Archive for May, 2008

What Is The Best Bait For Channel Cats (Catfish)?

To answer the question, there are many good baits for catfish. Let’s be honest the channel catfish is not a finicky eater. They have been known to bite on everything from hot dogs to ivory soap. I know people that will swear shrimp sprayed with WD-40 is the way to go. Trying to identify the best bait for channel cats is difficult and will be different depending on your local, time of day, season or personal preference. Every one of these below has worked for me and every one has left me without a fish. I will list them here in the order I prefer and some of that has to do with ease of use.

CUT BAITS

Cut baits cover a wide variety of fish baits. The most common ones are: shad, bluegill, anchovy, sardines, mackerel and minnows. Make sure it is legal to use them in your area. I know that bluegill is not legal in some states but is ok in others. I cut them into chunks depending on the size of the bait. I believe cut baits to be the best bait for channel cats and all other types of catfish.

SHRIMP

You can purchase shrimp at your local grocery either with or without shell. I leave the shell on but most remove it. Depending on the size of the shrimp and the size of the bait you want you can use them whole or cut them in half. Many also soak them vanilla extract to enhance their appeal. I am particularly found of the cut baits and shrimp because they stay on your hook and can be fished in fast currents when necessary.

CHICKEN LIVERS

These can also be purchased at you local grocery store and are a very good bait. I do suggest you take an old nylon stocking and cut it into small squares. You can use these squares to wrap around the chicken liver and attach it to the hook. They will stay on the hook much better. Fish on the bottom and check your bait every 20-30 minutes. If all the blood is gone replace the bait.

WORMS

Night crawlers, garden worms and Catawba worms are all included here. These are the old standby and will catch catfish but are best used where they are likely to find them. Places where creeks and drainage ditches feed into the lake or river seem to be best.

PREPARED BAITS

These can and have been made out of just about everything you can think of. I have tried many different kinds and have had some success with power baits. I am sure others do but I prefer the more natural baits. I think they are the best bait for channel cats and occasionally you will catch their larger brothers, the flathead and the blue catfish.

How To Cast A Bait Casting Reel

This ia a post from Steve Chaconas with National Bass Guide Service.

Hi! I’m captain Steve Chaconas with National Bass Guide Service. Today we are going to talk about how to cast a baitcasting reel. We have already shown you the key components, and they are very important, the parts of a baicasting reel and learning how to cast one. Again, this is going to revolve around your thumb; being able to control the speed of the spool with your thumb. When you hit the button on the spool, it releases the spool, and the spool rotates and you reel it up and do it again, but again, push the button, that releases the spool; let your thumb barely touch that spool to control the speed of that spool, and educate your thumb as to what it feels like to have that spool revolving past your thumb – and slowing it down, stopping it, slowing it down and stopping it till you really educate that thumb, and it may become second nature. Otherwise, if this thing goes uncontrolled, you end up with a backlash with line that gets all looped up and nerved like that then you have to learn how to get rid of those. And hopefully, I don’t have to show you that because that could get kind of complicated. What I want you to do is, I want you to hold the rod out horizontally from your body, bring the bait up to the tip of the rod, push the button, and slowly allow that spool to let the line out by controlling the speed of that spool with your thumb.So again, do this several times until you learn what that line feels like going through your thumb; retrieve it back up, start it again and just let that bait drop all the way to the bottom, but feel that spool and that line rotating through your thumb. Once we do that, we are going to go to the next step where we are going to have the rod back here, we are going to push the button, and we are just going to lob it; just try to lob it up, just allow that line to pull through your thumb. We are now looking to make a cast; we just want to educate our thumb, so we learn how that feels, so we can control the speed of the spool. And eventually, we are going to make longer casts, but everything is a lob; we are just lobbing it straight up, trying to get this thing a little further away to educate our thumb, to feel what that thumb feels like with that spool revolving underneath our thumb.Once we get the hang of it, we are going to make a cast thats basically off our shoulder; we are going to make a cast off our shoulder a little bit further. Start to get the feel of what this feels like, and eventually, once you get the hang of doing this, we are going to let the rod load up behind us and use that rod, and to cast that bait forward. Aim at your target, point your rod where you are going, and you won’t have any problems.

How To Cast A Spinning Reel

This ia a post from Steve Chaconas with National Bass Guide Service.

Hi, I am captain Steve Chaconas with National Bass Guide Service. No I am not sitting down on a job but I am going to demonstrate to you that you dont have to be big, strong or in my case even very intelligent to be able to cast. Casting all involves using your wrist, and to demonstrate that I am going to make a cast lying down in the boat and taking away my legs, my back, my arms, my shoulders and I am just going to cast with my wrist.

So, bear with me, I am going to lie down but still I am grip the rod the same way that we gripped it before. We are going to make sure that the line roller is in the top position, grip the line with our index finger, open up the bail with our right hand, grip the rod here, I am going to lay back and I am going to bring the rod back and forward and release and I have made another cast, just as well as if I were standing up or leaning into the cast. You have got to learn a lot of different casting presentations, when you prepare to cast you have to make a decision on where are you going to cast. With casting we also have to use our right hand from time to time, so you right-handed people same thing grip the rod with your right hand make sure you turn the rotor till the roller bearing is in the top position, grip the line with that index finger, open up the bail with your left hand, put your left hand on the back of the rod again a little flick of the wrist, and that bait will travel out there for you, close that bail, make sure the line is in the line roller and then start to retrieve.

Again, most of these reels are capable of taking the handle from one side and putting it on the other, so a left-handed person and right-handed person could probably share the same equipment.