Catfish Flies

[Greg_s]

Anyone have a few good recipes for catching catfish? I managed my first fly rod catfish yesterday on a woolly bugger by accident and now I want to catch more.

[fishinwrench]

Your best bet would likely be to stick with the Woollybugger since you've confirmed that they'll eat it, and experiment with the presentation.

Now that I've said that.....I'll tell you about the fly that always comes to my mind when someone mentions cats on the flyrod, Some company used to (and may still) make a thing called "nymphform", it was a spear shaped piece of plastic that carried just enough weight to sink itself slowly. It was lashed onto the hook and gave a flattened profile to whatever pattern you were tying.

quite a few years ago myself and a flyfishin'buddy discovered by accident that a nymph tied with one of those on a #8 9671 Mustad, with short stubby split-biot tails with a body and thorax of black rabbit dubbing, ribbed with clear mono...was a killer on the cats in every pond, lake, and strip pit we fished at the time.

We would cast parellel to the shore on the steeper banks and consistently catch little 1-2 lb. channel cats if they were cruisin' the banks during mid-late Spring. Nothing special or fancy about the tie, but the best retrieve was always a slow figure 8 hand-twist with frequent pauses. It caught quite a few bull bluegill also.

[Paola Cat]

I've caught them on large weighted ant patterns. #10 or #12 weighted black ants work real good in still waters. PC

[Greg_s]

Thanks guys, I planned on keeping the woolly bugger. It seems to be the best searching pattern I've fished in this area. That particular tie has proven successful on pretty much every spieces I can think of around here. I was planning on trying a few different variations on the Clouser Swimming Nymph and Skips Dad that have produced well on smallmouth in that stream.

I figure the swimming nymph and woolly will allow me to fish the upper and middle column with the baby crayfish imitation for the bottom. Maybe an unweighted woolly on a sink tip for the lower column too?

Me thinks this could lead to a slight obsession for a while...

Edit: How did you present the ants? Dead drift?

[ryan]

At my parents lake they feed the catfish floating fish pellets (the same stuff they use at the trout hatchery) I have caught them on hoppers when they are coming up to feed. Anglers and archers in branson sells some hatchery food patterns that I am sure would work well.

[Paola Cat]

I dead drift the ants and give them an occaisional twitch. There's nothing subtle about the catfish take. They hit them hard. In some of the clearer waters, you can sight fish with this pattern. I've done this at Flat Creek. This is also a good all around pattern for other species as well as catfish. PC