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[pga7602]

Hey all, I am new to the forums and wanted to say hello. I am an avid fly fisherman, mainly fishing Kern county and Azusa canyons for the past 10 + years. I finally decided to give bait fishing a try and what better than to start with local parks. I have fished Legg lake and Lincoln park which is close to my home.

I have been lurking for the past month and have gotten tips here an there. I have a few questions, and if it's not too much a secret please post a reply.


I've been trying to catch catfish at Lincoln. I currently use a carolina rig with a 1/2 oz bullet and a 4/0 octopus hook. Leader to hook is 14 inches. Although this is the most common rig I've seen people use at this park, I'm starting to think it's not the best.. simply because everyone including me are loosing our terminal tackle left and right to the weeds. Any tips to make this rig better? Or better yet, what do you use to counter the weeds?
Please also comment on my bait choices for catfish. Right now, it's worms and shrimp. Was going to head to big-5 and get me a can of that catfish dough bait (Charlie Type A). Has anyone had any luck with that stuff? I'm also going to get some Powerbait Catfish Pellets.
My second question has to do with the large carps that are easily seen at Lincoln. I've tried corn kernals on the same rig as above and have not gotten anything. I'm thinking about going back today and trying a weighted bobber going to a 18 inch leader to a 4.0 hook with corn kernals. Sorta like fly fishing without the fly line.. (habits die hard).


Really appreciate the help in advance guys. Feel free to PM me, if you feel your comments should not be publicized.

[vortec_cruiser]

Smaller hook, especially for the carp.

[pga7602]

Smaller hook, especially for the carp.

Thanks Vortec. Can you be a little more specific. I do have some 1/o, would that work for both? Is the Carolina rig a good option?

Thanks.

[gokuguy]

Although Carolina rig is fine for catfish, if theres a ton of weeds I've been flylining it with no weight at all. Either that or a rig with the sinker on the bottom and a hook tied on with a dropper loop between 1-5 feet above the sinker to keep the bait above the weeds. As for hooks I've always used between 2/0 and 6/0 hooks for catfish. I've caught a decent size cat on a size 10 mosquito hook while fishing for trout so any size hook should be fine as long as you can fit the bait on.

[pga7602]

Although Carolina rig is fine for catfish, if theres a ton of weeds I've been flylining it with no weight at all. Either that or a rig with the sinker on the bottom and a hook tied on with a dropper loop between 1-5 feet above the sinker to keep the bait above the weeds. As for hooks I've always used between 2/0 and 6/0 hooks for catfish. I've caught a decent size cat on a size 10 mosquito hook while fishing for trout so any size hook should be fine as long as you can fit the bait on.
Do you flyline with a weighted bobber to get it out? I'm confuse how you are able to cast it out with just a hook and bait. Thanks again.

[gokuguy]

When I flyline I use nothing but just a hook and bait. Most catfish bait weighs enough to cast out alone. Mackerel chunks and shrimp are a little easier to cast out than chicken liver, just try lobbing it instead of whipping it when you cast.

[DockRat]

I've always used between 2/0 and 6/0 hooks for catfish. I've caught a decent size cat on a size 10 mosquito hook while fishing for trout so any size hook should be fine as long as you can fit the bait on.

6/0 ? Seems huge unless your at the Alamo river or Irvine.

For a city park lake stockers from what I've seen are 1 - 2 lb fish.
#2 or 4 hook ? Where is Etucker when you need him ?
DR

[bman90278]

6/0 ? Seems huge unless your at the Alamo river or Irvine.

For a city park lake stockers from what I've seen are 1 - 2 lb fish.
#2 or 4 hook ? Where is Etucker when you need him ?
DR


Well I'm not a cat fisherman, but I caught a 12 1/2 lb cat recently using a #2 & 6lb line dropshot set up for bass and the hook was still hard to get out for the release. Also caught a 6+ lb cat on 4 lb with #4 hook and the hook was still in it good.

