Brett Strohl

You can get stick baits even less expensive than dingers on Ebay. I think they're all about the same, unless you are interested in some extremely technical differences.

Yeah I guess since I have very little experience fishing for big catfish, I just don't know the line between what I need and what is excessive. I know the two times I've had really big fish on, the poles and line I had were not enough. I can get two 8' ugly stiks for about $30, and they are reasonably light for that size, so I'll probably get one of those. When you fish for flathead are you usually sitting on the bank or are you in a boat? If I'm sitting on the bank I might just get two poles.

why would I bring a gun? O_o

Everyone says corn, but we can't get them to bite on it, and the reservior here is filled to the brim with carp! How do you do it? Do you just put it on a hook and a bobber, or do you have to throw a bunch of corn out in the water to get them to follow the scent? Can they find it at night?

I'm terrible with baitcasters already, I can't imagine nightfishing with one

I would like to take a trip to go after some big flathead sometime. I've read down in Indianapolis there are places you can catch 4' flatheads so I definitely want to try that sometime. But there is a reservoir in in Indy with huge channels, and I'm sure about everything else that I'll want to go to also. I don't know about 100 lb catfish, but I know many of the places that I'm looking to target, 40 lb cats are not uncommon. I'm basically thinking about all purpose big fish gear for Indiana, so cats and carp also. If you were going to pick between a 7' and 8' foot catfish pole do you think 8' is too excessive? I guess I don't want to use ridiculous gear, but at the same time if I hook something huge, which is possible but probably won't happen often, I don't want to be unprepared.

We've been trying to catch carp since some of the other fishing has slowed down, but we can't catch a carp to save our lives and have tried about everything. So I think we are going to try boilies. I don't have any idea where to start with them, does anyone recommend a certain brand/type? (I live in Indiana if that helps).

I just want something I can make sure I can muscle large fish away from boat motors, underwater branches etc. I like the ugly stik medium heavy 7', but don't know if I should get the 8' medium heavy just to make sure I can manipulate big carp/cats better.

I'm hoping to be done with school in December and crossing my fingers that I'll have a job at the beginning of next year and a few hundred bucks to upgrade my catfishing gear. I've read there are places here in Indiana that we can go catch some big flathead so I'm not sure exactly what kind of gear I'll need. (Last week I had on a fish here at reservoir that was large enough that it made my bass pole feel like I was fishing with a toothpick. I don't know if it was a carp or big cat (I was using some strawberry doughball I bought from walmart, and I didn't expect to catch anything with it so I'd put it on my smallest pole). I was using a 6'6" medium ugly stick with 30lb spiderwire stealth braid which I assumed was large enough for a 20 lb fish, but when I tried to get the fish away from the motor of the pontoon I couldn't budge it, and it snapped my line fairly quickly. I had my line wrapped around a bobber, and I think it broke at the bobber b/c I saw the bobber floating in the water after. Will a bobber break braided line? I wasn't in love with the bobber, and next time I'll try to find one that you don't wrap the line around the bobber stick.) I got an inexpensive 7' medium ugly stik a week or two ago, and I want to get two more poles, but I'm not sure what size poles I should get? I was thinking of getting one more 7' and an 8', or maybe two 8's? I'm sure the 7' is big enough to get big fish in, but I don't know if I should get 8's in case I have to muscle the fish away from a pontoon motor again? I don't have experience fighting fish on either so I don't know what would be better. (I know a lot of people like to use lighter equipment but on the few times that I've had huge fish on, they tend to dart under a log or the boat like this week, and I absolutely loathe losing a fish like that.) Also I'm planning to upgrade all my line to power pro braid. I absolutely hate fish breaking off and leaving a hook in them, so I was wondering what size line I should get? Is 50lb enough or should I go ahead and get 65lb or more? (I know a lot of people use mono for catfishing, but I absolutely hate mono personally.) Do you guys have a recommendation on reels? I was looking at Okuma 45's b/c I can get them for around $35, and I really like my Okuma 35s for bass fishing. Also since I'm pretty new, what is the purpose of bobber fishing for cats, what depth should I be at, and should I always use a bobber? I know I have a ton of questions, so thanks a lot for any input!

That Yo zuri sounds like checking out too When you say "walking" do you mean you're just popping it along, or does it do a walk the dog movement?

