Volumes have been written concerning identifying the different species of catfish found in the continental United States. For the purpose of this section, this writer assumes that the reader has the ability to tell the difference between a channelcat, a bluecat, a flathead and a bullhead.
Channel Catfish
The aggressive channelcat is my favorite catfish. Having made that statememt, here is why. He is always available year around, day or night. He often strikes a bait with reckless abandon... but more often, will approach a bait with more finess than a trout.
The channelcat loves shallow water. He will, except during periods of extreme cold, seek out cover and food in less than three feet of water. He will eat almost anything, preferring invertibrates, small baitfish, insects, fruit and vegetation. He is a sucker for grasshoppers and fresh chicken livers.
The channelcat can be found in ponds, lakes and rivers. His favorite lair is in the washed-out roots of a tree in shallow water. He can be found in just about any cover from submerged logs, weedbeds and cattail roots to rockpiles.
The secret, if there is one, to consistantly locating the channelcat is to fish shallow water near cover. Most people fish from the bank casting into deeper water. I, on the other hand, fish near the bank in as little as one foot of water.
Approach the bank quietly in order to prevent spooking the fish in shallow water. Fish your bait near the bank, sometimes under a float. Try it. You'll see your catch rate and average fish size go up.
The best bait would be seasonal... worms or cut bait in the spring, cut bait or chicken livers in the summer, cut bait in the fall. For cut bait, use baitfish that is fresh and caught in the same water you're fishing. Fresh means just that... it must bleed when cut. After 30 minutes in the water, it's no longer fresh and should be replaced.
Skipjack (Freshwater Herring)
This is the preferred cut bait for blue catfish on the Arkansas River system... the juvenile native freshwater herring is netted in the spring and makes excellent cut bait. The herring does not live long after being caught for it must have large amounts of water to pass over it's gills to provide needed oxygen. The adult speedster as pictured above can peel line off the drag.
The skipjack can easily be caught by ripping crappie jigs or streamer flies through the surface of the water below dams. Fast moving water below a dam where power is being generated attracts the skipjack and concentrates them as they feed on small minnows, shad, and other baitfish.
Blue Catfish
The widespread blue catfish, also known as "humpback blue", "Mississippi White" and "Bluecat" is the preferred catfish for a very high percentage of catmen. The blue catfish matures into a very large catfish, and currently is the heaviest catfish species of record in North America.
The bluecat is different from other catfish in that he stores little fat in his body. The blue must eat year around to survive, and he will eat just about anything that swims. The only hard and fast rule concerning what the bluecat will eat is that it must fit in his mouth.
Bluecat fry eat plankton, crustacians, vegetation and smaller fry. As they grow into their third year and 5 pounds or so, their diet is similar to the channel catfish. Around the end of the third year, the bluecat diet becomes almost completely fish including minnows, shad, herrings and gamefish that meet the prime rule.
The best bait for the blue catfish here in Oklahoma on the Arkansas River System is fresh cut herrings and shad. These baitfish are easily caught in the fast tailwaters of the dams in eastern Oklahoma.
For eating sized bluecat up to 15 pounds or so, I personally like to use 5/0 to 8/0 Gammagotcha circle hooks with a small hunk of bait hooked near one side in a firm place to keep it on the hook. Hooking the bait near one edge in firm tissue insures that the hook gap is unobstructed and open and the fish is able to hook himself easily.
My favorite piece of bait is the head of the herring or shad with a small part of the gut pocket attached. The next favorite bait is the section containing the gut pocket. The tails are discarded into the river. On seriously large baitfish, the head is reserved for the first bait, the gut is reserved for the second bait and the remainder of the baitfish is fileted (skin left on) and cut into chunks not more than 2"x2".
These baits are fished in creeks and in the creek mouths near timber or driftwood. The preferred water is so full of standing timber that access is difficult with a boat. Look for water that is 2-4 feet deep immediately adjacent to the channel or drop-off into 8 feet or more of water. Fish as close to the timber as you can get without snagging up. I often fish straight down, holding my rod tip near or on the timber. Use as little weight as you can get away with and still control the bait.
Now, for trophy sized blues, the tactics change. I always drift for trophy blues.
DOWNRIGGER FOR BLUES
I rig two rods for downriggers with no weight and one 5/0 to 8/0 octopus hook tied directly to the line with no swivel. The baits are let out about 15 feet behind the boat and the line clipped into the release. The weight is lowered to two feet lower than the depth of the baitfish shown on the depthfinder. Set the release clip at a medium setting and put a good bend in the rod to apply extra pressure and ensure a visual indication of the strike. Always use the bait clicker and set the drag on the reel to allow line to go out. A hard-set drag will sometimes allow a large fish to snap the short line before the fisherman can react.
The actively feeding blue catfish will follow the school of baitfish, preferring to snack on any hapless baitfish that strays from the school instead of charging into the school and possibly dispersing it. The suspended bait just below the school resembles a cripple or a missed chunk from another predator's meal.
DRIFTING FOR BLUES
I use a driftsock to maintain a speed less than .5 miles per hour. Using the depthfinder, the depth of the baitfish is established and the baits are lowered straight down to fish 2 to 3 feet lower than the baitfish.
All rods are placed in rodholders with the baitclickers turned on in the reels, drag set to allow line to go out on the strike.
In the winter with the water temperature from 35 to 55 degrees, seek the schooling blues in deep water patrolling just below the schools of baitfish (generally shad). Don't worry about trying to locate the individual bluecat with the fishfinder... they're constantly moving, suspended under the schools of bait, ambushing single baitfish that become separated from the school.
My favorite rig (courtesy of Dennis Rice of ACATS) is to tie on a walking sinker to the bottom end and use a dropper loop to attach an 18" leader. A 2/0 to 4/0 treble hook is tied on with a small float on the leader some 6" from the hook to help keep it off the bottom.
The hook is loaded with lots of cut shad... at least two pieces per hook. The best alternative is a large wad of congealed chicken or beef blood.
With the boat anchored in moving water, set up for a standard drift rig, then tie on a 3/4 filled balloon at the depth desired above the bait. Allow the balloon to drift with the current. Several hooks can be attached to the main line if desired, but doing so creates a hazard when retrieving the rig with a catfish on one or multiple hooks.
To use the balloon rig as a deployment technique, make a time-delay balloon attachment. The mainline is passed thru the hole in the candy and looped back to form a slipknot. The balloon is attached to the candy with a short piece of line.
A regular flavor Life-Saver will dissolve in about 15 minutes where a mint-flavored one will dissolve in about 12 minutes and release your bait to the bottom.
This is my favorite technique of placing a bait near the upstream face of a dam without allowing the boat to enter the forbidden zone. It also works very well below a dam by releasing the balloon in the large eddy current caused by the release of water from one side of the dam only. The current will carry the balloon for hundreds of feet towards the dam.
