caught catfish.

[daswaimsta]

hey whats up. just messaging to let people know what Iv'e caught so far. Not a huge fisherman yet, but yesterday I caught a catfish around 16 inches in a freshwater lake near my town. I used a basic buckshot weight and mackerel. Not sure the size of the hook I used. My default picture shows me holding the fish.
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[tubeN2]

Welcome aboard and thanks for the report. You did a nice job on your first catch. That is a nice catfish.

Welcome to the ranks of an angler an we look forward to future reports.[cool]
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[allingeneral]

That's a yummy looking channel cat. Excellent size for the fryer...about as good as it gets!

Congrats!
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[fretfishman]

nice cat, man. I'd love to have that in my frying pan right about now. [] I don't fish for cat often, but I tried for a few hours tonight and no dice. a guy about 30 feet from me caught a little 6 incher, though. [laugh] keep up the reports!
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[daswaimsta]

heh. thanks. btw Fret, what were u using as bait and all that?
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[fretfishman]

I used just nightcrawlers and got a couple bites and a few nibbles. my nephew and i had tried hot dog chunks last week with no success also. I really need to figure catfish out! haha. I've had success in the past with chicken livers, dead shad and dip bait, but I don't really know what the recipe for success would be. any suggestions?

during the day I only throw lures, but at night I like to wind down and use bait. any rigging and bait type info would be great.
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[daswaimsta]

well first thing u should know with cats is its a total waiting game. All u need to do it cast it out there near reeds or some form of cover in the water, and just leave it there. As for bait, Iv'e cought 2 catfish off of mackerel and 1 on nightcrawlers. My choice of bait is definetly mackerel. If use the mackerel, u need to cut pieces about 1.5 in x .5 in.. take the piece and hook it through the skin, then after it goes through the skin and meat, turn the hook so it goes back through and make it so the hook is just barely going back through the skin again. like i said just cast it out there and let it set. the fish i cought in the pic took a good 45 mintues before he took it. the great thing about cats is that they dont relle play with the food (nibble it or watever. if they want it theyll take it!
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[fretfishman]

thanks a lot - I'll try it out. those pesky suckers were driving me nuts nibbling. the line is sitting there slightly moving the whole time and they're hogging the bait so other fish aren't hitting it. very annoying.

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[daswaimsta]

well if ur line is moving but ur pole isnt, that is a good indication that the blue gail are having a feed frenzy on it. at that point, u need to reel it in and try somewhere else. if u casted it close to the shore, try farther away. like i said if its a cat there will be no nibbling involved! lol
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