Catfish Surprise

[Koz]

Although I very much enjoy a good catfish fry, I hate catching them.Maybe not hate, but I'm disappointed when I catch them because I'm targeting bass.

 

I was bank fishing a small lake the other day in a small section where people have caught 7-10 pound bass. The water was murky and I was fishing a chartreuse/white spinnerbait. On one cast as soon as it it the top of the water it got slammed, but within a second I knew it was a catfish and not a bass. I can't explain it, but a catfish fights differently than a bass. I'm sure most of you that have caught both can tell the difference as well. I din't weight, but it was somewhere around 4-5 pounds.

 

Anyway, I've caught catfish before but never on a spinnerbait and have never had a catfish hammer a bait right as it hits the water. It must have been a one in a million cast that landed right on the catfish. I ended up catching another one on a KVD 1.5 crankbait in that same area. That was a first for me as well. Both fish were a pain in the but to get off the hooks. After two catfish in a row in that spot I headed to other waters where life resumed as expected catching bass.

 

Anyway, I thought it was odd to catch a catfish on a spinnerbait. Anyone else have catfish unexpectedly hit a certain type of bait?

[Pikeman12]

Oh yeah you can get some nice surprises depending on the conditions and mood of the fish. Definitely not the first time I have heard someone catching one on a spinnerbait(seems to be the bait that can catch anything). Catfish can be very aggressive. My personal experience was catching bullheads on tiger eyed spoons lol. 

[Bluebasser86]

I've caught bunches of them on spinnerbaits, some over 10 pounds, one of the biggest was even while I was burning it back to the boat when it crushed it. My buddy caught a flathead around 30 pounds on a spinnerbait while we were night fishing once. I've caught several on buzzbaits, had them blow up through slop to eat a frog, track down baits and eat them right at the boat. They're predators, they don't just scavenge things off the bottom like lots of people seem to think they do. 

 

They love blowing up on buzzbaits, it looks different than a bass blowup when they do. I usually miss them when it happens, but occasionally I'll sting one that does it.

I catch more of them on bladed jigs every year than I really care to think about, close to 100 I'd guess.

[Hower08]

Square bills are excellent catfish baits. Fishing a tournament a few years ago I caught two channel cats 12-15# each and both times they didn't fight like channels at all . They just dogged like giant bass do. After a few minutes of fighting you know what up though!!

[Crestliner2008]

Have caught a lot of cats while trolling for pike. Even huge plugs! They'll hit anything that moves.

[TOXIC]

In the Potomac River they will hit most every lure you throw for bass.  Of course we have like 10 different species of cats.  Some days and locations, you can't keep them off your lures.  I just hate that they do that dang death roll and slime up your line and don't EVER lay one on my deck to get it unhooked.  The slime turns into concrete when it dries out.  

[TnRiver46]

I’ve caught them with everything also. One of the hardest hits I ever got was dragging a Texas rig zoom u tail up and over a limb that was on the surface. As soon as it climbed over and started sinking a flat head rocked it like a defensive end blindsiding a quarterback 

[Bankbeater]

I’ve caught them on plastics, spinnerbaits, jigs, and squarebill crankbaits. Years ago the city had a couple of parks that were artificial lures only. Nearly everyone that fished out there used spinnerbaits.