Today I am sharing useful information about trapping a channel catfish with the help of chicken livers based on my personal experience:

Necessary Fishing Equipment

• Fishing Bell
• Chicken Liver
• Fishing Gear
• Fishing Pliers
• Treble Hooks
• Egg Sinker
• Rod Holder or Stick
• Metal Fish Basket or Stringer (If You Wish to Bring Fish Home for Eating)

Arrange Fresh Chicken Livers

Before going to fishing, arrangement of fresh chicken livers is an important task and for this purpose go to grocery store to buy a container of fresh chicken livers to use as catfish bait. You can freeze any leftover chicken livers for future use. Avoid buying dried chicken livers for catfish because these are not as useful as fresh chicken livers. Fresh chicken livers are necessary because these can easily attract a catfish due to their strong stink. Fresh chicken livers are especially best option for channel catfish because these are more sensitive to odor and these all sort of catfish baits produce excellent results.

Fishing Line for channel catfish

Channel catfish is pretty big and dangerous because it can fight hard with fishing line therefore you should use stronger braided fishing line for catfishing. You must use catfish rigs with 20-30 LB test fishing line to trap and handle channel catfish successfully. Strong fishing line let you to reel channel catfish over logs and under brush without breaking it.

Egg Sinkers with Catfish Rigs

After preparing catfishing bait and line, it is time to setup catfish rigs. You can  use large size egg sinkers instead of stander size one because it will put extra weight to bait which helps it to settle down right on the bottom. Slide the fishing line through the sinkers and position the sinkers about 2-3 inches above the hook.

Treble hooks with catfish rigs

Use treble hooks for channel catfish because it is sharp and have ability to easily hook channel fish. You can tie a medium size treble hook onto the line but be careful about fishing knot because it should be strong enough to bear the battle of channel catfish. Treble hooks are ideal to use because they can strongly hook the channel catfish when you get a bite. You can also use a fishing bell for catfish rig to know about every catfish bite and always keep the fishing line tight. Promptly remove bell from pole when channel catfish triggers it. Carefully reels your fishing rod so that catfish doesn’t feel it to set the hook. Trap your channel catfish and enjoy a big treat at evening. Have a nice catfishing experience! If you are free from fishing then you must check some Free Games Online. Find them in spiele zone.

Selection of right fishing rod is necessary because success of your all catfishing techniques has direct dependence on selection of fishing rod. There are few things that should be carefully considered while selecting a fishing rod such as type and size of your target fish. Several fishermen have little information about fishing rods. Today I will discuss here some specific features of catfishing rods you should consider them while purchasing a catfishing rod.

Things to consider

Length of Catfishing Rod

Lengths of catfishing rods vary as per your place of fishing such as most anglers prefer rods are 7-9 feet in

length but in some situations rods can be up to 12-14 feet long if the fishing locations are extremely long and accurate casts are necessary. Longer rod provides you advantage of easy handling of catfish at the end of your line. The added length will more leverage to angler against the fish, which can be very beneficial when battling a fish and when landing it.  Shorter rods are best for boat fishing therefore 7-8 feet is optimal for most boat and bank fishing.

Rod Weight

Rod weight means rod stiffness to bear weight and it’s bending ability. Weight of your fishing rod depends on your target species, size and weight of catfish. For instance, if you have planned to fish monster blue cats, you should have medium weight rod or heavy rod for easy handling of catfish. On the other hand, if you are going to fish eater sized channels then heavy weight rod can be too much. A medium weight rod is much better for smaller fish.  There is a technical reason for avoiding heavy weight rod for small fishes because the heavier rods are less sensitive and make it difficult to detect light bites for smaller fish therefore reasonably sensitive, strong rod is great to catch small catfish.

Rod Action

Rod action acts like a sensor to describe where the majority of the bend will occur along the rod in relation to the tip. Faster rod action is guarantee for flexibility and strength of rod.  Rod action depends on its length and provides angler more control over catfish. Rod action also depends on size of fish such as for small and medium sized fish a med. action is a good choice, and for larger fish med/fast or fast action should be preferred.

