Whats The Best Catfish Rig Off The Bank Or Dam?

[Brand0n]

my local lakes are full of channel cats, big and small but im trying to prevent bluegill tearing the chicken liver apart. they usually get to it before it hits bottom. im looking for a efficient rig and a good hook type and size too. ive read to keep reading around and keep changing and i catch a few. im just trying to throw some food on the table this weekend. im going in the morning before it rains. its been raining half the week including today and raining all weekend. in the low 60s, some wind. stink bait doesnt work where i fish. livers or nightcrawlers.

[cast_and_destroy]

never really cared for chicken livers that much but if you wrap each chicken liver in panty hose it will keep the bluegill from eating and keep them from falling off the hook....also the scent of the liver will still get out for the catfish.

 

if thats not an option you can salt the chicken livers. put them in a conatiner and put a good layer of salt in between each liver...keep them in the fridge for a few days and it'll make them tough so its harder for the bluegill to eat and also help them stay on the hook...

 

For the rig i pretty much use a modified carolina rig...heavier line but thats about it....as far as hooks id just use any treble...but like i said, not a lot of experience with chicken livers. 

[Bluebasser86]

Fresh cutbait or live bait is all I use for catfish unless I'm fishing a pond during the summer months, then I'll use grasshoppers. A basic slip sinker rig is the best way to fish them, unless it's shallow, then you can fish them weightless. If you use pantyhose or spawn bags you can put the livers in the middle of a square, pull all the corners together, and put a hook point through all 4 corners. This allows you to use a single hook instead of a treble, I prefer a 1/0 Kahle hook for most of my channel cat fishing. 

[Teal]

Cut bait. Carolina catfish rig. Bream halves work well.

I dont mess with anything like livers or stink bait. Ill either buy some jumbo minnows or use shad that i can catch with a cast net. To use bream in NC, they must be caught with hook and line.

[keith71]

Cant beat livers and panty hose.You can cast it a mile and perch and bluegills cant peck it off.I tie all mine off the night or day before. 1/2 to 2oz barrel sinker brass swivel and bead and 3/0 Kahle hook.

[Brand0n]

if i use cut bream or shad here, the turtles usually grab em. bream are swarming here when it gets closer to being warm but bass eat em on a cork and turtle love em.

[georgeyew]

I sometime use the mini hotdogs. They are hard enough that the bluegills cannot tear them apart but sometimes the turtles can eat them though.

[Bankbeater]

I like cut bait, shad guts, or minnows threaded on like a night crawler.