catfish problems.

I went out last night for the first time this year in Horicon on the rock river I used stink with cow liver and blood tyed up in spawn sac so I wouldn't have to rebait as often. I had 2 bites between 6-9 p.m. Same thing as last year as soon as they feel the rod or sinker they spit it and leave. I have yet to have a cat bite and hold on like a carp or bullhead any suggestions on what I am doing wrong or what I can try. MY rigs are 1-2 oz. egg sinker a beed swivel and about a 18 inch leader going to a large cat hook.

yeah catfish slayer rig will work on rivers. i think thats what it is intended for. i don't know of any lakes that you would need a big sinker like that. i use a similar set up like that for fishing a worm on the wi river. it works good.

Does your rig work in rivers? Catfish-slayer

What do you guys think about rod stiffness with circle hooks? I used a really fast tipped and limber trolling rod the other night. I was using circle hooks with cut sucker. The problem was that the fish would bite and I would watch the rod tip bend down. then it would bounce a few times as I was picking it up and the fish would be gone. It worked well a few times and the fish would be hooked but about half the time they would not. Do you think that the limber rod was not getting the hook to set well? I didn't have a good comparison because the stiffer rods were baited with Sonny's using regular trebbles.

I guess this is more of a question than a problem: Yesterday, my wife caught a jet black channel cat (I mean BLACK!) that even had black mottled markings throughtout the white belly. I've caught cats my whole life and never seen anything like it. I even searched online for something similar....no luck. Montello-Fox River. It fought good and didn't appear to be diseased or anything. About a 20 incher- No camera/phone. Released. Just a color variation? Like I said, I've never seen one like it before. Any thoughts? Thanks.

here is an example of my rig

P.S. dont set the hook when using circle hooks. the fish gets the hook caught i nthe corner of his mouth. steady pressure is the key. when they hit lift the rod up instead of whipping it back. 9 times out of ten you will jerk the hook out of there mouth.

Use cut shad or cut blugill. If you wan flathead use live bullhead. I use mustad demon cirlce hooks. 10 4x strong. 90% of the time or more if they bite they are caught. that is the only hook i will use. i use 3-4 oz no roll weights above a swivel with 12-18" leader to the hook. keep line tight and the fish will catch them selves.

Given that I just started fishing for cats a couple years ago...I'm no expert. But I have began to let the cats dictate the hook type and cut-bait size. If they are just tapping the bait and not taking off with the circle hook, I will switch to a straight shank and a smaller cut-bait. Then when they are tapping the bait I will set the hook. Hook up about 60% of the time.

If they are hammering the bait and swallowing and running I will switch to circle hooks to make release easier. I will also use bigger cut-bait or whole gills if they are active to entice bigger fish.

I just use roaches big live baits work great off the bottom you wont have to worry about the weight or the line spooking the fish because they will expect vibration from the bait hasn't failed me yet.

Slabour, sheep doesn't work well cause there ain't much oil in the meat. Sucker has lots of oil so it works better. Sheephead does taste good for this very reason.

Tried something different last night.

Same big old circle, same old bottom rig (1-3oz drop weight with a 18" leader with a little float or two to keep the bait off the ground)

Buddy of mine caught a sheepshead before I got to the river spot (in the twin cities), so we decided to use that this time.

What DIDN'T work: Fillet, skin on, but nothing more. Used both a 5"x3" piece (not messin around) and a 3"x3" piece. Some bites but nothing really came of it.

What DID work: Fillet, skin on, 3"x3" piece, with some of the guts on the hook too. I called it my DrumGut Sammy. It was freaking disgusting, which means it should great cat bait. It was. That bait lasted less than 10 minutes in the water before something attacked it. Caught a few channels and some bullies on it. The bullies were some of the bigger one's i've ever caught, thought one was a channel cat until it was within arms length and I could tell it was a bullie.

I use alot of dip bait and do pretty well on the river... but not to often do we get any over 6-7lbs

The first channel I caught this year was on a small circle hook with a crawler ball on there.

Then I decided to go crazy and use a sucker that had been attacked by a northern... which proved quite effective... now all I use is cutbait.

Well, mostly cut. Small suckers I'll gut and slice open a bunch, but mostly I've been cutting them into 3" chunks.

I use big circle hooks, i forget which size but I use Gamakatsu octopus circles pretty much exclusively. I've had one hooked deep, which was last night, but 99% of the time it hooks in the corner of the mouth.

I've seen guys tryin the stinkbait and liver approach with no luck. All the cat's i've seen caught this year, or have caught myself, have been on crawlers or cut.

I would stray away from the cow liver. Chicken liver works much better, but also try crawlers, raw shrimp, or even fresh herring or shad that hasn't been frozen, or fresh cut gills.

If you keep having problems with hit and runs, try a smaller hook, might be small fish that can't get the bait and hook in their mouth. Also, make sure that your egg sinkers can slip up the line. If the line slips through the sinkers and nothing stops them, the fish won't feel them. Then, if they are letting go when feeling the rod, try slack-lining, you just leave some slack in the line and watch the line. When the line tenses up, you have a good bite.

I use the largest fat head minnows I can find in early spring,catch so many more than livers .sometimes I hook two and lightly crush one of them,so one bleeds alittle.This works great on the fox down here.