Catfishing Tips - How To Catch Catfish

Some great catfishing fishing tips here from expert fisherman Jim :)

Are you looking for something to do that can keep your mind off from the stressful situation at work?

Why not try the challenging and enjoying hobby of catfishing. So many people are already hooked into this activity. You can do it alone or with your friends and other family members. However, whether you are novice or an expert, you need some catfishing tips to guide you in order to get lots of catfish.

First of all, you need to give attention to your bait. Each specific type of catfish needs a different type of bait. They hunt food using smell and taste. So get something that is smelly and meaty. You can try anchovies, sardines and shrimps. Live or cut perch and shads, craw fish and night crawlers are also excellent baits that you can use together with chicken liver and hearts as well as the heart and liver of beef.

You may find it surprising but catfish are also lured into baits such as grasshoppers and hot dogs. Catfish are scavengers so they eat almost anything. After you have gathered your bait, it is important that you know where to go and catch catfish.

You should go to rivers, lakes and creeks as well as ponds. If you go to the creeks, stay near the mouth of the creek where it meets with the lakes. You should also go to places in the water that are cool and shady. Guided by this concept, you can submerge logs or tree stumps under the water so that they will get inside it. It would also be helpful if you look for them under rocks. The third tip concerns the best time to catch them. There is no problem if you go catfishing any time of the day.

However, since catfish like cold waters, they are usually plentiful at night. It is also during this time that you can get huge catfish. But word of caution is that you should not go catfishing during a full moon because it is difficult to catch them with the light. Lastly, you need to have the right size of hooks for the desired catfish you like to catch. Bigger hooks for bigger catfish and smaller hooks for smaller catfish are what's needed.

Catfishing needs patience and determination. Give a half an hour or more for them to take your bait. Then change places if you must because they can become tired of one place and move on. Catfishing is an enjoyable hobby. Armed with all these tips, you will surely enjoy your day fishing. Jim Lower is an expert fisherman. For more great information on catfishing tips visit [http://www.catfishingsecrets.org/] Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6154638

catfishing facts

Catfish Fishing Guide

Here's a good article with tips for catching catfish, when people decide to go catfish fishing, they sometimes neglect to research how to catch catfish, a good catfish fishing guide will help.


A Guide to Non-Typical Catfish Fishing Techniques

Introduction
Many of the people about to take one of my guided trips don’t believe that Catfish feed as aggressively as other game fish. People are used to throwing out their bait and letting it set while they wait. Some days this works and they don’t have to wait very long, but some days we all know that the wait can be very long. This waiting is what encouraged me to try to catch Blue Cats using other methods. Some techniques are passed down from generation to generation and these tried and true methods have caught Catfish since people have fished for them. I have used these methods most of my life and it was the way I was taught to catch Catfish. On the opposite end of the Cat-fishing spectrum, however, are two newer methods that I have been using to consistently catch Catfish, as well.
Fishing for Catfish
Ah, the American Catfish! The big three: Blues, Channel Cats and Flatheads; aren’t they a wonderful species of fish? Each one has its own outstanding features to thrill Catfishermen and women throughout the United States and even worldwide. Flatheads, with their big, wide heads and flat tails, have my vote as the hardest pulling fish pound-for-pound in fresh water. No Catfisherman can talk very long without telling their favorite Channel Cat story.
Channel Cats live almost anywhere in fresh water and eat an enormous variety of baits, from prepared stink baits to live baits. I believe these whisker fish are the most versatile and adaptive members of the Catfish family. The next Catfish member, the Blue Cat, also commonly called a White Cat, gets my pick for the best all around, year-round Catfish. This is also the fish I target with my non-typical Cat-fishing techniques. Although Channel Cats and Flatheads are caught using these techniques, Blue Cats remain the king in mass numbers. These dudes grow big and fast and will strike your bait with a vengeance. Plus, they pull hard in the Winter, Spring, Summer and Fall.

