Help me catch catfish!

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xEchOx

Fire Eel
MFK Member
Mar 2, 2006
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Hey guys.

I've caught cats before, but mostly by accident. Now that I am fishing for them purposely, I find its not as easy as I thought it was going to be.

First, I am fishing a river. There aren't many lakes near me so the Red River is going to be my spot. I have a 7ft muskie rod that I'll be using, and it has 40lb braid on it.

The last few times I was out, I used a 1 3/4 oz weight that got me to the bottom, but drifted until it was out of the main current and sat in a bend. I had a leader that was about 12 inches from the weight and a circle hook?

I used cut sucker minnow and I did get a bite the last time I was out, but he never picked it up. Just mouthed it.

I am fishing from shore, so I am kinda limited on what I can do about the area of the river. I would like to go out this weekend and fish hard. Any tips? Thanks for the help.
 
I am assuming you are going for channel catfish? I dont know the conditions of your river, but i throw out a 2 ounce weight with either a nightcrawler, or peice of market shrimp and the channels kill that over here.
 
I've never river fished for cats so I don't think this method would work but you may try it if you find any lakes. Buy a can of wet dog food and put a few holes in it with a knife. test is near the shore to see if it sinks. If it doesnt sink, tie a rock to it then throw it out where you want to cast. It works as chum so give it about 20 minutes and you'll have a ton of catfish in your little fishing hole.
 
half frozen chicken liver. they work the best i was just out this week and got 12 cats in one night.you can get them from most grocery stores they come in lil tubs most of the time.also some places like walmart sell stink bait which is for cats also but dont get it on ur hands it will make u gag lol i sure did .
 
Tstove15;4237851; said:
I am assuming you are going for channel catfish? I dont know the conditions of your river, but i throw out a 2 ounce weight with either a nightcrawler, or peice of market shrimp and the channels kill that over here.
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Yeah, channel cats. I'll definitely have to try a bunch of different baits... I'll try some shrimp, I have some in the freezer anyway for my fish, and maybe I'll look for some chicken livers as well. I have a tub of crawlers too.
 
dcorreia;4237861; said:
I've never river fished for cats so I don't think this method would work but you may try it if you find any lakes. Buy a can of wet dog food and put a few holes in it with a knife. test is near the shore to see if it sinks. If it doesnt sink, tie a rock to it then throw it out where you want to cast. It works as chum so give it about 20 minutes and you'll have a ton of catfish in your little fishing hole.
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I'm not sure chumming is legal here... I'll have to check.
 
youngbuckfl;4237881; said:
half frozen chicken liver. they work the best i was just out this week and got 12 cats in one night.you can get them from most grocery stores they come in lil tubs most of the time.also some places like walmart sell stink bait which is for cats also but dont get it on ur hands it will make u gag lol i sure did .
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Thanks. I'll have to try the chicken liver. Probably not the stinkbait lol.
 
dcorreia;4237861; said:
I've never river fished for cats so I don't think this method would work but you may try it if you find any lakes. Buy a can of wet dog food and put a few holes in it with a knife. test is near the shore to see if it sinks. If it doesnt sink, tie a rock to it then throw it out where you want to cast. It works as chum so give it about 20 minutes and you'll have a ton of catfish in your little fishing hole.
Click to expand...

xEchOx;4238188; said:
I'm not sure chumming is legal here... I'll have to check.
Click to expand...

Chumming is illegal in many places, and on top of that, throwing a tin can into a lake or stream would be considered LITTERING! Please don't do that.
 
I don't think he meant just throw it in the lake and leave it. You would obviously retrieve the container. That's just common sense.
 
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