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How to Catch Catfsh

When is the last time you caught a catfsh? Not the ones we complain about all
the time. I am not talking about gray saltwater catfsh, or gaf topsail catfsh. I
am talking freshwater catfsh. elicious, fun to target, tough to catch, an! in
waters near where you are sitting right now. " how to catch catfsh article
surely isn#t something you often see in to!ay#s high$en!, glittering sailfsh
worl! of fshing publishing. %ut, we are going to talk about it, in this how to
catch catfsh article.
%efore you respon! like my frien! &ike %ryant !i!, an! say 'Catfsh?(?( )ou#re
writing an article about catching catfsh? I hate catching catfsh. I thought
e*erybo!y hates catching catfsh(' I can un!erstan! a typical *isitor $ steepe!
in fshing saltwater an! seeing catfsh only as trash fsh woul! think I was nuts
teaching people how to catch them, we are not talking about saltwater cats
here. We are talking freshwater cats. "n! though they can be a bit mu!!y$
tasting if you catch them in relati*ely stagnant pon!s, the best catfshing is
where water is mo*ing, so you will fn! them an e+cellent an! challenging
target, an! e,ually goo! on the !ining room table. I woul! also a!! that
saltwater -af .opsails taste ,uite well if cleane! an! cooke! well.
What the Hell? )eah, a freshwater catfsh is what you#re seeing here. Caught in
the &ekong elta, where our troops once fought the /ietnamese for control of
the rice patties an! i!eological !ominance, the incre!ibly beautiful nation is
now home to fshing trips instea! of forays. &ight -o! only grant the worl!
peace for a while, so we can get to what really matters. 0ike catching catfsh
you coul!n#t hol! onto by yourself. .hey !on#t get this big here, but they are a
challenge to anybo!y who wants to e+pan! their fshy hori1ons.
Catfsh the fsh...
2ishing is about a lot of things. .o us, learning about the species is itself *ery
rewar!ing. We know, for e+ample, that there are 3,444 known species of
catfsh in the worl!, ranging from about a centimeter long to the nine$foot
beasts that li*e in the &ekong elta, an! ob*iously were able to sur*i*e
!eca!es of e+plosi*es an! chemicals being !umpe! into the ri*er, which 5ows
through f*e nations. .hey li*e in ca*es, they li*e in ri*ers, an! as we all know
there are a few species in shallow saltwater. In case you are intereste! in stuf
like this, they e*ol*e! from ri*er catfsh that e*ol*e! where fresh water
entere! into brackish an! then salt. .he a*erage si1e of known catfsh is o*er
67'.
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 !iference
between a worm an! a cricket. .hey were both baits. :ne was way ickier than
the other one if they escape! into the back of the station wagon. :ne simply
en!e! up worming aroun! on the mu! pile you spille! on the 5oor while the
other one coul! actually crawl !own the neck of your shirt an! scratch your
skin with those weir! little bug legs 8manly? &e? I coul! eat them if I ha! to,
an! ha*e in training. "m i still grosse! out when a roach crawls on me? o I
like bugs? Not one little bit.9 but bait was bait. "n! fsh fsh.
2ishing weights like these ha*e been foun! in our area an! are still to be
foun! in mangro*e islan!s, aroun! oyster bars, an! anywhere you fn! holes
being !ug near the coastline there is a chance of fn!ing these kin!s of
incre!ible artifacts. We#*e change! how they get built but the concept is the
same an! *ery important if it#s catfsh you want to catch. .hat#s that if there
are fsh that li*e on the bottom of the water, you want some kin! of weight to
get your baits !own to where the fsh li*e an! actually eat. 2ish where the fsh
are an! you#ll impro*e your chances of catching them an! putting them on
your table. :r your rock.
I got ol!er, an! fshing got !iferent. &uch more complicate! in many ways. I
chase! fsh in &e+ico, with my wife only strong enough to fght the ;4lb
blackfn tuna we foun! all !ay. I ha*e caught blue marlin fshing with a frien!
in his <=# aluminum boat. 2our$hun!re! poun!s of fa!ing blue strappe! to the
port si!e as we brought him to market. I chase! bonefsh on the coasts where
&ayans once cut the hearts out of fellow warriors instea! of using fertili1er
from home !epot to get the most out of those corn crops. When young an!
stupi!, I felt 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! me
of the simple things in life. .he something I ha! for lunch was frie! catfsh.
