Help me catch catfish!

[sazhar]

Here is one of the best methods I have found for using chicken liver for catfishing. I use pantyhose to put the chicken liver in. I put a couple pieces of chicken in the panty hose, packing it down a little to make a nice little sphere of liver. Then I tie a tight double knot at the top of the sphere. Then I go up from that knot half an inch and tie another double knot and pack more in and repeat the process. Then once you have what looks like the worlds grossest pearl necklace, cut the panty hose between each sphere and put the prepared baits in a tub or tupperware for storage.

I keep them in a fridge in my garage. When putting the bait on the hook, I use circle hooks. Make sure you thread the hook so that one knot is in the middle of the hook. I have found that you can somtimes use that same bait ball a few times. I usually make quite a few bait balls at one time. Trust me, this is not something you want to do everytime you go fishing.

 

[xEchOx]

Thanks for the tips on the chicken liver guys. I actually used a gauze pad and unfolded it until it was only one layer thick, and wrapped a chunk of liver in that and hooked it up. Worked quite well. 6 more tonight. All were about the size of the biggest I caught yesterday. I lost another big one on a hang up in the river. No pics tonight though, my wife didn't come with so I had no camera.

I'd like to get into some bigger ones. Do I need to moves spots or try a different bait?

 

[sbuse]

fish at different times as you cant have little ones without big ones around to make them...if i fish a spot in the day i get small ones i come back at night and get big ones...

 

[xEchOx]

I get access to my spot on the river through a public park. They close the gates at 11pm so I cannot fish later than that. I was there until 10 last night, that's as late as I want to push it. I'd hate to have my truck stuck in there over night. I'll probably have to find another spot if I really want to do some night fishing.

Would cut baits attract larger fish though? In general it seems like a lot of the bigger cats are caught on like sunfish heads or cut - something.

 

[sbuse]

I get access to my spot on the river through a public park. They close the gates at 11pm so I cannot fish later than that. I was there until 10 last night, that's as late as I want to push it. I'd hate to have my truck stuck in there over night. I'll probably have to find another spot if I really want to do some night fishing.

Would cut baits attract larger fish though? In general it seems like a lot of the bigger cats are caught on like sunfish heads or cut - something.

i got the 26" and 27 1/4" on liver...the night before last i got a 15" cat in the same spot...

if the park gates close early then what you can do is park outside the gates and pull a wagon to your spot...i do the same thing when i go to the 'coonrapids dam regonal park' on the mississippi...the gates close at 1/2 hour after sunset, but i walk in (it is a ways to my spot) with a wagon and fish till i feel like it...

 

[xEchOx]

More Success!!!

The wife and I went back out to the river tonight. We actually went to the grocery store for chicken liver and they were all out! And on top of that, scheels was closed so I couldn't buy night crawlers or even cut bait. So I used some frozen shrimp that I had sitting in the freezer that I coincidentally use to feed my larger cichlids. Game on. The shrimp was easy to hook and prepare, and was just as effective as the chicken liver. And it didn't smell nearly as bad. LOL.

Pics from our successful night. Count- Wife 6, Me 3.

 

[cudamaster13]

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.

cast into the back of sandbars on the river or a deep area inbetween the sandbar and the plant coverd shore thats were i have caught bass and got nibbles oby catfish but i myself have never caught a catfish before so i am going to learn from this post i want to go for flathead and blue catfish on the lower colorado river

 

[troydurr]

I agree with youngbuck, chicken liver works great for catfish, i would call it the best bait for the fish

 

[cudamaster13]

Whoever said Chicken liver gets a "W". Got there this afternoon and tossed my line in and let it sit in a back pool. I left the bail open just in case. I was putting the liver away and turned around and saw line burning off the spool! I picked it up and set the hook hard, and felt the hook pull out of the fish.... Aaaaaaaaaah! Even though that was frustrating, it was encouraging at the same time. Good amount of action within the first 30 seconds of being there.

I only caught 2 catfish, and uhhh something. Drum? Not exactly sure, but mostly I contribute that to my poor 'hooking' of the chicken liver. It just falls right off, so I wasn't able to set into most of the fish that were biting. Any pointers here? Tips or tricks?

I also lost a real good fish tonight. My line got hung up on something in the river while I was fighting it, and the line snapped.... 30lb braid.... just snapped... Damn... Rest assured I will be back at it. Had a blast.

one that got away could have been a bass they hit hard and take off with the line

 

[cudamaster13]

here at yuma on the river they told me for channel cats to use mackerel and for the big blues and flatheads to use live blue gills were on a river would be a good place to catch the big boys and wat time of day and also wat would work better than mackerel?