07/9 Shore Catfishing

[zzzfish]

This forum is almost dead. I'm here to help revive it...

Went out yesterday night for some catfishing. Didn't get out of work till late so I arrived at the lake at 7PM. Said "Hi" to Jimmy at the shop (one of the hardest working men out there, the guy has three jobs!) and then head down the dirt road for what I thought was a 51% chance of catching today considering that they just stocked...the day before. I wasn't aiming for the stockers though...I wanted the holdovers.

The water was surprisingly very clean. Weeds didn't look too bad on top but I know they're deep down there. Boat crowd was minimal and okay shore crowd for a Thursday. Met some nice fishermen that said they've been getting bites all day. Most were using mackerel. I had both shrimp and mackerel so I felt pretty good. The shrimp didn't really get touch this time but the cats were all over the mackerels. Lots of jumping fish. I ended up keeping three fish for dinner. Lots of missed bites and hook sets for good and bad reasons - good because I only wanted no more than three fish to keep and eat; bad because I didn't get to reel it in and call it a catch! Biggest fish was about four pounds which I am completely happy with. I like eating smaller size cat anyway.

Good luck out there guys!

Jake

[JHDucky]

Hello Jake, My family and I were also there last night shore fishing. We set up just past the boat dock. We got one catfish to bite for us, he came along at 9:15, he was about 2 pounds. I saw a lot of bait fish jumping right at the shore line and a few cats jumping farther out. We used mackerel with Bite On Cajun applied. This was our first time targeting catfish, maybe I had chunks of bait cut too big or not big enough. Seeing the poles and the line was tough for us when it got dark, guess I need more lanterns for our next trip.

[dpaulus9]

jhducky...attatch a hook onto a bobber and let it hang between eyeles of pole. this will create a loop when it hangs down. you canwind it up till you have it at rite height. let bait hit bottom first. you'll know when you get bit when bobber goes up,down, or flies off lol

[zzzfish]

Hi JHDucky,

If you want catch catfish in volume then I would have mackerel bait around one inch by two inch cube or slab. This will allow all catfish sizes to grab on to the bait. You can also bring some bells and attach it to your fishing poles. I love taking a nap on the shore and be awoken by the sound of a catfish pulling on my fishing line and rod. I should also mention that you should give some slack in your line and allow the catfish to bite and swallow your bait. They're finicky and often spit out the bait at signs that the bait is attached on something moving. I would usually hang on to the rod when the catfish is biting and wait 5-10 seconds for a strong run before setting the hook.

Good luck and ask if you need more help.

Hello Jake, My family and I were also there last night shore fishing. We set up just past the boat dock. We got one catfish to bite for us, he came along at 9:15, he was about 2 pounds. I saw a lot of bait fish jumping right at the shore line and a few cats jumping farther out. We used mackerel with Bite On Cajun applied. This was our first time targeting catfish, maybe I had chunks of bait cut too big or not big enough. Seeing the poles and the line was tough for us when it got dark, guess I need more lanterns for our next trip.