Newby Needs fishing advice for catfish

No. I'd have to lose three teeth and about 50 IQ pts.

To dangerous in a SHTF scenerio. Seen what a beaver can do? A snake?
You're gonna need a doctor

we used to take a whole chicken ,pound it with hammers in a gunny sack, throw it in the water tied to the shore....in a day or 2 there will be more cats than you can catch....chicken livers as bait.
I once saw 2 old women catch cats on every cast ..they were using chicken livers and dipping them in turpentine before casting...
jugging was a Mississippi trick....we tried it as kids...but i think our rivers were too small?

personal favorite:
Trout lines works best for cats...in a lake,pond, river,or stream. once again illegal in most states.

Another variation is a can of dog/cat food with holes punched in it and tied to the shore/tree...chumming

OP check out the YO YO reels at Bud K

Would road kill work? Lots of that around here. Or I could shoot a possom. Whole chickens are kind of pricey.

roun here I use deep fried chicken gizzards. That will be the last meal the fish eats.

Would road kill work? Lots of that around here. Or I could shoot a possom. Whole chickens are kind of pricey.
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should work great...we used the chicken due to the fact that we used livers for bait....but once you chum them...they will eat anything.

For the doomsday fisherman trout-line used with chumming is ideal...check and re-bait in the morn and eve.

The guy that said keep your line "taunt" meant taut of course. In my opinion that's not the best way, because even though catfish aren't as skittish as trout, if they feel resistance they won't bite or bite as well. Use an egg shaped sinker heavy enough to hold your line in the middle of the river, with the split shot below it to keep it from sliding down on the hook. That lets the fish pick up the bait and run with it. One old family secret is to soak the bait in anise oil before fishing. The main ingredient in the spray fish attractors is anise.

I also highly recommend ugly sticks. I've got dozens of brands of spinning and fly rods. My all time favorite spinning rod is ugly stick. I trout and smallmouth fish with spinning gear, and a 7 foot ultralite Ugly Stick spinning rod is in my opinion the best rod made for the money.

Will it work for catfish?

This....

Old timey redneck style.....shtf fishing ain't sporting or catch and release....btw if you don't have hooks you can make gorges....a small nail sharpened on each end and the line tied to the middle....bury lengthwise in bait.... the gorge goes down straight but turns sideways when pulled....works on land animals too....ain't pretty but neither is watching your family starve....

BTW...don't overlook carp either.....they are pretty easy to hunt with spears or bow and arrow in shallow waters....they also grow pretty big to provide lots of meat....I used to seed an area with corn to draw them in and then its like shooting fish in a barrel....

I've always had success with catching a small fish in the same area (almost always bluegill for me) kill it and puncture the air bubble with a knife so it'll sink. Hook it firmly and cast it out as far as you can. Place rod in rod holder with reel set to allow unwinding and wait. I've rarely failed to catch one this way and multiple setups increase your chances.

I think using the small fish from the same area is the key. They're already familiar with it and finding a dead one on the bottom they don't hesitate to gulp it down.

Oh also when a catfish takes it give it time to swallow it completely before giving the rod a yank. You're gonna eat him so no biggie with swallowed hook.

Last Edited by #521 on 12/02/2012 03:20 PM

Drag raw meat on the bottom.

L2noodle

^ This

Carp are fun to fish for but can be tricky. The only way I've ever been able to catch them on a hook is by using a mix of cornmeal and water... stale bread also works. You have to get them to come to surface so there's a limited number of baits to use. They're very skittish so setting the hook can be fucking impossible some days.

dookie stain, how do you cook carp? They've always tasted horrible to me.

Last Edited by Brian Moser on 12/02/2012 03:26 PM