Catfish

[Mike N]

Sure, I like to fly fish for trout in a mountain stream. But there’s something about waiting for a farm pond channel cat to latch on to a slice of chicken liver and watch that signal bobber go up that still brings out the kid in me. Here are a couple that may have found themselves in a pot of boiling peanut oil if it had been a Saturday morning. They were caught on two separate weekday evenings about a week apart. The big one (on the bank), took off under the bridge in the opposite direction and the drag was whizzing.

[john elder]

+1! They are a ball to catch and deep-fried catfish is one of my favorites. Used to be a place on the river near Lafayette..think it was Stimeys...where the braver of us Purdue students used to go for catfish. Not the place for a college student on Saturday night, but boy, they made great fish dinners!

[Robin Sayler]

Just watch out for the spines on the fins. I have a thumb that is really angry with me from a catfish encounter Tuesday night!

[jhuskey]

Awesome catfish Mike N!

[Wayne B.]

Just watch out for the spines on the fins.

Robin I am always amazed at the TV shows where catch huge catfish and hold them right up to their bodies. I have always avoided contact with the spines. How are the fish different on TV?

[Paul Roberts]

Nice! Pretty ochre-yellow ones too.

Got cats here too in our small prairie reservoirs.

I usually lip them.

Or grasp behind the head.

They are pretty mellow critters once whipped, and I suppose that's bc they take some fighting to get them there! Esp on bass tackle and from a float tube. If the fish is particularly feisty, I'll just kick to shore and deal with them there. Not worth puncturing my boat.

[Midway Tommy D]

Nice kitty, Paul! Be careful of that dang dorsal barb, those suckers can really hurt, and swell the hand! Nice A/G Cardinal 4, too! You clearly know quality spinners, first the Zebco & now the A/G.

[Paul Roberts]

Hey, Tom. Yes, cats are stocked in all our waters here, and the ones I've run into while bass fishing are up to about 10lbs. Certainly there are larger ones here and there. Wish they were better tasting here, at least the big ones I tend to catch while lure fishing for bass. They have a strong muddy weedy flavor. Perhaps the young ones would be better.

And thanks for the warning on the spines. I've not been stuck by a spine yet! Although I had been once upon a time and that has left the appropriate memories. Again, they are pretty mellow critters by the time I can wrassle them down. The dorsal barb is pressed down on the one above (and below). If the cat is big enough, the spine is back far enough.

I definitely respect those spines as I decide how best to handle them, despite the big hole in my waders there. I'm most concerned about having one puncture my boat so I'm darn careful at boatside.

That's an A/G Cardinal 3 I bought new in the mid 80's, and a 1981 Skyline rod. I've probably got more miles on that rig than any other, sporting its second set of guides. It's still almost always in the boat with me. Kinda wish I'd bought the 4 too, but I had/have the Zebco.

[Midway Tommy D]

Wish they were better tasting here, at least the big ones I tend to catch while lure fishing for bass. They have a strong muddy weedy flavor. Perhaps the young ones would be better.

I don't keep any that come out of lake or pond water but I've found that those 5# or less, especially the 16"ers, coming out of sandy moving streams or rivers like the Platte, Loup, Elkhorn, Tri-County Canal, Nemaha, etc. taste pretty darn good!

[Paul Roberts]

Now you've got me thinking about river cat potentials near me. Yum.

[Ron Mc]

When the rivers are going up, you can catch them right at the bank waterline on flies.

[Midway Tommy D]

When the rivers are going up, you can catch them right at the bank waterline on flies.

Catfishing is always great, usually the best, when the river/stream is rising. Once the water is up & dirty things generally shut down and it takes a week or so for waters to recede and the fishing to get back to normal, at least in my sixty years of experience anyway.

[Mike N]

Speaking of catfish, here is a 31-pound flathead my son caught in the Ohio River just north of Wheeling a few years ago.

[Paul Roberts]

When the rivers are going up, you can catch them right at the bank waterline on flies.

Seems that's true of a lot of fish, trout included. Hydrofoils that they are. Cool catching them on flies. I've not done that.

When the rivers are going up, you can catch them right at the bank waterline on flies.

Catfishing is always great, usually the best, when the river/stream is rising. Once the water is up & dirty things generally shut down and it takes a week or so for waters to recede and the fishing to get back to normal, at least in my sixty years of experience anyway.

I wonder if they are laying low? I would expect this of visual feeders. Is this so with bait too? I've found, that with trout, I could still catch them, but they'd be in cover, esp drowned wood. I found I could catch them by "punching" like in bass fishing, with a heavy split shot and a short line. Not terribly poetic flyfishing, but interesting.

Speaking of catfish, here is a 31-pound flathead my son caught in the Ohio River just north of Wheeling a few years ago.

Oh, my! I've never seen a flathead. Would not want to try to tangle with one of those from my float tube! Now that's a good healthy smile on your son. Great to see.

[Midway Tommy D]

When lakes or rivers are rising most freshwater fish head shallower. In moving water the rise increases foods & nutrients into the system. The same happens to a lesser degree in lakes, but in the summer when oxygen gets low a good rain will reduce light and increase water oxygen levels. That will spur movement & feeding.

Oh, my! I've never seen a flathead. Would not want to try to tangle with one of those from my float tube!

If you want to have some fun try noodling.

[Ron Mc]

my dad grew up noodling (grappling) catfish on Muddy Canal that ran through the family farm, drained to the Hatchie R. and finally Mississippi.
We would trot line all night when I was a kid. Camp out, get up and run the lines every few hours.
When I was a teenager with a fly rod in there, caught some striking sunfish with refined scales and powder blue - looked like they should have been coral fish.

[john elder]

Growing up in Indiana, deep-fried, breaded catfish was fantastic! We used to have big fish fries at the volunteer fire department to raise money and catfish was a hit. I always liked it also because you get a lot of meat with few bones, a joy after chewing through other FW fish like bass, bluegill and crappy!

[Ron Mc]

John, on a boy scout camp out to the lake, we set out a trotline, ran it before breakfast, and had catfish deep fried in a dutch oven for breakfast.
When the oil temperature is right, it will light a floating match.

[Paul Roberts]

The spring bullhead run on NY's Finger Lakes was a big deal there. I wonder about it now? In the 70's, standing on a high hill overlooking Honeoye Lake, the lake was nearly ringed in lantern lights. Bullhead fries were going on all over town and surrounds.

[Retropeche]

I used to fish a large dam in Cyprus when we had a place out there. The takes from channel catfish were something to behold The rod could be left unattended for a minute.

When we first moved to France I had access to a stretch of river that held a lot of wels catfish. A Siberian guy who worked for my landlord used to go down to the river most evenings and spin for them. The fish were all around 20lb - 25lb, 120 - 125 cm, about four feet and would readily take any spinner put in front of them. In fact they usually took just as the lure hit the water. I even had them take in front of me after aborting a bad cast and bouncing the lure back to my feet.

The biggest from that period was just over 25lb caught on bait, but since then I've had them much bigger in other places. The
world record is around 280cm. That is over nine feet.

[Ron Mc]

just got here....
Great photos of great eats - thanks for posting.

[Paul Roberts]

Clive, those Wels’ sound like true river monsters!