.hat frie! catfsh, the memories the 5a*or ha! cause! to roar back, is what is
important about fshing.
How to catch catfsh> where to fn! Catfsh
In the most ancient of times, it is likely that catfsh $ *ery big ones $ e*ol*e! in
primal ri*er systems. "ble to fee! on a wi!e *ariety of materials, !ea! an!
ali*e, they are one of the worl!#s most a!apti*e fresh water species, an!
,uickly e*ol*e! into ?ust about e*ery bo!y of fresh water, from the tiniest
pon!s to ri*ers like the &ississippi. Here where we fsh on the west coast, the
Hillsborough an! @eace ri*ers come to min!, but there are hun!re!s of ri*ers
you can fn! in 2lori!a, an! ri*er fshing is one of the frst places we woul!
suggest you fn! them. .he reason is simple, an! that is the same reason you
fn! 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$fshing metho!s we will talk
about later won#t pro!uce si1able an! e,ually$tasty fsh from pon!s, but if you
are new to cat fshing, start in a ri*er or goo!$si1e! freshwater estuary near
you. :nce the water salts a tiny bit, they stay away, so make sure you in the
freshest of the fresh water in that fee!.
Holes. Where*er a ri*er turns against a shoreline, the si!e the water
strikes with the mo*e mo*ement forms a !eep hole. .hose holes hol!
catfsh. 2ish the outsi!e en! of the ri*er.
.his is where the &anatee ri*er piles up against a !am before it is let to spill
into .ampa %ay. It#s !eep, it has mo*ement, an! it#s rocky an! structure! on
the bottom. It#s a prime catfsh hole. )ou !o not ha*e to fn! !ams to fn!
catfsh though. Where ri*ers make turns is a perfect place. .he ri*er#s e!ge
where the water hits it often hol!s the tasty bottom fee!ers.
Current streams. Current streams are anywhere on the water where you
can see slow water hitting faster water. It causes what are calle! 'seams'
an! those seams are catfsh hea*en. .hey sit in the slow water waiting
for bait to mo*e by in the faster water, when they see it, they !art out,
grab it, an! back$up into the slower water. Aink baits into that water
column, or bounce it of the bottom at that seam, an! you will catch
catfsh.
.ackle for Catfsh 2ishing...
Whether you are using a spinning ro! or a le*el$win! baitcaster you usually
use for largemouth snaps fshing, the tackle you use is not nearly as important
as the baits you use. %ut for sake of this article, we woul! suggest a light
spinning ro!, capable of han!ling 64lb brai! with a 64lb 5uorocarbon lea!er.
Catfsh li*e an! fee! on the bottom, so we can start our con*ersation by saying
that if you ha*e one fa*orite bottom rig that you swear by, use it. It will work.
%ut since catfsh fshing is a speciality in an! of itself, looking aroun! the
country an! talking to more an! more catfsh e+perts e+pose! us to a *ariety
of bottom rigs, many of which woul! surely work for saltwater an! ofshore
bottom fshing.
.he basic components of any bottom fshing rig inclu!es clips, swi*els, weight
suBcient of keeping the bait on the bottom, lea!er material an! the hook
you#re gonna use.
.here are many popular ways to fsh for catfsh> bottom fshing, which is the
most popular, 5oat fshing 8bobbers, not 5oat$boats9, an! one increasingly
coming un!er fre from the en*ironmental left, an! one we are not e+actly
!ying to try, noo!ling. .hat is the sport of sticking your han!s in holes where
you are likely to fn! a catfsh, sticking your bare han!s into their open
mouths, an! pulling them lip$frst from their !ark homes. @ersonally? Nah. %ut
hey, who are we to ?u!ge weir! ways to hunt an! catch fsh?
%ottom rigs...
