# Catfish rigs for 2012.



## JimmyMac

I've seen "lets see your rigs" threads a few times but, its a new year. I know I'm not the only one who gets cabin fever and shops over the winter, so lets see those new toys or even old faithfuls. 


I think I'm on my 5th or 6th season now where I haven't used the same rigs for more than one season, without upgrading or moving on to something else. This year I think I have found the rods and reels that will stick for at least a couple seasons (maybe...). 

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These will be my main flathead/blue rigs, out of all the rigs I've used in the last 15 years I think these reels are really where its at. The Abu Garcia Ambassadeur Alphamar series, mine are the 16 size. They hold a good chunk of line, 27lbs of drag, roughly the same size as a 7000 with the casting ability of a 6500, clicker sounds like a dirt bike. I got mine for the best price I could find over at bottomdwellerstackle.com at $129. 

The rods are TWC extremes from tanglingwithcatfish, they are tried and true among a lot of good catfisherman, I know a of a few guides that run these rods and day in day out take heavy abuse from monster blues on the james river and wheeler lake. 

The line I stumbled across randomly on the web, I had never seen it before. Its berkley big game, but its from Europe, comes in electric blue and is rated at 48.5lb test. I got 3 440yd spools of it for less than $3 a spool, figured I'd try it out. 



























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For channel cat rigs I ordered a few of the American Spirit PC930BR reels from bottomdwellerstackle, these are budget reels but will work great for channels in my opinion. They have a adjustable baitrunner (clicker) on the back, witch I thought was pretty cool as I never seen a smaller spinning reel that had this feature before. I also ordered one size larger of the spinning reels, the PC950BR for my wife to use. The rods are Ugly Stik inshore spinning rods from BPS, also good low budget rods for I think $39 is what I paid.


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## Salmonid

For my new Blue/Flathead outfits I have a pair of the New Catfish Gear USA Blue rods, ( 7'6" Heavy) these are the rods of choice of the guides on the James mostly, now being distributed by CGUSA.com, then I use Abu 6500 Tournament Series spooled with High Vis Vicious Offshore Copolymer Line in 30#, ( 50# for the leaders) great castability and low memory and tough as nails!

My Channel Rods are 4 identical St Croix Premiere 7'6" Medium Heavy Musky rods loaded with 4 more Abu 6500 Tournament Series reels spooled with the same Vicious Offshore Hi Vis in 20#

These outfits are perfect for my boat fishing and have never let me down and when your on the tournament trail, you better have some quality stuff!
Next Weekend at Rocky Fork lake and the next weekend after that at St Marys, then the Ohio River in Cinci after that.


Salmonid


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## JimmyMac

Salmonid said:


> For my new Blue/Flathead outfits I have a pair of the New Catfish Gear USA Blue rods, ( 7'6" Heavy) these are the rods of choice of the guides on the James mostly, now being distributed by CGUSA.com, then I use Abu 6500 Tournament Series spooled with High Vis Vicious Offshore Copolymer Line in 30#, ( 50# for the leaders) great castability and low memory and tough as nails!
> 
> My Channel Rods are 4 identical St Croix Premiere 7'6" Medium Heavy Musky rods loaded with 4 more Abu 6500 Tournament Series reels spooled with the same Vicious Offshore Hi Vis in 20#
> 
> These outfits are perfect for my boat fishing and have never let me down and when your on the tournament trail, you better have some quality stuff!
> Next Weekend at Rocky Fork lake and the next weekend after that at St Marys, then the Ohio River in Cinci after that.
> 
> 
> Salmonid



Those catfish gear usa rods do look great, if Hugh Self uses them on his boat they must be legit. Sounds like you got some awesome setups, would like to see some pics!  

(looking at fishing gear to me is like lookin at a hot rod, since I'm not a car guy.)


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## rustyfish

Nice rigs guys. But I like a challenge and pink lol! 








Here are the boys, some new some old and nothing special. Just enough to get the job done without spending too much.

Flathead landers are :
Ambassadur 7000B on an 8' NiteStick
Ambassador 6000 on an 8' BP Catmaxx
Ambassador 6500C3 on a 7' Catmaxx
Each catmaxx is missing an eye insert that I will replace soon. I'm sure ill lose more eyes but I just can't give up on those rods. I wish BassPro would just fix that problem.








For Channel cats :
Ambassador 6000 on a 6'6" Basspro Megacast Med. Hev.
AbuGarcia Cardinal on 7' Shakespeare Micrographite light act.








And on the bench as backup:
Ambassador Six Star on a 7' berkley Big game
Quantum Optix 60 on a 7' Quantum Big water







Nothing as nice as you guys but they get the job done.

