24 Sept 14- 28, 2018 VOL. 37 • ISS. 20

Back to the spawn, why is it important? Well, it concentrates the fish. I tend to find them in shallower water than you may expect too. I’ ve routinely caught them at night time in 3-8’ of water. I deliberately avoid deep water. Of course, shallow is relative. In many of the lakes I fish, deep water would be 40’. In Lake Shasta or Oroville, a“ shallow flat” may be 20-40’ in an old flooded meadow in an area that is surrounded by steep shorelines. Catfish are suckers for anywhere that water enters a lake. You don’ t have to have your bait in the current, but it seems that catfish are naturally attracted to inlets.

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It makes sense. The current is a conveyor belt bringing all kinds of tasty morsels to hungry mouths. Catfish are definitely opportunistic eaters. I once caught a 13 pounder that had a whole blackbird in its belly. I imagine something happened to the bird causing it to drown, and then the catfish did what nature intended it to do. This year has seen me fishing a lot out of a boat, and that’ s kind of new to my catfishing game. I’ ve been fishing a lake that is extremely weedy, and it’ s almost impossible to clear the submerged weeds even with a Herculean cast from the bank. So, I’ ve got my navy involved.

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There’ s a bit of a learning curve associated with catching them out of a boat. First of all, getting a boat to sit perfectly motionless is almost impossible. I’ ve been simultaneously anchoring off both the bow and the stern, and this seems to keep the boat relatively still. It still will sway a bit side to side.

I don’ t want my bait being dragged across the bottom by a swaying boat, so I have been leaving a lot of slack in my line. This has resulted in the fish picking up the bait, running about 10-15’, and then feeling a pair of 6 / 0 circle hooks coming firmly to rest in their mouth. The bite is extremely violent. It’ s a real zero

6.3:1 gear ratio 120 yards of 12 lb. test Only weighs 7.7 oz.

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to sixty affair. The line starts moving, and then the rod suddenly buckles over. It’ s exhilarating. Big catfish are not marlin, but they will put up a determined fight. They usually wallow around and roll on the line, but every once in a while you will hook one that acts a lot like a Chinook salmon. They are capable of making strong runs that pull 20-30’ of line off the reel, and they will really bulldog beneath the boat. Tackle should be on the heavy to very heavy side. Why mess around with light gear?

These fish don’ t use their eyes to hunt.

It’ s entirely based on smell. They couldn’ t care less if you use 10 pound leader or 50 pound. Thus, I have upped my terminal tackle from 30 pound leader to 50 pound test, and I like the results. Less breakoffs leads to more time fishing and thus more fish landed. Baits and tackle remain the same. You will always catch more catfish by matching the hatch than using any other bait. Sometimes that’ s not an option, but anywhere you can use the predominant non-game fish such as shad, carp flesh, Sacramento pike-minnows or suckers for bait, those baits will outperform all others. In some lakes in the Sierra district, the only baitfish that can be used are dead saltwater fish. I’ d rather use a sucker filet, but it’ s illegal. In this case, mackerel will have to do.

In Western Nevada, carp is ubiquitous, and catfish love to eat them. Most carp die of old age in our lakes, and old Mr. Cat comes and cleans them up as they decompose. Grocery store baits like chicken liver and gizzards are a distant third. As far as tackle is concerned, 4000 size spinning reels loaded with 50 pound braid and 50 pound leaders are the way to go. A pair of 6 / 0 Octopus Circle Hooks spaced about 5” apart and tied to the line via matching egg loop knots seals the deal. Snell

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knots would probably work well, but I am also a salmon fisherman, and the egg loop knot has never let me down. I like my cats to feel no resistance, so I like my sinker to be attached by a plastic“ slido.” If anybody saw this rig in the back of my truck, they would think I was heading out to the local bay to catch leopard sharksnot down to the local lake to catch catfish. Lastly, catfish are nocturnal. I’ ve caught a few big ones right as the sun is coming up or very shortly thereafter. Think of it as a“ midnight snack” right as they head for bed. In the summer, the big ones go fully nocturnal. That’ s when you’ ll catch them.