There are several catfishing rods but you have to be careful while selecting one rod for you. Always remember that catfishing rod should be extremely strong and sensitive enough to detect slightest bite of catfish. Americans preferred rod built with the unique Howald Process™ to ensure successful and long lasting catfishing. Your selected catfishing rod should have following features:

• Solid glass clear tip
• EVA foam handles
• Blank-through handles construction
• Aluminum oxide guides
• Exclusive 70-day/7-year limited warranty

These are several kinds of rods available for nearly all catfishing, especially catching channels and mid-sized blues and flats. I am sure that if you buy your rod by considering above mentioned features you can easily handle even a monster catfish. Sensitive tip, extremely durable, and have plenty of power rods are better choices to chase monster catfish.

Robbing Technique

Robbing technique is one of the frequently used techniques. It depends upon the bait that is being used to trap catfish. In this technique you should use long loop to hold bait from the long distance. Bait movement is essential in order to grab the attention of catfish. Distance of bait should be 18” to 24”. You need to take care about stability and movement of bait because catfish can realize fakeness of bait if bait it has no proper weight. If you are an expert you can use multi-bait technique to get multiple chances to trap catfish.

Catfish Bait

Your selection for catfish bait should be best because you are going to catch one of the most demanding fish. Some people take medium sized shrimp and chicken livers, although these are good options to use as catfish bait but before using shrimp you should remove its skin and tail. You can also use crawdads because these are also useful for fishing but also remove its tail after skipping shell. Properly fix the white meat at the top nail of hook because sometimes it happens that bait don’t work properly because of its poor fixing. Except of shrimps and chicken there are other options that you can also use as catfish bait that are:

• Clams
• Worms
• Bologna
• Minnows (Dead or live)
• Hot
• Cheese (American or cheddar are best)
• Snails
• Small fish (Dead or live)

Use of Coffee and Grain to Attract Catfish

You can also use coffee and grains to attract catfish as it requires less time and efforts. For this purpose take a can full of grain and throw it in an area where catfishes exist. You need to use more than two couple of cans in order to grab attention of catfish. This technique will take just one hour to get a fish. You should try it several places where water is in slow motion for better results.

Best Time to Catch Catfish

Your all catfishing techniques work only if you do fishing at appropriate time. Catfishes are found almost in all rivers but they like to be at the surface of speedy water.  Before going to catfishing, you should have some information about timings and moods of catfishes. You should find out a place where combination of saltwater and freshwater exists because it can be a perfect place to find out catfish. Both day times and night times are good to catch catfish but night time give you more chances to catch catfish because catfish feed almost in night times. That’s why people prefer full moon night for catfishing. Rainy nights are best times to catch catfish because catfishes are available in swift creek and river water. Spawn period is also a best time to catch some large size catfishes.

Catfish species exist in inland or coastal waters of every continent except Antarctica. Catfish has considerable commercial importance from different aspects such as several large species of catfish are farmed or fished for food, on the other hand several small species such as Corydoras are considered as valuable fish for aquarium hobby. Catfish is not easy to catch therefore several fishermen catch catfish for a prize.
Fishing of this bottom-dwelling fish can bring tasty treat at lunch or dinner time for fisherman’s family. Catfishing is an art and it is not an easy task as compare to ordinary fishing. Fishermen often employ some special tricks and techniques to catch catfish. If you want to trap a catfish successfully then you should learn how to attract catfish. Attraction process is commonly known as “chumming”.

Now a question is raised there about source of attraction for catfish, it is not too difficult to know because an experience fisherman knows that catfish attracts to smells that usually unbearable for human’s stomach therefore a stinky chum can be your first preference for this purpose. You can get chum from bait stores but you can also easily made it at home.

Today I will share some easy ways to attract catfish based on my own experience. I hope these will surely be helpful for you:

Choose Your Chum

As I discussed earlier that chum is one of best ways to attract catfish therefore in first step you should choose your chum. You can buy it from store because it is ready-to-use but it can be more expensive than homemade chum. If you want to make it at home it is very easy to prepare, you just need a type of grain such as corn or wheat and let it in a bucket and barrel up to a month for fermentation. Other common forms of chums are cottonseed cakes or you can also use 20 percent range cubes available at feed stores.

