Pro Catfishing Tips
-Jonathoan Herndon

AS A PRO CATFISHERMAN I receive emails all the time asking what is the best rig to use to catch a few catfish for the hot grease. If I were to target eater size catfish I would begin with at least a 6' 5" M/H action rod that has a semi soft tip. Any medium action bait casting,spinning or spin cast reel spooled with 15lb mono would be fine.A simple carolina rig is all that you need to use to present your bait correctly.Unlike a normal green fish carolina rig the catfish version is a little beefier just in case the big mo-mo takes a liking to your bait. You should first attach a half to one oz sinker followed by a small glass bead and then a 50lb barell swivel using a palomar knot.The glass bead keeps the lead sinker from eating away at the knot.To the other end of the swivel I would tie a 12 inch leader using a piece of 25lb fluorocarbon. And finally I would add a 2/0 circle hook.This rig will allow you to catch anything from eaters to a 25lb fish. While worms and livers work I prefer fresh cut bait even for the eaters, just downsized a bit.

  Fresh bait is the key to catching a good mess of catfish.

I try to always match the hatch as they say and use a bait fish that is native to the body of water that I am fishing. Catfish are more apt to attack a bait that they have been chasing all of their lives versus some foreign smelling bait.Small shiners rigged in the same way as the picture above will get the fish fired up and slamming your bait in no time. Now get out there and show us how its Done! If you have any questions or want to show off your catch just drop us a line here at Proanglerradio.com .