Posts Tagged ‘catfish’

Catfish Getters – 28 Lb Flathead

Catfish Getters® are lightweight fiberglass bankline fishing poles complete with hook, line, swivel and sinker to make bankline fishing a snap. Just insert fiberglass fishing pole into bank of creek, river, pond or lake. You can also fasten the catfish rigs to trees or logs with our new bracket. Drop line into water deep enough to cover sinker. Use live bait such as bluegill, gold fish, small bullheads or large minnows for best results. Catfish Getter® fiberglass fishing poles are lightweight to carry and are easy to see at night. Check state laws for setting lines and bait.
Video Rating: 5 / 5

Catfish Getters – Fast Catch!

Catfish Getters® are lightweight fiberglass bankline fishing poles complete with hook, line, swivel and sinker to make bankline fishing a snap. Just insert fiberglass fishing pole into bank of creek, river, pond or lake. You can also fasten the catfish rigs to trees or logs or banks with our new bracket. Drop line into water deep enough to cover sinker. Use live bait such as bluegill, gold fish, small bullheads or large minnows for best results. Catfish Getter® fiberglass fishing poles are lightweight to carry and are easy to see at night. Check state laws for setting lines and bait.
Video Rating: 5 / 5

Catfish Getters – 40 lb Yellow Cat.

Catfish Getters® are lightweight fiberglass bankline fishing poles complete with hook, line, swivel and sinker to make bankline fishing a snap. Just insert fiberglass fishing pole into bank of creek, river, pond or lake. You can also fasten the catfish rigs to trees or logs with our new bracket. Drop line into water deep enough to cover sinker. Use live bait such as bluegill, gold fish, small bullheads or large minnows for best results. Catfish Getter® fiberglass fishing poles are lightweight to carry and are easy to see at night. Check state laws for setting lines and bait.

Rules For Fishing For Catfish At night!

The sound of the tug boat chugging up the river, pushing heavily laden barges filled with grain, quieted the tree frogs and crickets that shared the night with me as I watched the tip of my catfish rod jerk feverishly. 

After the initial tug on the line, all movement of my fishing pole stopped.  I considered this for a moment and then decided to leave the bait where it was, if there was any left on the hook.  It was too pleasant an evening to exert the energy it takes to pull the hook and sinker out of the river bed, re-bait and sling it back out into the deep dark water.

My brother, cousin and I were all sitting in our camp chairs as we listened to the night sounds resonating softly against the gently moving Tennessee River, halfway between Decatur and Huntsville, Alabama.  The day had been blistering hot, but at 9:00 in the evening, the temperature was pleasantly cooled by a Southeasterly breeze up from the Gulf of Mexico.

In order to thoroughly enjoy a night fishing experience such as ours, it is imperative that one follow a few simple rules designed to make an evening fishing trip pleasant. 

Let there be light!  This is a must for night time fishing.  Bring your camp lantern or a set of construction lights that operate off the cigarette lighter in your car. Stumbling around in the dark on the banks of a river or lake can be hazardous to your health.

Make sure that you are able to tolerate your fishing companions during stretches of fishing inactivity.  Usually the best fishing companions are those who keep their mouths shut and enjoy the serenity of silence; but they’re hard to find.

With the advances in technology available today, it doesn’t make sense not to bring along a cell phone.  Leave it in the car or truck to use in case of an emergency.  Don’t be tempted to call someone simply to chat during a lull in the fishing action, unless you have just caught a whopper of a fish and want to brag a little to a friend.

Bring a good portable camp chair.  Better still; a chaise lounge would be preferable for a relaxing evening.  The only drawback to this is when reacting to a strike by a fish, it’s difficult to extricate yourself from the chair fast enough to set the hook.  It can be embarrassing to fall on your face while the catch of the night is swimming down the river with your rod and reel in tow.

You will need a cooler, filled with ice, soft drinks and water.  My years of experience in leisure activities have taught me that river water and alcoholic beverages just do not mix, whether you are sitting on the bank or fishing from a boat.  My advice is to leave them at home.

Nothing works up an appetite like sitting in the dark on the bank of a river, chatting with pleasurable company about anything that comes to mind.  Usually though, talk is confined to old fish stories about the big ones caught and the giants that got away.  It makes you hungry!

No one really wants a sandwich when they’re fishing at night; they’re hungry for something more stable, like hot dogs.  Charcoal is a must for cooking hot dogs.  Unless you’ve brought along a camp stove, hamburgers or steaks are more trouble than they’re worth.  Besides, the smell of catfish bait on your hands doesn’t seem to linger on hot dogs the way it does on fresh meat.

Remember to bring the bug spray!  Unless the wind is blowing gnats, mosquitoes and other flying insects away from you, insect repellant is a must!

Last on the list of necessary equipment to take on an evening fishing trip are rods, reels, sinkers and hooks.  Cat fish seem to like stinky baits so that’s what I use. When I was younger, I would fish with chicken liver, shad guts and any other bait that had been left out in the sun to ripen.  Today I just go to one of the large tackle stores and buy prepackaged soft baits that smell just as bad as the ones I remember from my youth.

