Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Help Catfish will not bite Bait on a Hook, any suggestions?

This is my fist post, any help would be appreciated.

My channel cats are 17 months old. I stocked 450 fingerlings in a half acre pond and have been feeding them floating fish food during the months they would feed. I could see some were growing large last fall and decided to catch a few and finally eat what I have grown. I have tried many baits and they would not bite.

Last month I was throwing a spinner bait and caught a 2 pounder, go figure. Tasted real Good!! Fished all weekend with different stink baits, live worms, minnows, etc. Not one bite.

I have not fed this pond this year since temp rose hoping that would encourage them to bite a hook. Not working. Threw a handful of fish food in yesterday and several came to feed. Any suggestions or favorite catfish bait to use.

Sam, my experience is somewhat similar to yours – channel cats are very difficult to catch on anything that does not resemble and smell like fish pellets.

450 channel catfish are a lot of fish in a half-acre pond – they will cause big problems in a couple of years if not thinned out – they will eat you out of house and home and muddy up your pond as they grow larger.

You did not mention other species that you stocked.

If you are a fly fisherman, you can tie up a foam pellet fly, or purchase a craft store item called “PomPom”. Store them in a zip-lock bag with ground up fish pellets.

Another product that works for me, suggested by Bruce Condello, is a Berkeley earthworm product called “Gulp”

Cut up the Gulp earthworm into pellet sizes and put on a small hook.
Works best cast on a fly rod.

We overstocked CC some 4+ years ago in a new pond and they have become 6 – 8 lb nuisances.

Hope this helps.

Email me if more info needed on pellet fly tying instructions.

George Glazener
N.E. Texas

Welcome to the forum, Sam.

In addition to the baits you have mentioned, I have also caught my CC on chunks of deer liver and heart. I think any kind of liver, the bloodier the better, would work as well.

You can try surprising some while they are pellet feeding. Berkeley Powerbait has a pelleted bait just a little larger and about they same size as a fish food pellet. Try tossing one of these on a hook, set very shallow, in the middle of a pellet-feeding group of CC. I have been fairly successful at getting some CC on the hook this way - it's the non-fly fishing equivalent of George's pom-pom fly.

CC are reported to be rather shy/cautious, and my experiences back this up. It is fairly easy for me to catch one or two CC in an hour or two at my pond, but much rarer to get more than that in one trip. Catching one CC seems to make the rest withdrawn for a few hours. So lots of shorter fishing periods may yield more CC from your pond than a few long fishing periods lasting the same total amount of time/casts.

If legal for you, try jugging as well. I am not an expert on this, but harvested several cats this way in 2004. I used plastic gallon milk and cooking oil jugs, heavy monofilament line, some hefty lead weights, and fairly large (about size 0 ?) hooks. I would bait and toss them in when I left the pond at night when it was not supposed to be too windy. Tough baits that stay on the hook a long time work best - I had the best results with liver and post-fillet catfish tails. The fun part of jugging was chasing a jug with a catfish on it around the pond in a canoe.

During feeding, put a piece of weiner(hot dog) on a hook. Guaranteed to catch one.

Also, fish for them at night in shallow water.

Chicken liver is the key on our water. We caught 20 yesterday up to 12 lbs. on a 1.5 acre pond. Kept 4 about 24 inches. Have fed them fathead minnows every other year at about 10 lbs. each time. Other than that there is one feeder for pellets that goes off twice a day. I feed about 150 lbs. every month or so. Except stop feeding in Nov. and start up again in Mar. The water is red from suspended clay particles but that has not hurt the cc one bit. Also they are reproducing. Spotted a bunch of 1-2 inch fry this weekend. Seems a bit early for small ones but there they were and already nibbling on the pellets. Started with about 150 six years ago. We tried shrimp, stink bait, cut bait, live minnows, velveeta cheese and nothing worked except chicken liver. All that is stocked in this tank is cc. I also think 450 is a bit much for that size water.

Chicken gizzards, easier to keep on the hook than liver

fresh shad fillets, or whole small TFS is good, too.

Trotlines, and like Burgermeister said, fish at night. Those suckers become hook shy in a hurry.

Sam - Try this - mix some fish food (whole and crumbled) in with your fish worms for a day or two. A friend told me that fish food flavors his worms and to give him an edge in catching catfish out of the river. I'm not sure how well it works in ponds. I used softened high protein fish food (40% and consistancy of pie dough) as bait on a small treble hook with good luck on shy bite catfish that eagerly ate fish food. But a Theo mentioned, you can usually only get one or two during each fishing session. Maybe a seine would work to remove lots of cats in a hurry.

Did not expect to get so many responses so soon. A big thanks to all of you.

The stocking rate was suggested by the fish farm I purchased my fingerlings from. I also stocked red ear and hybrid blue gill in this pond with the CC. I had hoped to have had several large CC fish frys by now.

I also have a 2 acre pond with Bass, hybrid blue gill, red ears, and black crappie. I did not discover Pond Boss till almost a year into managing my two ponds. I know now from the magazine and this site that I did not stock properly and was misled by the sales people. But, it has created a challange that I am having fun dealing with. I plan to have an electrofish survey done of both ponds this summer after spawning to see where I stand.

20 years ago I fished a half acre CC pond and the cats would bite on anything anytime anywhere in the pond. The owner was feeding them, but I don't know what or how. This is why I thought something was wrong.

I will try all of your suggestions and let you know. Thanks again for participating in this great site.

My neighbor told me that he uses a small piece of paper from the fish food bag to catch his pellet fed catfish. He uses no weight, and allow the paper to float. I haven't tried it, so I can't really say how well it works.

That's the spirit, Sam! For many of us, I think managing the way to our "ideal pond" is more enjoyable than having it would be. You may note the most knowledgeable and successful pondmeisters here continually taking the challenge of trying something different and problematic, something for which the answer is not known - yet.

As for the amount of catfishing advice received thusfar: asking for ways to catch catfish is like asking what our favorite meal is. Most everyone has an answer and there are many, many good, valid responses.

WRT feeding CC and catching them - I think feeding regularly and then laying off for 24-48 hours when you want to catch CC would likely enhance your catch rate, regardless of the bait(s) used. But that would involve putting weight on your seemingly overcrowded CC and exascerbating the crowding, so it may not be a wise approach.

Sam - Please come back here and tell us what seems to work best at catching your catfish. Take some notes as the catching progresses. Your best results may be able to help another pondowners who are having trouble catching thier catfish. I am particularly interested in what the fish shocking survey reveals about your problematic catfish pond.

Bill, I hope to try all suggestions and reprot back to the forum. It will be a while before I get back to fishing, this is a busy travel time of the year for me.

Should I use this same thread or create a new one when I have results?

I'd say as you like it. Continuing in the same thread makes sense to me, but we can always link to it.

Sam, as ta Bergermiesters suggestion, put them dogs in a baggie in the sun fer a couple a days. Guarantee ya won't be pickin yer nose while fishin:) Whats the difference between a CC and a gal from Kentucky? One has whiskers and stinks, the other is a fish.

I have a neighbor who claims Raisin's work when nothing else will

I'll decide whether or not to moderate after I stop gagging.

...yep, the Bob-O show can sure be cutting edge, eh? Kinda like watching a train wreck...you just have ta look! I, for one, still tune in regularly.
ps; Bob-O, you impressed me to be more of a "Pacer-man"...