Good lures for catfish?

MDF

Member
Hello, I was wondering what are some good lures for catching catfish in rivers and ponds? I've only caught bass and would like to use my Abu Garcia Black Max baitcaster.
 

Big7

The Oracle
They will occasionally hit a lure. Not much. Most are caught incidentally while bass fishing.

Big Flatheads will bite a heavy jigging spoon.

A better bet with a baitcaster would be 2- 3" shad, shiner or Brim.
 

across the river

Senior Member
Hello, I was wondering what are some good lures for catching catfish in rivers and ponds? I've only caught bass and would like to use my Abu Garcia Black Max baitcaster.

Take your typical Carolina rig, remove the plastic worm, and put some real worms, piece of chicken, chicken liver, live bream, cut bream, stink bait, or any number of other things on there. Chunk it out and let it sit for a while. If you don’t get a bite move.
 

NCHillbilly

Administrator
Staff member
Are you wanting some eating sized cats? Nightcrawlers or cut fish work great. I have caught catfish on crankbaits, jigging spoons, curly tail grubs, inline spinners, and about every other kind of lure, but nothing beats live bait for consistently catching cats.
 

brutally honest

Senior Member
For artificial baits, I’ve caught more cats on jigs than anything else. It really helps, though, if you tip the jig with bait or “almost bait” like Powerbait or any of the packaged dough baits.
 

NCHillbilly

Administrator
Staff member
Au contraire mon frere lol

I would tell people what I catch them on but they wouldn't believe me. lol Needless to say I wouldn't soak my toes in my stuff and put them in the water on the hill...

View attachment 1119626
Nice mess of cats! We get them like that out of the Hill on cut bait, too. And I wouldn't disbelieve a catfish eating about anything.
 
Take 6 dozen night-crawlers and 2 tablespoons of garlic and throw them in a blender for 30 seconds and soak chicken hearts in the concoction for 5 days in your garage refrigerator......They stay on the hook good and it puts out a ton of scent.

Thats what I used to use and it worked really well. Cut bait works good too. They are veracious feeders.....
 

NCHillbilly

Administrator
Staff member
Take 6 dozen night-crawlers and 2 tablespoons of garlic and throw them in a blender for 30 seconds and soak chicken hearts in the concoction for 5 days in your garage refrigerator......They stay on the hook good and it puts out a ton of scent.

Thats what I used to use and it worked really well. Cut bait works good too. They are veracious feeders.....
Catfish love garlic, for sure.
 

kirby999

Senior Member
could try some Gulp lures .
Theres a guy on YouTube that catches channel cats on Gulp minnows on ultralight .
 

Hillbilly stalker

Senior Member
Catching catfish on lures is mostly coincidence, it is much more effective to use bait….either stink bait, food based or live bait. There’s no comparision.

They call Muskie ” the fish of 10,000 casts”. You would get pretty close to that fishing lures strictly for catfish.
 

oldfella1962

Senior Member
could try some Gulp lures .
Theres a guy on YouTube that catches channel cats on Gulp minnows on ultralight .

no more catfish for me on ultralight! The last one I caught took me about ten minutes to land on 4# test. By the time I landed it the rest of the catfish had taken off for greener pastures. :mad: Oh and the catfish must have rolled about a gazillion times because my line was twisted up like a Slinky toy! :LOL: On the plus side it was deeeeelicious! Better than restaurant catfish that's for sure.
 

kirby999

Senior Member
I don’t see why you couldn’t bump up to 8# test , use a dropshot rig with a 2.5 or 3” gulp minnow .
I’ve been thinking of giving it a try myself next time out . Except I’ll probably stick with 6# line .
Gulp shrimp might work pretty good .
 

kirby999

Senior Member
I’ve caught several on 1/80 oz micro jigs and a few on a chartreuse curlytail grub/jig . These were caught on a woolybooger microjig .
 

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fish hawk

Bass Master
Ive caught catfish on crankbaits,spinnerbaits,jigs,plastic worms and most of your typical bass lures.I've even caught a catfish on top water but all of them were accidental.Natural baits are what's best for catfish, live or cut bream would be hard to beat.My latest surprise catfish catch was on a 3/8 thunder cricket.20211101_135022_copy_480x977.jpg
 
The best lures for catfish are either scented or have noise-making/vibrating components. You can use basic lures like spinners, jigs or soft-plastics and spice them up as needed to attract catfish.
 
Shad either gizzard or threadfin. Match the size of the bait to the size of the fish you want to catch. Like others mentioned catfish eat about anything. You can also soak chicken breast in wd-40 over night and use pretty darn good too. Chicken flavored hotdogs chicken liver. Live and cut bait bream. My favorite baits are skipjack herring. Gizzard and threadfjb shad followed by bream.. using jigs that’s usually a reaction strike and not a effective way to target catfish
 
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