I remember when a buddy and I went night fishing for the Big Blue Cats back in the 70s.We used night crawlers and chicken livers for bait. We built a bonfire to keep warm by and to entice the fish to come closer to shore.

We fished all night and caught at least 50 Blue Cats that night.Some of them weighing up to 20 pounds.Here are a few ideas if you haven't cat fished.

Now Blue and Channel cats feed near the surface,so you don't need to set your lines over four feet deep.

In small streams lines are often set bank to bank.Place the trot lines along brush and across the mouths of creeks.Along channels,rocky areas where the stream narrows.

Catfish move along certain underwater roads,so keep moving until you find a hot spot.

At night set your lines at four feet and in the daytime 15 feet for Channel cats and use any kind of bait for your liking as Channel cats eat almost anything..

Channel cats can be caught using bait casting or spinning tackle.

We used poles and a trot line with 10 hooks attached to it,put a buoy at the far end so the line would drift around in the lake at secured the end to a stake driven into the ground.

About every hour we would pull the line into shore and take the catch off,then reset the hooks and toss the line back out into the lake.

I also fish for Bullheads,they are a little catfish which averages around 1 pound and good eating.

My grandson likes to use stink bait for fishing the cats,but I shall stick with worms as stink bait is just that.It stinks and stays on your hands and clothes all day until you get home and wash it off.

I wouldn't advise anyone to do this method now because it is against fish and game laws. Catfish are fed soybeans,corn,grains,fish meal,just about anything in the grain family.

On one acre you can raise as many as 7000 fish in a year.It is a profitable business if you are located in a good crop growing area.I raised catfish in a pond about 40 by 40 and they grew quite rapidly.I usually caught them when they weighed 3 to 4 pounds,for processing.

Want to know how to catch catfish,then check out the DVD on E-Bay. 

A good source of protein and not full of mercury.All you need is a 1/4 acre of land to do this project.

Here is a recipe for cooking catfish

Ingredients

Two 5- to 7-ounce genuine U.S. farm-raised catfish fillets

1/4 cup flour Salt and pepper (to taste)

Pinch of red chili powder

2 ounces clarified butter

1 teaspoon finely chopped garlic

1/4 cup white wine

1/4 cup chopped green chili

1 Tablespoon finely chopped tomatoes

1/2 Tablespoon butter or margarine

1/2 Tablespoon chopped scallion

Directions: Lightly coat catfish fillets with flour seasoned with salt and pepper.

Dust fillets with red chili powder.

In a hot saute pan, add clarified butter.

Lightly brown garlic.

Place catfish in pan and cook on medium-high heat until brown (about 2-3 minutes).

Turn fillets over and cook 1 minute more.

Add white wine, green chili, tomatoes and a pinch of salt and pepper.

Cover and cook until done (when catfish flakes easily).

Remove fillets to a plate.

Add scallion and butter to the sauce.

Stir and pour over catfish.

Serves: 2

A long time ago cat-fishers learned that they enjoy tasty table fare along with their corn liquor.

The way they did this,was by using their corn liquor jugs as bobbers.They then tied a rope or line nowadays to the finger hole and placed the cork on.and tossed it over board.

Back then cat-fishers had to pursue the jugs with oars,which made it hard work,but with the back breaking work they took care of many family's in catfish.

These days you won't see anyone using jugs as quart or gallon oil cans are easier to handle and find at most gas stations.

You can paint the cans a shiny color so they will be easily spotted by using luminous paint.Put your initials on the can also,so you can identify if they get mixed up with someone Else's.

You will want to tie 50 to 100 pound test line on with a half ounce or larger sinker and a number 5/0 to a 8/0 hook.

The bait to use is anything like liver,chicken entrails,worms and cut up fish parts.Don't forget the fish oil also.

Cat-fishers study the channels,deep holes and gravel bars and also look for rock infested areas where the river narrows gets deeper.

The minute you see a jug dancing,you better start a running after that jug.After it comes back up ,you feel to see if the fish is big and if so set your hook deeper.Now drop the jug back into the water and let the big bruiser beat himself up.When he gets tired,it is time to start pulling him to surface and place a net beneath him for boating.

Most oar or motor boat fishermen will place their boat upstream of the jugs,as this enables them to get to the jugs easier without so much exertion,and also if the motor quits you.

Happy jugging

Channel cats love catalpa worms,which are found on the leaves of catalpa trees from later in the spring through summer.To make catalpa worms more irresistible,try cutting off the head and poking a matchstick through the body to turn the worm inside out.The juice will give off more scent which helps the catfish to locate it more quickly.

Catfish are generally known to be bottom feeders,but not necessarily true for Blue Cats.Blues tend to roam the open waters more then other catfish species,and fishing commercially tend to catch more cats on trout lines fished next to the surface then on the bottom.

Some anglers prefer to use the clincher type sinker instead of the egg type with a hole through it.

The clincher type anchors bait better over a given spot but the slip sinker is much superior.

Fishing the boils below a falls or damn can produce giant catfish.

Some fishermen use liver but most anglers use large shad minnows.

They catch cats weighing from 50 to 100 pounds.Light bait tackle is no match for the big monsters.

At night when catfish move inshore to feed.This is why so many limb liners and cane pole-rs swear by night fishing.Such fishermen and some large family groups gather around and build a large bonfire and cook the fish on the spot.

It is from gatherings like this that Dixielands famous catfish and hush puppies got their reputation.

Hungry anglers can almost inhale catfish under these conditions.

But it took an old colored cat fisherman to really tell the story.

After biting into a big catfish fillet he said "If the good lord made anything better,He ate it himself".