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## JimmyMac

Getting the job done is really all that matters, I can't wait for mine to get that battle tested look to them, cat rigs should never be to shiny .


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## BanksideBandit

Where did you find that electric blue line at? I looked on Berkleys website and they only have steel blue. That blue line looks nice when it matches the poles and reels.


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## JimmyMac

BanksideBandit said:


> Where did you find that electric blue line at? I looked on Berkleys website and they only have steel blue. That blue line looks nice when it matches the poles and reels.



I found the line at http://www.ffo-tackle.com/ but I see they currently do not have it listed. The sell the line in Europe, its berkley big game electric blue.


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## BanksideBandit

How do you like those Alphamar's so far? I have a couple of Abu Records that I use and I like them a lot especially when bank fishing because they cast very well with 6 bearings. I'm like you and always get new rigs and I like the looks of those Alphamars. Do you know anything about the Abu Mag series of reels? I saw on a website that there is about 6 different reels in the Mag series.


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## fishdealer04

I use the alphamars as well and they are fantastic! Slowly switching all my reels over to them. Cheapest place to get them is eBay. A guy from Michigan sells them his store is united outdoors I think. I bought my alphamar 20's last year for 119 and free shipping from him. His price went up a little but still the cheapest the 20's are now 128 with free shipping. The 16's I believe are 117 with free shipping.


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## mullskinner

JimmyMac 
a clicker that sounds like a dirt bike nice !!


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## chf1949

BanksideBandit said:


> Where did you find that electric blue line at? I looked on Berkleys website and they only have steel blue. That blue line looks nice when it matches the poles and reels.


I believe that color was discontinued in 2010. My guess is you would have to find some new old stock. Sure is a nice color!!


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## smoothkip25

Nice looking setups guys.


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## fredg53

O mainly only fish for channels out back in yard we catch a ton on cheap gear 10 test 1 oz sinker twisted on a above a 3/0 hook shrimp m crawlers or what we have grab a beer and wait 

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## smoothkip25

Spooled up mine tonight went with 25# Hi-Seas for my smaller reels and went with 50# Hi-Seas for my bigger reels. Heres a pic of em all ready to go.
From Left to right.
-Diawa Millionaire on a grafite bass rod
-Abu 5600 Pro Rocket on a St. Croix Triumph
-Abu 6000 on Amer. Spirit Pro Nite Stick
-4 Abu Kalex 60s on Amer. Spirit Pro Nite Sticks
-Abu 6500 Custom on a Pro Nite Stick
-4 Shimano Tekota 600s on Catfight Rods


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## jonnythfisherteen2

for cats, i have a $20 shimano samurai. cheep but it handles cats nicely.


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## rustyfish

Smoothkip, I think you are suffering from addiction and you should probably think about going to meetings. And I thought 7 Ambassadeurs was crazy enough that I gave two 6000s away when I bought my c3 & 7000. 

Just messing with you, There is no such thing as too many fishing rigs. That is a nice lineup you got there.


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## JimmyMac

smoothkip25 said:


> Spooled up mine tonight went with 25# Hi-Seas for my smaller reels and went with 50# Hi-Seas for my bigger reels. Heres a pic of em all ready to go.
> From Left to right.
> -Diawa Millionaire on a grafite bass rod
> -Abu 5600 Pro Rocket on a St. Croix Triumph
> -Abu 6000 on Amer. Spirit Pro Nite Stick
> -4 Abu Kalex 60s on Amer. Spirit Pro Nite Sticks
> -Abu 6500 Custom on a Pro Nite Stick
> -4 Shimano Tekota 600s on Catfight Rods



You get to test those cat fight rods out on any cats yet? I sure do want a couple of them, but was waiting for some folks to report on them.


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## smoothkip25

JimmyMac said:


> You get to test those cat fight rods out on any cats yet? I sure do want a couple of them, but was waiting for some folks to report on them.


They are great Circle hook rods and handle a big sinker and bait. Overall Im real happy with them and think they are one of the most versite rods ive owned. Soft enough tip for channels and the light cold water bite but has plenty of backbone to muscle big cats also.


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## JustWannaGoFishing

Hey guys. Those are some nice outfits. I live in chillicothe an i do most of my fishing in the scioto river. I'd love to do more fishing...as i hope to get that chance this summer. I have just your basic set-ups that i can also use when i go bass fishing. I do have one big pole...an older one that has a bait feeder on it that i bought several years ago to go to a pay lake with a friend. Havent used it since. Might try to clean it up an break it in this summer. Am new to this site so i'll be payin attention to what you guys say so i can learn more. Maybe i can go out an catch one of this "big fish!"


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