Lures and lure fishing tactics for UK catfish?

[Mark Phillips]

Like the question says I am going to have a proper go at catching some UK cats with lures this season coming. Water choice is going to be the key I think? Need to have somewhere with a high stock level, so, got that one sorted five times over So, I just wondered if anyone has any pointers based on experience they'd be willing to share on the actual lures/lure fishing aspect? I know Reps have served up some random captures of cats to a few people, albeit whilst pike fishing I suspect; of course, the BIG Sandra was actually designed as a lure for catfish, so, will probably go with those as a starter for ten. I also really think big surface lures will work well and I am sure other big soft plastics will do the job too. Tackle wise, I know my usual set-ups will be a pointless exercise (short rods and multis) as I'll be on the bank and cats fight proper hard and long, unlike pike which aren't even close on either score. Plus, I am most likely to be targeting fish from upper 20 to 50 pounds. So, going to use my 10ft daiwa 4lb cat rods + the 45 baitrunners and stay with that.

My target is just to first get one, by design. Then take it from there. How hard can it be? (Clarkson Face). I have in fact now had half a dozen cats to mid 40's reeling baits in; none of those captures was intentional. They just grabbed the bait (not a live bait I might add - one of 39 actually took two boilies on a snowman intended for carp!) as I was reeling in to re-cast or pack up! So use something designed for the job and it has to work?! I can't help thinking if I can crack it, I could be in for some very productive fishing! Thank you in-advance of any replies

[Pointngo]

a man after my own heart. I haven't fished for catfish for about 3 years or so now but was thinking of trying it on my water at the time. Trouble was they didn't like the idea of me using lures because of foul hooking carp so i never managed to give it a good go.

there was a lad on the CCG forum at the time that had a BIG cat (70+)on a small BBZ along with a few others but as soon as they found out what he was doing they banned him! Might be worth checking out first.

I tried to catch one off the top in Spain several times but failed miserably.. most likely due to the fact that i was casting around the bait rods so couldn't cover any ground. The idea of a surface caught catfish is a great one and I've no doubt it could work.

lure wise I think you're on the money.. soft baits unless on the top, although I wouldn't rule out crankbaits with a heavy thump. Salmo fatso crank perhaps? For the topwater maybe a wobblin scud, a crawler or even a popper (a la clonk). Perhaps something like bacon rind tipping the surface lures might work? Big spoons catch catfish abroard as well. One of the sizmic mag toads might do you a job as well.

I always fancied the idea of rigging softbaits weedless and fishing all the dark snaggy bankside areas in the daytime.

Looking forward to hearing how you get on Mark.

[Rivers]

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_q ... l2.13l15l0

Loads of vids here. Might be in French but I'm sure you can get the idea.

[Woodchucker]

That looks bloody good fun.

[Esoxuk]

Is that your new pb on your pic Ady....

[martynwhite]

When I lived in Germany we used to use wide, thin gauge spoons two together "spooning" each other so they click together. It was all on rivers though so dunno about its effectiveness on stillwaters

[Woodchucker]

[quote="Esoxuk"]Is that your new pb on your pic Ady....[/quote

Its my pb Buoy

[Woodsy]

Something that rattles Mark would be my choise

[Pointngo]

When I lived in Germany we used to use wide, thin gauge spoons two together "spooning" each other so they click together. It was all on rivers though so dunno about its effectiveness on stillwaters

they're still used Martyn. Bertus Rozemeijer ones here.. http://www.sovereignsuperbaits.co.uk/Ot ... tfish.html

[Mark Phillips]

Thanks chaps I shall report back once I have had a crack at it.

[Joel Booth]

I'm off to France in September,fishing a 3 acre lake with cats to 50lb,my dream is to get a cat off the top.....I'm told its possible using large noisy lures like wobblin scuds or hawg wobblers,time will tell.

[Mark Phillips]

Yes, you'd think a big noisy top water would be just the thing? Especially when you see cats cruising around and occasionally taking prey of the surface. I've seen them take the odd small carp they found napping and have seen a couple of ducklings get gobbled. Also seem a baby coot get gulped by a very big fish; looked to be in the 80+ class that one and they're that size on one of the waters where I'll have a go with the lures. Gulp. I'll certainly be chucking some surface lures at 'em ...

[martin godliman]

Do you see them on the surface often enough to wait and cast to a rising fish Mark ?

[Mark Phillips]

Do you see them on the surface often enough to wait and cast to a rising fish Mark ?

You see them 'on top' all the time in warm weather on some waters Martin. They like to cruise around a lot when it gets really hot; they get very shallow at night too. I've had a few cats take surface baits actually. They'll happily gobble chum mixers all day. Let's face it, what doesn't a catfish eat?! Well, wood and plastic some would say, but we must change this!

[Joel Booth]

I'm gonna try surface lures at night,the venues not to deep...should I use any type of leader,I'll be on 80/100lb braid mainline.

[Joel Booth]

I'm gonna try surface lures at night,the venues not to deep...should I use any type of leader,I'll be on 80/100lb braid mainline.

[martin godliman]

Do you see them on the surface often enough to wait and cast to a rising fish Mark ?

You see them 'on top' all the time in warm weather on some waters Martin. They like to cruise around a lot when it gets really hot; they get very shallow at night too. I've had a few cats take surface baits actually. They'll happily gobble chum mixers all day. Let's face it, what doesn't a catfish eat?! Well, wood and plastic some would say, but we must change this!