Fishing at night is fun.  I’ve never claimed to be an expert in catching catfish, just an expert in fishing for them.

A Guide To Catfish Taxidermy Get A Trophy To Last A Lifetime

When you go catfish fishing and you reel in that big one it is only natural that you would like to have some way to remember and show off your catch. One thing that you can do would be to take a few pictures of your catch to go along with your fishing story. The photos will help to give a visual effect that will enhance the story as you tell others how you reeled him in. However, there is a more dramatic way to show off your catch and it is called taxidermy.

So what is taxidermy? It is a method that creates a three-dimensional representation of the catfish that is so life-like you would think it was still alive. Taxidermy integrates many skills into one to acquire the end result that will preserve your catch for many years to come. Some of the skills that the taxidermist will need include molding, carpentry, casting, woodworking and tanning.

The taxidermist also needs to be artistic and have the ability to paint, draw and sculpt. This is especially true for anyone that works on fish because they require the most skills of all. Most all fish taxidermy mounts are re-created by using man-made materials. Some of them can be made by simply using a picture of the cat along with measurements. The taxidermist will use these to construct the mount.

Fish Mounts

Fish taxidermy is considered one of the most difficult to do out of all of them. Fish mounts require being able to recreate the complete anatomy of the catfish.

It also requires that all the color of the fish be restored by hand. The taxidermist has to paint every inch of the specimen accurately in order to achieve that life-like appearance. This requires a lot of skill and training to achieve the professional results clients expect and deserve.

There are different ways to have a catfish mounted. For example, he can be mounted on a plaque for the wall to go over a fireplace or as a centerpiece for your den. You can also choose a table stand that will display your catfish in your trophy room or office. The choice is yours and will be determined by which display you like the best.

The quality of taxidermy has greatly improved throughout the years and they appear even more life-like than ever before. You are sure to be happy with the end results. The better you take care of the catfish when it is caught the better quality your trophy will be so be careful with him.

Steps in Fish Taxidermy

The steps in fish taxidermy will depend on the type of fish being recreated but there are a few basic steps that the taxidermist will follow when preserving the catfish. They are basically recreated by using man-made materials. This makes them last longer than other types but it also can make it a little more difficult.

Here are some of the steps that are required for catfish taxidermy:

A mold of the fish needs to be constructed while the fish is still fresh to get the most accurate replicate.

Rigging Your Fishing Pole for Catfish

Catfish anglers have lots of rigging options. Everybody has their favorite rigging method, and certain methods work better under certain conditions. Here is a look at rigging your fishing pole.

Different Types of Rigging

Tightlining – This is where you rig your hook in the middle of the line, with a weight attached at the end. This way, you can drop that weight to the floor of the lake, with your hook hanging somewhere halfway down, and control just how high that hook is from the bottom. Tightlining is a great technique for catching catfish, because you’ll find that they swim around at different distances from the bottom. Exactly how far to rig your hook from the weight at the end will vary. A little trial and error will show you just where to put it, but a good place to start is about 1 1/2 to 2 feet from the end of the line. The size of the weight doesn’t matter so much, but it should be enough to hold down the line. Most anglers find that a weight just big enough to keep the line down is ideal, because it’s not too heavy to keep control over. After you’ve got your line in the water, hold it as taut as you can because otherwise you might not feel that fish bite.

Tightlining is a great rigging technique to use when you are fishing a lake or pond that has a lot of algae and plant life in it. Catfish will usually hide under this cover, and you need to get your bait right down under it. Tightlining gives you lots of control as to where you put your bait.

Slipweight – This rigging technique uses a weight that can slip along the line. You attach the weight so that it can move along the line, and you put your bait right on the floor of the lake. The purpose of the weight is not to control you depth, like a tightline, but to hide your line. Catfish are smart, and they won’t bite if they know there’s a line attached to that morsel of stinky bait. The slipweight allows the line to lay at the bottom so the fish won’t see that there’s a fisherman on the other end of it. This is a good rigging technique to use in a shallow area or pond. In the shallows, catfish can see better and will avoid biting a regularly rigged line.

Multibait – This is a simple technique. You just split your line with 3 or more baited hooks and let the fish find them wherever they are. This is a great way to catch lots of fish, and also to determine where the best spots are. In other words, you can use the multibait rigging technique to see where in the lake the fish are really biting. If you keep getting bites on one line, you know that’s the spot. For the multibait technique, you don’t need any weights on the line. Some anglers put small weights on there anyway, but to begin with you might want to just drop the line without a weight.

