Catfish help

Anyone have any tips for fishing for some catfish off the yaks?

carolina rigged.......chicken liver......use the least amount of lead as possible, to get it to the bottom.

let them run before setting hook.....then hold on!

or wait for Mako1 to reply with some real shit!

Where you heading for them Kris?

Great way to spend the evening. Catfish will almost eat anything but my favorite is a large minnow Carolina rigged or free lined. Casting a crank bait works too and its a great surprise when you catch one that way cause you are usually trying for bass.

Where you heading for them Kris?

. More than likely New malones

carolina rigged.......chicken liver......use the least amount of lead as possible, to get it to the bottom.
 
   Thank you , it would be nice to go on a little slay ride haha
let them run before setting hook.....then hold on!

or wait for Mako1 to reply with some real shit!

Great way to spend the evening. Catfish will almost eat anything but my favorite is a large minnow Carolina rigged or free lined. Casting a crank bait works too and its a great surprise when you catch one that way cause you are usually trying for bass.

.
 Lots of guys are catching big boys right now using minnows.  Thinking about trying it out

free line live blue gills, about the size of your hand
circle hook behind the dorsal
5 gal bucket of blue gills will get you through the nte
fish shallow right on the weed beds     keep moving
dont stick around and wait unless your tired.

The small ones eat anything, the big ones eat minnows 

The small ones eat anything, the big ones eat minnows 

....or whatever panfish is in the lake which they swim in. (it's what the book says)

Put like 4 or 5 big nightcrawlers on a hook and dip em in the chicken liver juice. You don't need to cast far; they're usually close to shore...especially in backs of coves that have stickups in shallow and easy access to deep water.

Put like 4 or 5 big nightcrawlers on a hook and dip em in the chicken liver juice. You don't need to cast far; they're usually close to shore...especially in backs of coves that have stickups in shallow and easy access to deep water.

^^^ this a buddy of mine kills it at new melones doing that. Nails them all day only a few feet of shore.

Chicken liver is a great warm-water catfish bait.  So is cut bait (fish) of just about any kind.  When the water cools, I use cut bait almost exclusively.  Carolina rig your bait, then sloooowly drag it along the bottom.  This can be very effective during the day, when cats might be chilling in a hole on the bottom and not actively prowling.  Channel cats love structure, so try to get near some rocks or sunken timber.  When they go on the prowl at night, fish shallow--as in, a few feet of water.  When the sun's up, fish a bit deeper because catfish are very sensitive to light.

I've had success with live minnows for catfish, but in my experience, cut bait outfishes live minnows 4 to 1 (however, my biggest cat from Clear Lake last year fell to a live minnow).  I think it's because of the cut bait's scent trail.  Among the many things that make catfish distinct from other fishes is the number of taste buds on them.  Think of their entire body as one giant "tongue", because they are literally COVERED with taste buds well beyond the whiskers.  Try to capitalize on their water-tasting ability by using smelly/oily baits that'll produce a scent trail.

Good luck out there Kris!  I love me some good ole fashioned catfishin  .

big live bait has brought my numbers down
but i can average 3 a nite and the smallist wont go under 10 pounds. the aveage is more like 12 to 17 pounds
i have not figured out winter fishing or mid day.
my best hours are 5 pm to 9pm and again at 4am to about 8 am. those in between hours realy slows down for me,
probably due to the bait fish hiding or whatever they due.

free line live blue gills, about the size of your hand
circle hook behind the dorsal
5 gal bucket of blue gills will get you through the nte
fish shallow right on the weed beds     keep moving
dont stick around and wait unless your tired.

Thats the trick I use for Delta stripers. But I like gills in the 3" to 4'' range.