a bit confused

[guppyslayer]

ok..so i went with cut bait all day on saturday for cats..and caught a couple drum and sauger.

said "Screw the kitties" and went bass fishin on monday AM at 5:30....bagged a 7 and 3 lb channel on jigs..ARGH..the insanity!

cyas
rc

[Tarpon4me]

Well, your first mistake was trying fresh cut bait for channel cats. Channels are scavengers, not predators like it's two big cousins the Flathead and the Blue; even though the blue eats it's fair share of dead food as well.

I've used every bait there is for channels, everything from Ivory soap to hotdogs, and the most productive bait for them is good ole' chicken livers. I've heard so much crap about this or that stink bait works the best, or i've got a recipe for this or that, give me a break. Sure some of that stuff might work, but you can get yourself a $1.99 container of chicken liver and slap that on a 6/0 kahle hook and you're good to go. Something else that works really well are Canadian Night Crawlers, the big fat ones. [cool]

Give the chicken livers a try, I promiss they'll work. Make sure you're fishing in a deep hole with structure, that's where they hang out. Good luck
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[cat_man]

Actually that is not true at all. Channel Catfish are both scavengers and predators at the same time. In Utah, channel cats are caught using spinners and jigs regularly, although they are caught much more often with bait.

Also, the top bait for channel cats at Utah lake is in fact fresh cut carp meat or other nongame fish meat (white bass, sucker, carp, chub), or fresh dead minnows such as chubs, shiners, anchovies, etc.

The rotten, stinky type baits do not produce nearly as well as fresh fish of some kind. Worms also catch their fair share of channels too. Chicken livers and the like are much less popular in Utah.

In very clear waters, channels will feed even more on live fish then scavenge. It really all depends on the water you are on and what is available to catfish to eat.
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[Fishhound]

[black][size 3]Oh well, That's fishing.[/size][/black]
[black][size 3][/size][/black]
[black][size 3]As a general rule, using cut bait for catfish is very productive, that is - if I use the most common forage as my cut bait in the body of water that I am fishing. [/size][/black]
[black][size 3][/size][/black]
[black][size 3]I have had real good success using many different kinds of bait for catfish - worms, leeches, caterpillars, grubs, slugs, garden snails, blood bait, stink bait, cut bait, live bait, beetles, grasshoppers, chicken livers, shrimp, and human snack food items, but, I've never had much success with the already prepared store bought Dip baits. [/size][/black]
[black][size 3][/size][/black]
[black][size 3]Depending on the time of year, catfish can feed in the entire water column, so, although the bottom is where you will most likely find the catfish, don't feel obigated to just fish the bottom. [/size][/black]
[black][size 3][/size][/black]
[black][size 3]When I am catfishing, I will generally only leave my bait in one spot for 10-15 minutes before moving it. If I get no action at a likely fish holding spot within an hour or so, I will change my bait offering or move entirely to a new location. If the fish do not show up in an hour or two to check out my bait, there probably are no feeding catfish in that area and it's time to move.[/size][/black]
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[guppyslayer]

I actually had little confusion..since i have fished most of my life. Just trying to generate a bit of "cat-talk". Channels are most definitely predators. Yeah, sure they will denegrate themselves to bottom feeders when that is the best offerin that they can get. i have caught a lot of channels on cranks, jigs and even a few spinners.

I would "guess" that they prefer live bait or meat, but they do not view themselves above eatin whatever is available.

cyas
rc

[Dubie]

I usualy use frozen shrimp for my channel cats, and get the best results. Fresh or salted shinners work good as well, and night crawlers. Leeches work, but I don't like spending money on them very often. Live crayfish are exelent baits, as well as small pirch, suckers, goldeyes, or whatever other tiny little fish you can pull out of the water. I've had no success at all with pre packaged stink baits, though chicken liver does work, but its more trouble then its worth. (Keeps falling off my hook). Jigs work great, tipped with worms and bounced off the bottom. Spoons, spinners, crank biats and other artificials have caught channel cats for me when the water clears up after the spring runnoff. Generaly, in the later evening and into the night produce more bites for me then daytime.

