Catfishing!

[MSUFisherBear]

Alright, I know that Springfield and Fellows both have good populations of cats in them. I have seen them before on both lakes cruising the shallows during the early morning and late evening hours. My question for the board is, what is your favorite bait to use on these two lakes?

I have a lot of success with livers and/or worms. It seems to be one day one, and another the other. Sadly, I can't say that I have had that much. I did fairly well when they ran the water inlet from Stockton in to Fellows fishing around that point and on the bluff along that wall. I have tried the upper end in the evenings with absolutely no success whatsoever. I have caught a grand total of two on Springfield, and both where by accident (I was fishing worms looking for goggle-eye and snagged a couple of babies). Am I missing something on those lakes, or are the cats just that persnickity?

On a completely unrelated note, has anyone heard if the county has made a decision on the bridge at McDaniel yet?

[junkman]

I find that right before a front comes through or the barometric pressure is dropping is the best time to fish for cats unless the water is rising fast like on a river. Seem to me they sometimes stop eating once high pressure first sets in. Try live bait with a live bait rig. It is another option for those big cats. It is what I mainly fish with now.

[OzarkFishman]

I agree on the live bait.

My preference is bluegill and sunfish, but I will admit that I still enjoy catching bluegill on worm and bobber.

Shad work as well (better is some places, worse in others).

Use a big circle hook (buy nice ones, who wants to loose a big cat because of a little $$).

Good luck!!

[fishbait3]

at springfield lake you can use an abundance of bait i prefer shrimp or worms but i c people with liver and and stinkbait

[jaskea8]

I prefer shrimp as well because it tends to stay on the hook a ton easier than liver .

[Daryk Campbell Sr]

An old liver trick is to use some kind of cloth to hold the liver together. Some people use old panty hose, some use old t-shirts cut into squares, some use netting, ect... Take a 3inch by 3 inch square of 'material', and wrap the liver in the square. Now put that on your hook and you should not have a problem.

Another tip is to wrap the liver in a piece of cloth, and wrap it with string, yarn, thread ect. (it will look like a small version of an old 'Money Bag'). Put that on your hook.

If you get out to the lake/river and realize you don't have any material to use, you can take a treble hook (not tied onto your line yet), spread open the liver, push the 'eye' of the treble hook into the center of your liver, then tie the hook or clip on to a swivel. It holds pretty well. ( warning treble hooks are not fun to remove from a catfish. )

All of this being said, I have never done "Great" with liver. Shrimp can get more expensive than buying catfish at the store. Cut bait and minnow traps seem to be the ticket.

DC

[mic]

Old grandpa trick still works great. Get some cheap sewing thread, but off about a 10 12 inces. Put the liver on the hook and simply wrap the thread around the liver.

[MSUFisherBear]

Hey guys, thanks for all of the tips on this. What do you use for minnow bait Daryk?

[Daryk Campbell Sr]

Saltine crackers (any brand). Just leave them whole, place them into your trap. Within a couple hours you will have a good start.

Raw bacon put into an old empty 35mm film canister or medicine jar will catch the crawdads. Put holes in the container you use for raw bacon and the crawdads can not eat your bait and it will continue to bring them in.