Went out today for a few hours. Overcast and breezy, water churned up from rain the night before.

I'm throwing an XCalibur lipless crank and got a 5# bass and within a half an hour I nailed a 4#

I move down a bit and I get nailed again; stopped my bait cold. I'm thinking "can this be happening ?" I get it up and it's a huge catfish Funny thing is, I caught a cat on a Rattletrap at the same lake several years ago and dismissed it as a fluke.

Anyone ever have anything similar happen ?

The local hot water lake is loaded with catfish. I think I've caught them on every lure in my bag. I caught a big flat head on a Senko last fall. I saw one in the parking lot that was weighed at 45#. It was caught on a rattle trap being trolled for hybrid stripers.

Catfish love a Chrome/Blue back trap.

Caught them on traps, houdinishad, and multiple 10lbers on chartruse spinnerbaits.

Catfish loves my 5" senko and got me all excited few times, because I tho I have hooked a lunker.

I've caught some really nice sized channel cats on crankbaits over the years.

Got this cat on a silver/white crank in about 8' of water last weekend. First of the year. 3 lbs. or so I guess...

Yep, I have probably caught over a dozen cats on crank baits over the years.

Caught this guy on a crank with 8lb test and he fought a long timmmeee.

I LOVE catching cats on 6# line. Soooooo fun

I've caught a few on cranks.

When my bud & I were at Lake Fork a few weeks ago both he & I caught a catfish within about 5min.  He got his on a chartreuse chatterbait & I got mine on a suspending jerkbait.  Both went right at 12lbs. 

What a mix of emotions when you get it to the boat.  When they first hit your bait you get so excited because your so sure you have a giant bass.  Then while fighting it you realize something doesn't feel quite right.  When you get your first glimps you get a little mad, or if your me you get real mad.  After you unhook it, & send it on it's way, you realize how fun of a fight it really was & all is good.   

Jerkbait.

Jig, and two others on a crank that day.

Plastic worm.

I wonder if they actively pursue the bait or is it a case of bonking them and p*ssing them off ?

They can be aggressive predators. But, they are omnivorous, have a shorter strike window than bass, and their mouths aren't very large, so they're generally tougher to catch -or less consistently so on artificials

i love fishing for cats too, but ive never caught one on artificial

I've caught several cats on spinnerbaits, crankbaits, jigs, even jerkbaits! My biggest was pushing 10! Talk about fun, even if you feel a little let down after realizing you dont have a state record bass! 5 yrs ago my buddy and I were fishing topwater at night and he was using a smithwick devils horse when he caught a 15 lb channel cat! Pulled us around like a trolling motor for about 5 minutes in a 10' jon. Great fun! One for the record books, another buddy landed a 10lb blue cat on a UL with 4lb line and a crappie jig!