The Blue Catfish
The Blue Cat is truly an amazing fish. I have caught these fish as deep as 96 feet at the bottom of a river channel in cold water
conditions. I have also seen them come right up to the top and smash a school of shad just as a Striper or White Bass would do in warm water conditions. As far as I can tell, these fish feed aggressive all year, which in my opinion sets them apart from Flatheads and Channel Cats. Reports of Blues falling for lead spoons, jigs, crank baits, and many other artificial lures are not uncommon any time of the year. The other Blue Cat bonus is their size, growing much larger than Channel Cats and a smidge larger than Flatheads. That makes your chances of catching a Blue Cat over 20 pounds a big time reality. Fish over 50 pounds are not that hard to find in reservoirs and rivers that have had time to produce that size of Catfish.
These fish grow to be over 100 pounds - it’s the exception and not the rule, but it does happen. That’s the beauty in setting up and fishing for Blue Cats: your next fish might be 1 pound, 51 pounds, or 101 pounds.
Make sure to read Part 2 and 3 of this article to learn about Capt. Jeff's non-typical techniques!
Copyright © 2002-2005 Jeff Williams
You have permission to publish this article free of charge as long as you are not selling it and that you include the author bylines immediately visible with the article and, if published in an electronic medium such as on a web site, you provide a link back to http://www.ozark-lodges-fishing-trips.com in the author bylines, both where the web address is listed as well as well as with the text “Lake of the Ozarks Catfish Fishing Guide Service”...

Jeff Williams runs a Truman Lake Hybrid Bass and Lake of the Ozarks Catfish Fishing Guide Service offering lodging and guided trips in Missouri. To book a trip, learn more tips, or find out how Capt. Jeff would fish your own local waters, call 1-866-HOOKSET or visit http://www.ozark-lodges-fishing-trips.com today!

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catching catfish tips

Catfishing Secrets For The Summertime

Summertime Catfishing

The spring time spawn is over. Catfish are once again on the prowl in search of their next meal. The water temps have reached 75 or maybe 80 degrees. Days are hot and more suited for swimming and sipping on a chilly one but once the sun goes down and the air becomes bearable it is time to go on the prowl for your next line stretching adventure.
Summertime is a great time to night fish for catfish. Not only is it cooler but all the ski and jet boats have gone home leaving the lake to the angler as well as the catfish that move into the shallows under the cover of darkness. Too many people focus on deep water for catfishing in the summer. By deep I mean 5 to 10 feet of water. You will find fish at these depths but usually they are moving to the shallow shorelines and eat your bait along the way. If you want to increase your success try moving closer to the shoreline and working depths of 1 to 3 feet of water. This article will focus on the common channel catfish.
Stink baits are probably the most common bait used for channel catfish. They work and if it is numbers you are after stink baits work great. I stay away from stink baits mainly because they stink and my wife just can not handle the smell that lingers after a night with that stuff on my hands so I have found that stink baits work but other baits are just as easy to come by and smell way better. More importantly they work just as well.

