Cat fish not biting

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JJinSC

JJinSC

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I've been trying to catch some catfish on our local river. My wife has an awesome catfish stew recipe. However, I just can't seem to get them to bite. Using Carolina slip sinker rig. Have tried cut bait almost rotten, stinky bait etc. Nothing seems interested. Any ideas?


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Leather keytags from the dollar store soaked in watery stink bait on a hook. Or treble hook with a spring on the shank jammed with stink bait any spring. Its design is to keep the bait stealers at bay and force a big bite. Both methods toss it out and leave it. Set hook, real in fish. springtreble_hook.jpeg
 
Chicken liver on a treble hook if they are there they'll bite them especially channel cats! Change the bait every 15 mins if you don't get a bite. If you wanna catch big cats you need shad at dusk. The big flatheads will eat them up along with larger channel cats. There's many methods to hooking both baits but these two baits are what will catch the fish if they're there. Good luck brotha!
 
Buy some cheap liver, leave it in the container in the garage for a few days. It will get stiff, tough, and smell like sun ripe road kill.
Nothing works better.

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Well, the liver was definitely attractive to them. I caught one small one and didn't get the hook set on another within 10 minutes of starting with the liver. After that all I would feel was a bump and the liver was gone each time. Could not get them to bite the hook anymore or keep liver on the hook. I will be leaving it out for a couple of days and hope that makes it tougher like you say.
 
It will get tougher and stay on the hook better.
Additionally, you can also use a small piece of fishing line or even a little rubber band to tie or hold it better.
Catfish simply don't care how it looks.

I typically put a small hole in the middle of the bait and put the hook (tie loop) thru it.
 
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I slide whatever bait I am using on the hook and up the shank and over the knot. It helps to keep the bait on as well.
 
I will never claim to be a pro, and I'm betting our Channel cats may even act a bit different, but here is what works for us up here on the Red River of the North.

We were out last night, and we use the same setup with a variety of baits. If we want big cats, we use big bait. Big in our water is 15-25lbs. The cats up here don't want stinky or rotten bait, they want fresh cut suckers or goldeye. Frogs work and waterdogs during the spawn in June. It's funny with all the stinkbaits on the market too, but all the guys using them on this river are catching little cats and rough fish. The big ones want a piece of meat!

Last night it was big steaks of fresh cut sucker. We had bites on all spots withing 15 minutes. We use 3oz pyramid sinkers as we are in current. Slip rigs with 5/0 Circle hooks. This minimizes snags and allows a clean hookset in the corner of the mouth and minimal injury to the fish.

We catch and release most all fish, as our fishery is considered world class up here. Knowing you are going to catch fish between 10-20lbs each night is worth it! Our biggest last night was around 15lbs.

Good luck!

PS: all were caught from the Big Black Cat Magnet Seadoo X20 last night!

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Not a pro here either...big cats in my area are predators. Put live bait on the bottom....shiners...blue gill...perch...it don't matter. If there are Channels, Blues or Flatheads around...they'll hit it.
 
Many things are better wrapped in Panty Hose!!

Here are some more pics from our season this year!

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[video=youtube_share;JZJ0d14m0c0]http://youtu.be/JZJ0d14m0c0?list=UUuAV6kaDC2S5942txwNu7Mw[/video]
 
Some guys had PM'd me asking about my custom rod rack. So the one of the last times I went out, I shot a bit more video of the boat and rack I built. Of course there are some fish in the video too.

[video=youtube_share;tt-I5ebM4Ag]http://youtu.be/tt-I5ebM4Ag?list=UUuAV6kaDC2S5942txwNu7Mw[/video]
 
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