I was looking at the Rebels, I may try one at some point

Fishing in Indiana is so difficult I'm just happy to reel anything in larger than a bluegill. If I could catch carp easily I'd forget about bass and be after them all day I think wild caught fish taste better than any other meat, but we have so many problems here (too few places to fish, public waters overrun with carp, pollution, poor stocking programs, out dated laws, and more than likely people taking undersized fish) that when I catch large mouth I can't even justify keeping them b/c it will mean less fish to catch next summer =/

I'm sure there is a lot of truth to that. However I've been using a LT frog popper, which has a very unique sound, right next to my dad who is using a hula popper and he is not getting bites, and I'm getting fish on some days when they are not active. I'm just guessing the unique noise is what is getting me bites b/c there is so much fishing pressure, and the LT frog is just something the fish haven't seen before. (I'm not getting any bites when the lure is paused, except from bowfin, and again I would attribute this to it's unique sound). I would like a larger popper that works as well though, just b/c I want something I can cast further.

Over the course of the summer I've gone from being extremely frustrated with top water bass fishing to catching more fish on a popper than anything else I've used all year. I think they just tick the bass off more than anything, so I'm still getting bites when they aren't actively feeding. I would like to find a really effective medium sized, to largish lure to target bigger bass and just basically just to be able to cast them farther (I've tried hula poppers and they aren't getting the same reactions). I know some of them get extremely expensive, but at the same time they're not something I'm super worried about losing. So I'm just curious on what people think are the best popping lures?

Here's dad holding (what I think) is the first Bowfin I've ever caught. I was beyond excited lol. I'm not sure why people call them trashfish, I'd love to reel in 100 of these things as hard as they fight. They attacked lures much more tentatively then bass, and had a much longer pause before striking, or they'd swim right by the lure and pause. I saw a larger one almost coil up before it struck at my popper but I didn't give it long enough so I missed it >_< I think I'll be more prepared next time. Apparently they are all over one corner of this lake and just stay there. Is there a reason for that?

Well I am much more worried about my fingers than a snapping turtle, but I still want to avoid this in the future. I'd love to learn to catch big catfish, but at the same time I'd like to do it without this happening in the future. Will circle hooks still set themselves with crimped down barbs? I have no idea what to use.

Is there somewhere to get hooks that actually dissolve then?

Unfortunately last night I hooked a big snapping turtle while fishing for catfish, and I had to leave the hook in b/c I was concerned about losing fingers etc. I read that hooks dissolve in turtles/fish after a few days and work themselves out. Is this true? Or should I buy hooks that I know will biodegrade the fastest? I absolutely hate leaving a hook in anything and I'm going to have to figure out something else if I have to worry about hooking turtles. =/

what size do you think? I don't know anything about this stuff lol

There are tons of little blue gill there so maybe I'll try that. I honestly haven't found a catfish bait I'm confident in, but we live in Indiana so the fishing isn't great here What kind of hooks should we use? One of my friends always tries to fish with small blue gill, but when he gets a bite, he always pulls the bluegill out of their mouths. >_<

I know there are beaver there, but we heard a beaver there a few weeks hit the water, I didn't think the noise was as much of a flat slap. Plus beaver don't swim like snakes. Maybe there was a big fish or a snake there and it spooked a beaver? I really have no idea

We were bass fishing today and I decided to throw out a pole with stink bait b/c I'm sure there are catfish there, but I know almost nobody fishes for them. (Dad says there are bullhead there) I don't think I had a single bite all day which kind of surprised me. If I'm fishing a lake, should I throw stink bait on a bobber (and if so what depth), or is dragging the bottom fine?

I was fishing late in a lake here in Indiana that I've heard has Muskie (but I've never seen one before) and we saw something swimming like a snake that was about 3.5-4' long. I thought at first it was a big snake, but then it disappears and something hits the water like a baseball bat right in front of the lily pads, then blasts the water two more times back in the pads, and again a few minutes later about 50 yards away. Would that be a muskie? I've never heard a fish hit the water that loud before.

The first time I saw a big one of those I screamed because I had no idea what it was, and it looked like some kind of prehistoric dinosaur fish lol

I'm not sure why I'd want to throw it in grass muck?