Just like any other fish out there (in my experience at least) almost anything can work, and there are no rules on what will always work best. Honestly, I think it would take the fun out of fishing if I never had to experement and try new rigs, lures, and methods all the time. Immagine if it was so simple as that? Use this lure in this spot, catch bass. That other lure in a different spot, catch pike. This bait right here for cats....Might as well go to the grocery store to get em...
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[Tarpon4me]

When I say that channel catfish are not predators, I mean primarily. All species of fish in the Ictalurus family are all highly equiped with the keen senses needed to be effective predators; to include sharp bursts of speed and an uncanny situational awareness.

" Sporting Qualities - Most channels are caught by bottom fishing with baits such as dried chicken blood, chicken livers or gizzards, and nightcrawlers. They prefer dead or prepared stinkbaits to live bait, but at times will take live minnows and lures such as spinners and jigs. Strong fighters with good endurance, they are frequently caught on trotlines. Since channel catfish can also be taken by commercial fishermen, except where stocked by the Commission, they are not legally classified as sportfish. ([url "http://myfwc.com/fishing/Fishes/catfish.html"]http://myfwc.com/fishing/Fishes/catfish.html[/url])"

I copied this quote from a wildlife website listed in parenthases. Channel cats rarely favor live baits, however, i've heard of them being caught on lures like you had mentioned. What's that mean? Obviously that what's good for the goose isn't always good for the gander.

Fish species can vary considerably from one location to another. You've seen cats caught on lures, in all the years i've been fishing, i've never seen nor heard of a cat being caught on a lure; atleast not in our local waters.

I know a hole under a bridge on the little pee dee river that you can catch atleast a dozen channels in less than 2 hours, faithfully. If you were to take a live bream, chicken livers, fresh cut bait of any kind, and stink bait to that bridge and use them, the chicken liver is the only thing you'd catch them on. How do I know this? When I cat fish, I target multiple species at once, so I use all those baits on different rods, every time I go; minus the stink bait. You and I agree that the stink bait is a no go. [cool]

I target large flathead cats with live bait, preferably a crappie if I can get one, but usually life bream or shell crackers.

I target long nosed gar with fresh cut bait. Sometimes on a ballon, but most of the time on the bottom.

And I target channels with chicken livers, and a close second place winner are night crawlers.

I've ALWAYS got atleast 2 of those three baits in the water, and frequently have all three including tossing a lure to pass time. Never have I caught a channel on stink bait, lures, and rarely on cut bait.

In the clear water conditions you have in your home waters, it is more likely that channels would strike at a lure, or suck down an injured live bait. Thus, the channel catfish in your location may have developed a different "taste" based on the availibility of local forage and water conditions.

Needless to say, if you're going fishing for channel cats, what would you bring for bait? Would it be a spinning lure? would it be a live shad or bream? I think not. Why? Because that wouldn't be affective. []



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[Spokane_Angler]

We have always used chicken liver or beef liver and gotten nice results fishing for Cats.
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[cat_man]

Well spoken. [cool]
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[Kraizee_Skot]

[font "Times New Roman"][#ff4040][size 3]Well since where on this catfish thing, the other day I watched Roland Martin catch a channel cat out of Lake Powell on a topwater plug. Now that's something you don't see everyday![/size][/#ff4040][/font]
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[Dryrod]

[font "Poor Richard"][size 3][green]Did he say whether or not that was a First for him? Never seen or heard of it before. Then again I just woke up from a cat nap.[][/green][/size][/font]
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[Kraizee_Skot]

[font "Times New Roman"][#ff4040][size 3]I think he did mention that it was a first for him. He started to get all excited, and was like "...folks you will never believe what I had just caught on a topwater plug..." It wasn't a big kitty fish, but hey a fish is a fish right? [/size][/#ff4040][/font]
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[Tarpon4me]

I might have seen that episode as well. It's pretty amazing what unexpected things fish can do in the spur of the moment, especially a really hungry fish.

I was fishing on a pier one day for Mackerel and watched a small king take not one, not two, but three float riggs at once. He had to have felt the hooks from the first one, and surely the second, but he kept on truckin'.

I've also pulled up to the bank on the river and saw a small flathead cat drowned, washed up on the bank; with a huge bream stuffed in his mouth. He obviously "bit off more than he could chew." LOL, i've seen this more than once.
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