Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations How to catch pellet fed cats?????

I am almost embarrased to ask because I have fished all of my life, but I am having the hardest time catching my cats. I've tried everything from stink bait to chicken liver to night crawlers and am having very little luck with em. I know there there cause they go crazy when I feed em. I've tried tight lining and fishing with corks and just aint wackin em like i should. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Oh, these cats were put in in march and are about 8-14 inches already!!!

For a long time I had good luck with dough balls. I just buy the really soft bread, get rid of the crust and make a dough ball from the middle. I fish it on a cork, but hover is right above the bottom. I got to the point where I can tell what kind of catfish it is just by the way the cork behaves. Lately, they stopped biting. I am not sure if it is the cooler water, or if they figured it out. Right before I left the pond yesterday, I tried using cut bluegill, fished on the bottom without a float. They went crazy for that. I wish I had more time.

One thing I can tell you for sure. They refuse to touch any kind of stink bait.

mach, if you have a feeder that feeds your fish on a timer, they become trained to that (you probably already knew that). my feeders go off 4 times a day, and i can throw nightcrawlers with a bobber about 1-2 feet up the line, and throw it out in the middle of the turmoil and catch lots of bluegill and cats. but, if i try to fish other than that, i'm not so successful. if i have someone come over at an unexpected time, and i want them to catch some fish, i can throw out some fish food, and cast in middle of that whenever the fish come up. but in "off feed" times, if i'm really desparate to catch fish, i'll actually set off the feeder which makes a loud racket...and the fish come a swimmin!! mark

I finally caught 3 of mine. I used minnows about 16 inches below a cork while feeding. I saw one feeding on the surface that did a dive to get to the minnow. It was obvious that it had spotted an easy meal and the predator instinct took over. I had previously caught some on a nightcrawler by changing my cork. I had been using a red and white plastic. It got to the point where they shied away from the area when they spotted it. I changed to a natural cork. That worked for awhile and now I'm using minnows. Next, I'll probably have to use cut bluegill; then night fishing.

Like Ed, I find stink bait to be useless.

Thanks for the suggestions. I've been using a bright orange cork and have noticed them shying away from it. Also, i talked to some guys at work and they seen people drill small holes in the pellets and catch em that way. Seems like a lot of work but it may be just the trick....

mach, are you fishing the pond everyday? they may be lure or bait shy if you are. if you aren't then try this: if your planning an outting with somee family or friends go cut off the feeder a day in advance. then when you get there the fish will be hungry and more likely to be willing to eat other things than pellets.

I am enthusiastic about trying the pom poms that George Glazener and others touted on another thread. I found some at Michaels MJ Designs and put them in a plastic bag with some crushed pellets.

Another possibility which worked for me with larger smart brown trout in my trout pond was to stretch pieces of pantyhose over a few pellets and tie off with monofilament. Then put your hook into the hose and you're ready to go. We used a salmon egg hook and this actually floats like the pellets do. Some of us put this on a fly rod, but if you use light enough line you can cast this lure with a spinning rod. If you want it to sink you could probably go with a bigger hook.

I have seen guys use cork flies made the shape of the pellets even painted the right color that do not work nearly as well as the real McCoy in the hose. But they didn't put them in with the pellets.

We've taken browns to almost 12 lbs this way when they had no interest in anything else including nitecrawlers or minnows.

Pour some of your pellets in a bucket. Slowly pour in some scalding water, so the pellets absorrb the water. Add this slowly until all the pellets are moist, mix by hand but there's no standing water...you have to get a feel for this. Let stand for a few minutes then start mixing in some bread crumbs as a binder. let stand a few minutes and test consistancy until you can take a handful and pack it into a ball. You can put this around yopur baits or sinker and it will act as a chum or feed inducer. There are some European carp and cat angling methods that use similiar tactics, as are some southern USA packbait techniques. I use the pellets balls around springs or frames on my line and above my baits and the cats go friggin' nuts..they associate the pellets with your feed and once eating are more likely to accept your bait, espcaially if its sitting in the middle of a pile of dissolved pellets on the bottom.

Hope this helps

Pat Kelly in Maryland