Having the proper rod and drag set on the reel is key. Too many catfisherman with shark and tuna rods fishing the city lakes.

-brian

[etucker1959]

6/0 ? Seems huge unless your at the Alamo river or Irvine.

For a city park lake stockers from what I've seen are 1 - 2 lb fish.
#2 or 4 hook ? Where is Etucker when you need him ?
DR
I wrote a whole dissertation about this and my computer puked it all back at me. If I have the desire i'll rewrite the whole thing. lol

[pga7602]

I wrote a whole dissertation about this and my computer puked it all back at me. If I have the desire i'll rewrite the whole thing. lol

How about now? :LOL:

[CrouchingNinjaHiddenFish]

put some hot dog on your hook they love that

[gokuguy]

6/0 ? Seems huge unless your at the Alamo river or Irvine.

For a city park lake stockers from what I've seen are 1 - 2 lb fish.
#2 or 4 hook ? Where is Etucker when you need him ?
DR

For city park lakes I usually use 2/0, and go up to 6/0 if I'm fishing the colorado river or the backwaters. One time I had nothing but #6 baitholders and they did the job just fine for catfish up to 8 pounds.

You'd be surprised at how small of a catfish you can catch on a huge hook though.

[etucker1959]

How about now? :LOL:

I'll give you the short short version. First of all the DFG catfish are all suppose to be 1 lbs exactly.Their not even close, a lot of them are much larger so they can eat a pretty good size bait. In fishing with Mackerel, I've seen people use tiny pieces of bait, medium size pieces of bait and big pieces of bait that do require a hook size as big as a 6/0. The beauty of using a big hook for mackerel is you can fold over the bait a couple of times. Now you've got a bait that is not so easily cast off your hook. Along with that, now you got a piece of bait big enough to attract the monsters of the lake. True story that happened to me a couple of years ago. I was fishing at night in one of my local ponds with a big piece of Mackerel on a 6/0 hook. I had my pole resting behind my bucket with a lantern in front of the bucket. Without any warning at all I got a bit on my pole, before I could even move an inch the pole goes flying over the bucket knocks the lantern in the water and the pole goes down to Davey's Jones locker. I can only imagine what kind of monster was capable of doing that. Well that's my short story about using big hooks to catch DFG catfish in a small Regional Park.

[pga7602]

I'll give you the short short version. First of all the DFG catfish are all suppose to be 1 lbs exactly.Their not even close, a lot of them are much larger so they can eat a pretty good size bait. In fishing with Mackerel, I've seen people use tiny pieces of bait, medium size pieces of bait and big pieces of bait that do require a hook size as big as a 6/0. The beauty of using a big hook for mackerel is you can fold over the bait a couple of times. Now you've got a bait that is not so easily cast off your hook. Along with that, now you got a piece of bait big enough to attract the monsters of the lake. True story that happened to me a couple of years ago. I was fishing at night in one of my local ponds with a big piece of Mackerel on a 6/0 hook. I had my pole resting behind my bucket with a lantern in front of the bucket. Without any warning at all I got a bit on my pole, before I could even move an inch the pole goes flying over the bucket knocks the lantern in the water and the pole goes down to Davey's Jones locker. I can only imagine what kind of monster was capable of doing that. Well that's my short story about using big hooks to catch DFG catfish in a small Regional Park.

Well worth the wait, thank you! Will stick with 1/o hook for catfish, and downsize carp hook to size 10.

Any comments on rig and not getting caught up? All comments were to just fly line it.

[etucker1959]

Hey all, I am new to the forums and wanted to say hello. I am an avid fly fisherman, mainly fishing Kern county and Azusa canyons for the past 10 + years. I finally decided to give bait fishing a try and what better than to start with local parks. I have fished Legg lake and Lincoln park which is close to my home.

I have been lurking for the past month and have gotten tips here an there. I have a few questions, and if it's not too much a secret please post a reply.