Choose Your Method of Dispersion

There are several ways for chum dispersion such as 20 percent series of cubes are easy to throw freely about the area that you are fishing, with little or no mess. Lower these into water inside a burlap sack, tying a rope around it for easy retrieval. If you want to take a different approach then another method of chum dispersion is sour gain method. In this method you will use a five gallon bucket with a lid in case a burlap sack doesn’t work (i.e. if the chum isn’t appropriate to put in a sack). Drill several holes around the sides of bucket in order to regulate flow of water to scatter the chum. Put a bulky rock in the base for weight and then add the chum. Now tie up a rope to the handle of bucket as it can help you to easily lower down the bucket into water to allow the scent waft about the area.

Choose Your Fishing Hole

Next step is the selection of fishing place which should be an attractive place for catfish. It is not possible to catch a catfish from desired place so you have to find out a place that is already attractive to catfish. You can’t attract catfish from any area because they prefer to stay out of faster currents.

After selecting an adequate method out of above mentioned or other methods disperse the chum and let it for 15 to 30 minutes to permeate the vicinity and start attracting catfish.

One kind of basic catfish rigs is a deep catfish rig.  This kind of rig requires using a good, sturdy weight rather than a hook attached to the end of the line. 
By placing a weight at the end of the line, you are able to avoid snags.  The weight should be about one ounce or so, and tied to the end of the line with a palomar knot.  A palomar knot is useful for attaching a hook, weight, etc. to the end of the line.  It is simple to tie and rarely has a problem with being pulled loose.  With this kind of knot you would snap the line before this knots unravels.

Next, tie your hook about twelve to eighteen inches up from the end of the line.  Tie a dropper loop into the line in order to hold your hook and leader line.  If you want, you can use a wired leader to keep the line attached to your hook from getting wrapped around the line attached to your weight.  If you’re going after smaller channel catfish or other catfish and are using chicken livers, worms, or dip baits, then use a smaller hook like a number 2, all the way up to a 2/0.  Use an 8/0 or 9/0 circle hook if you’re fishing with shad or perch catfish bait and are looking for those elusive big catfish. The hook setting is a lot better, and the fish will be less likely to straighten or escape once hooked.

If you’re looking to fish in shallow waters, make a shallow catfish rig. Making a shallow catfish rigs requires good catfish bobbers. Place a bobber two to three feet from the hook, depending on how deep you want to fish.  Just above the bobber, add a split shot or two between the bobber and hook.  The same guidelines apply with regards to which type of hook to use — consider your bait and the catfish types and sizes you are trying to catch.

There are many different types of catfishing rigs, each with a purpose and design. When setting up your rig, consider things like the weather and temperature conditions, and what time of the year it is. Knowing how to set up an effective catfishing rig gives you the best opportunity to catch a bigger catfish with ease.

These kind of catfish like deep holes with cover on the outside edges of river bends.  You can find them around large logjams, tree stumps, and rocks where they like to hide. Cast under the edges.  Let your bait drift in, and then hang on.  If the outside bends are too strong to fish, find some inside bends with less current.  In large lakes and reservoirs, look for the big flatheads in areas with lots of cover — like submerged brush piles.  Flatheads often travel in old river and creek channels in these lakes and reservoirs.  At night, they’ll travel these channels and emerge at the edge of shallows to feed.  Position yourself along these areas and wait for them to arrive.

Early evening, early morning and after dark are the best times to catch flathead catfish in the summer season. You can attract them with baits but remember they will no go to far for bait so you have to take care of the distance. Try to keep bati on the river or lake bottom as they feed off in the bottom.

• live perch
• shad
• crawfish
• worms
• minnows
• grasshoppers
• chicken liver
• stink baits
• night crawlers
• marshmallows
• small frogs

We can summarize it in a way that generally live bait is preferred. And since catfish possess a strong sense of smell so it is highly advised that you use baits which smells greatly.

