what is the best way to catch a catfish?

Answer 1

Crawdads (crawfish) are one of the primary food sources for catfish in Clear Lake. At times live crawdads are an excellent bait but more often the meat from the tail is the top producer. Just remove the shell from the tail of the crawdad and place the white meat on the hook. Crawdad tails are best used still fishing with or without a bobber since they don't stay on the hook very well. They produce the best results from spring to late fall when they are readily available to the catfish. You can purchase crawdads at several bait and tackle shops around the lake or you can catch your own with a crawdad trap.

Shrimp or prawns as they are called in the fish markets are a perfect substitute for crawdads. Although I have never been able to get a catfish to admit it, I believe they taste just like a crawdad to them. Depending on the size of the shrimp and the desired size of the bait you can use them whole or cut them in half. You can use them with the shell on but most anglers remove the shell. Unlike the crawdads you can use shrimp in heavy current or for long vigorous casting or even drift fishing without fear of losing your bait. They can be purchased in most seafood sections of supermarkets either frozen or fresh. I sometimes soak them in crawdad scent oil but I can't really prove that it helps. They work best from spring to late fall just as the crawdads do.

The word cut bait covers a wide variety of fish baits. The most common ones that are used at Clear Lake are: shad, anchovy, sardines, mackerel and silverside minnows. Cut bluegill are rumored to be a deadly cut bait but since it is illegal to use them in Clear Lake I have no idea as to the validity of the rumor. Cut bait can be a fillet or a chunk, it depends on your preference. I use them primarily for drift fishing in deeper water since the cats are usually feeding on shad or silverside minnows when they go deep.

Freshwater clams are another excellent bait for catfish at Clear Lake and can be productive year round. Fresh clams are more productive than the frozen or processed ones but if the fish are on the bite any kind will catch fish. They can be especially productive for pan sized catfish when fishing at night in the summertime.

Live minnows, especially large or extra large are a good bait all year round. The only drawback (or maybe not) is that you will catch as many bass, or maybe more, as catfish. Most serious catmen kill their minnows just before they put them on the hook for this reason. They can be used under a bobber in shallow water in spring and summer as well as drift fishing in semi deep to deep water all year long.

I truly believe that a catfish (especially a channel cat) will eat almost anything that is animal, vegetable or mineral. Here is a partial list of stuff that I have caught them on; bread dough, salmon eggs, smoked salmon, corn, hot dogs, bologna, german bologna, salami, green peas, Berkely Power Bait Trout Paste, plastic worms and grubs, and even crank baits. Hot dogs are a very good bait for catfish at Clear Lake. Many fish in excess of 15 pounds have been taken with hot dogs. Another good catfish bait that deserves a mention here is cheese, just about any kind of cheese will catch catfish but orange cheeses like cheddar or american work particularly well. As I already mentioned, I have caught a lot of cats with plain bread dough so I'm sure a prepared doughbait will do well.

Stink Baits/Dough Baits

Stink baits and dough baits are not real popular at Clear Lake. I suspect that this is because very few fishermen are familiar with them. I have only used them a few times. I have heard a few reports of large catches of catfish using stinkbaits in the spring and early summer. I continue to experiment with them but I haven't had much luck. I have caught a lot of nice channel cats using vanilla and peanut butter flavored doughballs while fishing for carp.

Chicken Livers

ISeveral channel catfish weighing 20 pounds and more have fallen for chicken livers. One problem with them is keeping them on the hook but if you cover them with garlic salt and dry them in the sun for 3 or 4 hours they will toughen up quite a bit and the garlic salt seems to make the cats like them even better.

wrap sewing thread around the livers to keep the catfish from stealing them.

keeping liver baits on the hook:

The ultimate thing to use for wrapping liver baits on a hook is the wrapping inside of golfballs. It stretches and you can use a little or alot, personally I've caught many large catfish on 9/0 to 10/0 hooks with 3-4 chicken livers wrapped on. It's fantastic in waters with no current. Don't use any weight, big channels and blues cant resist it and you wont usually be bothered by smaller catfish.

Answer 2

Best Way To Catch Catfish

Answer 3

What I have found works best for me are these two ways... I usually have a line out rigged for both channel cat's and mud cat's..

First I like a large treble hook...I think the size I use is a #12 or something like that, been a while since I bought them. On the treble hook I use a prepared catfish bait, like Nitro Biscuits or Catfish Charlie...the latter of the 2 seems to be the better at attracting fish and getting strikes. I put a sinker about 18" from my hook, usually 1oz at least, and cast my line. I've started using a bobber that will slide on my line so I can keep an eye on where it is in the water, but allow my bait to sink all the way to the bottom, hence why I use 1oz of weight.

The other way is live or dead bream. My 6 year old is my bait fish supply, lol. These I put on a larger single hook, hooked through both lips from the bottom to top. I put a little more weight on when using live bream because they seem to be able to drag my sinker if I don't use at least a 2oz weight. The bream that I use are at least 4" in lenght, never smaller, and I allow them between 18" and 24" of line to swim around on. The cat's in this lake really go for them especially if they have died while on the end of the line.

Catfish are scavengers, and they take a lot of patience and "trial and error" to catch. Test out many different ways and see what works for you and the cat's you're fishing for! Just remember, cat's are like the roaches of lakes...sometimes the actively search for food, and sometimes they lay in wait and let it come to them.

Answer 4

This Site Might Help You.

RE:
what is the best way to catch a catfish?

Answer 5

Get a BIG hook
Bait: organs like chicken liver or you can use the way i catch catfish. bring bread and a tiny hook. catch small panfish. injure fish by cutting of tail. put on big hook. cast by trees or stumps (be careful not to get stuck) and wait if not getting anything reel a little because you might be hung. if not, keep it there.

Answer 6

Catfish bait, stink bait, chicken liver sprinkled with garlic powder and wrapped in cheese cloth. a floating night crawler. Mackerel or clams or anchovies.

Answer 7

Raw uncooked shrimp that's been marinated in garlic, and anise. And sat out in the sun for 24 hours. Then I set up the rig with two #6 hooks, and a bullet weight.

Answer 8

Use some stinky old chicken liver on the buttom with a big hook line and sinker.
They are not very shy about the tackel.
Good luck

Answer 9

Catfish are bottom feeders so fish the bottom of where your fishing with worms.

Answer 10

i like to use a big hook with a chicken liver and a night crawler on it. and go during the very early morning.