%ottom fshing is arguably the frst kin! of fshing there was. 0arge gorge
hooks shape! from bone or e*en shell an! stone an! burie! in a chunk of meat
ha! enough weight to put the attracti*e foo! in front of fsh fee!ing on the
bottom. .o!ay the simplest kin! of bottom rig is a split shot or two somewhere
between the knot an! the hook itself as part of the popular an! common line$
to$lea!er rig we use.
We are not talking about the saltwater catfsh many of us consi!er a trash fsh.
What we are talking about here are the frying an! !elicious$eating *ariety.
In !eeper water, you ha*e to use enough weight to get the bait to the bottom
regar!less of the current. Cnter the egg sinker an! what we call a '2ish 2in!er'
rig. .he lea!er is tie! to the line, an! the line itself frst passes through the
hole insi!e the egg sinker. .o stop the large egg from knocking up against the
bait an! the hook, many anglers out a split shot, or e*en a barrel swi*el at the
connection$point where the lea!er meets the line. :fshore rigs ten! to rely on
swi*els in this manner, an! e*en 'knocker' rigs ha*e a place in !eeper water
angling. "n! in the sport of catching catfsh.
.here are three basic rigs for bottom fshing, whether it#s catfsh you#re
seeking or grouper in 644# of water of our beautiful coast lines. .he most
common one is a fsh fn!er, here calle! a Alip Ainker.
It can be mo!ife! with a 5oat, a re! bea!, or any number of other stuf that
5ashes, spins, or otherwise 8hopefully9 gets fsh to pay attention to the li*ing
or !ea! an! stinky bait you ha*e stuck on the business$en!. .he thir! rig $$ the
@atermaster $$ is *ery interesting in that it lets the hook an! bait sli!e like an
egg$sinker !oes, but positions that sli!ing action a pre$!efne! !istance of the
bottom. I ha*e to think it woul! be particularly well$suite! for fshing re!
snapper ofshore $$since they ten! to lurk <4$34# of the bottom. )ou coul! rig
this to sli!e any !istance of the bottom you wante! it to. "nother
consi!eration for alternati*e rigs is the secon! one $$ the one with the triple$
ring swi*el in the mi!!le. @ut a pyrami! sinker on that rig an! it will let you
stick a blue crab onto the bottom. o it on the surf an! you coul! ?ust fn! a
cobia looking for the blue$crab piece you ha*e out there. @yrami! sinkers are
less popular then they shoul! be. .hey are *ery pro!ucti*e in surf fshing,
where you want the bait to lock !own where you put it, an! not be rolling
alongsi!e an! e*entually of the trough an! onto the beach.
ropper rigs> .his category or rigs seems more popular with the catfsh crow!
then with the typical ofshore angler, an! the a!*antages some of them ofer
makes them worth a try for grouper, amber?ack, an! other !eeper water fsh
where keeping a bait three, four, or si+ feet e+actly of the bottom coul! make
the !iference 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! !istance
abo*e the bottom. .his is important because of thermoclines. .hermoclines
are layers of cooler an! warmer water. .hose layers ha*e a lot of impact on
e+actly where fsh are to be foun!. We are going to try this rig for snapper an!
grouper fshing as well as in our catfsh eforts.
.hree way rig> .his rig makes use of a three$way swi*el. &ost of us shake our
hea!s when we see too much terminal tackle where it is not nee!e!. %ut
catfshing an! any bottom fshing for that matter can really benefts from rigs
like this, it works with an o*al sinker if you want bait mo*ing with the ti!e, an!
it can be use! with a stable pyrami! sinker, when you want to keep a bait from
mo*ing. 2ishing for catfsh is a perfect e+ample of where keeping the bait
'locke! !own' with a pyrami! sinker. o you want a few more that you might
be surprise! about? Cobia fshing on the beach with blue crabs. :r chunks of
!ea! bait in ti!al water '!ea! sticking' for re!fsh an! e*en snook. %ig chunks
of !ea! bait !o not nee! natural mo*ement. .hey are !ea!, for hea*en#s sake.
.ry it for catfsh an! try it when you are surf fshing.
" !ropper loop rig is similar to the three$way swi*el rig, but !one without the
har!ware. .he more elite among us might argue that no real man nee!s three$
way swi*els, but I personally like them for a *ariety of surf$ an! other bottom$
fshing situations.

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