How have you been getting all those big kitties to play? I know your hitting Clear L. and I know your using 'crawlers on your ultralight, but what kind of water (ie points, flats, bays, cover)and what kind of rig?
I hit A... Lake (closed at night so I wont say where) last night and tonight for a total of 11 hits without a single fish to show for it. Most of the hits have come off of 2 points with lots of rock and some broken off brush. I've solidly hooked 3 fish, breaking off all three (1 on 15# and 2 on 20# line. I've been using Anchovies on 2/0 to 3/0 Gammie Octopus hooks without anything else. Most of my hits have come from water definitely less than 10' deep and probably less than 5' deep actually. I hook the 'chovies so only the point and barb are exposed with them coming out around the collarbone and put 3 half hitcheds around the tail which has worked well in the past. However, 8 missed strikes says I need to change something! Lastly these kitties are hitting like freight trains, which I didn't expect in this cold. Any input is appreciated.

Tight lines,
Wade

Tight lines,
Wade

I'm no cat expert, but I did fish them on the Green River in Utah once for a week on this rafting trip. They were small, but what I sure learned is you gotta let them run with it forever before you set the hook. Time to break out the 30lb dude and let those suckers swim off about 50 feet before you set :)

and you were fishing for cats, not trout? Boy, I don't know if I should take any advice from you! ;-) Actually I've seen 2 shows and 3 magazine articles on the trout fishing there but never heard of Cats in it. They must not be glamorus enough for TV. Who'd you total up on that trip?
Tight lines,
Wade

Tight lines,
Wade

We were rafting way down the river where there are no trout. I would say that there were 100,000 channel cats per mile on that river, all from 8 to 16 inches long. In the pocket water there would be hundreds of them slurping foam off the surface. I even caught some endaged colorado river sqawfish on that trip. I showed it to the guide and he freaked out and was like "throw it BACK, throw it BACK!!!" What a crackup.

Dang, that was quick! Sounds kind of cool with all those Kitties but I want some size! What did you use on them anyways?

Tight lines,
Wade

whatever gargbage was leftover after dinner :)

You literally couldn't make a cast without getting bit. It was only fun for so long, even on 6lb test.

Cats are fun- although Bob has done a great job ruining a great bass fishery at Oso, the cats there are thick, and average 6-10 pounds- I've caught them on blades, cranks, and senkos (they love senkos, must be the hot dog thing), but a couple times I have fished for them on purpose with flylined mac on a light spinner, what a blast- the fact that you catch a lot of bass on the mac further backs the theory that Bob has ruined the place, poor guys would probably eat velveta. LMV, known for the trophy bass, is a pretty sick catfishing spot as Brian #1 can vouch for ( I think he holds the record for biggest kitty smuggled into the bushes caught on a slammer)- Lake record is 60+ (bottomed out their 60 pound scale), and hardly anyone fishes for them- I've had a few epic sessons flylining mac on a 4lb. trout stick, with multiple 20+ fish fought until your wrist is sore (from fishing, you pervs!). Most of the cats are channels, but some of the big blues from a stock in 87', those are the submarines you see around the ramp, lurk as well. They planted more blues last summer. Oh yeah, you can't fish with mackerel. I caught mine on,umm, marshmellows. Yeah. On a more serious note, while fishing the other day a guy who lives in Finnestera told me about lots of kooks fishing live trout, I think that sucks. Said one kid pulled what he thought was a 15 on a trout, I believe him. Probably killed it, THAT SUCKS. Idiots

I knew it was only a matter of time before one of you kooks brought up the mission kitty LMAO :-) <--- represents smiley face whose image directory got uploaded in ascii

been getting all of my big kitties at Clear Lk. on Shad minnows and micro-light gear. Here is a link with a diagram of my tackle and rigging at the bottom of the page: http://www.trophybassonly.com/id118.htm

....and here is a link to my buddy catfishEd's site: http://www.catfished.com/index.html
He has great catfish forum, with lots of good info.