I've been trying to catch catfish at Lincoln. I currently use a carolina rig with a 1/2 oz bullet and a 4/0 octopus hook. Leader to hook is 14 inches. Although this is the most common rig I've seen people use at this park, I'm starting to think it's not the best.. simply because everyone including me are loosing our terminal tackle left and right to the weeds. Any tips to make this rig better? Or better yet, what do you use to counter the weeds?
Please also comment on my bait choices for catfish. Right now, it's worms and shrimp. Was going to head to big-5 and get me a can of that catfish dough bait (Charlie Type A). Has anyone had any luck with that stuff? I'm also going to get some Powerbait Catfish Pellets.
My second question has to do with the large carps that are easily seen at Lincoln. I've tried corn kernals on the same rig as above and have not gotten anything. I'm thinking about going back today and trying a weighted bobber going to a 18 inch leader to a 4.0 hook with corn kernals. Sorta like fly fishing without the fly line.. (habits die hard).


Really appreciate the help in advance guys. Feel free to PM me, if you feel your comments should not be publicized.

Let me now tell you about one of the best rigs for freshly planted catfish. It will also solve getting your bait above the weeds problem. The nickname is M&M which stands for mealworm and marshmellow combo. It's a simple carolina rig with a number 6 bait holder hook. The leader lenth is dependent on how high up your weeds are growing. To rig the bait start with 1 mealworm hooked in the middle, then followed with one small white marshmellow, capped off with another mealworm wacky riged. That is one of the best rigs you can use for DFG catfish. PS don't use the small mealworms.

[pga7602]

Let me know tell you about the best rig for freshly planted catfish. It will also solve getting your bait above the weeds problem. The nickname is M&M which stands for mealworm and marshmellow combo. It's a simple carolina rig with a number 6 bait holder hook. The leader lenth is dependent on how high up your weeds are growing. To rig the bait start with 1 mealworm hooked in the middle, then followed with one small white marshmellow, capped off with another mealworm wacky riged. That is one of the best rigs you can use for DFG catfish. PS don't use the small mealworms.

Thanks for the great tips Etucker. I'll give you rig a shot this afternoon.

[etucker1959]

Thanks for the great tips Etucker. I'll give you rig a shot this afternoon.

Another thing to keep in mind, none of the lakes have been stocked in over a month. Fishing for holdover fish is a whole lot different then fishing for freshly planted catfish. The baits and the rigs are the same but the time of day is totally different. Freshly planted catfish love to bite in the mornings and evenings. Holdover catfishing is usually a night time thing only. Look for the lakes that allow some kind of night fishing. It doesn't have to be an all night thing, but look for a lake that allows you to fish till at least 9 pm. Every year I find a lake or two that the night time bite is off the hook. Last year in Aug in one of my local ponds it had a night bite that just wouldn't quit. They wouldn't start biting till around 7:30 pm by 8:15 it was WFO. The lake would close at 9:00 pm by then I would catch between 10-25 catfish every night for a month straight. All catfish I catch are always C&R, otherwise I would be the Barry Bonds of catfish Poaching. lol When the DFG starts planting the lakes again, I'll tell you about my super secret catfish rig. For Real!!!!!!!!!

[gokuguy]

. lol When the DFG starts planting the lakes again, I'll tell you about my super secret catfish rig. For Real!!!!!!!!!

Wouldn't be https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FlkFCWvAHOU would it? hahaha...jp. :D

Not sure if i'm talking out of my *** but I've noticed that at some lakes the channels will mouth the bait and spit it right out if there's any resistance like a 1 oz sinker (That's what I figure anyways since I put bells on my rods when catfishing....I've had countless times where my rod would get hit once or twice, and nothing.) Seems like the blue's will aggressively take the bait and take off with it.


Like I said, I'm no catfish expert like Etucker but that's just what I've noticed when I've been out catfishing. I got some advice on this forum a few months back to flyline and I've had far fewer missed bites since.

Good luck!!

