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It’s spring and the sound of frogs croaking and water running around the boat sounds wonderful! The grass is turning green and the leaves will soon bud out on the trees. Spring is a special time of the year! The big catfish are hungry and are becoming more active. May and June are the best months of the year to land the big Flat head Catfish of the deep water. Flathead and Channel Cats are getting ready to spawn. Spawning generally occurs when the water temperature reaches 70 degrees.
The best baits for spring cat fishing are suckers and bull heads. Later in the summer, stink baits work a little better. You may also find that cut bait, chicken liver and shrimp work well in the summer. In the spring, I normally use live bait. large bait, 6 to 12 inches long or larger work very well.
Catfishing from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. is the time the big Flatheads come out and feed. I have found fishing from sandbars at night the best time to land the big fish. I try to find a hole close to shallow water. The hole should have 8 to 20 feet of water. The shallow water should have very little current. The fish will come out of their deep holes to feed. Try to position
yourself in this type of place. This will work at any time of the year. The bait will vary as I mentioned above, but generally, the Flathead Cat will always take live bait over the other type
of baits.
The Catfish has an acute sense of smell and hearing of the fresh water species. The whiskers on the Cat fish are like “outside taste buds”. The have poor eyesight, but they make up for this with their sense of smell and hearing. If the water conditions are muddy, stink bait and cut baits work well because of the catfish’s keen sense of taste and smell. It will bring the fish to you. Taking a good assortment of the cut and live baits with you will assure you of being prepared for any type of water conditions. The goal is to catch the big fish!
The equipment should be a heavy action pole. Line and reel should be similar to muskie equipment. I try to use a 7-foot heavy action rod. The reel should be able to handle 50# test line. I like to use “Power Pro” braided line that has no stretch. Hooks will vary in size from 1/0 -8/0 hook. Forged hooks are best. Egg sinkers from 1 to 6 0z. work very well. I use bells on my poles to detect bites at night. You may choose to use Strike Indicators instead of the bells for nighttime bites.
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