Using worms for catfishing baits is always a good idea.  You can use night crawlers or garden worms.  Typically, people tend to use garden worms to catch catfish because they’re easy to find just about anywhere.  Sometimes it seems like the catfish is just waiting for the worms.  You’ll find mini crawlers in bait shops, but you’ll have to dig up garden worms all by yourself.

Another very useful bait for catfish is Shrimp or small prawns . Depending on the size of the prawn, use them whole or cut them in half.  If you will remove the shell of prawn then it would be better but never mind if you are unable to do it. You can purchase either frozen or fresh shrimp at your local sea food market.  You can also soak the shrimp or prawns in fish oil for a few minutes so they develop a more pungent odor.

Catfishing can also done with homemade bait.  Add a few spoonfuls of peanut butter to some crushed corn flakes or frosted flakes, and mix it all together.  This homemade recipe has oils in it that release to help attract the fish.  Plus, the peanut butter and corn flake mixture is almost impossible for smaller fish to get off the hook. You can also try using pieces of sweet corn.  Place a few pieces of corn onto each point of the treble hook, then wrap a piece of bread ball around it to cover the hook.  The sweet smell will be released, attracting the catfish.  Plus, smaller fish will not be able to eat this type of bait.  The bread helps to catch those hook-shy fish that have gotten that way from too much catch and release. Another type of bait that catfish absolutely love is cheese.

At the end it is a wonderful tip for catfishing baits but it depends on you own talent. You can use your imagination and come up with your own homemade catfish bait recipes.  With their weak eyesight, catfish use their strong nose to help them locate and catch their prey.  So when you’re making homemade catfish bait, make sure your concoctions have a strong smell to attract the catfish.  Catfish are not picky eaters, so it’s easy to make your own homemade catfish bait that will attract the hungry fish to your line.

Well if we talk about diet of Channel Catfish then most of the times these catfish east trash diet which they get from picking off bugs on the water’s surface and eating dead forage fish. And as you can guess its the reason they are mostly found in the managed ponds. 
They are also easy to catch, and for the most part, the populations have no problems surviving after a catch and release. Most common in catfishing in ponds are (Flathead catfish) are known for their voracious appetite which makes them incredibly easy to catch as well.  Blue catfish, on the other hand, are harder to find due to their eating habits.

lets now talk about tackling methods which will be suitable for catching catfish while we are catfishing in ponds. Basically we can divide into two recommended types of tackle based on the two types of catfish found in the ponds. Yes you are guessing right the smaller one and bigger one.  If you are going to be fishing in a pond that has the larger variety of cats like blues and flatheads, then consider taking a medium action rod, with either a spinning or baitcasting reel.  Use treble hooks because these fish will easily suckle the bait off of a single point hook.  With the way that catfish treble hooks are designed, cats are not able to get the bait off, and once they have the hook in their mouths, they’re caught.

For smaller catfish which are of course Channel Catfish, you can use ultra-light fishing tackle. You should think about taking a few rods with you.  Having a couple of lines soaking at the same time will increase your chances of having a greater catch.  Allow your lines to soak, but make sure the drags are set loose on the reels.  With loose reels, the fish can swim off with the bait hooking themselves in the process.  As soon as you hear the drag screaming, tighten the rod down until you feel pressure, and start fighting the fish.  This is often enough pressure to keep the fish hooked.

Don’t forget to give your bait time to soak only then you will be able to catch these fish easily.  You can also chum the water to bring the fish to you.  You can toss dog food, sweet corn, or broken up corn flakes into the water to bring the catfish to your location, making them easier to catch.  You can also try catfishing in ponds at night for the best chances at catching a lot of the bigger monsters.  The big fish go roaming at night so, if you want to catch them, your best chance is to go fishing after dark with larger, stinkier baits.

Although noodling is difficult method for catching catfish but now-a-days it is becoming popular for catfishing in ponds.  The basic concept behind noodling sounds simple enough at first.  It basically calls for you sticking your hand in a hole, run it into a fish mouth, grab the fish, and pull it out of the water.  It is not as much easy as it sounds , actually it is very difficult and hard method.