P.S. Don't be too nervous if you can't cast as far as you want or are used to with the big sinkers. Just a week or two ago I was fishing at Irvine Lake with my pops and it was pretty slow going. We were casting way far, got maybe 2 fish in about 3 hours. About 9:45 pm, after about an hour of no activity, I switched over to a lighter set up and tossed out a flylined chunk of mackerel pike. Long story short....had both our limits in the next hour. I was casting only about 30 feet out. I suspect that the catfish come up shallow to feed during the evening hours.

Again, I'm no expert....but hopefully someone is able to take something away from my post. :D

[pga7602]

Gokuguy/etucker, thanks again for letting me on your "secrets" It's always nice to see someone share their knowledge in fishing.

Etucker,
Can you confirm on the above thread where you are describing the M/M bait, that you mean a Size 6 hook, rather than a 6/0 hook? I went out to get some size 6 hooks, not 6/0. Hope I got that right.

I did end up at Legg lake for the better part of the afternoon. Ended up catching some small crappies/blue gills. No catfish.

Another thing to keep in mind, none of the lakes have been stocked in over a month. Fishing for holdover fish is a whole lot different then fishing for freshly planted catfish. The baits and the rigs are the same but the time of day is totally different. Freshly planted catfish love to bite in the mornings and evenings. Holdover catfishing is usually a night time thing only. Look for the lakes that allow some kind of night fishing. It doesn't have to be an all night thing, but look for a lake that allows you to fish till at least 9 pm. Every year I find a lake or two that the night time bite is off the hook. Last year in Aug in one of my local ponds it had a night bite that just wouldn't quit. They wouldn't start biting till around 7:30 pm by 8:15 it was WFO. The lake would close at 9:00 pm by then I would catch between 10-25 catfish every night for a month straight. All catfish I catch are always C&R, otherwise I would be the Barry Bonds of catfish Poaching. lol When the DFG starts planting the lakes again, I'll tell you about my super secret catfish rig. For Real!!!!!!!!!

[I*B*CATCHIN]

Smaller hooks tend to work better ....I never go bigger than #2 .....please if you target carp (cpr ) them way to beautiful a fish to eat or place in the trash or use as fertilizer .....that being said .....I use bread & corn for catching & releasing carp .....as for cat the same bait will catch them or use a nightcrawler , mealworms & marshmallows.....smaller hooks #2-#6 ...cpr all fish to catch another day .....

[pga7602]

Smaller hooks tend to work better ....I never go bigger than #2 .....please if you target carp (cpr ) them way to beautiful a fish to eat or place in the trash or use as fertilizer .....that being said .....I use bread & corn for catching & releasing carp .....as for cat the same bait will catch them or use a nightcrawler , mealworms & marshmallows.....smaller hooks #2-#6 ...cpr all fish to catch another day .....

Hi IBCatchin.. I've been following your threads. Nice fish! Did I mention I am an avid fly fisherman? All of my fly hooks are hand-tied, and are barbless. I have never kept a fish unless you count mackerels at the pier where I use to make more bait. Thanks for the great tips man. Can you pm me on how to mix the corn/bread into what people call a bollie :Big Grin:

[I*B*CATCHIN]

I don't use boilies due to the fact can't figure out the right configuration. ....I keep it ghetto being from California Ghetto Carp'n [ bread & corn ].....just pin the corn on the hook fill it up and wrap the around the hook & corn ...squeeze the bread tight towards to top with the bottom kinda balloned ......good luck

[pga7602]

I don't use boilies due to the fact can't figure out the right configuration. ....I keep it ghetto being from California Ghetto Carp'n [ bread & corn ].....just pin the corn on the hook fill it up and wrap the around the hook & corn ...squeeze the bread tight towards to top with the bottom kinda balloned ......good luck

Nice! keepin it ghetto is good. You sure have a lot of fish to show for it.

[I*B*CATCHIN]

Nice! keepin it ghetto is good. You sure have a lot of fish to show for it.

Its like the wheel , if its still rolls why mess with it