How To Catch Big Catfish Part 1 - Where and When to Catch Catfish in Lakes, Rivers and Reservoirs
76I Don't Make My Living Fishing, I'm Living To Fish.
My name is Gary Turner and I love to fish.
I don't make my living fishing, I'm living to Fish.
This hubpage is about catching big catfish.
I love catfishing and going after the monster cats.
Whether you are new to catfishing or have been doing it your whole life,
I hope you will learn something from this hubpage.
Please if you have any insights, tips or great catfishing advice or questions
feel free to put them in the comments box.
Thanks Gary
Gone Fishin Club Members and some of the Flathead Catfish from a Santee Cooper Trip
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How to Catch Big Catfish - Part 1
Are You In Search Of Big Catfish?
Monster Catfish, World Class Trophy Catfish,
You've Come To The Right Place.
How to Catch Big Catfish is a 3 part series with some additional Hubpages by Gone Fishin Club for other Catching Big Catfish Information.
Here's what you need to know to greatly improve your chances of taking a trophy catfish. Many fishermen think that catching a trophy cat should be fairly easy. We see all the pictures on the internet and magazines showing all these giant catfish. It's true there are lots of trophy catfish caught each year, but it's not as easy as one might think. The good news is that more and more big catfish are being released after they are weighed, measured and photographed. Catch and release improves everybody's chances of catching a trophy catfish.
Where Is The Best Place To Catch A Trophy Catfish?
You can target big blue catfish and big flathead catfish in many large river systems and reservoirs in the Midwest, South and Eastern United States.
The Mississippi, Missouri, Tennessee and James River systems all contain World Record Class Catfish. Lake Texoma , Lake Marion, and Lake Moultrie also hold World Record Class Catfish. Most larger river systems and lakes hold trophy class cats from 30-50 pounds. You can catch them in smaller rivers and lakes but your best chances are in the bigger waters.
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Best Time to Fish for Giant Catfish
When Is The Best Time Of Day To Fish For Giant Catfish?
There are several factors here such as season and moon phase, but generally in the summer months you can target blue catfish both day and night with good results. The flathead catfish are generally much more active at night, with many larger fish caught around midnight to 3 am. Full moon nights can be slow, so pass on these if you can reschedule to another night. Flatheads can be caught at any time day or night, but your chances are much greater at these peak times.
What Are The Best Months To Catch Trophy Catfish?
If you are chasing giant blue and flathead catfish, the summer months, when the water levels are generally lower, is the best time to target them. The warmer water makes the catfish more active and feed more. Another great season to catch big blue catfish is in the winter when most fishermen are waiting for spring to come. Those that know this secret are out killing themselves reeling in the big blues. It's a blast. This season is normally from November to January and sometimes extends into February.
Flatheads often will feed aggressively from late September through late October as they fatten up for the winter. The flathead catfish fishing slows through the winter and picks up again in the spring.
Gary Turner with a nice Flathead Catfish
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Where Will The Giant Catfish Be?
Where Will The Giant Catfish Be Lurking?
Flathead catfish like deep holes with cover on the outside edges of the rivers bends. Look for large logjams, cast under the edges and let your bait drift in and then hang on. If the outside bends are too strong to fish try to find some inside bends with less current to fish.
In large lakes and reservoirs look for the big flatheads in areas with lots of cover, submerged brush piles, or stumps. They often travel in old river and creek channels in these lakes and reservoirs. Often at night they will travel these channels emerging at the edge of shallows where they come to feed. Position yourself along these areas and wait for them to arrive.
Blue catfish will often be found in similar areas as the flathead catfish.
The blues can sometimes also be found a little deeper along drop-offs and ledges.
For more information on How to Catch Big Catfish,
See Part 2 of this article. How to Catch Big Catfish Part 2
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Want To See More Pictures From Our Catfishing Trip?
