Cat fishing in this heat.

T

Thudpucker

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I've been skunked four times in a row.
Too hot. When I pull my chicken livers up from 20' they are warm. Almost like Bath water.
Yet, I saw some guys fishing from the Bank with Chicken livers and they had five between midnite and 3;AM.

I tried Shrimp, Chicen livers and used panty hose on some. Then I put on some night crawlers.
Still nothing.
What the heck.....over!
 
Sounds like you're not holding your mouth right......
 
I was out again last night not holding my mouth right.
From 8Pm to 2;30 Am and finally got run off by lightening.
Still no fish. I tried shallow and deep, never lost a gob of Chicken liver or Shrimp. Stinky stuff too.
I think I'll sleep a couple more nights before trying that marathon Night fishing trip again.
 
Maybe you shouldn't be wearing used pantyhose. Might be a jinx.....
 
ROTFLMAO!!!!!!!!

Maybe Liz will let you borrow some lipstick.
 
Try live baiting with minnows that are lip hooked. I fish the minnow on a half once sliding sinker with a circle hook. Works like a dream on overnight fishing in my favorite spot on the bay when nothing else works. I just set a minnow trap, baited with bread, at one spot on the shore and in half an hour will have 20 or 30.

You might also have what we find on the bay in very warm weather in summer. The deep water has too little oxygen so the catfish may be holding higher in the water, column or are just in the shallower water near the shore.
Try fishing with a float and the bait at 6 to 10 feet from the surface. Try one rod as an experiment. If you are not catching with the other method you have nothing to lose.
 
Thud,
If you can find some shad use them for cut bait. IMO, shad baits will catch 'em when nothing else will. Sometimes a bait shop will hold their dead ones for you to pickup at a much reduced price over live bait. Are you hitting the rock bluffs? The lake cats really like the rock ledges along them. Find the big rock areas with lots of holes and ledges for the cats to lay in/under and you'll find the fish. BTW-- keep working on holding your mouth right......
 
Shad are $1.50 Each!!!! up here at the bait stores. What the heck is up with that?
I may get a cast net and try the Shad. It sounds like a lot less of a stinky mess than what I'm doing.
I see fish on the surface all around me. I could throw a net easily that far.
Maybe I'll just throw the panty hose? :)
One of the old guys here said: "You'd be better off to stick the hook into the panty hose and throw her in with the hook!"
 
<< You aren't gonna try the dough as bait plan, are you. Bring some along so you can use it to catch some after all the other stuff fails... ;) >>
 
Remember John Wayne and his "Corn Dodgers"? If I brought Dough balls along I'd probably eat em' like I did the Hot Dogs someone said would be good bait.

I'm gonna stay home at night for a few days. Maybe the Barometer will fall a bit.
 
You could try an old indian trick. There's a root that you can stick in your panty hose and crush with a rock and throw in the water and the fish come floating to the surface. Want me to send you some???[:P]
 
The striper fisher use live shad for bait......some even use it as cut bait. The best you can hope for from a biat shop is to get them to save the ones that die in their bait tanks. We usually caught ours using a castnet around the boat ramps or dam (places that net would not hang on structure. In most lakes theres so much stuff to hang on you can't let it hit bottom like we do on the coast.
 
LOL, Charlie you got a jaded past. You shouldn't know things like that.:)

Bill that's a good idea, asking for the dead ones.

I wonder if I'd be able to learn the cast net trick? I watched it on YouTube and it dont look as easy as they show it to be.

101 Degrees out right now. Whew!
 
Thud I can teach you to throw a castnet in 10 min. Ask Pete about his son-inlaw from ND. He had never seen a castnet before and I had him throwing a dang near perfect circle on his second throw with my 14' net. Most people put way too much effort in the throw. Heck even my admiral can throw one....even though I have to retrain her each time she tries it.

Be advised though, throw only in areas you know the bootom is clear of hangs or in water you can get in and untangle the net if it gets hung. There's the third option of leaving it if it gets hung up. I know off one case where a guy hung his net in a current, fell in, and drown because he could not get free of the rope.If you find the right place and time you can throw it over shad and retrieve before it hits bottom. Under lights around docks is often a good spot.

Another tip for good bait spots. A lot of the creeks around your area, below bridges have deeper holes that often hold big shinners and other good bait. A small 6' cast net is often just the ticket in the creeks.... You can also just catch small types of bream and other sunfish for baits using typical panfish tackle. Catfish will hit all the above and I think they like them better than stink baits, not too mention you might pick up some bass or stripers if using live bait. If it were me night fishing for cats as I slow rowed around I would have a live bait, circle hook, on another rig, below a float letting it swim near the surface..
 
...or you can get a smaller net and tie line around the edges like a drag chute and lay it open at the bottom and throw in food. If you do that regularly, bait fish will tend to congregate in that area waiting to get fed. You'll have a ready source of live bait. If you have a dock, put a hoop around the net and have a pole that pivots on a piling to raise the net.
 
Do a google search for "minnow trap" and you will come up with several sources. Prices seem to be under $10.
The type that has two halves are the easiest to use. Drop some stale bread in the basket put it in the water near the bank in about 1 foot and you will get plenty of live bait that are perfect for catfish
 
Good ideas. I'll just stop with the stink bait and go to live bait. It's cleaner, and I might poison my self eating from my fingers with that Stink Bait stuff on my fingers.

I did think about dragging a net, similar to a shrimp trawl Charlie. The book don't say I cannot do it.

Minnow traps sound good as I can throw it out, go on a ways, throw another one out, etc.
Just come back up the lake and pick up my bait :)
 
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