From: plh@eos.ncsu.edu (Pat L. Heron)
Subject: Re: Catfishing
Keywords: fish
Organization: North Carolina State University
Date: Tue, 21 Jul 1992 15:59:14 GMT

In article <1992Jul20.220117.17651@mnemosyne.cs.du.edu>, wwillard@nyx.cs.du.edu (Wayne Willardson) writes:
|> 
|> I've been catfishing several times now. What I'm doing is using a size 1
|> hook with a glump of chicken liver on the end. Usually with this setup I
|> get a bite every few minutes, but when I set the hook, I come up with
|> nothing. Sometimes I can just leave the setup in the water for hours, and
|> every few minutes my line will jerk, then nothing.
|> 
|> Does anybody have any ideas why I'm not catching anything?

In addition to the crayfish explanation (I don't know why they would 
make your line jump), another possibility is bluegill.  They will give 
your line shap percussive tap tap tap.  As mentioned previously, 
channel cats will usually pick up the liver and swim with it 
immediatly.  Pesky liver-stealing bullheads will also thrash your bait 
around while leaving it in one place, but their attack is not as 
percussive as bluegill.  The damn turtles also have their own 
characteristic attack.

A friend showed me how he catfishes (and carp fishes).  Pitch out the 
usual hook/bait/swivel/egg-sinker rig.  Then put your rod in a holder 
(or time honored traditional forked stick jammed into the mud) and take 
up all the slack in the line.  Next take a clip-on-bobber and 
clip one end of it on the line between two of the guides on your rod 
so that it 
can slide freely on the line (you may have to bend the wire if the 
bobber isn't designed for this).  Then grab the line and pull the 
bait towards you untill you have a foot or two of slack.  The line 
is still tight because the bobber is pulling it tight, the line makes 
a vee between the guides of your horizontal rod with the bobber at 
the bottom.  The bobber acts as a shock absorber for wind and waves as 
well as a strike indicator.

This gives the catfish slack when he takes the bait (use as light a 
bobber as you can get away with considering wind and current conditions).
You can look at your line and see what kind of fish is playing with 
the bait.  Usually a channel cat will pick-up the liver and run, 
the bobber will rise and smack the rod with a loud slap. 
Bluegill will make the bobber dance up and down, bullheads will 
cause the bobber to jerk upwards in several stages.   Experiment 
on the timing of picking up the rod and setting the hook.  I have some 
bobbers that I have painted with glow-in-the-dark paint that work well 
for night catfishing.  Also, if you don't get a hit, move your bait 
every 5 minutes or so, just take the slack out of your line and pull 
in in a foot or so (at this time you can feel if the liver is still on), 
then reset your shock absorber. 
Many hits come just after the bait has been moved.

I also have had great luck with eagle claw freshwater game hooks. 
(live bait hooks).  They are very dull and need to be sharpened, but I 
think that because the point of the hook turns inward, the catfish 
does not feel the point while mouthing the bait, so it takes the bait 
deeper.  I have had an incredible hookup rate with these hooks,  I also 
have had great luck using these with doughball for finicky carp.

Also, if bluegill and bullheads (and eels) become too big a nuisence, 
you can try swithching to cut-bait.  They don't bother this as much.

This method has worked well for me, it allows me to  fish with 
two rods if the action is medium fast and three when the action is slow.
Good luck.

			-Pat.

Newsgroups: alt.fishing