Night fished a private lake with my buddy last night. He doesn't have many baits so I loaned him a homemade purple chatterbait with a 4" black grub. We were catching bunches of bass slow rolling them slowly along the bottom when Tony's bait got thumped hard. The fish fought very hard on the light gear he was fishing it on but finally got the fish in my reach. Anyone who thinks catfish are slow bottom feeders needs to take a look at this picture! His chatterbait was almost swallowed.

She was about 10 pounds but I forgot to get a picture of the fish. He wanted a fresh fish dinner for his family and I was about done cleaning it when I realized I'd forgotten to take a picture of it.

I hope to mistakenly catch a flathead every time I go out.  Always a nice surprise!

Catfish are definitely predators.  I have caught them on pretty much every type of bait out there including topwaters.

 

I know here in VA on the James they were cracking down on people who were using smallies as bait for the big flatties and blue catfish.

Catfish are pretty aggressive in my experience. They put up a good fight too. 

 

This channel cat hit my popper the other day with a strike that was truly incredible. He breached and flew 2' out of the water before grabbing it on the downstroke. 

Catfish are pretty aggressive in my experience. They put up a good fight too. 

 

This channel cat hit my popper the other day with a strike that was truly incredible. He breached and flew 2' out of the water before grabbing it on the downstroke. 

That would be exciting! I've caught 4 or 5 on topwater, usually buzzbaits, the explosions put most bass strikes to shame.

I have had them hit senkos, plastic worms, cranks, and spinnerbaits. 

I caught a small catfish (not sure the type) the other day shallow on a texas rig. The funny thing is that i didn't even hook him. I reeled him in and he fell into the net right by the boat. I look down at my texas rig and the hook point is still buried under the plastic, just like I had it! He must have clamped down on it sideways and not let go (thanks to powerbait lol) until he flipped off into the net by the boat. Pretty cool!

 

Brian

caught my pb catfish ona a green pumpkin senko. by the way it shot off with thebait i knew it couldnt be a bass.