I (used to, anyway, before they all died
) catch cats in my pond over and over. I just set a 3-5" BG, alive and kicking, under a big Thill slip bobber, maybe 3' deep. Cast it out towards the island and let it drift around.
They really have no choice when they swim by a struggling gill...they are programmed to strike. It's just nature...catch away.
A 20 oz DMD bottle (not sure if the brand had much to do with success
) with 2 feet of 30lb Trilene, a 3/8 oz egg sinker and a gill on a circle hook floating across the pond during the night will catch them every time, too. Lots of fun to go out in the morning and chase the bottles around the pond in the boat or snag them with a treble hook and reel them in. Kids had a blast doing that.
They simply never get "hook shy" when it comes to natural/live bait. If they did, they'd starve...