One such bait that has stood the test of time is chicken livers. Again, great bait and can help you fill the cooler with pan size channels with an occasional fatty. One way I have found to increase my hook ups and reduce those bites that take off like a rocket, only to be dropped before you can react, is the hook only setup. I use a single bait holder hook 1/0 or 2/0 and connect it to 10 pound test fluorescent line. No weight is added to the rig and this is key. You need a spinning reel or a spin cast reel to be able to cast the fragile livers this way but it will increase your hook up percentage. Fresh livers that have never been frozen will stay on your hook much better than frozen livers. Fresh livers may be hard to find but they are out there and once you find a store that sells them you will go back for more as the livers are so much easier to deal with.
In the meantime as you search for those fresh livers there are ways to help keep livers on your hook. One way is with common sewing thread. Break off a piece of thread about 8 inches long. Lay one end of the thread on the liver. The thread will kind of cling to the liver and allow you to wrap the thread around and around the liver. Make sure to bring the thread over the inside belly of the hook. Try looping the thread, as you come around, over loose strands of liver to create a nice tight little ball of liver. There are other methods but this one works so well I have never tried any other way. Use a black light with the fluorescent line to detect a bite and detecting a bite is not difficult with this setup I promise. With just the resistance of the line the channel catfish will hang on longer and have no problem swallowing the liver. Use the best low cost hook you can find and bring a bunch so you can just cut the line and leave the hook inside, just be careful when you clean them, if that is your intentions. Leaving the hook comes in handy because when the bite is on you don't want to take the time to dig a swallowed hook from a catfish's gullet.
If it is larger channel catfish you are after then fresh fish is the go to bait. When a channel catfish reaches more than a couple pounds it begins to seek food a little higher in protein. Where you might find dozens of small channels like shallow flats and mud shores you might find it void of any good size channels and that is because, while still not a true predator the larger channel catfish become a little more of a loner and more of a predator than smaller channels. Live bluegills where legal and live shad work great. I usually just fillet the bluegill and shad. I first scale the bluegill. I believe that this allows more smell into the water as well as a more tender bait which allows for a better hook set.
Look for some structure for the bigger channels like big boulders or large brush piles or fallen trees. Toss your fresh meat just outside this structure. They will come out and get it but don't make them travel too far just in case it don't want to. Move the bait around the structure. I usually soak my bait 5 to 10 minutes before moving it, sometimes only a few feet. After about 15 to 30 minutes I will look for another spot. I am looking for the feeders and a hungry channel catfish would have already found your bait in that amount of time.
When targeting larger channel catfish you will want to go with some larger tackle. I start with a baitcasting rig spooled with at least 20 pound test line on a Med. Heavy to Heavy rod. You need the power to move the fish away from the thick brush or sharp rocks. Anyone who has caught a channel catfish larger than three pounds know how hard these fish can fight and when they start the channel cat roll you best have heavy gear. I use an egg sinker rig above and leave slack in my line so I can see the fish running with the line. You seldom have to worry about the fish coming toward you if you are fishing heavy cover during the day because the channel catfish is going to head back to his home in that cover. So be ready and set the hook ready to horse the fish away from the heavy cover. Once the channel catfish is away from the cover then you can take it easy and play it to the boat.
I hope this article has given you a few ideas for catching some channel catfish. I know these techniques have helped me over the years and should do the same for you. Keep experimenting and you will find some tricks of your own that will help you enjoy some great outings with the family in pursuit of a great fish that provides fun as well as some delicious table fare as well.
Good Luck!

Check out my website for more fishing info and catfishing gear
Authors website
http://www.ramblingangler.com

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Catfish Fishing Secrets

A really good article below giving the top 3 catfishing secret techniques, that are used by the pros!

The Top 3 Catfishing Secret Techniques

Just by doing a little research, you'll see that there are just as many specific fishing methods, and there's people giving you all kinds of advice on what's the best method to catch catfish. But after long talks with many enthusiastic fishermen, I picked up the top 3 methods to catch the big ones: drift fishing, jug lining, and slip weight.

Drift fishing

Drift fishing is one of the best methods for catching catfish, mainly in streams or rivers. All you have to do is go out in your boat, stop the engine and let the wind carry you down the stream. When you get a bite, just pull in the line, and that's all you have to do.

In most cases, vertical fishing methods are best for catching cats because they like to hang out deep down in the bottom, especially the big flatheads and blues. But, during the summers when the water is warm, there isn't enough oxygen at the bottom and they'll come up looking for food. Besides, in a river or stream you're likely to find many rocks and things down there, so it can be hard to catch them in the deeper water.

The best places to drop your sinker are to be found anywhere there's a block in the water. This is because the catfish don't struggle with the current when they're looking for food, so you'll be finding them where the water isn't moving a lot. So, find places where the water is relatively still to cast your line, like just below a dam.