You should not have to go to heavier gear, but should not be breaking fish off on the hookset either. Check your drag, and lighten up on your swing. Catfish are easy to hook with a smaller, razor sharp hook.

I don't let them take the bait too far, as I don't want to gut hook them if I can help it. If they slam me, I set the hook right then..... if they move off slowly, I might let them take a couple of feet, or a couple of seconds, whichever comes first.

Please, if you are going to keep a few to eat, that's fine. But understand that these are valuable "sportfish" and be respectful of the resource. C / R whatever you won't use.

Great fishing to you,
Fish Chris

Hey Chris,
I read that article and didn't even put 2 and 2 together that Chris Wolfgramm was you. In-Fisherman is an Awesome Mag. I noticed all of your cats seem to be Channels out in the open, whereas Anderson has mostly Blues. I haven't tried shad on these cats too much, because anchovies are cheaper, but I think I will. Have you tried Butterflying the Shad? I've noticed that the vast majority of my hits came from shallow heavy cover. A rocky point with 4 discarded cement dock anchors with rebar sticking out to be exact. I thought the rebar was sticks in the first post, but have been back in the day to see different. I can't seem to get a solid hit out in the open and I can't gain control of them quick enough in the cover. The open water hits I have gotten, dropped the bait at the first sign of resistance and are very slowly moving away. The baits are coming back mostly intact but slightly smashed. I'm not using any weight or swivel, just snell knotting Gammie Octopuses directly to my line and leaving about 2-3' of slack in the line. As for Selective Harvest, I'm a firm believer. Cats under 6# from cool water taste better anyways. A freind insisted on keeping a 11# in late March as it was his biggest fish ever, it tasted of mud so bad we gave it to his cats. Now he won't eat catfish at all, which is fine with me.

Tight lines,
Wade

Are you talking about Anderson Res. in the South Bay area ? Near Gilroy ?
The reason I ask, is that as far as I know, there are no "true" Blue cats up here in Nor Cal. I had heard some rumors about actual "Blue cats" being planted in one lake near Napa (Lk. Hennessey) but I was never able to confirm that. No doubt there are Channels which are bluer or greyer in coloration, often having bigger heads, and a tail which is less forked...... Then there are the gold / brown Channels which generally have a smaller head, bigger bellies, and a sharply forked tail, the latter usully being much nicer to look at... (a pretty catfish ? :-) This gives rise to the common misconception that "this one is a Blue, and this one is a Channel" but it is most likely that these are either the differences from different breeding stocks, or male / female variations.

Anyway, I can imagine that the cats in Clear Lk. might be more likely to be out away from the shore, as this lake is not "too deep" anywhere ! It's basically all useable water ! Undoubtedly part of the reason Clear Lk. is such a great catfish fishery !

Peace,
Fish

PS, Yea'.... Who is that Wolfgram guy anyway ? He looked like Fish Chris to me...... In-Fisherman is a great magazine ! But I wish they wouldn't mislead people :-)

Will attach a photo of my latest hog kitty... a 28.3 lb hog

Attachment #1, (.jpg file)

There are some Channels in there too, but most of the bigger ones are Blues. I've even counted anal fin rays, on 2 of them that I wasn't sure about and the bluer and bigger of the 2 was actually a Channel with it's tail mangled to almost square, and the classic smaller head. The smaller and tanner of the 2 was a Blue with a normal tail and the usual muscle-bound head. Right now I can't remember the numbers of anal fin rays that differentiates between them. I remember one of them had 38 and the other 41, I think, but I can't remember which goes to which. The channles that I get are mostly between 4 and 8#'s and the Blues typically run 6 to 13#. My biggest channel here was 10#s and my biggest blue was 21#s. I'll see if I can dig up the foto of that one for you. I have seen bigger ones in there, including one that chased a 9" Carp up onto the bank, recently. That was something to watch! The Carp was flopping around and the cat had most of it's head on the bank with its whishers dragging back and forth and it's mouth opening and closing. The Carp finally made it back to the water and the cat whirled on it, but I think, too late.

Tight lines,
Wade