To see some more pictures from one of Gone Fishin Clubs
Catfishing trips to Santee Cooper go here
Catfishing at Santee Cooper.blogspot.com
By joining Gone Fishin Club you become eligible to win a trip to Santee to chase Monsters Cats with Gary and the crew.
We also have drawings for other trips, club logo hats and shirts.
So what are you waiting for, JOIN NOW! Did I mention it was FREE!
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Another Nice Flathead!
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I LOVE CAT FISHING, I HAVE CAUGHT A FEW BIG BLUES BUT NOT CONSISTENT. I AM 75 YEARS YOUNG. WE HAVE POSSIBLE WORLD RECORD FISH HERE. I WANT TO KNOW HOW TO IMPROVE MY CAT FISH KNOWLEDGE.
My name is Connor and I am 11. Can you tell me how to attach my hook and sink weight for catching big catfish. Thanks
some catfish are really smart they will sit at the deep side of a dock and at night they will come on the shallow side because theres tonz of little fish there that are perfect for cats so i would fish with minnows on a shallow side of the dock at night but the one that i cought was smaller like 5 pounds but i could care less because i love to catch catfish.
Hello Connor, I sent you an email and did a hubpage for you, hope this helps and you catch a monster catfish. If you do email me a picture to gary(at)gonefishinclub.com
the hubpage is http://hubpages.com/hub/Rigs-for-Catching-Big-Catf
Thanks Gary
Wow! Great looking catfish! The biggest one I've caught ws only an 8lb Channel Cat. Nothing like that monster!
cjmo75
Hello, what state are you catfishing in? What is your favorite catfish bait there? Thanks for the comment.
Good Luck out there.
"Tight Lines and Squealin' Reels put a Smile on my face eveytime" Gary "Gone Fishin" Turner
GoneFishinClub.com
I've been fishing in Cedar River and the Mississippi River around southeast Iowa all my life and never caught any monsters like that. I like to use Sonny's Blood Dip Bait but the most i ever catch is a 5 or 6 pound channel cat. I've caught 8+ pound blue cats and flatheads on night crawlers but i want to catch a monster. What shoudl I change to be more successful?
Big_Blue, thanks for the question, just off the top of my head I would say try some bigger live baits and maybe some good size cut baits- bream heads work real well for big blues.Try to catch some live baits that are natural to the waters you are fishing. Are there any dams in the areas you fish? If so try fishing the first good wash hole downstream of the dams, big cats like to wait there for coming down from the dam. Let me know if this helps and if not let me know and I will try to get you more info for your area. Are you a member of Gone Fishin Club, if not you can join for free and can email me direct from there. I will also look through Katmasters and see if I can find more info on your area and fish. It is a very good catfishing club also.
What specific towns or locations are you fishing near? Thanks, Gary
"Tight Lines and Squealin' Reels put a Smile on my face eveytime" Gary "Gone Fishin" Turner
GoneFishinClub.com
when i go catfishing i use cut baits, liver iv even tried dip baits but nothin seems to work really good we might catch 1 or 2 fish 3-6 pounds but we never find the wright bait ........ caan u help ????
Hello Dawson, what part of the country and what lakes or rivers are you fishing in? Also the cats you are catching what kind are they?
Ive been flat head fishing for quite some time now. My favorite target area,s are fast water with big rocks to hide behind (dam tail waters). 40 pound fish are what i usualy average in these area,s 63 pounds is my best fish to date. The best advice I have for any angler looking for big cats is gear up for it. When that slunger hits (and boy do they HIT) you will be glad you did.When fishing big cats bigger IS better! I am starting out on the moster blue hunt any advice would be greatly apriciated.
Hello Tom, well you are on the right track as far as gear. I agree with bigger is definitely better for big cats, especially if you are fishing areas with lots of underwater timber and structure. As for the big blues, I would start out using some good chunks of cut bait, best if it is a local fish you can catch there and chunk. Heads also work good for blues. I usually put these on the bottom or suspended right above it just like for flatheads. What rigging are you using for the flatheads? For river fishing the flounder rig or a modification of it works good. Right now is a great time to catch some big blues. What state are you fishing in?
hello my name is stefen and im wating to catch monster catfish out of rivers and pay lakes. last time i went to a pay lake i lost three cats. and i just wanna know some few tips and good baits i could use.
