Home Forums Fishing Freshwater Catfishing in high water.

Angus,

I don't know what waters your targeting, but I just got back from the upper Owyhee river above the lake. The best bait has been fresh cut smallie filets chunks.

The guys had their best action with enough lead to get it to the bottom and the bait suspended about 10" or so above that - then the whole thing has a sliding float (think steelhead) to keep everything pretty much straight up and down, but not drifting.... Make sense??

Me: Personally I can't sit and wait so I run the banks. I like to wade to places others won't go and toss a 1/8th oz black and gold Panther Martin... that's right - a Panther Martin. I catch WAY MORE cats than they do. My best was last years 11# @ 30.5" long.

Those channel cats, when aggressively feeding are along the current edges and eating baitfish, crayfish and anything else they can fit in their mouths. Cast across and down a little and let it sink a bit as you tighten up your line. Then let it naturally sweep down through the current and across the hole.

Reel only enough to be sure the blade is turning properly - you'll see the rod tip vibrating when it's working properly.

If your bouncing off of the bottom, reel slightly to keep from snagging.... your lure is right where you want it to be.... in their face! If you do get snagged, let out several feet of line and let it float down stream, then give a big jerk! Most of the time the down stream pull will pop the lure right out of the rocks.

I like to replace the treble hooks with a single siwash - it makes releasing the catch much easier.

In the last hole I fished before we broke camp, I caught and released 13 cats, a trout and I don't know how many smallies - all in an hour and a half! It was ridiculous fun!


11# cat



Reel is rigged with 30# yellow power pro braid, uni to uni knotted to 10 or 15# leader as long as my rod, but without the knot reeling onto the spool when the lure is at the tip. The cats and small mouth aren't leader shy and this aids in not losing my gear. Yellow line makes seeing it simple - and it floats.

Our biggest cat this year came on a commercial stink bait of some sort, by one of the othet guys... 33" and 15# - a darned nice cat! But, I caught way more fish than anyone in camp on my PM. Good luck