Member
Joined:
Jan 2024
Posts:
334
EE: 0% (0)
MI, USA
Posted: 9/2/2025 4:18:11 PM EDT
|
Well, my son (8 years old) and I have had a lot of fun over the summer catching a boatload of bass and bluegill. We have a river that runs behind our house, and we see people fishing periodically. I've never fished in a river or for catfish. The river is slow, and probably only 6-8' deep. All this said: What do I need to fish for catfish? What's the best bait for them? Are catfish out of a dirty river safe to eat, or should we pass? |
Iraq 2008-2010
|
Small catfish will eat just about anything. Worms, stink bait, chicken liver, small chunks of cut bait, etc. Use a sliding sinker above a swivel and some leader down to a small hook and load it up with a nightcrawler. You will catch catfish. You will also probably catch carp, suckers, whatever else is down there. You don't need any fancy rods/reels to do this. Whatever you have will work here. Medium to big catfish want chunks of cut bait or live bait. Large channel, blue, and flatheads want big meals. Catch and cut up whatever small-medium bait fish you have in the area. Bluegill, sunfish, crappie, bass, whatever. Use a sliding sinker above a swivel, heavy mono from the swivel down to a circle hook 6/0, 8/0, or 10/0 depending on how big of fish you are targeting. Leave a lot of hook exposed, these fish are not hook shy. Heavy mainline like 80lb braid. Heavy rods and heavy reels. Depending on where you are you could catch blues in the 40-60lb range or flatheads over 20lbs. If you have a boat, don't sit in one area too long. Generally speaking if they're there and hungry, they will find your bait within 20-30 minutes. Soak baits for about that long and move on to other structure. Good structure is deep holes, current breaks, large rocks, trees in the water, brush piles, etc. All will hold catfish. If you're bank fishing you might have to sit and wait longer as moving is a bit more of an issue. EDIT 1: Disregard people that spout the old wives tail of 'it needs to stink really bad'. It's absolutely false. Most people catching catfish a LOT are using fresh bait caught that day. Nobody I know is letting it sit out and get nasty stinky and we catch not only a lot of fish, but big fish. Dealing with stinky rotten bait is for those that don't really know what they're doing and just repeating what they've heard. Fresh bait is king. EDIT 2: I eat catfish out of water that most people consider 'dirty'. Taste fine to me. You be the judge. I don't eat the big ones though. If we want some to eat we will catch some in the 16-22" range to eat. |
|
Big cats are big fun. Little cats are fun, too. Beware, they’ll try to fin you with their fin spines. And be prepared for the “croaking”. Sound they make as you try to get the hook out.  Catfish by FredMan, on Flickr
|
ProTip: Never pick a fight with a tree planter. He swings a hoedad for 9 hours a day, carries 30-40 pounds of seedlings on his back, and has 12-14 friends just like him hiding out on the other side of the junk butt pile. They will fuck your shit up.
|
I use Catfish Charlie's cheese bait and dip bait worms and slay catfish. Caught 16 last Sunday, 6 of them 6-8 lbs. Catfish really don't care what they eat- hell, the kids around here use hot dogs and catch'em. |
<placeholder for something good in the future></placeholder>
|
Big cats love bluegills. If you think there are going to be bigger cats in there its not a bad idea to invest in a larger catfish pole. I have a Lews Cat Daddy and it works great, and the line it comes with is just fine for a while to get you going. I live right on the muddy, I mean mighty Mississippi and a trick the local do if you can keep them alive is to let them free in a large tub of fresh water for a day or two to help clean out the river taste. I My neighbor has a stainless steel horse water tank burried in the ground and routes some of the spring water into it for crystal clear water. |
|
As said, catfish aren't too picky about what they eat. When we used to run river trot lines we'd use shiners, cocktail shrimp, hot dogs or cut bait. My favorite was carp. We'd get a big carp and fillet it and cut it into 2" chunks, we'd put it in a ziplock, soaking in its own blood. It worked on trot lines or pole fishing. My #2 bait for pole fishing is night crawlers. For a river set up the sinker is important. You need to use a flat "no roll" sinker or some other design that won't roll around in the current, otherwise your bait won't stay where you put it. I ran 15-20lb line, a 1oz sinker, bumper or bead, swivel, 2' leader, #1/0-4/0 circle hook. When you get a bite, let him take it for a while and don't set the hook, just pick up the pole and start reeling. |
Joined:
Jun 2025
Posts:
16
EE: 0% (0)
VIR
Member
Joined:
Jan 2024
Posts:
338
EE: 0% (0)
MI, USA