Catfishfishing Rod And Reel

[caudburns11]

Along with Bass fishing I do some catfishing. Not sure any of you do too but I was wondering what kind of rods and reels do some of you use for it? I mostly fish one spot, a pretty good size lake in a sub division that used to be a very large lake big enough for a little boat fishing until they shrunk it. So the fish are a decent size range from 10-20 lb fish with a few larger ones in the high twenties lower thirties. I also cat fish in the Ohio river and other rivers off it a couple times a year. That would be my main Rod. If possible I want to buy a little heavier duty/ stronger set up for when I go to paylakes with some of my friends. The fish in there can get to over 100 lbs. The really serious guys there use surf rods, so I was gonna look in that area but if you guys have any suggestions for that too that would be great.

Carter

[Fisher-O-men]

I like a 6000 Ambassadeur.  Old-school round reel with a clicker.

[Bluebasser86]

I do a pretty fair amount of catfishing, mainly in the rivers but also some lakes. I target the big blues and flatheads since I don't eat them, just want to get the biggest possible and enjoy the fight. I like the Okuma Epixor or Avenger baitfeeders in the 50,65, and 90 sizes. The rod you're looking for is a difficult balance to find, something light enough to fish for 10 pounders but strong enough to potentially muscle in a 100lb class fish. If I was going to pick a setup for your situation it would be a 7' H Ugly Stick Tiger Lite rod with a 50 or 65 size Okuma Epixor baitfeeder loaded up with 65lb braid. 

[scaleface]

I do a lot of carp and catfishing and use old flipping rods with retired   baitcasters  .

[Captain America]

Berkley and shakespeare make some catfish specific rods. There are others too. They just long (7-8ft) medium heavy rods that you would pair with a heavy duty reel. Any rod/ reel that can handle big cats should work fine, especially if you are just sitting shrimp or dip baits on the bottom.

[EmersonFish]

That's a pretty wide range of applications for one rod. People who catfish a lot are just like bass fisherman; they have a variety of rods/reels for different techniques and situations. If I were going to sell someone on a versatile setup that could be used from shore with j-hooks, a boat with circles, smaller channels to fairly big blues, I'd lean toward a Tangling With Catfish Whisker Whip with an Abu Garcia 6500 C3.

[countryboy65]

I do a pretty fair amount of catfishing, mainly in the rivers but also some lakes. I target the big blues and flatheads since I don't eat them, just want to get the biggest possible and enjoy the fight. I like the Okuma Epixor or Avenger baitfeeders in the 50,65, and 90 sizes. The rod you're looking for is a difficult balance to find, something light enough to fish for 10 pounders but strong enough to potentially muscle in a 100lb class fish. If I was going to pick a setup for your situation it would be a 7' H Ugly Stick Tiger Lite rod with a 50 or 65 size Okuma Epixor baitfeeder loaded up with 65lb braid. 

i agree with everything except for the braid.  where i fish in the Mississippi there are a lot of rocks and braid can be cut very easily, but if there aren't many rocks braid will work good.  I use 30 pound cajun line mono, very abrasion resistant.  I also have a Okuma Avenger and really like it for now, hopefully it holds up good. 

[caudburns11]

Thanks for all the replies. I found my rod from last year that I thought I had thought I left somewhere. It's a Shakespeare Ugly Stick Catfish. It's 7' MH. It worked great last year so I should be good on a rod for when I'm not going after huge catfish. Just need to find a decent spinning reel to put on it

[chrisdm4]

I use a ugly stik catfish rod with a Abu Garcia Ambassadeur SX Round Baitcasting Reel. Has worked great for me!

[EmersonFish]

Thanks for all the replies. I found my rod from last year that I thought I had thought I left somewhere. It's a Shakespeare Ugly Stick Catfish. It's 7' MH. It worked great last year so I should be good on a rod for when I'm not going after huge catfish. Just need to find a decent spinning reel to put on it

The Okuma Avenger baitfeeder mentioned by a couple of people is a fine, affordable spinning reel that is easy to find and will suit your needs just fine along with that Ugly Stik Catfish.

[Maxximus Redneckus]

6500C3 garcia and a 7' uglystik catfish rod work for me .i use 15 lb big game or yo zuri.

[tholmes]

For flatheads, I use an old Ambassadeur 5000C that I've swapped out the left-hand sideplate for one from a 6000C so I'd have a clicker. It's mounted on a 6'  Berkely Roughneck rod. 

 

For channel cats, It's a Ambassadeur 5500 C-3 on a 7' Ugly Stik.

 

Tom

[fishinphilly]

i used to big into catfishing, but I've always used a spinning setup when fishing for them usually a penn fierce 4000 and a cabbalas whuppin stick usually 8ft heavy and I'm a light line person so ill usually use 12-14lb test

[Hyrule Bass]

for spinning reels, i have a Penn Captiva 2 6000 and a Penn Fierce 4000 that i use for catfishing. both are great durable reels. The previously mentioned okuma baitfeeder 65 is also something ive heard highly recommended for catfishing...

[0119]

I used to use Ambassadeur 5500's and ugly sticks. Now I use a PENN Spinfisher Liveliner with a set of the European bank sticks for a rod rest.

[Bruce424]

7ft berkley fusion with a garcia Mitchell spinning reel.