Hello Stefen, Ok, so when you say " you lost 3 cats" do you mean your line broke or they came off the hook or ??? If the line broke go up a few test, if the hooks came out try Gamakastu circle hooks, yes, there is some debate about how well these hooks work but as far as catfishing goes for me it's the only hook in my tackle boxes.
As far as catching the monsters, how big are the cats in these pay lakes you are fishing in? In my experience pay lake fish behave a little different than your river fish most of the time. One thing is the pay lakes usually feed their fish so they are not naturally feeding like your river monsters, but also the cats in pay lakes do seem to all start hitting together at times and you might catch 2 or 3 big ones in the same day and not see a bite any other day that week. Again that's the pay lake habits I have seen. The best all around pay lake bait here for the big cats seems to be bream heads. Some homemade stink baits also have been effective. When you do catch that monster please send me a picture, you can email me at gary ?(at) gonefishinclub.com Thanks, Gary
"Tight Lines and Squealin' Reels Make Me Smile"
Gary
Hi I do alot of catfishing and i fish on a lake in wisconsin. The lake is manmade and is a damed river. I have been fishing from the dock at night with bluegills and have caught 1 flathead 22lb and a ton of channels all over 10lb. I honestly have not caught 1 fish out of about 15 under 10lb but these channels are wierd looking they are very dark no spots whatsoever and im positive there are no blues this far north. Is there a reason they are so dark? Another question what is the best rig for live bait? Like large bluegill and perch for instance.
Hi Gary, I am fishing the Edistow river at Good Hope Landing in Cottageville South Carolina (Colleton county)
are you familiar with this site? I am trying to catch catfish here and the river is flowing pretty good, I have been trying nightcrawlers,green worms, and live shad but nothing seems to be working. There is a small mouth that forks off to the right and goes back into a cove like setting with a few logs and tree shading at the point of the moving water/still water split. I tried by the logs and had no luck. Is there any suggestions you can give me for this type setting bait wise or rig wise? There are multiple sand bars and looks like some dark trenches between the sand bars in the middle of the river also. I usually fish in the mid morning to mid afternoon. It is hot and humid in the 90 degree range.
Hey i am about to go fishing in a lake called "Englebright Lake" Its located in northern California. I am leaving this wednsday and i realy need some tips on where to catch them. So far ive got my 6" ugly stick with 15lb test and a 10lb leader, i am thinking of maby a 3-4oz wieght. And my main bait was going to be chicken liver, but i have read that the cut baits work better, so for a cut bait i could just catch a bluegill cut it up, hook a peace on and thro it out? About how far from shore too? This is a pretty cold lake and verry narrow, it comes from the bottom of lake Bereyessa. Oh and there is about a 200-300 foot stetch of sand for the boat-in camping and then pretty steep rocky points. Should i try the sand of the rocky points? Thanks!
