Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Cat Fishing

I like 4/0 circles for average 10-15 lb. cats. Don't set the hook on circles but rod action is important.

Bait……..I’m from Oklahoma we catch them with out hands…….LOL.

I'd love to see that.

Fresh cut Shad are the best for blues. Shad need to be caught immediately before fishing, fresher the better. If they are frozen you might as well just use a sinker, it’ll be about as effective.

Flatheads I like live perch about 3 to 5 inches long. Hooked through the top of the back and fished by cutbanks and rock or log piles.

Cut Shad will catch some incidental channel cats. I catch some while fishing for blues but generally use large enough baits that the average size channel can’t get his mouth around it.

Blues I fish 8/0 octopus circles. Flatheads I like a 7/0 heavy wire J hook. Main differences being I fish blues on the flats in my local lake at night, when you have 100 yards of line out setting the hook is difficult due to line stretch, the big circles let them hook themselves. You do need a rod with a soft tip that will let them run a little before it loads up and sticks them.

Flatheads I fish in my local river. Casting distance is anywhere from 25’ to 100’. Close enough line stretch doesn’t really play into the equation. Also, I fish for big flatheads for fun and release most of them. If you let them run long enough to set a circle they’ll generally swallow it and you’ll gut hook them. Putting the High Karate hook set on them with a big J hook as soon as they take the bait generally hooks them in the outer part of the mouth and they’re no worse for the wear afterwards.

Stink bait was my go to on the Potomac for years as well. Up to maybe 2005 we would catch 15 to 30 channel cats a night. Most any bait worked but the crabs, eels and perch would mess with most anything other than stink bait. Somewhere between 2005-2010 we started catching less channels and more blues… Even on the same old stink bait.

Then we started targeting blues with cut shad or bluegill. We started catching gar and sometimes snakehead. Over time we found that a fresh chunk of chicken breast works as good or better than anything with no bycatch and consistant results.

Live bluegills or pumpkin seed bream. That way you catch flatheads which aren't scavengers, and blue cat bite them too. Cut bait or little shad work on blue cat. I caught a 5 pound blue the other day on a shiny hook with a nickel plated 4/0 swivel with no bait on. He wasn't snagged, the hook was down in his mouth.

In the past, about this time of year, I caught several in the local reservoir on deep rock banks with plenty of bedrock shelves and holes where the channels spawn. I fished cheap Walmart raw shrimp about six feet deep under a slip float close to the bank. the shrimp stay on the hook and what you don't use can be put back in the freezer. It doesn't hurt to sprinkle diet strawberry jello powder in the container. I don't know if it's the color or smell, but use diet Jello so you don't get a sticky mess. Use circle hooks and you very seldom have to deal with a deep-hooked fish, and it's much easier to release what you don't want to keep. You don't have to go to a big river or tailwater to find plenty of catfish. Most reservoirs are full of them. I started fishing for cats when I kept catching channel cats on crankbaits and plastics in the spring.

We can't use live bait in Utah except for worms, and also can't use cut bait from sport fish like bluegill or crappie. We have just channel cats here, but they're delicious.

Most popular baits here are carp chunks, dead chubs, crawlers, and shrimp. Strips of chicken breast meat soaked in strawberry Jello powder have a cult following, as do hot dog chunks. (Hint on hot dogs: buy the cheapest ones and buzz them in the microwave to toughen them up.) I don't think anyone here uses stink or dip baits. Circle hooks rule.

I’ve been using cheap frozen shrimp for years with great result’s. When that doesn’t work, cheap hot dog weinnies like Rocky mentioned.

Live bait works good for me. Minnows, perch hooked in the back and fished on the bottom. I have caught some fairly big ugly cats.

Just had the Catfish Derby here in Clearlake Ca. Over 800 entries. $5000 first place prize. Usually takes 25 lb to be in the money. Buddy and I fished from my dock and caught most of our cats with fried chicken. Fish were between 6 and 15 lbs. Tried anchovies, mackerel, nightcrawlers, and stink bait. Lots of fun.

260Remguy: Thanks for the tip on the screw eye in the salmon can. Great idea. Your stock tank in the garage jogged a childhood memory for me. I grew up in Greenville MS but lived for the weekends. My Dads folks lived in Minter City
(Leflore Co) where granddaddy worked at the cotton seed oil mill. Mothers folks lived in Phillip on the Tallahatchie River
(Tallahatchie Co) but had a farm out from town on Tippo Bayou. A wild place I fished and hunted what is now a Federal Wildlife Refuge. The farm had a tenant house had had an artesian well that flowed into an old cypress Jon boat up on cinder blocks. Put your fish in the Jon boat that had free flowing artesian well water running thru it constantly. Clean them later, even days later. That water was sweet and cold year round. A deaf mute tractor driver was my constant companion. I thought he enjoyed the company of a 8-9 year old. Found out much later in life, my Dad bribed him with Camel cigarettes to go with me and keep the snakes and alligators off me. I’d pick just enough cotton to keep me in perch Jerkers ( combo fishing line, float, hook, and shot) and 22 short shells for my Win 67. They both cost a quarter at my Uncles store in town. I think you got a penny per pound of picked cotton. River cane poles.

I mainly go for flats so I use live or cut bait. I have a pasture that is loaded with creek chubs but the stock dam has bullheads which live longer. If you're using stink w that charlie worm thingy, have several drying on a stick or something. Stink bait sticks way longer on a dry bait. Swap them out every 15 minutes or so depending on current.

Also, if you decide to pursue the bigger cats, invest in decent tackle. I like powerpro 80lb test and good circle hooks. Get a decent reel that allows limited free spool that makes noise. When a big one bites in the dark, you'll be able to hear it. Let her run a bit and gently set that circle hook. If you're fishing log jams, you'll be happy w that line to horse them out. Most of the time I'll break the hook before the line if you know which knots to tie. I use flat egg sinkers as well. Good luck. Finally getting close to finishing planting and I'll be going soon to the local river for a try.

I rarely target cats, when I have a chunk of crawlers on a hook 18” or so above the weight with just enough weight to let it slowly roll with the current always seemed to work for Channel Cat’s and Bullheads.

Cast upstream so that it slowly works it’s way downstream through the area that you’re targeting.

We never targeted any lunkers or kept any but it was fairly fun and easy to stay busy reeling in “eater” size fish.

Great story. I still have the short barreled Winchester 67 I got for Christmas while in the 3rd grade in '58. It's taken rabbits, squirrel, wild turkey, bobwhites, dove, duck, bobcat, fox, coyotes and a few deer in the ear or neck.

Please post pics. What cut bait have you caught flats with?

I’ve caught flatheads on big chunks of cut shad. Not as often as when I target them with live perch but often enough to know that they will take cut bait.

Here’s a couple decent flathead we’ve dragged out of the river in the last year or two.

Thanks Kid, great kid.

My cousins have caught some on deer scrap soaked in garlic.