How to Catch Catfish

8/11/2019 How to Catch Catfish

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Catfsh the fsh...

2ishing is about a lot o things. o us, learning about the species is itsel *eryrewar!ing. We know, or e+ample, that there are 3,444 known species ocatfsh in the worl!, ranging rom about a centimeter long to the nine$oot

beasts that li*e in the &ekong elta, an! ob*iously were able to sur*i*e!eca!es o e+plosi*es an! chemicals being !umpe! into the ri*er, which 5owsthrough f*e nations. hey li*e in ca*es, they li*e in ri*ers, an! as we all knowthere are a ew species in shallow saltwater. In case you are intereste! in stulike this, they e*ol*e! rom ri*er catfsh that e*ol*e! where resh waterentere! into brackish an! then salt. he a*erage si1e o known catfsh is o*er67'.

Catching fsh is catching fsh to the ki! 8in me still9...

-rowing up as a ki!, fshing was fshing. "t se*en, I har!ly knew the !ierence

between a worm an! a cricket. hey were both baits. :ne was way ickier thanthe other one i they escape! into the back o the station wagon. :ne simplyen!e! up worming aroun! on the mu! pile you spille! on the 5oor while theother one coul! actually crawl !own the neck o your shirt an! scratch yourskin with those weir! little bug legs 8manly? &e? I coul! eat them i I ha! to,an! ha*e in training. "m i still grosse! out when a roach crawls on me? o Ilike bugs? Not one little bit.9 but bait was bait. "n! fsh fsh.

2ishing weights like these ha*e been oun! in our area an! are still to beoun! in mangro*e islan!s, aroun! oyster bars, an! anywhere you fn! holesbeing !ug near the coastline there is a chance o fn!ing these kin!s oincre!ible artiacts. We#*e change! how they get built but the concept is thesame an! *ery important i it#s catfsh you want to catch. hat#s that i thereare fsh that li*e on the bottom o the water, you want some kin! o weight toget your baits !own to where the fsh li*e an! actually eat. 2ish where the fsh



are an! you#ll impro*e your chances o catching them an! putting them onyour table. :r your rock.

I got ol!er, an! fshing got !ierent. &uch more complicate! in many ways. Ichase! fsh in &e+ico, with my wie only strong enough to fght the ;4lbblackfn tuna we oun! all !ay. I ha*e caught blue marlin fshing with a rien!

in his <=# aluminum boat. 2our$hun!re! poun!s o a!ing blue strappe! to theport si!e as we brought him to market. I chase! bonefsh on the coasts where&ayans once cut the hearts out o ellow warriors instea! o using ertili1errom home !epot to get the most out o those corn crops. When young an!stupi!, I elt that the more e+pensi*e something was, the more special an!har! to fn!, the better. Now I know better. hat thought came to me the other!ay when I stoppe! by a roa!si!e stan! an! ate something that remin!e! meo the simple things in lie. he something I ha! or lunch was rie! catfsh.hat rie! catfsh, the memories the 5a*or ha! cause! to roar back, is what isimportant about fshing.

How to catch catfsh> where to fn! Catfsh

In the most ancient o times, it is likely that catfsh $ *ery big ones $ e*ol*e! inprimal ri*er systems. "ble to ee! on a wi!e *ariety o materials, !ea! an!ali*e, they are one o the worl!#s most a!apti*e resh water species, an!uickly e*ol*e! into ust about e*ery bo!y o resh water, rom the tiniestpon!s to ri*ers like the &ississippi. Here where we fsh on the west coast, theHillsborough an! @eace ri*ers come to min!, but there are hun!re!s o ri*ersyou can fn! in 2lori!a, an! ri*er fshing is one o the frst places we woul!suggest you fn! them. he reason is simple, an! that is the same reason youfn! fsh in some areas an! not in others, an! that is water mo*ement an!structure. hat is not to say that the same bottom$fshing metho!s we will talk



about later won#t pro!uce si1able an! eually$tasty fsh rom pon!s, but i youare new to cat fshing, start in a ri*er or goo!$si1e! reshwater estuary nearyou. :nce the water salts a tiny bit, they stay away, so make sure you in thereshest o the resh water in that ee!.

• Holes. Where*er a ri*er turns against a shoreline, the si!e the water

strikes with the mo*e mo*ement orms a !eep hole. hose holes hol!catfsh. 2ish the outsi!e en! o the ri*er.

his is where the &anatee ri*er piles up against a !am beore it is let to spillinto ampa %ay. It#s !eep, it has mo*ement, an! it#s rocky an! structure! onthe bottom. It#s a prime catfsh hole. )ou !o not ha*e to fn! !ams to fn!catfsh though. Where ri*ers make turns is a perect place. he ri*er#s e!ge

where the water hits it oten hol!s the tasty bottom ee!ers.

• Current streams. Current streams are anywhere on the water where youcan see slow water hitting aster water. It causes what are calle! 'seams'an! those seams are catfsh hea*en. hey sit in the slow water waitingor bait to mo*e by in the aster water, when they see it, they !art out,grab it, an! back$up into the slower water. Aink baits into that watercolumn, or bounce it o the bottom at that seam, an! you will catchcatfsh.

ackle or Catfsh 2ishing...Whether you are using a spinning ro! or a le*el$win! baitcaster you usuallyuse or largemouth snaps fshing, the tackle you use is not nearly as importantas the baits you use. %ut or sake o this article, we woul! suggest a lightspinning ro!, capable o han!ling 64lb brai! with a 64lb 5uorocarbon lea!er.

