Going fishing with my old man down at the dam on Catawba River. Would love to know how to catch some good size fish any type of fish is fine preferably the best fighting ones....I like Cats so does anyone have a good bait that is succesful with them?

But yeah any suggestions on what fish to catch and how to catch them would be great! Oh and what lure/bait.

Anything smelly will work for cats.

Anything smelly will work for cats.

I never really thought fish had noses. Dad said he is gonna use chicken liver so yeah I guess they love smelly, nasty, despicable food.

It depends on the specie you are interested and if you want to just catch fish or you want to catch big fish. If all you want to do is catch fish then just about anything will work I prefer night crawlers and/or stink bait on a treble hook (the kind with the wire coil.)

For big fish you want to use either live bait (large shiners, gold fish, small carp, bluegill). Blue catfish will also take cut bait from any of the above species. Just make sure to check your local regs to make sure what you are planning to use for bait is legal in the water you are fishing.

recipe for catfish bait...

1.shoot groundhog

2. chop groundhog up into bitesized chunks

3. place chunks in air tight container

4. add 2-3 cans of tomato juice to container

5. place lid on container and set container in sun or warm area for 3-4 days

This is without a doubt the best catfish bait around. Of course wear gloves when preparing and rigging it.  You can't really reuse it once you open the container though so I like to make it in smaller containers and use them one at a time.  Stand downwind when rigging it too.