Catfish not only taste great, but also are fun to catch. In addition, they grow to enormous proportions and tug hard on the end of a fishing line. No wonder they’re summertime favorites on Piedmont Lakes.
Catfish are found in streams, rivers, ponds and large impoundments throughout the Carolinas. If it’s big cats you want, the Catawba and Yadkin River chain of lakes are the places to fish. Lake Norman yielded an eighty-five pound Blue catfish several years ago, a state record until an eighty-nine pounder was caught in Badin Lake in 2006.
Channel, blues and flatheads are the three most common species of catfish. Channels are the smallest of the three, but are quite numerous in area lakes and ponds. Many are taken near boat docks and piers with a simple hook and sinker rig baited with a chicken liver, worm, dead minnow or prepared bait (stink bait).
Blue Catfish look similar to channel cats, but don’t have spots. They are caught on a variety of live and cut baits, chicken livers and stink baits. Table scraps will also tempt blues; so offer them leftover shrimp, clams and oysters. Since blues are larger than most fish, heavy leader material is a must. Particularly, since they have a tendency to spin and wrap the fishing line around their body when hooked.
Flatheads have a broad head that looks like the top of an old brown shoe. This predator hunts live shad, herring, bream, white perch and crawfish. It lurks at ambush points near rip-rap, sunken logs, brush, stump fields and beneath schools of feeding fish. Live baits are best to use, but flatheads will also hit fresh baits cut into three to six inch strips that simulate the movement of a swimming baitfish. Twenty pound-plus bait casting tackle is a must for these large mud cats. Wide gap circle hooks (5/0 to 9/0), attached to fifty pound test leader material, are a necessity for catching big flatheads. The NC State record flathead is a seventy-eight pounder caught in the Cape Fear River in 2005.
Catfish make excellent table fare, so break out the peanut oil and hush puppies and share your catch with family and friends.
Captain Gus Gustafson is an outdoor columnist and a full time professional fishing guide. Visit his web site, Fishin’ With Gus! at www.FishingWithGus.com or call 704 617 6812. For additional information e-mail the Captain at Gus@LakeNorman.com