-Colton
Hello Thaddeus,
Thanks for the question, are they flathead catfish? They could be channels, sometimes water conditions will make the catfish very dark colored. The channels there can be very dark bluish to olive green. But they could be flathead catfish. They are often dark green colored also. The Flatheads have a square tail and the channel will have a deep fork. Flatheads also have small eyes and of course flat ot shovel shaped heads. As for the bait rigging, if are dropping down to the bottom directly over the side of the boat can place a weight at the bottom and the put a side line off and hook the bait fish through the body behind the dorsal fin, this way the bait is suspended in a natural swimming position. This will also be very effective if using big bobbers. I use this often when fishing lakes 6-12 feet deep, setting the bobber about 4 feet off the bottom then working lower until I find the fish. If you are using a slip sinker or Carolina rig, you can hook the bluegill through the mouth with the hook pointing back to the front main line through the meaty part of the tail. With all of these make sure your hook is sharp and you have plenty of gap between the body and the hook point. If this didn't answer your question please feel free to reply with another comment. Thanks, Gary
"Tight Lines and Squealin' Reels Make Me Smile"
Hello xtrememx98, I have not fished that area you are at but a couple of ideas come to mind to try. Try fishing in the evening and at night some if you can. Try stickbaits, some cut bait, herring, shad, bluegill and see if you have any luck with those. One thing I have learned about catfish is they are a lot like cats sometimes - finicky about what they want for lunch. One day they hit worms like a missle and the next it is shrimp or cut bait. So try out some different baits and see if you can find what they are hungry for. The fish will be all over but the dark trenches is a good place to let a bait set and send scent downstream, also those logs may very well be holding some nice cats, may just be a flavor thing there too. Change up the baits and let me know how you do. Good Luck,
"Tight Lines and Squealin' Reels put a Smile on my face eveytime" Gary "Gone Fishin" Turner
GoneFishinClub.com
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Hey my name is Greg and I was wondering what advice you might have for lake fishing for catfish. I fish on lake Hartwell on the GA-SC border. I have been using 1in shad and cut up bream that seem to work pretty well for fish 4-8lbs. I know there are bigger fish in the lake and i was wonder where i should look for them and how i should catch them?
Hello Greg, What areas of Lake Hartwell are you fishing? I'm guessing these fish you are catching are channel cats? Have you tried the areas around Eighteen-Mile and Coneross creeks? For the bigger flatheads I would try live bream hooked between the dorsal and the tail right behind the dorsal, just lower these down into some of the old creek and river channel areas and see if a big flathead doesn't come by. Also on windy days go to the side where the wind is pounding up the mudd and fish that stain line, even in 1-4 of water you will often find good size cats here feeding. Blueback herring are a good oily cut bait for big blues. How are you setting the hook? There are two ways I like, one put the rod in the holder with the bait clicker on and when he takes it let him run, when he stops wait-- when he starts running again grab it and set the hook. The second is to have the drag set fairly heavy and using Gamakatsu 8/0 or 10/0 circle hooks, when he runs the line tension pulls these super sharp hooks to the corner of his mouth and he is hooked. One note on hooks also, I know those hooks sound kinda big but you need plenty of open gap when you use big baits so there is room left to hook the fish. Well I hope this helps some, if it doesn't please let me know and I will be glad to answer any questions I can.
Oh and if you need a fishin buddy one afternoon let me know, I'd be glad to drive over and catch a few with you. Thanks, Gary
"Tight Lines and Squealin' Reels put a Smile on my face eveytime" Gary "Gone Fishin" Turner
Hello Greg,
two more quick things, if it is not windy look for some of the deeper holes and good cover, fallen trees and structure, also I don't know if you saw this Hubpage-
http://hubpages.com/hub/How-To-Catch-Big-Catfish-T
It has more information on big baits.
Thanks, Gary
Hello Alex Gadino, sorry for the delay in response, I was in Alaska doing a little camping and fishing myself. If you have already completed this trip please write back and let us know how you did. If not I would Carolina rig at least 2 oz and see where you have to go from there, depending on how swift it is. Ideally you can find a dead fall or some other water break to put you bait behind, let it sit there putting off scent downstream and see what happens. Add fresh bait fairly often, 30 minutes or so, and if you have tried a spot for awhile and no hits or bait chewing try another, river fishing can be even more spot specific than lake fishing, the cats are often holding up in or under cover and in bottom pits and holes. Ok, well best of luck to you and congratulations for getting out and enjoying the great outdoors.
"Tight Lines and Squealin' Reels put a Smile on my face eveytime" Gary "Gone Fishin" Turner
what size hook are you using for large cats, i assume your using j hook?
Hey Koble, thanks for your question, actually I use Circle hooks, most of the time 8/0 but occasionally 10/0 if I have really big baits!