I understand the fascination with the idea of catching cats on lures Mark those bits of film earlier on the thread make it look possible and very exciting, yet somehow catches in this country have been accidental and very infrequent one might think the law of averages should serve the numbers caught better.

I can't help thinking that for a cat to strike there needs to more than just lure action, like say they can detect muscular electric charges in the water from any creature nearby into those incredibly sensitive whiskers, please prove me wrong and get a few.

[martynwhite]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJ-VRrFnPOY
here's a Germsn catching on a shad

[Pointngo]

I'm gonna try surface lures at night,the venues not to deep...should I use any type of leader,I'll be on 80/100lb braid mainline.

you'd want to use something like 95lb seaguar fluoro for a leader, or even just a hard mono or a shock leader like greased weasel (not sure how heavy that goes though)

[Mark Phillips]

Almost everywhere I fish for cats is not lure fished, by anyone. I think that's half the problem? Anywhere that is lure fished, the cat stocks are very, very low? I think those two things alone might give the impression that it's a waste of time trying? Only one way to find out I'm optimistic at getting a few anyway. We shall see

Leader wise? I'll just use two foot of use ton up.

[Patrick Bateman]

A lot of waters I fish with cats in ban trebles and wire which can make using lures problematic if pike are in the water, too.

I have been working on a cunning plan re cats and artificials that has yet to pay off. I think I may be waiting a loooooong time, too! I need to start looking at "high density" cat waters rather than the needle in a hastack venues I'm currenty going at...

[Mark Phillips]

A lot of waters I fish with cats in ban trebles and wire which can make using lures problematic if pike are in the water, too.

I have been working on a cunning plan re cats and artificials that has yet to pay off. I think I may be waiting a loooooong time, too! I need to start looking at "high density" cat waters rather than the needle in a hastack venues I'm currenty going at...

Nail on head Patrick I've got a couple of waters lined up that fit the bill. I think that's half the battle won. I can only learn by catching them is the motto I go by, so trying to faff around on low stock waters or where rules such as no trebles or even no lure fishing impede my efforts aint going to work. So, p**s easy, high stock water, no silly rules and the rest is down to my knowledge and skill. God help me

[Pointngo]

it might be an idea to target them around spawning time Mark as they get very aggressive when they nest, as i'm sure you already know mate.

[Clarkey1972]

loads of anglers on the continent catch cats on lures. spoons seem to be a good option as do shads fished vertically.

I would be trying fishing at night.

Im on a lake in France in May for a week and hope to catch one on a lure, most probably at night though.

[davmut]

a man after my own heart. I haven't fished for catfish for about 3 years or so now but was thinking of trying it on my water at the time. Trouble was they didn't like the idea of me using lures because of foul hooking carp so i never managed to give it a good go.

there was a lad on the CCG forum at the time that had a BIG cat (70+)on a small BBZ along with a few others but as soon as they found out what he was doing they banned him! Might be worth checking out first.

I tried to catch one off the top in Spain several times but failed miserably.. most likely due to the fact that i was casting around the bait rods so couldn't cover any ground. The idea of a surface caught catfish is a great one and I've no doubt it could work.

lure wise I think you're on the money.. soft baits unless on the top, although I wouldn't rule out crankbaits with a heavy thump. Salmo fatso crank perhaps? For the topwater maybe a wobblin scud, a crawler or even a popper (a la clonk). Perhaps something like bacon rind tipping the surface lures might work? Big spoons catch catfish abroard as well. One of the sizmic mag toads might do you a job as well.

I always fancied the idea of rigging softbaits weedless and fishing all the dark snaggy bankside areas in the daytime.

Looking forward to hearing how you get on Mark.

The lad on thre CCG forum, claimed to have caught fish on lures but never actually offered up any evidence. He was actually banned from Crows Heath for livebaiting.

Bull Dawgs have done really wel on the Ebro at the Riba-Roja dam. these may well be worth a go. As has already been said something with a nice rattle. Colours don't really come into play as cats hae poor eyesight, but they are very tuned in to movement and vibration. Possibly a jointed lure with a good rattle would work well.

I would also recommend changing the trable hooks over to singles as trables can easily staple a cats mouth shut.

[Steve Dennington]

there was a lad on the CCG forum at the time that had a BIG cat (70 )on a small BBZ along with a few others but as soon as they found out what he was doing they banned him! Might be worth checking out first.

Any more details on that, Marc? I suggested to Wayne that his 60+ fish was possibly a UK lure-caught best, but perhaps it isn't. It's still one hell of a fish though

For anyone interested, Wayne's monster lure-caught cat from last week can be seen here

[Pointngo]

hi Steve,

no proof unfortunately mate. We spoke via pm for a long while about it but I never got a photo. He had been on the CCG forum for quite a while and seemed genuine but as Dave has pointed out, there wasn't any solid evidence. The Spro rep was very interested in it for obvious reasons but I don't think he got any response when I put them in touch.

Perhaps it was just bullshit and bad apples!? What a tosser! Perhaps I need to be more careful on the wording I post!

In the absence of evidence of that fish I'd say that Wayne's fish probably is the biggest lure caught UK cat. It's some fish on a lure for sure!

[lesrigby]

what a fish on a lure

[martin godliman]

http://www.lureanglers.co.uk/forum/view ... sc&start=0

[Jamie]

It would have been nice to know exactly how much Wayne's fish weighed but no decent scales were available at the time , it certainly wasn't happy about being caught .