Anyone Else Catch Catfish On Bass Lures?

[BasshunterJGH]

Do you guys ever catch catfish on bass lures like crankbaits? I got this cat on a spro squarebill. I was pretty surprised I thought it was a nice bass when I was reeling it in lol.

[Ratherbfishing]

Over the years I've caught them on crankbaits, spinners, jigs... and even live bait (grin).  They put up one heck of a fight.

[RSM789]

I have over the years, but more so on my current home lake.  Largest was 15lbs on a 7" plastic worm, but the biggest battle was the 12lb, 9 oz one on a setup with 4 lb mono & a small jig (picture below).  Literally took me 15 minutes to land him, he was making runs like a tuna and dragged my little boat all over the cove.

 

Also caught them on crankbaits, they seem to hammer them pretty hard, no subtle bite.  The 2nd photo is a 5 lb catfish that really choked a medium sized live target bluegill.

 

Every time I hook one & they start stripping line, I say outloud "PLEASE be a bass..."

[Siebert Outdoors]

I've caught quite a few cats this year on squarebills.  Nothing real big.

[tholmes]

I catch 'em fairly often on crankbaits, jigs and t-rigged plastics. Even caught one on a spinnerbait about a month ago.

 

Tom

[iabass8]

I catch more than I would like on cranks and senkos

[F14A-B]

Yep, jigs around docks/ wood... Also on tubes, and traps...

[aavery2]

That telltale line twist  is always a huge letdown  for me.

[RSM789]

That telltale line twist  is always a huge letdown  for me.

 

That & the goober snot on the line up from the hook.

[einscodek]

Caught a huge 16" bullhead on a..

huddleston shad

I never even knew they ever got that big

but I guess hudds have a reputation on catching bigger

[Hi Salenity]

I've caught a few, lol. Here are some from this summer all caught on a jig. I've been told I catch more cats than the guys that fish for them.

[VolFan]

I have a mini slammer that really seems to call in the blues for some reason. Great fun, but a little disappointing.

[Bassun]

I've caught a few on cranks and worms both.  I had to keep dodging them draging a worm in a cove one year in a tournament.  They just wouldn't leave the things alone lol.  I guess they were in the mood for garlic.

 

Earlier that same day, my partner had backlashed badly and was picking out his nest.  He was just starting to reel back in the line he spooled off when I noticed his line heading down the cove.  "DUDE, you have a fish on!"  He jumps up and cranks in all the line and hits paydirt with a solid hook set, fight on!  He faught the thing for a couple of minutes before we ever saw anything.  It came towards the surface and flashed a bit of white belly and I'll be honest, I thought he had a really nice bass on.  Then he brought it up again and just stopped reeling...it was a nice channel cat.  I don't remember if we weighed it or not but I'll call it about 8lb's and roughtly 24 inches. 

 

What shocked me was that he caught it basically dead sticking a floating crank.  I can only guess the cat's were in prespawn and were feeding like crazy.  Too bad it was a bass tourney, and not a whisker fish contest.

[fishballer06]

I seem to catch them on Shad Raps more than anything. 

[everythingthatswims]

I trolled deep diving crankbaits from my kayak for stripers this summer, two rods out and both got slammed by catfish at once when I went over what I assume was a school. We catch more cats than stripers when we troll like that haha

[Bluebasser86]

I catch a bunch of catfish on lures every year, really isn't a bait I haven't caught one on other than a big swimbait, and I'm sure that's just a matter of time. I've caught countless numbers of them on cranks, jigs, T rigged plastics, spoons, and bladed jigs. I've caught quite a few on jerkbaits, spinnerbaits, and traps. I've even caught several on buzzbaits and one big channel on a Snagproof tournament frog that I thought was going to be a new state record bass. I've helped a friend of mine land a 30+ pound flathead on a spinnerbait and landed them myself over 40 pounds. 

14lb baby brush hog

40+ on a jig

15lbs Havoc Craw fatty

17lbs on a jig

25lbs on a jig

12lbs on a shakyhead

Most of them I catch each year are close to this size and are tossed back without a picture.