"Tight Lines and Squealin' Reels put a Smile on my face eveytime" Gary "Gone Fishin" Turner
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Hi I Love to catch catfish but i usually fish in a local catfish farm can u give me some tips for fishing for them?
Hello Josh M, thank you for your comment, I like the foil line marker idea, yes that is a good approach to let the big flatheads eat the bait then when they start their take off run you have them. What part of the country are you catfishing in? Besides chubs what are some of your other favorite baits? Again thanks for the comment and look forward to hearing from you again soon.
"Tight Lines and Squealin' Reels put a Smile on my face eveytime" Gary "Gone Fishin" Turner
www.GoneFishinClub.com
Hello Matt, I don't see where I replied to this question so I am responding now. If you are fishing the local catfish farm I am taking that to mean farm ponds. I have fished lots of farm ponds, does it have a mix of channels and bullheads? You should be able to catch them on worms, nightcrawlers or reg wigglers work well. Premade baits from stores like Wal-Mart work well to, we use the chicken liver and nightcrawler flavors. Just plain liver works well some days too. One thing I have learned that is odd about farm pond fishing is how they are selective about what they want. I suggest putting out 3 baits if possible, see which they like, when oyu find that you can fish more with it. Then if the bite slows on it add 2 different baits again. I have rotated like 5 different baits on an afternoon and wore the fish out. An example would be- red wigglers, cut bream, catawba worms, pre-made liver baits and hot dog chunks.
Good Luck, let me know how you do. Thanks for your question, have a great day! Gary
This was posted by fellow fisherman Will,
Will 8 days ago
Been fishing for channel cats the last few years in lake Wallenpaupack. I've gotten pretty good at it too! I fish for cats between midnight and 5 am, trust me it's by far the best time to go. I regularly catch 8+ lb cats on gulp dough stink bait (mostly bloody bloody), and dead herring. I've had most my luck on the dead herring, especially this past week when I landed a 17 lb. Channel cat at 3am! Nearly 3 ft. Long it's my biggest catch in the lake to date, and I've been fishing it my whole life! From what I hear that's about half as big as they actually get in paupack. I hear stories of 35 lb cats around 44 inches long. Let's see if I can get one this week:)
Curious about some good cat fishing tips. We fish the cumberland river in clarksville Tn. Recently our luck has changed for the worse. Looking for good bait choices and how we should decide when to fish. New to boat fishing and loving it. Relearning how to fish now.
Hi, great information! I dont know how much you can help< but im fishing in the schuylkill river in southeast PA (if you dont know, its a large river home to some world class catfish). I have been getting a lot of channels, but i want to catch mor flatheads. Im using a live bluegill in the middle of the night in deep water, but i cant seem to catch any. Any information would be awsome. Thanks,
Tom
Hello Mike B., I was up at Nashville earlier in the week, little further and I would have been right there with ya. River fishing can be tough at times like all fishing! Lets see what we can do to turn the tide in your favor! With the summer heat we are having in Georgia and Tennessee the fish are biting better at night for the most part. Are you seeing any good holes with some structure in the holes. Are there any logjams or large deadfalls along the section of river you are fishing? Find some good holes with some structure, usually the more structure the more and bigger fish there will be. You may have to run some river to find these good holes, deep holes with rocks, logs, natural rock ledges.
OK, So when you find these good holes anchor off a good bit above them. You can float baits in or bounce them in off the bottom with the current, try both and see what happens. Fish the area ahead of the hole, the hole itself, through the hole and the eddies that are often behind it, lots of times fish will be resting there and if you put lunch in their mouth they will take it.
Bait- this is pretty crucial when the fish are hard to find and being picky, for channels and blues I would recommend whatever yuo can catch in that river for bait. Creek chubs, bluegills, sunfish, carp, buffalo... cut them up for channels and blues or fish some of them live for bigger blues. For flatheads use them live, they really like sunfish because they are a lively bait! Please always check your local regs on baitfish!
