Night Fishing For Catfish | Enticing Medal Catfish Into A Feeding Emotion!

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Equipment you will require :

* Boat
* Boat Anchors
* Separate 12v Battery To run lights
* dark Lights
* flooded Lighting
* Live Bait Keeper
* Chum bag
Rod Holders
* Heavy Bait Casting Or Spinning Rig
* Insect Repellent

Dark fishing for catfish can be a very pleasing fishing trip. Believe me If you do it in the approved manner you will catch fish, not only will you catch fish but some will be lunkers! Catfish feed at dark and are very active, and when they buy into a feeding frenzy fishing action can be fantastic! Catfish are attracted to flooded lighting and have a extremely keen sense of smell. So If you can discover their nightly haunts you can persuade them on to your hook by some very easy methods I will describe here. But first you must be setup and prepared for dark fishing it is totally unusual at dark therefore in the day. Things you take for granted during the day, don't apply at night.

Boat Setup for night fishing

Before you even think about going night fishing for catfish you need to have the following things:, lights for inside the boat ,either battery or Coleman fuel type lanterns with two mantles. all set up your lights so they distribute light evenly inside the boat. I personally fish from a 6 meter pontoon and I have 3 halogen battery powered lights hung 2in the front, left and right and one hanging from my canopy in the rear. (I have used my Colemans but they attract a massive amount of insects)

You also will require a secondary light on your person. This light is used for re-rigging your fishing poles. Believe me , no matter how equipped you are earlier your trip you will loose some tackle, from line crossovers, or snags, or fish snapping your line. (you can limit this with using heavy tackle and making sure your line is fresh) I personally use a led light that clips to the screen on my ball cap.

You also will want a light to illuminate the water surface I advise 12v halogen light that can be directed outside the boat. Mount it on the side of your boat, in the center. I personally use and modifiable halogen that I can clip to the railing on my pontoon. Direct the light at a 60 degree angle from boat to water. This will illuminate the surface.

You will need a submerged light source. You are probably asking your self right now why do I need submerged lighting? The submerged lights will generate plankton swirls that will attract bait fish. Once the bait fish set up schooling. The big cats will come. attract schools submerged lighting rigs come in a variety of sizes and shapes, the one I use is 36" long about 4" in diameter. Center the submerged light in the illumination pattern of the surface water lighting you just all set up. Anchor your flooded lighting about 12 " off the bottom, (without an anchor they will float on top of the water).. make sure the light completely submerged under the water. I recommend you use a 5lb weight as an anchor. If possible, anchor the flooded light about 2 to 3 ft from the boat.

You will need a secondary power source for the flooded light, the water illumination light and to operate your aerator pump for your live bait or live well."do not use your boats power source" This will drain your battery."you don't want to get stuck on the lake at night right? If you take a well charged 12v marine battery as your second source it will last through the night.

You will need all Your poles pre-rigged If you have the rigs I would set up 3 poles , per person in advance of getting on the water. The reason I suggest this is because it's real pain the "blank" To re-rig at night. You will end up doing it anyway , but if you have spare poles already all set up, use them first before you have waist valuable time by poles out of the water.

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Locating the cat's nightly haunts

It has been my experience the bigger cat's roam the shore lines or back waters in search of food at night. Every body of water will be different. I highly advise you do some research on the body of water you intend to night fish for catfish on. At Minimum get a topographical map of the area before you attempt your trip. These can be attained at any of the regional bait and tackle shops in the area. (I recommend you visit one of these shops to buy the local scoop anyway, if you dig deep enough these guys can pin point on the map Where to set up fishing. This will recover you lots of time.)

Enticing the Cats to your boat.

Once you have your water surface lights and your flooded lights put up and ready to go you don't even need to do the next step, you are arranged to set up fishing. The submerged lighting will purchase the schools of bait fish coming , but I take it step one step extra because if you play on the catfish's additional sensitive sense of smell you can drive the Big cats into a feeding frenzy! Ok You say how?

Well the answer is by introducing "chumming". Chumming releases a slick of dead fish smells and fish guts that the small bait fish and catfish feed on. There are many commercial chumming systems you can purchase and they work very well, but I use a simple very economical method that anyone can set up. First you will need a nylon netted bag that you can close tight. (a good example would the netted bags that you put golf balls in that have a string closure adjustment) This is what I use, works ideal , very economical. Next , purchase some good size freezer bags, 3 should do for one nights trip.

Next, get about 2 dozen good size chubs and cut them in 1" to 2" slices, make sure you do this in a saucepan that will not drain all the juices. Fill the freezer bags pieces and juice all together, and let them sit outside in the sun all day long. Yes it will stink to high heaven by means of the end of the day, but that is what you want! Now affix the freezer bag in side the meshed bag that can close. Close the bag tight and tie a line at the bottom of the bag about 2 feet long. Attach about a 2lb anchor to buy the bag to the bottom . Now tie a line at the top of the bag by means of enough lead line to purchase the bag on the bottom. Now before you lower the chum bag to the bottom take an ice pick, or something sharp that will prick the bag , but not tear the plastic. Punch the freezer bag numerous times, consequently lower to the bottom an tie it off on the side of the boat.

Now its time to fish! But before we go there lets re-visit Your catfish rigs. There are many catfish rigs you can use, and they all work in situations they are designed for. When you are fishing at night and you have submerged a lighting setup ,you want purchase your line about 2 ft away from the light source, approximated on the outer edges of the source's beam.

You will be fishing only a short distance from the boat, so your rigs need to be all set up to fish in close proximity to the boat. You could fish tight line with a basic catfish hook and a small sinker. Or use a slip bobber system. I prefer to use the slip bobber system.

I use the single hook rig. Both rigs shown in the picture work fine but I just have preference for the single hook rig. I do use the double hook rig when fishing for other types of fish. I use all heavy duty, open face , and spin cast rod and reels by way of 30lb test. When you do get a lunker on your line you want the tackle arranged up to handle the fight. You miss some smaller cats, but it's well worth it when you catch your first 10lb plus catfish.

Baits To Use

Both Channel and Blue catfish will eat just about any small fish like Suckers, small shad, or bluegills both live or dead. I use both live bait and dead "cut bait" I will normally set one pole up through a small live gill no more that 3inches in length. My other poles will be baited through cut bait , normally LARGE suckers 6" or longer cut in 1" to 2" chunks.

Now Bait your rigs,Get Your Boat Setup and purchase set for an exciting nighttime fishing for Catfish Trip! Once you catch a lunker 10 pounder + You will be Hooked for life! So have pleasure and good luck!

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