hey guys, i’ve been fishing at the pelican bay marina. and i have been trying to catch some channel catfish, and i am using worms, chicken liver, and shrimp. and im also using a turkey feather bobber. but im still not catching anything. can anyone give some advice. thank you
Those baits/bobber should work. Might try close to shore next to some reeds. If you don’t get any action move to another spot of wait a couple of weeks. The best is yet to come.
Good luck.
try WB meat, thats a good way to go, ive been getting channels like crazy on the jordan like that.
If you find the fish…and they are even a little bit active…you should be able to catch them on just about anything and everything. I don’t know of any potential bait that they WON’T eat…animal, vegetable or mineral. But…you can’t catch 'em where they ain’t and if they are turned off by weather or cold temperatures it is tougher.
I have to laugh whenever someone holds forth on this board that a certain bait or a certain rig is the ONLY way to fish for catfish. Somebody went fishing once…when the fish were hitting well…and whatever it was they used worked very well too. So forevermore that is the only way they fish and anybody who doesn’t fish the exact same way is a fool.
Take an assortment of the PROVEN effective baits for Utah Lake…worms, shrimp, minnows, carp meat, white bass meat, etc. If you have two rods (and a permit) fish one rig on the bottom and the other under a float. Fish shallow and deep. Fish next to cover and out in deeper water. If you don’t catch fish…MOVE. If you are catching fish on one rig or one bait, then change so that you are using the hot ticket on both rods.
Catfish are not finicky stream trout. They hunt both by sight and by smell…and have sensitive scent receptors all over their bodies…as well as being sensitive to vibrations. If you put out a decent bait…in the right place…the fish will find and eat it. And they are not leader or tackle shy. You can tie a big hook directly to a big sinker and hang a big nasty piece of bait on it…and the fish will eat it. You can tie your hook onto heavy twine…no fluorocarbon leader…and the fish will eat it.
If you are not catching catfish right now, it is for basically one of two reasons. The fish are somewhere else…or they are turned off by the weather. A big thing is depth. Some days the fish will be in shallow or warmer water. Then a day later they will be out in much deeper water to get away from the wind-blown waves crashing into the shallows.
Lots of good fishing ahead. Keep trying and you will time it right on some trips.
I like putting a blade and beads above my hook - with a bobber - and a bit of chop - figure that blade may not spin, but it’ll flop, bounce, glint - get their attention - then whatever tasty morsel is below it…is done for.
Though sometimes I wonder if the extra hardware might discourage them, but I don’t think so. Can always slide the blade a bit higher up - like an ice-fishing flasher.
scent - baits like chicken liver are gonna ooze scent, but after setting/soaking for a time - a bit more scent can’t hurt. I’ve been using a garlic, or crawdad flavor on shrimp - and they like it. Sometimes a fresh squirt, fresh cast - and it’s on.
So TD - do you find kitty bellies fat full of green stuff? Been checking some to see what they’re eating, and it’s all green goo.
well i caught one out of the jordan yesterday and filleted him up for dinner and it looked ok till i saw the green your talking about, still fried it up and it was not good, it tasted like stagnant pond water and algae. maybe its just that river. never eat one of those again out of there.
Tubedude as always is 100% right! If they are there they will bite it. Assuming you have bait. I just watched a special on cat fish. They can find almost any bait regardless how murky water is. They can sense food anywhere with zero sight. They even eat SOAP…so they are clean when you catch them 
“So TD - do you find kitty bellies fat full of green stuff? Been checking some to see what they’re eating, and it’s all green goo.”
Catfish are like teenagers…they’ll eat whatever is in the kitchen if they are hungry enough. Not uncommon to find kitties with a gut full of algae or other aquatic vegetation…especially the new tasty first growth of the year. I have even found them with cattail roots in them.
Cats are truly omnivorous…animal, vegetable, etc. And while the algae seems nasty to us humans, it can be a sustaining source of vitamins and bulk while the fish are waiting for other food sources to become more prevalent. I have also heard the theory that they eat it for the small invertebrates…larvae, snails, etc…that it might contain. At any rate, it is high in fiber and mostly digestible. And it does not seem to adversely affect the taste of the cats on the table.
Once the other species spawn and produce edible sized fry…and there are more worms and bugs in the ecosystem…the cats will revert back to a more “normal” diet…of anything and everything else.
I’ve heard they have a fantastic sense of smell… I don’t know the range, but I think it’s quite the distance!
I’ve heard they have a fantastic sense of smell… I don’t know the range, but I think it’s quite the distance!
In stillwater situations it is not the range that matters. Downstream in a moving water, yes.
What makes them so sensitive to scents in the water is not only their sense of smell but the fact that they have scent receptors all over their skin surface. They are literally swimming sniffers. And they can detect extremely small amounts of scent and follow it to the source…kind of like doppler radar with sound waves…only with scent.
Once at the scene of the scent the barbels come into play. They touch and smell the bait with their whiskers for even more precise evaluation. As soon as they are satisfied that it is edible they chomp it for the final taste test. Now all that happens fairly quickly and they really don’t stop to think about it. It is mostly instinct so that if a cat detects some delicious bait it will swim quickly to the source…and usually munch it fast…especially if there are other fish in the area…the competitive reaction bite thing. That’s why if you get in a school of bullheads you can’t keep your lines in the water around them.
The other side of the coin is that channel cats have much better vision than most folks suspect. When the water is clear enough for them to become sight feeders they will often depend more upon catching and killing live prey…crawdads, worms, minnows, etc…than on stinky dead stuff. That’s why so many cats are caught on lures. Of course it helps if the lure is noisy and has some “sweetener” on it.
Great stuff right there. Thanks for clearing that up!
surprised more people don’t use spam, that scent is too irresistable. white bass, catfish, carp, perch, blue gill, mud cats, bass. never know what I’m gonna pull in when i go on my once a year utah lake trip.
stink bait kittie.
Natural baits.
Lots of great responses here. Many different baits work for channel cats. My favorite baits for bigger fish are whole dead fish or cut bait. I personally like sucker and utah chubs the most. they are both oily and have great scent. I have also caught nice cats on crawdads (crayfish or whatever name you prefer) pull the pinchers off the craw and then smash the head so the juices seep out that the cats love. minnows work well too. The following is a great article from In fisherman that I think does a great job on cattin baits.
http://archives.in-fisherman.com/content/natural-way-catfish
I also attatched a few pictures. these fish were caught on chub, minnows, and crawdad
I have to laugh whenever someone holds forth on this board that a certain bait or a certain rig is the ONLY way to fish for catfish. Somebody went fishing once…when the fish were hitting well…and whatever it was they used worked very well too. So forevermore that is the only way they fish and anybody who doesn’t fish the exact same way is a fool**.**
Psychologists call this “impact effect”.
Keep it up. South of Pelican along the shore, I caught a decent number of 18-20 inch cats last year…even just on jigs with wb meat.
That has been a good kitty condo for many years. Back in the 60’s…when I was young and even more foolish…I used to row a wooden boat across the lake from Provo to fish the area around Pelican Point. Usually trolled a hammered nickle spoon behind the boat and had to stop frequently to chastise a silly white bass, catfish, walleye or carp.
**It was all cool as long as the afternoon breezes blew in from the west and helped my return journey. A couple of return trips were more like surfing than rowing. But I also had to spend some time on the west shore waiting for Mama Nature to get back on her meds. Hairy stuff. **
I fish all along the shoreline from Pelican to past the Knolls. I usually use mostly small jigs…sometimes with worm and sometimes only bare plastic. That has always been a good place to catch lots of cats on artificials. Lipless cranks account for a few too.