I'm always surprised how often people are surprised to catch catfish on lures while fishing for other species. I've caught them on almost everything, including several on topwater. I've caught some monsters while fishing for bass, but most are in the 2-7 pound range. I can't hardly go a trip during the summer without catching at least one.

 

 

 

Drum don't eat lures either!

 

1 minute ago, roadwarrior said:

Drum don't eat lures either!

 

They don't eat anything else when I'm around.

A reservoir I fished many years ago was great for bass but when we wanted a fish fry it was almost as sure as going to the fish market. Get out on a large flat between 4 and 6 feet deep, throw a rattle trap as far as you could. Let it hit the bottom, Rip it up, let it hit bottom again, rip it up, etc. within an hour you could fill a 48 quart cooler with catfish that averaged between 4 and 6 pounds.

 

Was this way for years. Had many a great fish fry based on this.

When I lived in Iowa, catfish would occasionally bite lures. drum were rare. 

Here in Kansas things are a lot different.  Catfish and drum are everywhere and will hit nearly anything you throw at them. 

a bass fishing trip without a couple drum and catfish is rare.

while most of the time they can get annoying, they are sometimes welcome on slow days. 

 Carp don’t eat lures either. 

I've caught plenty of catfish on senkos and tubes lol.

When I was younger & fished Canyon Lake in Riverside County (a highland type reservoir), we never caught catfish on lures.  We would only catch them in the evenings on cut bait or chicken livers.

 

Now at Lake Forest (a shallow development lake), we tend to catch at least one over 7 lbs every other trip or so.  They hit moving lures (crankbaits, lipless, chatterbaits), jigs, plastic worms & swimbaits.  Only caught one on a topwater, had a 13lb channel cat chase down a whopper plopper like a shark going after an slow swimming seal.  They really are aggressive predators, especially the larger ones.

Years ago I lived near a city lake where you couldn't use live bait.  Everyone would be fishing for channel cats using spinnerbaits.

Catfish don't eat topwater jitterbugs either................

 

I've even caught them on 8" Believers trolling for pike! And my wife has caught her share of big cats on spinnerbaits. Go figure!

I have caught one in the past deadsticking a Senko. This past season I caught 2 on Ned rigged finesse TRD's

I sometimes sightcast male channels up to 10lbs on beds. It is kind of like bed fishing for bass except channels are way more aggressive. They will hit anything that comes near, doesn't seem to matter what it looks like.

They will eat about anything. We have some that come and eat bread floating on the surface. Their depth perception is bad. They often miss and have to back up and align up on it again... usually another fish will steal it from them.

21 hours ago, Dorado said:

Catfish don't eat topwater jitterbugs either................

 

I came here to post this very thing — same bait/color. Thought I tied into my PB Bass when it hit. :-)

When   The white bass school up on flats and i'm   catching them by the hundreds ,there are almost always channel cats in the mix and sometime blue cats . Cats like Red Eye Shads .

A white/chartreuse chatterbait on the Potomac will get the rod ripped out of your hands by cats up to 30lbs.  Not unusual for cats over 50lbs on cut bait.  

I caught a 10 lb channel cat in the middle of the day once on a T rig power worm.

The worst thing is when you are fishing a tournament and you catch a 20 pound catfish on a crankbait. True story.

My youngest brother caught over 30 channel (Not blue!) cats on the Potomac on a spinnerbait during a tournament

12 hours ago, Pro Logcatcher said:

The worst thing is when you are fishing a tournament and you catch a 20 pound catfish on a crankbait. True story.

You should have colored it up with some chartreuse Spike It and taken it to the weigh-in, maybe it would have been mistaken as a real ugly largemouth...

20 hours ago, Pro Logcatcher said:

The worst thing is when you are fishing a tournament and you catch a 20 pound catfish on a crankbait. True story.

The last video I posted was a 20+ pound flathead I caught during a tournament on a Ned rig, and we still won it ?

Catfish, Dogfish, Suckers, Carp, etc, It would be easier to list the fish that I have not caught on lures.

I've caught some on lures too. The weird one for me was a 4 pound channel cat that slammed a super duper spoon while trout fishing at lake Taneycomo. Biggest fish of the trip!

Catfish and drum both have the same favorite color of TRD: whatever color I happen to be using.

 

I've never fished for either of these species on purpose, but my personal best of each has been taken while Ned-rigging with a light or ultralight outfit.

 

Tight lines,

Bob