catching channel catfish

Chicken gizzards stay on the hook better than livers...Let them sit out of the fridge for a day...Don't lick your fingers after baiting the hook, though.

__________________
"Those who hammer their guns into plows will plow the fields of those who don't."-Thomas Jefferson

I take it you don't eat chickens either! Or pork! Must be a bible fanatic, huh?

As for me, it would all depend on how fresh the water is in that pond. I've eaten catfish out of a stagnant pond that wasn't fit for cat food. Then again I've eaten catfish out of a springfed pond that was just as good eaten as any catfish out of a lake.

No they don't taste like bass or crappie, trout or walleye's. But if they're the only thing biting, I'm going fishin.

__________________
r.h. in oklahoma

Raised a country boy, and will die a country boy.

If it's still as cool in Michigan as I think it is it may just be a matter of waiting for the water to warm a bit. As a general rule cats tend to be a little sluggish and don't feed as well in cold water.

My vote is for chicken livers, and after the sun sets. Park your pole in the ground, tie a bell to the pole, set the line so the bait dangles above the bottom, set your chair next to the pole and enjoy the R&R until the bell jingles.

Out of all the baits, chicken livers have always worked the best for us when catching channel cats.

They are fantastic eating. Just carve out the lateral line when cleaning and it gets rid of all that muddy taste. I can't eat the stuff from the store because they don't clean them the right way. But when my husband cleans them, they're as good as bass and blue gill. Maybe even better.

I'm from SC here, fried cat fish, the ones under 10" long, and catfish stew with a tomato based stock is the best!
I always catch them at night with lots of beer,, you need beer! Well I bait the hooks with red wigglers or night crawlers. No cork just a lead weight ( it is a slip thru type and a couple pinch on lead weights) and a tight line.

__________________
Republicans believe every day is the Fourth of July, but the democrats believe every day is April 15.
Ronald Reagan
We are never defeated unless we give up on God.
Ronald Reagan

x2

Thanks for all the tips. The water in the pond is very clear-spring fed. So maybe it is too cold yet.The owner was feeding pellet food so can't be put on a hook. We will be trying these suggestions tho.Thanks!

I forgot to mention that when you hear the bell jingle, run, run, run to catch it before your pole disappears. Lol. My dad wanted to get the channel cats out of his pond, so we fished them out with this method. We had three lines between the two of us, and my poor husband didn't get to fish them out because he was busy taking them off the hooks. We had his pond cleaned out of catfish in no time. But the mosquitoes were so bad, we split it up over two nights to catch a dozen or so really nice cats.

A couple of summers ago I caught a 30 inch catfish, don't remember the weight but maybe around 8 to 10 pounds live? I had to let my husband wrangle with it being afraid the line would break. It kept swimming under the boat and bending the pole under the boat. He's been an avid fisherman his whole life so is better at it that me. He kept saying, "Nice catfish! Nice catfish!"

He cleaned it, we ate it, it was nice to catch on a hook, but not so nice eating. Too old. Better to let those old monsters keep on reproducing.

My wife will eat anything -- and I mean anything, except Catfish. Can't stand the taste.

__________________
Apocalyptic and Survival Fiction - Readers and writers welcome

Green chicken livers or venison sausage with cheese in it.
Tie you pole down and pay attention and don't leave your post.

There won't be a pole there when you come back when you go tinkle or get another beer.

Latex gloves for the livers if the spouse doesn't like extreme funk that takes three days to get rid of.

Crappie guts is another really good bait, especially during springtime spawn (eggs).
I think it's illegal though. May just be propoganda because crappie is a game fish. If it is, you didn't here it from me.
Just sayin.........

I can't stand it either unless my husband cleans it. Not from the store, not from a restaurant, no Jose. I won't even bother trying it. It tastes like pond muck unless whoever cleans it takes out the lateral line.

I'll bet if you caught one and cleaned it this way, and served it to her without her knowing it was catfish, she'd change her mind.

since he's feeding pellet do what my uncle used to do. thread a small cork (real cork not floats) on the line then tie on a heavy treble hook. set the cork about 4-6" above the hook. throw out a bucket of pellet or dry dog food then drag the hook through the boil when the fish start eating the floating pellets.

channels, blues & flats are all predators just like bass, crappie & pike.

http://www.justcatfishing.com/tips.html


here's a website.

you might be having trouble catching them because they are used to the pelleted food and are not really used to other baits.

maybe just not hungry enough.

the water might still be too cold; but i would continue to try anyway.

channel cat are much more aggressive feeders, imo, than other catfish.

i caught a 9 1/2 lb channel cat on a perch that i simply didn't pull in fast enough in an eastern OK farm pond.


my suggestion with channel cat is live bait. like minnows or crawdads.

you can also try using an artificial plug and keep it moving just like you were fishing for bass.

in fact, with them used to topwater feeding because of the pellets; i might just try a topwater lure.

look up the best time to fish on an internet site; im sure there are ones that will tell you the best fishing times.

i really don't think you need all the stink bait stuff for channel cat; but hey thats jmo.

good luck

one of the very few things i miss about OK is catfish!!

gf

We use chicken livers and bottom fish.

__________________
"Sins like chickens, come home to roost at night."
Charles W. Chesnut

just throw a couple of handfuls of that pellet food out when you start and you wont have a problem catching them with anything.

I've fished for catfish for over 50 years.My Dad used to rig up hooks and sinkers on line with swivels at the end.He would have a whole board of them ready when we went on vacation in Michigan. Then when we caught one it could just be put on the stringer without removing the hooks,etc.He's remove them after he cleaned the fish.We never take out the "mudvein" - just soak overnight in salt water.Also, we don't let them DIE in a bucket and then take them home to eat! We keep them alive with an aerator in a plastic half barrel. We catch catfish(channels) at the local lake with minnows ,or a part of a nightcrawler. Sometimes we fish tightline, but when they are in close we use corks(bobbers).We have been to a pond where they only bit on hotdogs! It probably is too cold yet.The ones on our pond aren't biting either. Good luck. Catfish are loads of fun to catch-they pull back. -Robin

When I was a kid and my great uncle had a pond full, I would tie a food pellet onto a hook with a piece of grass. Deadly. I guess a rubber band would work easier.

We always used velveeta (before it cost more than it's weight in gold) and maggots. Sometimes chicken livers depending on where we fished. The fish bite on different things depending on the site. Maybe you could ask for some pellets, grind them up, and mix them with some velveeta?

We'd fish the bottom. Cast out with a little weight on it, then prop up the pole, pull a little slack between the next to last and second to last eyes and hook on a bobber. When the bobber started to move (or slap up agains the pole if it was a biggun) we'd reel them in. Just be careful with this method. I lost my dad's $300 rod and reel because I wasn't watching....until the pole was skimming across the surface of the water, never to be seen again.

I miss catfish. I still have it, sure, but it is that store bought, farm raised stuff. The farm raised just doesn't have the same flavor as the wild catfish who live off the filth of the bottom.

__________________
"Let not him who is houseless pull down the house of another; but let him labor diligently and build one for himself, thus by example assuring that his own shall be safe from violence when built."

When you catch you a mess of catfish, try a cajun rub. Just simply rub the cajun rub on both sides of the fillets and role in cornmeal and deepfry. That stuff will make any catfish fillet, pond caught or store bought, taste great.

__________________
r.h. in oklahoma

Raised a country boy, and will die a country boy.

I am a bible fanatic, and I eat both.