Catfsh li*e an! ee! on the bottom, so we can start our con*ersation by sayingthat i you ha*e one a*orite bottom rig that you swear by, use it. It will work.%ut since catfsh fshing is a speciality in an! o itsel, looking aroun! thecountry an! talking to more an! more catfsh e+perts e+pose! us to a *ariety



o bottom rigs, many o which woul! surely work or saltwater an! oshorebottom fshing.

he basic components o any bottom fshing rig inclu!es clips, swi*els, weightsuBcient o keeping the bait on the bottom, lea!er material an! the hookyou#re gonna use.

here are many popular ways to fsh or catfsh> bottom fshing, which is themost popular, 5oat fshing 8bobbers, not 5oat$boats9, an! one increasinglycoming un!er fre rom the en*ironmental let, an! one we are not e+actly!ying to try, noo!ling. hat is the sport o sticking your han!s in holes whereyou are likely to fn! a catfsh, sticking your bare han!s into their openmouths, an! pulling them lip$frst rom their !ark homes. @ersonally? Nah. %uthey, who are we to u!ge weir! ways to hunt an! catch fsh?

%ottom rigs...

%ottom fshing is arguably the frst kin! o fshing there was. 0arge gorgehooks shape! rom bone or e*en shell an! stone an! burie! in a chunk o meat

ha! enough weight to put the attracti*e oo! in ront o fsh ee!ing on thebottom. o!ay the simplest kin! o bottom rig is a split shot or two somewherebetween the knot an! the hook itsel as part o the popular an! common line$to$lea!er rig we use.



We are not talking about the saltwater catfsh many o us consi!er a trash fsh.What we are talking about here are the rying an! !elicious$eating *ariety.

In !eeper water, you ha*e to use enough weight to get the bait to the bottomregar!less o the current. nter the egg sinker an! what we call a '2ish 2in!er'rig. he lea!er is tie! to the line, an! the line itsel frst passes through thehole insi!e the egg sinker. o stop the large egg rom knocking up against thebait an! the hook, many anglers out a split shot, or e*en a barrel swi*el at theconnection$point where the lea!er meets the line. :shore rigs ten! to rely onswi*els in this manner, an! e*en 'knocker' rigs ha*e a place in !eeper waterangling. "n! in the sport o catching catfsh.



here are three basic rigs or bottom fshing, whether it#s catfsh you#reseeking or grouper in 644# o water o our beautiul coast lines. he most

common one is a fsh fn!er, here calle! a Alip Ainker.

It can be mo!ife! with a 5oat, a re! bea!, or any number o other stu that5ashes, spins, or otherwise 8hopeully9 gets fsh to pay attention to the li*ingor !ea! an! stinky bait you ha*e stuck on the business$en!. he thir! rig $$ the@atermaster $$ is *ery interesting in that it lets the hook an! bait sli!e like anegg$sinker !oes, but positions that sli!ing action a pre$!efne! !istance o thebottom. I ha*e to think it woul! be particularly well$suite! or fshing re!snapper oshore $$since they ten! to lurk <4$34# o the bottom. )ou coul! rigthis to sli!e any !istance o the bottom you wante! it to. "notherconsi!eration or alternati*e rigs is the secon! one $$ the one with the triple$ring swi*el in the mi!!le. @ut a pyrami! sinker on that rig an! it will let youstick a blue crab onto the bottom. o it on the sur an! you coul! ust fn! acobia looking or the blue$crab piece you ha*e out there. @yrami! sinkers areless popular then they shoul! be. hey are *ery pro!ucti*e in sur fshing,where you want the bait to lock !own where you put it, an! not be rolling

alongsi!e an! e*entually o the trough an! onto the beach.

ropper rigs> his category or rigs seems more popular with the catfsh crow!then with the typical oshore angler, an! the a!*antages some o them oermakes them worth a try or grouper, amberack, an! other !eeper water fshwhere keeping a bait three, our, or si+ eet e+actly o the bottom coul! makethe !ierence between a hot bite an! no bite.

@aternoster> he name seems -erman, but the concept is pure angling. "swi*el is use! at the connection between the lea!er an! the brai! 8or mono9.hat keeps the secon! swi*el $ the one hol!ing the line hol!ing the weight $

sli!ing on the line but keeping the lea!erDline connection a f+e! !istanceabo*e the bottom. his is important because o thermoclines. hermoclinesare layers o cooler an! warmer water. hose layers ha*e a lot o impact one+actly where fsh are to be oun!. We are going to try this rig or snapper an!grouper fshing as well as in our catfsh eorts.

hree way rig> his rig makes use o a three$way swi*el. &ost o us shake ourhea!s when we see too much terminal tackle where it is not nee!e!. %utcatfshing an! any bottom fshing or that matter can really benefts rom rigslike this, it works with an o*al sinker i you want bait mo*ing with the ti!e, an!it can be use! with a stable pyrami! sinker, when you want to keep a bait rom

mo*ing. 2ishing or catfsh is a perect e+ample o where keeping the bait'locke! !own' with a pyrami! sinker. o you want a ew more that you mightbe surprise! about? Cobia fshing on the beach with blue crabs. :r chunks o!ea! bait in ti!al water '!ea! sticking' or re!fsh an! e*en snook. %ig chunkso !ea! bait !o not nee! natural mo*ement. hey are !ea!, or hea*en#s sake.ry it or catfsh an! try it when you are sur fshing.

" !ropper loop rig is similar to the three$way swi*el rig, but !one without thehar!ware. he more elite among us might argue that no real man nee!s three$way swi*els, but I personally like them or a *ariety o sur$ an! other bottom$fshing situations.



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How to Catch Catfish