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Joined: Sep 2006
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I never deliberately went out to catch catfish. I've caught quite a few on bass lures, but wasn't particularly attracted to chasing them. Recently, we moved to a subdivision/small town in Saint Charles, Mo. They have six managed lakes, one of decent size and I like to launch my kayak and chase bass. This summer I've caught a significant number in the 15 to 19 inch range with one going a hair under 21 inches. It remains loads of fun, but one night...

I hooked a monster. When it bit on a bass lure, I knew instinctively it was a catfish. It was a great one. I actually called my wife within a couple minutes of hooking it to tell her I was in a real fight with a monster fish. I was using a spinning rod with 10 pound test and didn't want to horse it around so I played with it for several minutes.

I never could make any headway. Every time it felt like it was giving up, it nearly pulled me out of the yak! People were watching from the shore because it was dragging me in circles and figure eights, mostly within 30 yards of the bank.

I knew the line was going to break eventually. I use smallish snap swivels to change baits often and since I'm not fishing monsters, they've always worked well for me.

Well, eventually, the line broke and I never even got to see what it was. But when it broke, I checked my phone and saw I'd been fighting that fish for at least 34 minutes from the kayak and had never even gotten a glimpse of the thing!

So, since there are some large cats in that lake, I started bank fishing them. In the last two weeks on bluegill cut bait, I've taken one flathead of approximately 8 pounds (I don't weigh them, but I measure every fish,) and three channel cats all in the same class of 36 to 40 inches. One smaller channel of about 26 inches.

I only kept one because it swallowed the hook and I wasn't sure it would survive that.

These fish are fighters! I'm liking it.

Next I'm going to do some kayak drifting and dragging cut bait and see where that leads.

Any advice?


"It's a source of great pride, that when I google my name, I find book titles and not mug shots." Daniel C. Chamberlain
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Set up some live bream baits with circle hooks. You will almost never get one anywhere except the jaw. You will need a rod holder so you can let them set their own hooks. A pound bluegil might produce a 40 lb flathead. Flatheads are good eating any size but I like blues under 5 lbs.

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I'm no catfisherman either, but I'd sure think one of those stink bait concoctions would work for hooking into one. Funny story, one of my accounts in a small town was invited to a formal dinner put on by one of the vendors and they had peeled boiled jumbo shrimp on the befit. This young guy was pretty blue collar and I'm not sure that he had even ever seen a plate of boiled jumbo shrimp. Anyway he picked up a handful, put them in a napkin and then his pocket to use as catfish bait! I'm sure that the catfish hadn't seen many boiled jumbo shrimp either and they seemed to like them real well according to the guy. Best $15.00 a pound catfish bait that he ever used. At least you could eat the left over bait if the fish weren't biting.


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Dan, we do a fair amount of drift fishing on the upper end of Lake of the Ozarks and Truman. We mostly fish a 3-way rig with a big swivel ( some use a 3-way swivel ) tied to the main line then a 12"-18' lighter weight line to the sinker and another longer heavier line to the hook. I use either 25lb or 30lb line on my reels with 20lb to my hook and 12lb to the sinker. I don't use swivels with a snap on them just a swivel. Most people have started using circle hooks... I use 9/0. There's a lot of difference in brands of circle hooks in regards to sizing and sharpness. Eagleclaw are ones that I avoid. The best that I have found are some off-brand Asian made ones that are unbelievably sharp with good size and gap.
I still use saltwater spinning tackle for most shore fishing but like most we use 71/2' to 9' casting rods for drifting with levelwind reels. I use mostly Ambassadeur 7000s and only the older ones that say " made in Sweden " on the side. I replace the factory drag washers with the Carbontex carbon fiber ones as they make really smooth drag.

Look into the Rippin' Lips 71/2' m/h casting rod.... good action for circle hooks and can handle pretty good sized cats and they're reasonably priced... I bought one online the other day for less than $40 to my door. For a reel you might want to start with an Ambassadeur 6000... look on E-bay there will be lots of them but look for the made in Sweden marking. The Catfish special ( the orange color one ) 6500 is made in Sweden I believe and comes with the carbon drag washers from the factory and would be good too.
Tangling with Catfish makes a good drifting rod too so I hear but I have no hands on experience with one.

Using this heavier line have a piece of broomstick or something similar to twist your line around to break it when you hang up.

That 40" Channel is huge... I've been catfishing all of my life and don't remember ever seeing one that big.... blues and flatheads yes .

There have been several 100lb+ blues caught in your area in the last few years. You might want to look into a guided trip on the lower MO. or the Miss. rivers once the water level gets to a safer level.

I have not tried the 'yak fishing but I have a few on LOZ and Truman and know a couple of flats that might be good in the early spring and that are close to a launch site.

Good luck and be safe.


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Stink baits, whether chunks or the "dip" kind, are great for eating-size channel cats. Not so good for anything else or even larger channels. Cut bait or live (where legal) is best. A whole dead minnow 4-5" long is like ice cream to cats. Left-handed blue-eyed minnows are best, as our local expert jokes.

Our best rig out here is a "Flig" or floating jig. You can buy them ready-made or craft them yourself out of foam cylinders. Our local guy does them up fancy...

[Linked Image]

If you can't find a "genyoowine" Flig, just slide a foam earplug down to the hook and over the eye a bit.

Tie an appropriate weight sinker to the end of your line, then a short (6" to 18") section of heavy mono leader, then your Flig. Bait up with a perch chunk or an LHBE minnow and fish behind a drifting boat or 'yak. Or bank fish it and reel in very slowly. The Flig keeps the bait up off the bottom and offers both sight and taste appeal. Deadly.


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