# New to catfishing.



## MSmith2004 (Sep 12, 2006)

Bought some berkley powerbait liver flavor and have been trying for some cats with no luck. Usually around 8-9. I've been trying with a slip sinker, swivel, and about 18 inches off of that with the bait. Haven't even got a bite. Any suggestions and how to get at those cats? How shallow do they get at that time. Been fishing in about 5-10 feet at that point. Would it be better under a bobber?


----------



## Flathead King 06 (Feb 26, 2006)

well sounds like you're targeting channel cats first off...so the way inwhich you have rigged your bait is fine...and depending on the body of water you're fishing...8-9 pm might be too early try staying later than that if possible, but you should be able to catch a few at least in that time frame...try switching around baits...Ive never used synthetic baits such as berkley powerbait...always used the real stuff...but chicken livers or liver flavored baits dont always produce fish...try using some fresh cutbaits such as bluegill, chubs, suckers, and shad, live baits (same kind as cut bait) including nightcrawlers, leeches, minnows, etc...or the "traditional" baits for channels which ranges from hamburger & wheaties concoctions to punch baits and everything inbetween...these baits will most likely produce a cat if indeed they are in the pond/lake and you never know if there are big cats in it such as flatheads of blue cats you could always get lucky and hook into one of them on the cut and live baits...as far as fishing under a bobber, again depending on the type of water you're fishing (gravely bottoms, submerged timber, deep drop offs, ledges, etc...) it could be helpful to try using a slip float or something...hope this helps


----------



## tcba1987 (Jun 22, 2004)

i would throw away the powerbait and get yourself some live creek chubs or chicken livers. ive never caught anything on those berkley powerbaits and i have tried them several places !!!


----------



## wickford (Oct 25, 2005)

We've had a lot of success with raw shrimp for Channel Cats...I normally "season" them with garlic powder and let them sit out in the hot sun for a few hours and it seems the channels love it! We normally don't catch anything under a pound or two on shrimp with the occasional 6-8 pounder...

also, at night we almost always use lighted slip bobbers with the bait on the bottom. easy to see when you get a bite, and when that red glow starts to dive, the adrenalin starts to flow!!

I'd definitely agree with the guidance below on the live bait (bluegill has been a good producer for us too) even though we've only used them a couple of times, we got solid bites with them and landed a 9 pound 31" channel with one.

Good Luck!


----------



## FishThis (Sep 2, 2005)

Has anybody tried the Berkley Gulp chicken livers. That Gulp is good stuff!


----------



## bassattacker (Mar 14, 2007)

ive had success with livers, shrimp, doughs, prepared baits from stores and so on, but nothing beats fresh cut bait or live bait,especially for bigger cats, the exception to using live bait is catfish are just as picky as they are glutons, one day livers might be better than live bait, fresh cut might be better than shrimp, once u find the pattern and what there liking the best that day or night ull catch a ton, but with this extreme heat we are having there going to be deep early evening and move shallow late evening, just a few things ive learned from pendogg and bigdogsteve this year.


----------



## H2O Mellon (Apr 5, 2004)

I've never really used shrimp, livers, etc... but with the amount of shad that I (dont) have, I may try that kind of stuff when I go channel catting next time.


----------



## pendog66 (Mar 23, 2005)

Bryan call me when you get a chance, i think i have finally tracked down those shad again


----------



## c-orth513 (Feb 1, 2008)

Not really a fan on Berkley Catfish bait, use some old-school nightcrawlers, they get more than anything usually.

Your rig sounds fine and you don't seem to be making any mistakes, maybe the cats aren't biting now or the body doesn't have many cats.

My favorite times for channels are 1-4 P.M. and 7-11 P.M.

The bites peak for me at 4 and 8 P.M.

I don't fish for channels late at night, that is more when shovels and blues feed, I have had little luck with channels at night.


----------



## katfish (Apr 7, 2004)

Evolution has programmed channel catfish senses to detect a certain set of amino acids at lower concentrations than other items in the water. Those amino acids are specific to fish blood. Baits of fish or fish products will be detected at an exponentially greater distance (diameter or length of distribution in water).

Since channel cats are very adaptable and feed on a wide variety of items you should still contact some of them. My strategy for channel cats is to identify the largest available food supply when and where I fish and most of the time the channel cats will be nearby to take advantage.

Once I was catching channel cats at a very good rate on minnows fished 60 yds out in a lake on bottom. Then one night I got no bites. The next morning I was idly flipping one of the abundant grasshoppers off the bank to see if the bluegill would take it on top. The grasshopper disappeared soon after hitting the water.
Being somewhat opportunistic and adaptable myself I put the next grasshopper on a bluegill hook and threw it 2 feet from the bank. I spent the rest of the morning catching channel cats.
The channel cats noticed there was a great abundance of grasshoppers and lined the banks waiting for wind or bad jumps to provide meals. They were taking advantage of the most abundant food supply and using other senses to locate and capture them.

I am not saying bait with grasshoppers. I am advising you understand basic fish behavior and some problem solving skills to take advantage of your best tool for catching fish. Your superior brainpower.

Then if you get skunked don't admit the fish was smarter than you----he was just lucky


----------

