Ok guys, for as long as I can remember Iv heard conflicting stories of how a catfish can "get" you. Iv personally never caught a cat. In the next few weeks, I wanna go cat fishing and need to know how to handle these things. Especially if I hook a good one.

I know their dorsal fins have a spine of some sort... Then Iv heard some say their whiskers can stab you, and others swear that they wont. I dont know what to believe. Hopefully yall can set the record straight for me. What do I need to avoid, and how do I handle these things?

the whiskers are fine, its the fins that will get you

Is it just the dorsal?

pectoral as well

video i found on youtube

And if you do happen to get poked try to clean the area as soon as possible. 

Thanks fir the replies. I really appreciate the video.

Dorsal, and pectoral are the bad ones. Not only will they stab you but they'll make you very sick too. If it's anything other than a flathead I don't suggest trying to grab them by the mouth either. Big channels or blues will crush your hand pretty bad if you grab them by the jaw.

I think Ill play it safe and ise a lip grip.

just grab them by the belly, put your thumb under one side fin and the other side fin between your pointer and middle fingers. the whiskers wont hurt you. if you get stabbed by a fin, its usually going to be from a smaller one, have to be real careful with the smaller catfish as the spines on their fins are sharper than bigger catfish. it doesnt hurt that bad, its just more of a stinging sensation, if you get stung just rub some catfish slime on the area and the stinging will stop in a short few minutes, ive never had any problems with infection when doing that either...

only catch the really big ones and you will not have to worry about it!

Those fins will mess you up dude, be careful. I was hooking into a bunch of small catfish early in the season behind my house in a small pond using crawlers, started wearing gloves after i kept getting poked.

only catch the really big ones and you will not have to worry about it!

 

 

Sounds stupid but its true. Target bigger fish. Once they get over 2lbs or so their fins get rounded off and dulled to the point they will not "get you" unless you drop one on your foot. The little suckers have rough fins and they will jump sideways when you release them and get you, and it will hurt. 

 

If you do get stung, it wont hurt for long. 5-10 minutes. Make sure you squeeze the wound if it starts to puff up or get irritated (red around it). Gotta get that crap out of there. 

Carry a small towel, and when you catch a cat, wrap the towel around it. It will help hold down the fins.

Those fins will mess you up dude, be careful. I was hooking into a bunch of small catfish early in the season behind my house in a small pond using crawlers, started wearing gloves after i kept getting poked.

yeah i wear a glove to take them off most times, i got a pair of berkeley fishing gloves at walmart for like 5 bucks, but i have had the fin turn when releasing smaller fish and poke me through the mesh of the glove