Catfish Fishing the Top Freshwater Sport-Fishing Activities

Catfish fishing is rank among the most popular freshwater sport-fishing activities. Some of the reasons behind its popularity are mainly due to their excellent eating quality, they’re also distributed widely, abundantly around the globe and most anglers have access to some of the species wherever they may be living. They can be found easily anywhere near to home; ponds, streams, reservoirs, lakes and rivers are home to these fish. Most of the world’s main river systems boast of at least one of these species.

They’re bottom-feeders and they’re omnivores, meaning that they will eat any type of food available to them. Anglers all over the world use all kinds of baits to catch them; some of them can be seem and sound real weird. These cats have eclectic taste.

Ala Carte Thailand

I remember some years back I had an opportunity to fish in this beautiful lake in Thailand with some Thais. They had this home-made concoction for catching the Mekong giant catfish which they called “pla buk.” The mixture was to my understanding, fermented fish and shrimp paste mixed with chicken feed and flour. The smell was just horrible but it worked very well. We managed to hook on to lot of these fish with this special bait. We had to use surgical gloves to keep the stinging smell from our fingers and hands while handling this paste or dough.

And for mentioning the Mekong giant catfish (Pangasianodon gigas), a native to the Mekong River which runs through several different countries in South East Asia, a large female specimen of 9 ft long, weighting 646 lbs (293 kg) was caught in 2005 of northern Thailand. It was recorded as the largest freshwater fish ever caught.

Bait

Some other popular dead-bait that anglers used for catfish fishing is wide. Chicken intestines, chicken livers, frozen or fresh from the market as well as chicken meat from Kentucky Fried Chicken are also used for bait. Do believe me because I really came across this angler who use the meat from KFC which he was eating as bait, and surprisingly he had a nice hook-up too. Bread, dead shrimps, mackerel, mullet, herring and clams are some other offerings been used for bait.

As for live-bait the choice is also wide with worms, small fishes, shrimps, maggots, crickets, grasshoppers, leeches, larvae and frogs been offered. And even live ducklings are also been used by some serious catfish anglers for catching large cats.

Hooks

Almost hooks of all shapes and sizes are been used by anglers for catfish fishing. Hooks are sized according to the bait and the size of fish targeted. Most anglers prefer single hook while some may prefer treble and even circle hooks which are popular for saltwater fishing. It’s all a matter of personal preferences.

Catfish use their ‘whiskers’ to smell, taste and feel to search for food. They’re highly sensitive organs. As I mentioned earlier on that they’re bottom-feeders, the best way to hook catfish is fishing on or close to the bottom with hooked baits. Still-fishing and drifting are also the best fishing methods wherever or whatever habitats they maybe.

Tackle

For catfish fishing most anglers use overkill outfits to get them. This is usually due to catfish bottom hugging and snag-laden covers they are often can be found. Personally, I prefer spinning or baitcasting gear in the medium-action range loaded with 8-15 lbs line for small and medium size cats. And rods length of 6-8 ft will able to do the job. For places where possibility of landing big cats, heavier sturdy outfits maybe needed with increased line strength of 20-30 lbs test.

Catfish fishing is really fun, they can be found almost everywhere, you can fish them day or night, and they readily take any kind of bait that you offer them. And most of all is that they’re very good to eat.

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