One good idea is to put out more than one line and bounce them at the bottom. Put sinker down until it hits something, then drag it up and move it around, and this way you will attract those cats feeding down there. You have to get a feel for how much you want to move around. Drift fishing for cats is more fun than standing still and waiting for them to come along, mainly in the summer season when the cats are coming closer to the surface to look for food.

Jug lining

This is a technique where you string a line across the water with hooks at different intervals hanging down. Although you can catch catfish jug lining any time of year, it actually works best during springtime, when the water is just starting to warm up.

The best way to jug line for catfish is to use an "anchored jug line", that is attaching weights to the bottoms of your lines and these weights hold your bait still. You can use almost anything as weight, as long as you can attach it and keep the line in place. And how much weight you should use it depends on current conditions, but usually it's better to be too heavy than too light.

A good method for jug lining is preparing many small lines, each with only about 3 hooks, so that you can cover different parts of the river, stream or lake where catfish might be looking for food. Jug lining is a great way to catch the big ones, but you have to know the rules before you lay out your lines.

Slip weight

Usually, catfish like to stay at the bottom of the lakes or rivers and this is why using a slip weight rig is a practical way to catch them. A slip weight rig is where you set out a line with more than one hook that will go down there. You put a weight to the end as it helps you gain control over the level of the hooks. The great thing about it is that you can catch fish hanging around at different depths.

A slip weight rig is best used at night when the catfish are coming up to the surface looking for food. One of the reasons why slip weight rigging is so cool is that the fish can't actually feel the weight of your line. The secret here is to keep the weight heavy and the line tight.

These are the top 3 most successful techniques of catching catfish, but sure there may be others out there, just as many anglers. In the end, it all depends on whom you ask. Check out these ways of catching catfish and see which one suit you best.

Tony Brian is a freelance writer for outdoor sports magazines and a contributing writer for bob long paintball markers specializing in cat fishing, drift fishing and dye paintball markers

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Catfish fishing tips plus some cool carp fishing tips!

Big Carp And Catfish Fishing Essentials And Fish Meal Bait Ingredients

High protein fish meal baits catch big catfish and carp, period! But there is far more to making these baits get the results you dream of in winter, spring, summer and autumn! Both big catfish and carp respond to fish oils partly because they are rich in powerful nutritionally stimulating fish feeding triggers. Use these baits right and you will catch big fish as consistently as you like. Find out how!

Fish oils and other fatty acids provide over twice the energy in kilocalories than carbohydrates or proteins and are vitally important stimulating high energy sources in fishing baits.

Fish meal baits often contain a high level of fish oil in the meals used and adding excessive fish oils can lead to unhealthy fat accumulation around vital energy and metabolic area such as the heart and liver and reduce their functioning potential.

Fish oils in baits provide a 'protein-sparing' effect allowing valuable protein (nitrogen and amino acids and peptides etc) to be fully utilised for fish growth and repair; not wasted as energy.

Fish meal ingredients in combination with fish oils in fishing baits when consistently applied to a fishery can really produce fish with high growth rates!

Some fishmeal products are comparatively indigestible having a relatively lower biological value compared to others especially compared to 'low-temperature' treated fish meals.

Some fish meals are very high in oils and some are much lower (total oils content in fishing baits is recommended to not exceed 5 to 7 percent over all; much depends upon the analysis list from the manufacturers and any other oily ingredients used like crustacean meals.)

Fish meals contain many other lesser know but extremely effective, potent 'true fish feeding triggers' other than just amino acids and fatty acids. (Which induce bait ingestion; not simply inciting search and location and initial 'testing' behaviours.)

Many fish oils have hidden potent antioxidant effects which boost their fish stimulation and bait attraction and metabolism and resulting energy levels in fish.

Fish oils are fatty acids which are proven fish feeding stimulators.

Fatty acids (oils,) from fish sources and vegetable sources when combined, produce a more balanced fish food and energy source.

