catfish on dry fly

[Jacktown 0]

I am new to fly fishing and have been doing it for about five weeks. I was using a gurgler and I caught a catfish on a gurgler I tied. Do they do this often?

[whatfly 0]

Not quite a dry fly, but still neat. I'm not terribly surprised it took a gurgler. Every now and then, depending on where you fish, you run into some oddly aggressive catfish.

[mikechell 0]

Catfish are predators. They are just more famous as scavengers.

In waters where there's fewer bugs and crayfish, catfish are forced to seek other prey.

[Gene L 0]

I've caught two on poppers a while back. I wasn't going after catfish, I was going after bass and bream, but that's the way it turned out. Not the best fighter fish in the world, but OK.

[Jacktown 0]

Yeah the lake I am fishing is very nutrient poor and the fish are overpopulating

[Tim Shovel 0]

A gurgler, hmmmm, what kind of catfish may i ask?

[Stevester 0]

The only time I ever caught a catfish was when I was bass and panfish fishing at a pond outflow. It was on a wooly bugger. I have heard of guys purposely targeting catfish on flies but I suspect it is a very niche activity. Still, I know that NJ and PA are both looking to get rid of as many invasive flathead catfish as possible so maybe there is a chance to start a new trend.

 

Steve

[Al Beatty 0]

Hi Jacktown,

 

We often catch a wide range of fish from the Snake River a few miles south of Boise, Idaho. Most of the fish in that part of the river are smallmouth but we often catch crappie, trout, carp and yes, a few catfish. My last one was on an Adams parachute but more often than not we catch them on subsurface crayfish patterns. Take care & ...

[Gene L 0]

I've caught quite a few on Wooly Buggers, but only those two on top water.