I've fished some bodies of water wherein the owner said the catfish are uncatchable.
I've caught catfish, and the owner has been in awe.
I think it is a matter of changing up the bait, and presentation. Cheese dogs are awesome, chicken livers sometimes, baitfish with fins clipped to show erratic swimming, and even chumming the area (the day before) such as with rice or other bait.
So if you have catfish you're not landing, try switching up the bait you're using, and don't be afraid to chum prior to attempting to fish. One place for 3 weeks I placed cheese dogs in the same cut that I would then fish with, and 3 weeks later I landed a couple cats on same cheese dogs with the hook buried in the dogs.
Just an observation or two from a person that has not really fished that much except for the last couple years.
I have caught a lot more of my CC using typical baits for BG than I have actually using more traditional catfish type baits. Plastic curly tail jigs on a 1/32 oz jig head for example. Of the 15 1.5-2# CC my wife and I have caught in the last couple weeks, 90% were on ultra light tackle jig heads. These are not on a bobber, but are cast and retrieved. In other words an action swimming bait. This tells me that CC are much more aggressive at biting swimming active fish type baits than I ever imagined. I always viewed CC as lumbering slow moving fish on the bottom scrounging around for what they eat. Catching so many on a swimming type bait tells me they bite at every minnow and small fish that comes close enough to them that they think they can catch. Wife also caught some on cut up GSF cut bait, so they also do scrounge off the bottom.
As far as basslovers chumming, I also have found this to be a way to up the catch rate. I hand feed all around the perimeter of our pond. The feed instantly attracts the small 4-5" BG around the edge. Their splashing and feeding is the dinner bell ringing for the CC. After I put feed out anywhere around the pond and the BG start feedeing, within a couple minutes the CC will show up. I feed some more and then toss in a jig among the turmoil. Caught several CC this way. Have repeated the process several times, thinking the CC would wise up and quit feeding. But the BG splashing the top of the water and the conditioned lure of free feed seems to be a big attractant. They keep coming back for more.
Thanks for the cheese hot dog tip basslover. that sounds like a good one.