Fish oils are potent anti-inflammatory substances which in fish physiological, energy efficiency and metabolism rates are highly beneficial when used in fishing baits.

Some fish meals are finer than others and processing varies between plants and fish meal types from different fish.

Many species of fish used as fish meal products, are either a trawler 'by-catch' or bye-products of fish processing like many poultry products also rich in many similar fish nutrients and stimulants etc, (others are caught specifically for use as fertilisers or as animal foods.)

Some of the most well-proven and nutritionally stimulating fish meals are composed of small fish high in oil and with many bones and are rich in phosphate and calcium among other essentials for fish.

Smaller oily bony fish which are popular in fishing baits or as fishing baits include: Herrings, mackerels, menhaden, sardines, anchovies, sprats, pilchards, sand eels, smelts (capelins) shads and horse mackerels etc.

Adding fish meal to baits containing other ingredients add palatability, vitamins, minerals, essential fatty acids, proteins and soluble proteins among other things.

The salts in fish meal baits act as taste enhancers for other ingredients and flavours and 'potentiates' the taste and effects perception of amino acids and other substances in fish receptors used to 'detect' food.

Adding fish meals can improve the digestibility and biologically valuable and stimulatory nutritional profile of other baits, especially popular carbohydrate ones like carp baits based initially on soya flour and semolina for example.

Often carp are caught on small fish 'live baits' meant for predatory fish and demonstrates they have a predatory side to them in certain conditions, (I've also caught carp which coughed-up live fish fry in the net!)

Dead baits for pike, eels, zander, catfish and others predators and scavenging fish have a record of catching carp and fish chunks used on a hair-rig are a well proven bait for many species of fish, but is comparatively rarely used.

Mass baiting using 'mass free baiting with herring chunks and fishing a different bait above such an 'alternative' bed of bait has resulted in some great catches of many species for me including big tench of around 10 pounds!

The very popular 'Marine halibut pellets' are both high in rich nutritionally stimulating oils, but also in enzyme treated highly soluble and digestible fish proteins.

Too much use of high fish oil baits like halibut pellets and 'fish oil-glugged' fish meal baits, can lead to vitamin E deficiency in fish.

Fisheries where high oil pellets are used predominantly can end up with many fish with vitamin E deficiency.

Wheat germ oil and cod liver oil are extremely rich in vitamin E which is one of the most potent antioxidant vitamins as is ascorbic acid (vitamin C) which is also essential to fish, (Both are beneficial in not just fishmeal baits!)

Fish oils and others can 'oxidise' and go rancid when warmed-up, or when stored past their recommended use by dates. (So store your oils in the fridge!)

Enzyme-treated fish protein called 'LO30' can be in both powdered and liquid form and have 'hygroscopic' (water attracting and absorbing) properties.

The ability of a bait to hydrate efficiently in water both enables it to open up and release triggers and attractors, but prepares it better for fish digestion as fish food ideally needs to be initially hydrated.

Fish meal and their derived ingredients are about the closest to the most suitable natural highly digestible biological nutritional value food, to provide add nutritionally stimulating fishing baits.

Fish meals great nutritional profile and attraction can be incorporated at any levels in any other fishing bait whether hook baits or ground baits, base mixes or 'PVA' bag and 'stick' mixes, method mixes, pastes or dough baits.

The author has many more fishing and bait 'edges.' Just one could impact on your catches!

By Tim Richardson.

For the unique and acclaimed new massive expert bait making 'bibles' ebooks / books:

"BIG CATFISH AND CARP BAIT SECRETS!" And: "BIG CARP BAIT SECRETS!" (AND FLAVOUR SECRETS) SEE:

http://www.baitbigfish.com

Tim Richardson is a homemade carp and catfish bait-maker, and proven big fish angler. His bait making and bait enhancing books / ebooks are even used by members of the British Carp Study Group for reference. View this dedicated bait secrets website now!

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