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20141001_143043[1]-- PERSONAL BEST CHANNEL CAT

So I had an interesting conversation with Carl Hendrix earlier … he asked me if I was going to use his Rascals if I was to go out fishing this afternoon and I told him I would and was anxious but it might be too windy. He also noted that his Rascals catch everything…. Possums … turtles everything. Lol I laughed.
Later in the afternoon I decided my neck pain was acceptable to go out for a bit. I hit my big bluegill hot spot and see nothing … no schools just a few preds at the second and third break probably smallmouth I thought. My focus was Gill! I set up my heaviest action UL drop shot rig with the smallest pink Rascal in the bunch pinched off a piece of crawler and casted a pattern at the first break probably 12- 15 ft. the rod jumped as I was crawling the rascal back on about the fourth cast. Auto hook set I thought as the reel screamed I carefully played the fish to the boat and was shocked to see a huge channel cat. First and personal best. Thanks again Carl!

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Albums: 2014 BIG FISH BOARD

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Comment by David, aka, "McScruff" on October 3, 2014 at 5:41pm: Great info Jim. That jibes with what Ive read about catfish. They are quite intelligent in the sense that they are fast learners. Some fish, like yellow perch, are dumb and never learn to avoid danger the way catfish will.

Great info, again. Thanks.

Comment by Jim Gronaw on October 3, 2014 at 2:10pm: In this weeks fishing, we have caught cats on shrimp, garlic hotdogs and chicken livers in the cheese clothe sacs that were almost too old for the liking. Also this year we have taken them on a garlic paste, live bluegills, cajun crawdad pieces and imitation crab meat. And finally, a few on small jigs tipped with worms as we were gunning for panfish.

As Tony Livingston has pointed out, channel cats can become selective and cautious about bait options once they are caught and released. For this reason we have been 'changing up' our bait options for these fish. This seems to be especially true with channel cats in small lake and pond environs.

Comment by David, aka, "McScruff" on October 3, 2014 at 12:01pm: Garlic shrimp - come and get it, kitties!

Comment by David, aka, "McScruff" on October 3, 2014 at 12:00pm: Yeah Allen, I remembered shrimp as part of this thread.
I've been pondering a portable, effective and handy bait for catfish as you know...when I remembered shrimp.
It is listed in the SC regulations as one of the allowed baits for set line fishing.

Comment by Adam Rink on October 3, 2014 at 10:27am: Nice fish, Ken. Congrats on the PB.

Comment by Allen Morgan on October 3, 2014 at 9:11am: I've always considered Bullheads to be more scavengers than just about anything else. Even Channel Cats don't scavenge as much as Bullheads.

I've caught just about any fish species you can think of on Shrimp. Very effective bait.

Comment by David, aka, "McScruff" on October 3, 2014 at 8:04am: PS II
this mostly applies to channel cats, and to a lesser extent, blues and bull heads.
Flatheads are almost exclusively piscivorous, feeding on fish.

Another good bait is shrimp. Many guys here swear by frozen shrimp, plain or prepared much as the hot dog bait.

Comment by David, aka, "McScruff" on October 3, 2014 at 7:56am: PS the Jello I quoted below is the powder - not the prepared gelatin dessert.

You can so just use strawberry Kool Aid, again the powdered mix.
I found the recipe on the net. It sums up most prepared hot dog type baits.

Comment by Slip Sinker on October 3, 2014 at 6:33am: thanks everyone

thanks David sounds like a good sound recipe

Comment by David, aka, "McScruff" on October 2, 2014 at 9:14pm: Cut hot dogs into 1-1.25" chunks. Microwave until they get piping hot. This helps to toughen them up.

Cool the hotdog nuggets, place in a bowl and sprinkle them with plenty of garlic powder, strawberry/banana jello and a few tbsps. of water. Mix well.

Put this mess in a plastic bag, knead it good and seal.

Leave it outside for a couple of days, then store in the fridge (Some people leave these in the sun for a week, or longer, so they get all funky and nasty. I wouldn't. Your choice).

The thing with catfish, they dont care about hotdogs, or liver, or cheese. What they do is detect the breakdown of proteins into aminase compounds - rotting meat in other words. They are so sensitive to this, they can outperform sharks! They are like giant tastebuds, swimming around.

They normally prey on what they find in the water, i.e., fish, crustaceans, nymphs, shrimp... whatever is available. They are primarily predatory. But, they will come to the scent of decomposing stuff - the amino acids breaking down - if they pick it up.

Interestingly, they also seem to like fruity scents and garlic. It seems many fish do; I don't know why. So this hotdog recipe gives you all these things, in a handy, nugget type bait:

Half rotten, fermented protein

Fruity scent

Garlic