Catfish Getters New Place 5 Catfish In A Row

Catfish Getters® are lightweight fiberglass bankline fishing poles complete with hook, line, swivel and sinker to make bankline fishing a snap. Just insert fiberglass fishing pole into bank of creek, river, pond or lake. You can also fasten the catfish rigs to trees or logs or banks with our new bracket. Drop line into water deep enough to cover sinker. Use live bait such as bluegill, gold fish, small bullheads or large minnows for best results. Catfish Getter® fiberglass fishing poles are lightweight to carry and are easy to see at night. Check state laws for setting lines and bait.
Video Rating: 0 / 5

Catfish Fishing Pole – Types and Reviews

Does it matter what type of catfish fishing pole you are using? Some may tell you no, but that depends on your skill, your location and the fish you are after. The fact is, there are benefits of several types available to you when you take advantage of the right fishing pole. A pole designed for catfish is designed to give you the best results possible. Here’s what you need to know.

There are a wide variety of rods with which you may catch catfish very effectively. The choices should be based on factors such as cost, where you will be fishing, your size and capabilities, personal preference, and how much you will be using your pole. Anything from your classic cane pole to sophisticated and expensive rod and reel outfits may be used to fish for catfish.

Fishing poles are classically made of fiberglass or bamboo, but some really great poles have recently been made of graphite. Bamboo rods may be superb hand made fly fishing rods, simple cane poles without reels, or anything in between. Fiberglass poles are very popular with most novice fishermen. They are comparatively low cost, they require very little upkeep, and they are not easily broken.

They are probably the most popular type of fishing pole available, especially for the novice. Graphite has become an exceptionally popular pole. The biggest selling point for graphite is that it is so strong that it rarely breaks. It requires next to no maintenance, and it is very light.

It is largely a matter of personal preference, but if you are armed with a few suggestions and a little bit of information, you will be one very big step closer to choosing the pole that is right for you, and will provide a quality catfishing experience for you.

Sturdy rods that are shorter in length are usually used for trolling and bigger fish. Longer poles are helpful if you need to cast your line longer distances. Be sure you can handle the size of rod you choose, because if your rod is too long for you to be comfortable when you handle it, you will tire, and your fishing experience will not be satisfying. Since catfish tend to be large, if you only intend to have one pole, opt for a shorter, sturdier rod.

Some really popular poles with which to catch catfish are Shakespeare Ugly sticks, which are extremely popular and come in a variety of styles and sizes. For fishing the bank, Catfish getters are state of the art. Made of fiberglass, this new lightweight pole comes with line, sinker, swivel, and hook. They are specially designed to stick the end of the pole into the ground or affix to trees or logs, and fishing is a snap! These poles are not only light weight, they are quite visible even at night!

Another quality pole that deserves to be mentioned by name is the Quantum Big Cat. Anytime you are out to catch large fish, be it cat or any other type, or if you are fishing in rivers with strong currents, these big cat rods really do a great job. Big Cats are available in three different types. There is a heavy, a medium heavy, and a medium strength.

Each one of these is seven and a half feet long. They all have cork handles and many other amenities including the fact that they are sturdy enough to handle really big fish and saltwater. These catfish worthy rods are surely among the most well respected rods on the market, and they are priced quite nicely at about each. For spin anglers, there is even a spinning type of Big Cat available!

Catfish Rods – Recommended Rods

When choosing catfish rods, you need to be quite careful in making your choice. Depending upon the type and size of catfish you plan to fish for, you may need to be especially concerned with the strength of your rod and its ability to hold strong as you reel in your catch.

As with most fishing gear, catfish rods come in all strengths and price ranges.

For example, the Berkley Reflex 2nd Generation ranges between -23 and is offered with three casting and three spinning options. It can handle up to 40 pound test and 8 ounces of bait. In comparison to the original model, it’s obvious why this one is so inexpensive; the design was changed drastically, leaving the rod itself much stiffer with fewer rod size options and a lack of scotchlite on the guide wraps.

However, one improvement is the cork handle. While it is affordable, the rod is limited to almost exclusively fishing for large Blue catfish and Flatheads.

If you are looking for catfish rods that are affordable and give you excellent visibility into the wee hours for nighttime angling, you may want to check out the Berkley Glowstick. It is distributed in four spinning and four casting options, made of E-Glass, and uses 3 AAA batteries to provide 40 hours of glow for use in the dark.

It has a cork handle and can use up to 30 pound test. The rod itself provides great action, and with its long-term glow ability and several sizes available, this rod, costing around , is a quality option for almost any angler.

Jim Moyer’s “The Boss” comes in four different casting options. Jim Moyer was the designer of the Berkley E-Cat, and this is a continuation of his specialty series of catfish rods.

It is made of high grade E-Glass with a cork handle with trigger and a heavy duty reel seat. The two smaller rods have titanium glides, while the two larger are constructed with stainless steel glides.

While the actual rating varies depending upon the exact model, this rod can potentially handle up to 40 pound test. The two larger rods are great for medium and large rivers and can pull even the largest Flatheads out of the timbers, while the two smaller are viable for channel cats and small Blues.

This particular “specialty” rod will cost you around , which is more than most rods on the market, but the extremely high quality makes it worth every penny.

Josh’s Catfish on the Snake River

Josh caught a nice catfish on the Snake River south of Farewell Bend, OR on Memorial Day 2007