Questions for the Catfishers...

[DoubleB]

I was introduced to big cat fishing 3 summers ago and it has quickly became an addiction. Normally I fish the deep water between the bluff and the Nuke at the swirls. Bait is normally Chicken Livers and night crawlers. I noticed that several of you catch and freeze shad and skipjacks. When doing this process, Do you thaw the bait before going out and fishing or do you let 'em thaw in the water while fishing? How do you usually cut the bait, what size is the cut bait before and after cutting? Also, any other spots where I might find somne monster Cats?

Thanks,
Robb

 

[drumking]

I'm not much of a catfish expert, but what I like to do is fish river channel edges especially around bends in the river. I also don't target the monster fish that a lot of guys do. I prefer to catch fish in the 10-30 pound range, so I downsize my baits somewhat. I have just a few skipjack that I have caught while crappie fishing and I will just thaw and cut them up into chuck size that will match the hook sizes that I use. Also, Rsimms put us onto chicken breasts chunks for cats last year. Works good too. One of my favorite baits is raw, frozen shrimp. Clean and the bluecats love them. I never use liver. Too messy, and can't keep it on the hook very well.

If you can find any cuts in the delta structure that is common along our river channel, those are prime areas to fish too. But, I'm far from being a good catfisherman. I just fish for these fish when everything else slows down a bit and I just want a relaxing day on the water.

 

[CRAZYHORSE]

First I would suggest using the"search" function on cff and type in the atuhors "drc" "wlg" "southerncats" "minner" or "bprice". These guys are mostly your big cat guys and most of thier posts are about where/when/how they catch the big ones. Also you can look at the "hall of fame" and read these reports, because nothing there is going to be under 30-35 pounds. I would throw away the liver and worms and go with cut bait like shad or skipjack. I use the head and also the gut pocket for bait and basically discard the rest of the baitfish. Good spots to try are the nuclear plant, intake area, harrison bluffs, and down at the dam itself.

crazyhorse

 

[Liveliner]

I am not in the HOF "yet", however I do use frozen Skipjack Herring. I catch my share of blue cats at the nuke plant. I take Skipjack with me in a small bait cooler. As I need it I take one out and cut/fillet through it on a diagonal to expose the maximum internal areas. For bigger cats use a bigger slice. I see by the forum reports that the biggest cats are caught on the heads.

I will tell you that by far the best bait to get the maximum numbers of cats up to Twenty Five pounds is as follows; Buy a cup of chicken livers and a couple packs of the cheapest red Hot dog weiners sold , which are the red Gwantley brand. Put the weiners in the chicken livers and sprinkle on some garlic salt to let them merinate in the flavor. Cut a piece approximately 1" long and slide it up onto a treble hook and then twist it slightly to keep it on the hook. Use a light weight sinker only heavey enough to get it to sink to the bottom. Drop your bait into the water upcurrent at the end of your boat and let it sink to the bottom. Bump it along the bottom. Before it reaches the other end of your boat you should have a fish on. If you do not, then move.

 

[rsimms]

I normally set frozen bait out to thaw the night before a trip, but not always. However, if you go out with frozen skipjack, have a VERY good knife with a serrated blade to cut them with! My favorite bait prep method is to "butterfly" either shad or bluegill. Stick filet knife through the body top to bottom right behing gill flap. Filet back wards along spine... do that on both sides... the cut spine and remove. You end up with fish head with two filets still attached... it looks like a butterfly. Without spine or dorsal fine, big cats can take bait much easier. But as DK said, one of my favorite baits is plain boneless chicken breast. Catch it on sale, 2-for-1, it will NOT come off the hook. If you don't use it all, no problem refreezing and saving for next trip.

