Hey guys,

This spring I'm looking to do something besides bass fish every trip, and am looking into going cat-fishing at a local river

I'm new to fishing for big catfish other than channel cats

I would assume that braided line is needed, but what lb test line do you guys use for big cats such as blue catfish or flathead?

Thanks in advance for the input!

Some guys like braid, some like mono. I prefer braid in the 50-80lb range with a 30-50lb mono leader. 

I use 30 lb CXX and Big Game to a 20 lb leader. Lighter leader to break off if snagged.

Berkley Big Game Mono is a good line for fishing for blue catfish.

People around here use neon mono that you could pull a plow with . I pick up miles of it off the ground 

Braid is just easier to put on the reel and manage. Im assuming you’ll be rigging a Carolina rig, so go with a heavy braid mainline and then use whatever mono you want as leader. Don’t overlook a quality barrel swivel either! 

Thanks for the input!

Sounds like I'll be using some heavy braid with a mono leader!

Variable depending on the size of cats I expect to hook into and what bait setup I'm using. My heavy spinning combo has 40# power pro moss green. The upper end of what I usually expect is about 30lb. My PB cat is 19.1, caught on 20# braid with a 20# copolymer leader while fishing with chatterbait. If I was fishing deeper water or better cat areas I would for sure have a setup with some 80# on it.

I would think the goldilocks line for fish that size would be 30# braid and 20# test leader. For me, mono is fine.

21 hours ago, Basser2021 said:

I would assume that braided line is needed

not really needed to terribly badly, you wont be imparting any action into the bait because you just let it sit on bottom, monofilament works fine, you can use your bass baitcaster or bass spinning rod if you would like, unless you dont want to get catfish slime on it. catfish are not line shy either.

Also note that in some moving waters below blue cat lakes, you can and will catch them on bass jigs if you do it enough. That's how I got my PB cat actually

I just use braid because there's also gar in those waters and they'll eat just about anything, plus I'm shorebound so I need the castability of braid over heavy mono or fluorocarbon. And I hate mono lol

Just curious...

What kind of bait would you use? I'm torn between some kind of dough bait or cut bait

I'm always using bass tackle but if I do throw a heavy rod for blues I try to find the freshest cut bait I can

27 minutes ago, Basser2021 said:

Just curious...

What kind of bait would you use? I'm torn between some kind of dough bait or cut bait

 

For any big predator, cut bait or live bait is the way to go 100%. I always thought dough bait was marketed towards channels and bullheads. 

 

I don't have blues anywhere near me, but we do have channels and they can get pretty big. I fish for lake sturgeon as well, which are plentiful on this part of the st lawrence. They get real big too. I have dried the powerbait doughy stuff and haven't gotten anything on it. A gob of nightcrawlers or shrimp (it's way too expensive to use shrimp regularly though) are my go to's. 

cutbait 100% for blues

If I used a leader the knot would fail .

  I use 15 lb big Game but I dont catch Giants . I did have a giant sturgeon last spring and fought it forever  . No way I was going to land it because I was on a high bank . When it rolled over and its mouth was visible , the hook come out , thankfully . I hope the old fish survived .

The only dough bait I use is buttered loaf bread balled up. It, uh, catches things. I was going for carps and buffalos but got sand bass and baby channel cats. Blues consistently take my chatterbait during the summer at the river below the lake, so live bait would also likely be good. I see catfish bait as a spectrum from dead things to live things - Channels like dead stinky stuff but will eat live and fresh cut stuff, blues like live and fresh cut, and flatheads tend to prefer live bait

1 hour ago, thediscochef said:

and flatheads tend to prefer live bait

I’ve always heard this as well but a catfish specialist I follow on YouTube always gets his big flatheads on cut bait, like 40-60 lb fish. He usually has a live bait out too, and the big flatties hit the cut bait. He always mentions on the video they are supposed to prefer the live but don’t 

38 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

I’ve always heard this as well but a catfish specialist I follow on YouTube always gets his big flatheads on cut bait, like 40-60 lb fish. He usually has a live bait out too, and the big flatties hit the cut bait. He always mentions on the video they are supposed to prefer the live but don’t 

Interesting. I have to wonder if there's some regional or water body variations to it. For instance, one local pond with channels slams with French fries and gummy worms, but others in town with stocked channels don't touch em. ?‍♂️?‍♂️ humans will go extinct and still be attempting to solve the behavior of fish

1 hour ago, thediscochef said:

Interesting. I have to wonder if there's some regional or water body variations to it. For instance, one local pond with channels slams with French fries and gummy worms, but others in town with stocked channels don't touch em. ?‍♂️?‍♂️ humans will go extinct and still be attempting to solve the behavior of fish

Hahaha, not this human. I just accept the unknown ! (I have to convince customers that animals are unpredictable every day). 
 

I think catfish are just hungry. Some days they can be picky other days they aren’t. The guy with 4 lines out catching a flathead on cut bait, maybe they just encountered the cut bait first or it smelled better, we don’t know and the fish won’t say 

7 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

Hahaha, not this human. I just accept the unknown ! (I have to convince customers that animals are unpredictable every day). 
 

I think catfish are just hungry. Some days they can be picky other days they aren’t. The guy with 4 lines out catching a flathead on cut bait, maybe they just encountered the cut bait first or it smelled better, we don’t know and the fish won’t say 

Maybe he put gummy worms in the cut bait. Who knows ?

4 hours ago, thediscochef said:

Maybe he put gummy worms in the cut bait. Who knows ?

I used to rent a condo on a golf course and I saw two guys put duck poop On a  trotline and tied off to the red stakes surrounding the water hazard. They caught lots of catfish. Then in college my fisheries professor told us that Catfish would not eat poop. That goes to show you how much the experts know

 

You can claim anything you want happens under water, nobody can prove anything unless it’s gin clear water and even then there are places to hide 

5 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

I used to rent a condo on a golf course and I saw two guys put duck poop On a  trotline and tied off to the red stakes surrounding the water hazard. They caught lots of catfish. Then in college my fisheries professor told us that Catfish would not eat poop. That goes to show you how much the experts now

 

You can claim anything you want happens under water, nobody can prove anything unless it’s gin clear water and even then there are places to hide 

I'm pretty sure that we know like 10% about the motivations of fish. Like I've been told carps won't bite lures but YouTube tells me that's not true, yet I can't figure it out.

 

No, not me buying 20 different baits to try and catch one type of fish. Certainly not me. Nope.

Flatheads love fresh cutbait. 

 

Big catfish prefer natural bait, live or fresh cut. Prepared or rotten baits will rarely catch the big ones. I don't like messing with the little ones, but you can still catch the little ones on cutbait also.