Crankbaits For Cat's

[RUSS9999]

How often do you catch a Mud Cat on a crankbait? A 3bl. 11oz. on a twenty year old Strike King today. That's three for me.

[zachb34]

I've actually caught 4 on senkos and only one on a crankbait. The senkos are pretty strange for catfish though

[flyfisher]

i have caught catfish on every type of bass bait from crank baits, to flukes, to stick worms, to texas rigs and even topwater poppers.  Catfish are pretty voracious predators and every time i think i have a new personal best on the line until i feel them roll or see them come to the surface.  Doesn't change that they are fun to fight just adds a little disappointment.

[scaleface]

I catch channel cats on crankbaits often. I will target them on flats with a depth finder and troll    through them .

[Lunker Addict]

I caught an 11lb channel cat on a bluegill swim bait once but never a crank.

[Abuss55]

I have cuaght four on an inline spinner on my trout gear, haha that makes for a very long fight but a lot of fun! I have caught 2 on crank baits. Glad to see another Missouri boy!

[Senko lover]

I've caught one on a paddle-tail swimbait. Surprised me lol.

[smalljaw67]

We use to catch 10lb channel cats on Rebel Crawdad cranks on a regular basis. They are predators and if they moved more during the day you'd probably get a lot more, I saw Roland Martin catch a cat on a topwater during one show, so they do hit cranks, topwaters and even spinnerbaits when they are on the move.

[Dwight Hottle]

I have caught 4 channel cats from 10-17 lbs on jerk baits. Always catches me by surprise.

 

 

[everythingthatswims]

Lots and lots. Lake Anna must have a different breed of channel cat

[Choporoz]

I've caught more cats than bass with a DT-6.

[CeeJay]

In the past I've caught bullheads and channel cats on: spinnerbaits, skirted jig, inline spinners, various flies, Rebel Crickhopper used as topwater, Creme Scoundrel worm, and a Rebel Wee-Craw crankbait. 

[MIbassyaker]

I've had channel cats hit in-line spinners, crankbaits and grubs on jigheads. More recently, though, it's been Bowfin going after my shallow running cranks.

[Bluebasser86]

By Mudcat, I'm assuming you mean flathead, which in that case I used to target them with cranks on occasion with a Storm Deep Lightning shad grinding it through riprap during spawning season. Never caught any big ones, but a bunch up to 17 pounds. Catfish in general, there aren't many trips once the water gets above 60 that I don't catch a catfish. There is no bait that is surprising for them to eat, they're very predatory just like a bass. They'll hammer a crank, spinnerbait, trap, jig, worm, but the best are topwater cats, they put a bass blowup to shame. I've caught channels over 10 pounds on buzzbaits and on a frog in the slop. My bladed jigs are catfish magnets. I had a day last fall I caught 13 channel cats in a day on them, at one point I'd caught 4 on back to back to back to back cast. If you really want to catch some catfish on lures buy some Gulp plastics. 

Here's one that destroyed my bladed jig over some milfoil last week and really had my hopes up for just a second.

 

Catfish on lures is nothing out of the ordinary. 

14lb on a Baby Brush Hog under a dock

 

My wife catches a ton of channels on a Ned rig.

 

21lb on a power minnow and 4lb test.

 

40lb on a homemade casting jig

 

another Ned rig channel

 

12lb on a Craw Fatty

 

14lb on a homemade casting jig

 

piebald blue on a Gulp minnow

 

23lb on a homemade finesse jig

 

Homemade finesse and a pretty typical flathead that I catch lots of each year.

 

Slab Spoon

 

jigging spoon

 

Ned rig flathead

 

bladed jig fattie

 

8lb flathead on a brush jig

 

 

I don't even take pictures of most catfish I catch on lures

[ABW]

This is the 2nd catfish I've ever caught... both caught on Red Eye Shads

 

[scaleface]

Lots and lots. Lake Anna must have a different breed of channel cat

That same breed are in my lakes . They will hit a crankbait fiercely .

[scaleface]

I was fishing above a wing dam in the mississippi river about thirty years ago. I was anchored and threw a Manns shallow Razorback Pig . I got the lure right on top of the dike and just held it there letting the current do the work for me.Three channel cats , a walleye and bunches of  white bass fell for it .

[RUSS9999]

Nice pictures. Very good feed back. Don't here about it happing much around here. For years I Bass fished 5 to 7 days a week and just the three Channel Cats is it for me.

[Goose52]

A coincidence - I just caught a 7.5lb channel cat today on a 6th Sense Crush Flat 75X squarebill. While bass fishing, I've caught channel cats (the only species in my lakes) on cranks, lipless cranks, inline spinners, and plastic grubs.

 

[corn-on-the-rob]

The more you fish you realize catching a catfish on anything is not surprising. Any bait any location, even shallow lilly pads...

 

Got this baby last year on my spinning rod, close to 40lbs took 20+ minutes to get in.

 

[scaleface]

Caught this on a grub. I dont know how much it weighed .

 

[scaleface]

Nice pictures. Very good feed back. Don't here about it happing much around here. For years I Bass fished 5 to 7 days a week and just the three Channel Cats is it for me.

I have caught several big flatheads at Thomas Hill Reservoir on bass lures . Mark Twain Lake and Hunnewell lake it is common and often catch more than 1 a day . Sometimes several .

[RUSS9999]

Love Thomas Hill, that's where I caught the second Channel Cat on a crankbait.

[scaleface]

Love Thomas Hill, that's where I caught the second Channel Cat on a crankbait.

Before Mark Twain was formed I fished Thomas hill a lot. Its a good lake .

[CeeJay]

So I'm guessing that Blue Cats are the least likely to hit artificial lures, out of all the species of cats?