Next week i will be visiting my friend in Maryland and we are going to try and catch a catfish. The only problem being; neither of us have ever caught one. This worries me since i mainly rely on experience when fishing. There are no catfish spots near me that i know of and maryland is not a place i visit often being about 1000 miles away. I would really like to catch one so any tips would be greatly appreciated. Also we'll be fishing in a small pond so ive no idea where they will be. (I saw a dead one on the bank so i know they're there lol.)

 For channel cats,a gob of something disgusting on a treble hook fished on the bottom on a slip sinker rig ought to do the trick. Chicken liver, shad guts, etc. They're not picky eaters. If you want something cleaner or if you've got little kids with you, try worms or chunks of hot dog.

Hot dogs or chicken liver for the small ones. Live bluegill for a big one.

I like to stick a Berkley Gulp creature bait on a texas rig and fish normal bass places.  I catch a mix of Catfish and bass all day long

Chicken liver in a tied up piece of panty hoes. Yes. It is almost a guarantee.

The panty how's is a good tip. Probably helps keep the liver on the hook.

I do quite well with Bread Balls. But if i use bread always use Potato Bread, it gets hard on the hook and will last forever. I caught the 5# catfish in my avatar on a dough ball.

I also dough well with a night crawler worm on a Carilina Rig with a 1/2 oz weight.

Pics of cats i caught on bread:

I would have to disagree with using a treble hook. I mean that is unless you dont want that treble hook anymore. A single hook is hard enough to get out as it is. If you want to use chicken livers spread them out on a plate and cover them in salt and let them sit in the sun. They wont fall off the hook when you cast anymore and still be plenty nasty and disgusting. If you can catch some tiny bluegill like 3" or so those work great and bass will also grab those.You can also cut up the gills and catfish will eat it but not the bass so much. It is best to re hook the gills deep in the mouth and out the cheek where it is like harder bone. It won't kill them of effect their ability to swim like other places people hook them. Toss a live gill under a bobber about 2' or so and something will grab it and you will know when its about to happen. If the gill starts sleeping on you the give it the slightest tug to wake it back up and it will start moving again. Refrain from casting it if all possible. you only get so many because hitting the water scrambles there brains and kills them. You maybe got about 3 tops depending on the size of the gill. After that it is pretty much dead or will be soon.

https://texaseliteangler.files.wordpress.com/2014/01/slip-sinker-rig.jpgYou can try multiple things. A slip sinker rig will be nice if you just use a nightcrawler on a hook. You can also use stink bait but I hate that stuff. As stated above some liver under a bobber works pretty well. 

I always liked to use dough bait.  It does get kind of messy sometimes.

Secret 7 for channel. Cut spipjack for blues. Live bait for flat

Surefire method: Get a bag of cheap, small bite dog food and start throwing out cupfulls. If after a while the fish come to it, throw out a strong hook baited with a 1" long section of hot dog. Go weightless if you can. If you think they're big fish, you'll have to use some good tackle, which will require some lead. Don't go too cheap on the dogs. They might prefer the dog food if you do.

A hot dog is nothing more than a specialized Senko for catfish.

Grasshoppers work great in ponds for catfish. Cut bluegill does as well. Good chance that they'd eat the 17 year cicadas that are everywhere right now with gusto. 

Worm on a Carolina rig sitting on the bottom has always worked and worst comes to worst you might catch a perch or something else. 

Oddly enough we tried some hot dogs but caught nothing. Then i went to a small muddy pond in west virginia (was on a road trip) and threw a bucktail expecting to catch bass or trout but caught several blue and channel cats and one small bass. Lol so much for smell.

Oddly enough we tried some hot dogs but caught nothing. Then i went to a small muddy pond in west virginia (was on a road trip) and threw a bucktail expecting to catch bass or trout but caught several blue and channel cats and one small bass. Lol so much for smell.

Catfish are very sensitive to smell, they have taste buds over their entire bodies in fact, but the fact that they only eat stinky, dead stuff is a farce. Bigger catfish especially are predators and their diets will reflect that. I've never caught a catfish over 10 pounds even on anything that was foul smelling, they've always been on something still alive, fresh dead, or artificial. Right now is a prime time to catch big catfish on lures actually as they prepare to spawn and get very protective of their spawning areas. 

Catfish are very sensitive to smell, they have taste buds over their entire bodies in fact, but the fact that they only eat stinky, dead stuff is a farce. Bigger catfish especially are predators and their diets will reflect that. I've never caught a catfish over 10 pounds even on anything that was foul smelling, they've always been on something still alive, fresh dead, or artificial. Right now is a prime time to catch big catfish on lures actually as they prepare to spawn and get very protective of their spawning areas.

Interesting. Thanks for the info!