If you are night fishing on the river make sure you follow safety advice and precautions, I have night fished and it can get exciting really fast when the fish are biting and when storms blow up!
I hope you catch some big ones and if I can help more let me know, you can reach me here or at the Gone Fishin Club.
"Tight Lines and Squealin' Reels put a Smile on my face eveytime"
Gary "Gone Fishin" Turner
www.GoneFishinClub.com
Hello Tom, thanks for your question, lets see if I can help you land some nice flatheads!!! I love catching big flatheads, they are such an awesome fish to tangle with! I use blueglls all the time and they work great for flatheads, maybe there are other baitfish in your section of river they are keying on? Do you have the little sunfish or greenies there? Flatheads love them too. Chubs are a good choics and shad, whatever it is fish it live for flatheads, yes I have caught them on dead ones but I have had tons more luck on live, more frisky the better! If the croak you can use them for cut bait then. But go with live bait first. The deep water you are fishing, does it ahve any structure to it, rocks, ledges, stumps, trees, something to make the fish feel at home? Are there some dams you can fish below? Fish the edge of the hole where the dam comes in, right where ti starts into the river, next find the first good hole below the dam and fish it, it usually will hold some good fish. Ut sounds like you are on the right track, flatheads love to fed at night, and they like deep water too, just need to fine tune your spot and you should be reeling in some monsters soon, when you catch a monster shoot me a pic!!!
Also I don't know if you saw this Hubpage-
http://hubpages.com/hub/How-To-Catch-Big-Catfish-T
It has more information on big baits.
if you have more questions don't hesitate to contact me!
"Tight Lines and Squealin' Reels put a Smile on my face eveytime" Gary "Gone Fishin" Turner
www.GoneFishinClub.com
Thanks a lot for you help. The area where i fish the most is a deep hole between a bridge, and a few small islands, but other than the steep bank of the islands and the bridge, im not sure how much structure there is the in deep water itself. I dont have a depth finder or anything that would help me find structure under the surface. Like you said, i just need to fine tune my fishing, and find a spot that produces fish. There's a dam not too far from where i fish (black rock dam) and i hear people catch a lot of fish around there, and i try that next. one more question i have though, like i said, i fish near a bridge, and it looks like an great place to catch fish, but i cant seem too. The bridge is a bridge for a highway, so its pretty noisy. Do you think that that would scare the fish away? i wouldnt think it would, but i cant even catch channels there. I have fished there 3 or 4 times, and have not caught anything, so ill probably give up on that area, but im just curious if its the noise of the bridge, or something else i dont know about. thanks again for your time!
Hey Tom, try the places near the dam where they are catching fish. Do you have a GPS, the other thing you can do is start marking all the spots you do catch fish. Now this next thing I am going tell you goes both ways with fishing folks. Next time you are out fishing and you see somebody fishing just ask them if they are catching anything. Yes some will look at you like you are nuts, some will straight out lie to you, but most will tell if they are or aren't. You could also tell them that you don't have a depth finder and are just looking for some good structure to fish. If they are striper or bass fishing they usually won't care if you fish those spots for catfish. As for the bridge, I don't really know, you can catch fish under busy bridges, so maybe it is something else. If you have a chance try fishing for bait, like bream around that bridge and see what you get. If there is no bait holding around that bridge then move on to the next spot.
Good Luck Tom, let me know how you do.
"Tight Lines and Squealin' Reels put a Smile on my face eveytime" Gary "Gone Fishin" Turner
www.GoneFishinClub.com
Thanks again for all you help, and next time i'll go to the dam, and ask around. i'll let you know as soon as i have some luck. Untill then, good fishing!