 

[minner]

I'm in agreement with Rsimms on this one. It is best to thaw the bait out before actually fishing with it. You have to be careful though, if you let it set too long at outside temps. it will become mushy and will come off easily. Usually what I do during summer months (hopefully I'll get fresh but sometimes I won't) is to take it out of the freezer and throw the whole bag in the bottom of the boat to thaw on the way to the water. By the time I get there is has thawed mostly and then I put it back in a cooler to keep it from getting too warm and mushy. During the winter it is hard to thaw it out this way in 33 degree weatheremoScratch . Most of the time I'll have to thaw it out in a livewell full of water and then do the same as mentioned before once it's thawed. Do this while the frozen bait is still in the bag and don't let any water touch it; you don't want to wash it out before you use it.

I've used bearly hard frozen bait many times but the results are not as good with fully thawed bait. For some reason it seems that thawed bait has more "flowing juices" than partially frozen bait.

 

[foodsaver]

I use 8/0-10/0 circle hooks and chunks of bait from skipjacks. I usually get 4 chunks of bait from the smaller skipjacks up to about 12 or 14 inches and I don't use it if there arent any guts in the bait. On the big magnum skipjacks I get maybe 6 or 7 pieces of bait.

 

[minner]

hey foodsaver......I'd get about 4 pieces out of this one.........seriously.......... (throwing the tail section away)

 

[foodsaver]

those are some good size chunks. What inch mark do you usually start throwing them away?

 

[EricM]

I don't usually use chunks quite as big as minner - they're difficult to control with my controlled drift method if I'm using lighter line- but those big chunks sure do keep the little cats from constantly hooking up. I really like about a third of a 14" skipjack for the big blues. Good Luck!

 

[DoubleB]

Alright.. I can't stand it no more... who wants to take me next weekend?emoLaugh emoLaugh

 

[japlata]

Cut bait is all right, and liver is messy but inexpensive. I really like it especially at certain times of the year, And not all chicken livers are the same. Some is so slimy that you can hardly keep it on a hook, but you can find it at some markets where it is much firmer and will stay on very well. I don't know why some chicken livers are firm and at other markets it will be slimy. I will usually try a container from a store like Wally world and if it does well than I'll go back for some more.
The thing that I like about chicken liver is the blood. I poor a little over the side every once in a while, and if your fishing a area that holds a bunch of cats, that blood should put them to hunting the source. I've heard that cats can detect blood from along way off. I know that other baits like minnows and cut bait work best in certain areas and at different times, but especially in the fall and summer, I will prefer chicken liver..Tony

 

[DoubleB]

hanks for all the tips guys. One little trick I've learned with the livers is that if you get some panty hose, you can make a little bait bag and they stay on the hook much better. My wife can keep hose in stock since I lerned that one.emoLaugh

 

[fishinvol]

I've always caught much bigger fish on cutbait (shad,skipjack) than on liver. Little fish are able to eat the liver too easy. My 2 cents

 

[WLG]

If you are targeting fish up to 20 lbs I would recommend the hot dogs that Liveliner suggested,or chicken livers. I have caught fish up to 20 lbs on these baits and Im not saying that you wouldnt catch a bigger fish on them, but for the BIG fish ,,which I would say anything over 30 lbs,,, I would use the cut skipjack. Thats what ALL big fish that I have caught were caught on. I have not used the chicken breasts yet but it seems like rsimms does pretty good with that bait also. I usually anchor and fish over certain areas ( have been having better luck with this method since I was taught by the CAT KING...Mr. drcemoWorthy emoWorthy )but drifting works better for other people. I Like the Idea of soaking the hot dogs in the chicken livers Liveliner...seems like that would workemoThumbsup I usually just soak them in Red Jello.

 

[minner]

foodsaver - 4/5/2007 4:17 PM

those are some good size chunks. What inch mark do you usually start throwing them away?

Between the 5-6" mark

 

[Lone Oak]

I know a bunch of you guys are deer hunters and most don't eat the livers. Do any of you ever keep them and use them for cat fishing. I have heard they work well. Seems like they would stay on the hook ok.