really cut you up bad with those recurved teeth, my body don't heal up like it did when I was a younger man so most of the time you'll see me with a glove on, if they clamp down on you and start thrashing around they can really peel the hide off your fingers and hand.

With no rain for a couple of weeks for the rivers and lakes the bacteria growth is going to be going thru the roof so everybody needs to handle all there fish with care right now. Nobody needs to get an infected hand or fingers right now.

Now when it comes to getting stuck there are only three areas they can get you with, the top dorsal fin, and the two side fins. There are barbs that are about 2 inches in length that will be folded back but they can spring them out so don't put your hand over the top, I like to spread my fingers and put them between so I know I have them good. The Barbels hanging down off there face are there tasting buds they will not hurt you, lots of people think there stingers but they use them to find food with. The above method is the way I will normally hold a larger Channel cat. Blues like to really thrash around a lot so your going to have to get your hand in there mouth and hold them normally it is not a problem because they will clamp down hard on your hand and you will be the one that is dancing around









The larger fish can be put right up against your body no problem with them sticking you.


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## misfit (Apr 5, 2004)

tony,good info there,especially by doc.
as for the rod and reel,that rig you have is fine.it'll handle channels easily.just a bit overkill for crappies  
maybe we can get a night to hit hoover,and you put some nice ones in the boat


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## flathunter (Apr 5, 2004)

Mellon is not qualified to answer any questions concerning catfish!


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## H2O Mellon (Apr 5, 2004)

At least it's not been like twenty years since I caught a 20# lb fish...... And until you beat me I'm not going to let you forget it!


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## fishintiger (Apr 26, 2004)

misfit said:


> tony,good info there,especially by doc.
> as for the rod and reel,that rig you have is fine.it'll handle channels easily.just a bit overkill for crappies
> maybe we can get a night to hit hoover,and you put some nice ones in the boat



Sounds like a plan to me. I'll hold you to it. I was just making sure I had enough back bone on the rod for the bigger crappies.  

Thanks for all the info guys. Now if I can just remember enough of it for when I get out and try to catch them.


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## Reel Lady (Jul 4, 2004)

Tony...
Alot of people prefer to use Circle Hooks for catfish. Zach (reelson) just tried them for the first time over the weekend and caught some nice catfish. With the circle hooks, you are almost guaranteed to hook the fish in the lip, rather than having to deal with a swallowed hook. I'm not sure what size he was using, but they were pretty small and tipped with about half of a raw shrimp. 
Make _sure_ that you have a good pair of needle nosed pliars with you too! 
Also, make sure that your line is fresh (no frays or weak spots from over stretching) I know you would hate to lose a nice cat because of inferior line. 
So what kind of set up are you going to use? A slip sinker is a good choice... especially with live bait  
We have caught catfish on many different kinds of bait. Last week while we were fishing in a bass tourney, Rob managed to catch a channel cat using a Gulp minnow...I've caught them on little crankbaits, worms, cheese, raw shrimp, liver, etc......
Have fun and catch a BIG one! :B


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