Well looks like the fishinClub advise paid off. I had posted some Q's about the cumberland in clarksville TN. about a month ago and the responce/advise was right on the money. I have fished this area for a while, and had no luck with the flathead. This time armed with the know how to look for them we struck gold. I didn't catch any 25 pounders, but I managed to reel in three 3+ pounders. The most flatheads I have caught ever. We scouted some high rocks on the bank, anchored about 25 yards up stream and fished our way down. Normally I would have just written off these strange looking cats, but the fight from even the smaller ones made my week. Thanks a million for taking the time to help me to understand how to hunt them down, And thanks even more for turning me onto the Flathead. Fan for life. Mike B.
how do i catch a 50-40 lb. blue
Hey Mike B. I posted a response but the internet monsters ate it, lol.Thanks for your reply back on your success. Congrats on your fist flatheads, glad we could help. Keep doing that and in your area you should bump into some bigger flatties. Let us know when you catch some monsters, email me pics and I will post them too. We love flatheads of all sizes, yes they have some spunk don't they. Let me know if you have any more questions.
Tight Lines, Gary
Hello GogoCatfish,
If you can please write back and tell me where you are fishing, State and river or lake will help me hone in on helping you. Generally the best 2 things I can tell you at this point are:
1. Use tackle sized for the quarry you are after, see the Hubpage I did on rods, reels and tackle for monster cats.
2. Use cut bait, if you can catch some fresh gizzard shad or bream or herring where you are fishing cut them in chunks and use that for bait. The chunks can be fair sized but don't have to be. With a hand sized bream you can cut off the tail, angle cut off the head and then use the head and body for bait.
If you can please write back and give me a general area of where you are fishing.
Good Luck Gogocatfish, let me know how you do.
"Tight Lines and Squealin' Reels put a Smile on my face eveytime" Gary "Gone Fishin" Turner
www.GoneFishinClub.com
I just wanta say I have fished all my life and if your looking for a fun day of Catfishing or for that matter any fish really I would take a look at a trip to Reelfoot lake! travel their once a year last year we killed it went late june kinda warm but we managed... The lake is only about 4 feet deep all through out it. Their is also a drop off about 25-30 feet on the west side of the lake great vegitation for fish to hide. I was fishing for Brim and was fighting off catfish to get to them!!!! Good luck fishing!
Also you know how you mentioned something about farm raised catfish are picky day by day. I just gotta say you are spot on about that. Started fishing our local lake and I relizied they dont go after they select one of the baits i used. Went to wal-mart bought i'd say 5-6 premade baits and combination of liver worms ect just need to figure out what they want at that particular time.
Hey Cole Palmer, welcome to our hubpage, thanks for your comments. You are refering to Reelfoot Lake, near Tiptonville Tenn. It's in the northwest corner of the state near the Kentucky line. Yes it offers some great fishing and a great outdoor environment just to get out and get away. They also have some very large carp and buffalo in that lake, see a pic here of some really big ones, http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2009/may/10/giant-car Again thanks for your comments and good luck fishing,
Gary "Gone Fishin" Turner
ok me and my dad got a master angler (i think I spelled that right) but anyways I am 12 and I know I want to fish all my life but as you was saying me and my dad got 2 master anglers and we got them on hotdogs at like midnight. I was wondering what is your fav baite to use and on what rig.
Hello Caden, great questions, congratulations on getting your Master Angler, were they channel cats you caught and in what state?
For channel cats hotdogs are a great bait,liver is good, I also like Magic Baits nightcrawler flavor bait. You can get it at most Wal Marts.
For flatheads I like to use live bream or bullheads.
With blues I like to use fresh cut bait, like cut shad or bream. When I catfish my 2 favorite riggings are the carolina rig and I also float baits under a bobber. A great place to get catfishing supplies if you need them is your local Walmart or if you need specialty weights and stuff try http://www.bottomdwellerstackle.com
Check out another hub I did on some more baits I like to use. http://gonefishinclub.hubpages.com/hub/How-To-Catc
Good Luck!!! Let me know how you do! If you have more questions you can ask them here or contact me through the GoneFishinClub.com Contact page.
Gary "Gone Fishin" Club
jordan 2 years ago
you semm to be a great fisherman