BIG catfish on the fly AKA catching catfish on purpose :)

[Nomad77 0]

I thought I'd start a separate thread on this to get some ideas for targeting big channels and blues...Apparently this guy has some experience:

 

[Fisherboy0301 0]

Ahhh... he is overseas, fishing for the beautiful, large, and highly predatory Wels Catfish, a true "River Monster'......

[Nomad77 0]

SO then one would want to know, do their American cousins behave in a similar fashion? I live in South Carolina and big cats live in the various impoundments and the Santee-Cooper Lakes (Lake Marion and Lake Moultrie) produce very large specimens. 40 lb + is not uncommon. SInce no one in their right mind is trying to catch big cats in the US on purpose, I thought I would at least try to craft a rod/reel/fly solution that would in theory be able to land a large cat. If, for nothing else, to say "that's how you would do it". Most bait fisherman will troll in 25' of water with live perch attached to a Santee Rig about 2 feet from the bottom with some type of float that keeps the bait hovering and you won't get hung up. I'll open the floor to any suggestions as to how you might do this on with fly tackle.

[Fisherboy0301 0]

I know in Florida we caught 50+ lb blues in about five foot of water, sand bottom, on eel grass edges, with live small mullet.

 

Try a rod between 11 and 14 wt, with a fast sinking line, and some hollow flies. These are hollow tied bucktail, with saddle hackle and ostrich. Big bulky profile, less weight, sheds water well, and has amazing movement.

[mikechell 0]

Catfishing is big in America ... just not on a fly. Mostly, that's because big cats tend to be deep, or in fast current eddies.

People normally use conventional saltwater gear and big live bait or chunks of meat. I've even heard of people using whole fryer chickens for big Blues in the outflow from hydro-electric dams.

At the 55 second mark on the video ... you see why light fly rods aren't necessarily made for catfish. But I'd go with saltwater or maybe pike gear.

I do know that big Flathead Catfish will hold in the eddies of large, woody cover in rivers. Pulling pike flies through there would get some hits, either cats or bass. The most important part I'd go for is to tie with serious weedguards.

[Nomad77 0]

I've never been a bait fisherman, except when I was a little tyke so that can't be helped. I did a day trip with a friend who chases cats with a trolling setup using live bait, stink bait, chickens soaked in a secret mixture...you name it. I thought if I could a Swim Jimmy on a sinking line and get down to hover and pulse it would mimic a large sunfish or shad and be a possible contender...probably will use an 8/0 hook on a 12 weight rig but I did tie a Swim Jimmy on a 3/0 that didn't turn out well, but the hook point is up:

 

 

 

 

Very crude and unfinished head, but you get the idea.

[Big Fly Bob 0]

There is a guy that goes by Stu on the Warm Fly forum that is a catfishing fool. He lives in Canada and fishes for them with the fly quite a bit. He catches some monsters as well. His favorite fly is a leech pattern that he ties. He fishes mostly where riffles run into bigger pools, drifting the leach flies down the current and into the calmer water. You can look him up on there. He good.

[Nomad77 0]

cool and Thank you. I will look him up...I'm doing a lot of what if'n at the moment and I found out that there is a huge may fly hatch on the Santee-Cooper Lakes in April and anything that swims in the lake including shows up usually at night to feed on the large numbers of mayflies (bream, bass, shad) and the big cats that act like predators show to eat the bream, or sunfish, as they are known. I found that interesting and thought I'd share.

[sandflyx 0]

On the Delaware we chased big channels at night when the stoneflys were hatching. used to fish the eddies where the stones gathered on the surface (perlas) just throw a dry stone and wham. cats up to 12lb.

[TheCream 0]

American catfish will definitely take a fly, I catch them every year as by-catch accidentally. Usually small ones, though, 1-3lbs channel cats. I've never caught a flathead cat on a fly, which is something I really want to do but it's not easy. They tend to be pretty deep here where I live and I always hope I luck into one someday. Hasn't happened yet. I don't fish a lot of sink tip or full sinking lines, I tend to adjust the species I am after seasonally so that I don't have to try to fish deep with a fly rod.

[Kirk Dietrich 0]

Here is a video a friend did of fishing for catfish in the Red River at Lockport just north of Winnipeg Manitoba.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FotmqnlSglQ

[Nomad77 0]

Outstanding, Kirk! THank you...That's what I'm after. I'm inspired

[Stevester 0]

Sandfly, where on the Delaware did you do that fishing?

 

Steve

[Fishypieter 0]

In South Africa we target the Sharptooth Catfish.

Can grow to 45kg.

 

Attached is some pics of a few big ones.

In clear water we need to make long cast and use flies that push a lot of water.

In dirty water we splash for them using the other flies. They come to the surface to gulp air. Splash the flies close to where they come up and you can catch them

I caught one a few years ago that took me 45 minutes to land on a 8wt.

Had a 30lb Boga grip, started to lift the fish, the head came of the ground and the boga went of 30lb. Estimated the fish at over 22kg (55.88lb)

 

[Nomad77 0]

Nice Fishypieter! Those gave a bit of a tug, I'll wager...