Before my local lake was killed off and restocked, I used to snap-jig flukes in the fall near a neck-down inlet area with a bridge.  Those catfish would about rip the rod out of your hand.  I'm glad for the lake renovation, but I really miss that fall artificial bite.  That was a hoot.

 

Nowadays, the only place that I accidentally catch any cats are in the river, usually with crankbaits.

I got a catfish once using a beetle-spin. They'll grab onta anything shiny.

Catching catfish on artificials in our area is pretty common.

on a couple reservoirs here, it is a rare day not to catch a few catfish, while bass fishing.

big flatheads love deep diving crankbaits. 

while I never target cats, a big flathead is a fun bonus catch.

Drum on the other hand are a pain in the rear.

At my local lake the most common bycatch now is drum hands down. They will chomp a crankbait or spinnerbait. Had a nice one maybe 4 or 5lbs cool me on a shallow crank a few weeks ago...thought maybe I had a big largie on for a minute...but when it kept pulling I realized what it was. I catch bluegills, crappies, green sunnies, white bass and even a few pike now to. Oh yeah and walleye from time to time which is always welcome. My most exciting bycatch to my largemouth fishing is smallmouth...they got in during flooding several times the past few years. Catfish used to be a common accident for me but I haven't caught one in years...except for on purpose of course. I saw a cool video Bluebasser  has on youtube of a catfish exploding on a popper. I had one eat a spinnerbait in about a foot of water one time...just crushed it while I was waking it by a log. Somehow I got the fish out of the snag..big girl probably 15+lbs. Folded that strike king up like a paper clip.

On 7/12/2020 at 10:12 PM, DitchPanda said:

At my local lake the most common bycatch now is drum hands down. They will chomp a crankbait or spinnerbait. Had a nice one maybe 4 or 5lbs cool me on a shallow crank a few weeks ago...thought maybe I had a big largie on for a minute...but when it kept pulling I realized what it was. I catch bluegills, crappies, green sunnies, white bass and even a few pike now to. Oh yeah and walleye from time to time which is always welcome. My most exciting bycatch to my largemouth fishing is smallmouth...they got in during flooding several times the past few years. Catfish used to be a common accident for me but I haven't caught one in years...except for on purpose of course. I saw a cool video Bluebasser  has on youtube of a catfish exploding on a popper. I had one eat a spinnerbait in about a foot of water one time...just crushed it while I was waking it by a log. Somehow I got the fish out of the snag..big girl probably 15+lbs. Folded that strike king up like a paper clip.