Fishing Forum

Hey im new here and love to fish.Usually just fish for trout or bass. But i want to try catfishing. I live in Twin Falls and im looking for a good spot near here and any tips you guys have. Im going to either wilson lake or murtaugh lake tonight with some worms and chicken liver. I looked around but there not alot of stuff around the magic valley.

Thanks, any help is appricated.
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Wilson and murtaugh have bullheads. They were both planted with channel cats back in 2002, but I don't think a population still is there but I might be wrong I have never fished them. Both get VERY low in the winter. In my opinion Milner might be your best bet. I have not fished it yet but I am planning on it soon. It is planted with 20,000 cats a year give or take. It has been planted regularly for the last 10 or so years. The water has been very high and I am not sure if I can get out on it with my float tube safely yet. I was told that the bridges in Burley had catfish under them. Again I have not tried it yet.
If it were me, for bait I would use fresh cut bait. I use trout I get from a hatchery. I would say a bluegill or a perch, maybe even a bass of legal size would also work. Ron
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You might check your regulations on using game fish for cut bait. Perch is the only one that even though it is a game fish IDFG have allowed it to be used, so you might just check on that.
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Any game fish can be used as bait, but don't have more than your limit. I just had this talk with the F&G. If you want to talk to the man in charge call Gary Hompland in the Jerome office. You can't bait bears with game fish. When I use trout from the fish farms. I get slips of paper that say where I got them from.
A lot of guys in the CJ strike area use crappie for bait for stugon, and they also use crappie for bait in brownlee for cats. Ron
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Yeah next time im going to go to milner. But last night me and a friend caught 3 bull heads at murtaugh. Not that big but its the first cat ive ever caught. And if i was to use trout shoud it be fresh and not frozen? And how would i hook and cut it?
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I am a newby to cat fishing my self. I never caught a Channel cat before this year. I have landed a lot of cats in the last couple of months, and I am still learning. When I make cut bait I take the trout and gut it and cut the head off. I cross section the fish all the way to the anus. The tail is one piece of bait. Then the other pieces I split them down the back bone so i have several pieces that are about 2" X 2" or so. Then I use a 2/0 octopus hook. I run the hook through the belly end of the chunk of fish. The only weight I use is the swivel. I drag this way in my float tub real slow, Tube dude style. The other pieces of the bait fish I leave on my apron to dry a bit and they start to get a little nasty. I have had good luck with this.
I like to use bait that is fresh that day. If you put a trout in the freezer it will turn to mush real fast when it thaws out.
Hatchery trout have a lot of oil in them and the are fishy smelling, and get more so as the oil starts to leak out of them. Ron
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Stupid question, but is it legal to use TROUT as bait? I don't bait fish so please forgive me.
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The trout I use are from the company I work for. From what I understand though even a wild one is legal to use here but you have to follow the rules on that water about trout. If you are fishing a catch and release stream, then no you can't use a wild one but you can use a hatchery fish for bait.
The thing about using hatchery fish is you HAVE to get a receipt from the hatchery, and they MUST be dead. If they were to give a guy 10 pounds of morts, and they were 4 to the pound. Every fish over 6 would be illegal if you don't have a receipt saying where you got them.
A lot of guys use trout here for sturgeon bait and it is perfectly legal. Ron
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Thanks for the answer. Here, ANY game fish is illegal to use as bait, but so is corn.[]
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Has anybody been catfishing down on the snake by twin? I know people go sturegon fishing down at pillar falls and i didnt know if any catfish would be there.
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I have caught a BUNCH of channel cats at Owyhee over the years with a darn old nightcrawler. I don't know the regs on fishing with trout for bait but I do have a question. How the hell do you cook a catfish to make it edible? I've learned to kiss them bye-bye but never to take them home.[] Mike
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Mistaken.

We, in UT may use Perch on quite a few lakes. We may use White Bass on Utah Lake. Both are considered "game fish"

In ID if you buy a bag of "mort's" the lable on the bag is good enough for any CO I've ever been checked by.
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Thanks Troll. As I said, I don't bait fish anyway so just asking and as you can tell some hear say in misleading.
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To take out the bad taste of a catfish, bend the fillet at the middle & on the back side cut out the dark stripe.
If you don't, any bite you take with that stripe in it will
taste bad.
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Anyone know anything about fly fishing for catfish? I've heard it can be done, but I don't really know what to use that would work.
Maybe even-- anyone that has accidentally caught cats on a fly?
Thanks!
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I did on a Haresear, as did a bunch of other ff once.
Fish them deep. Sinking line.


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Thanks,
That figures -- the haresear is definitely my go to fly. When nothing else works it comes through.
By the way -- Very nice fish! Was that on the Bear River?
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No, it was on a pond.
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