# Cat Fish Set-Up



## FLY741 (Nov 30, 2007)

Mine is just the simple worm, worm-hook and sinker. What are yours? I know some of you use some crazy baits and even more crazy set ups. Let’s hear it!


----------



## JAT83 (Sep 9, 2007)

Worm hook, carp meat, no weight


----------



## Riverrat77 (Sep 7, 2007)

Jighead with Daiichi bleeding hook, carp meat about two feet under a bobber.... or.... swivel, snelled hook, carp meat with 1/4 oz sinker above the swivel, lay it on the bottom. Either way... fish on!!


----------



## Nor-tah (Dec 16, 2007)

This is a good thread! I like to use a good jig head with an uncooked shrimp and garlic pro-cure sent. I also like a jig head with fresh carp meat.


----------



## JAT83 (Sep 9, 2007)

Question: Why use a jig head? (Just wondering)


----------



## Nor-tah (Dec 16, 2007)

JAT83 said:


> Question: Why use a jig head? (Just wondering)


Its a personal preference. I like the extra wieght for casting and so that the bait stays down and have found that when a catfish picks up a hook and then feels pressure from a split shot afterwards, it tends to let go. When its the same weight it holds on and I know exactally when it picks up the bait.


----------



## JAT83 (Sep 9, 2007)

Good enough reason for me, maybe I'll give it a try!


----------



## Jitterbug (Sep 10, 2007)

I've used a lot of different setups for cats but my favorite and most used is the Carolina rig. It consists of an egg sinker above a swivel, with a 12" to 18" leader connected to a C-hook. Cat fishing is SO much fun! I have a 12 foot surf rig I used to use back home in S.C. on Santee Cooper for some BIG cats! Fun times! Maybe I'll try it out on Utah Lake some day.

This reminds me of a story about a guy I knew back home that was know as "The Cat Man". Reason being because of what he used for bait! The crazy guy actually used road kill for bait... as in the furry kind of cat... that's why he was called "The Cat Man"! Probably not legal here but now that I think about it I'm not sure it was legal in S.C. either! :mrgreen:


----------



## Riverrat77 (Sep 7, 2007)

I'd think you'd be ok... as long as it was dead before you got it off the road with a spatula. :lol: About the jighead setup... the reason I use it is because I was told (and tested it myself in a hotel swimming pool) that under the bobber, the jighead will hang a bait horizontal (kinda like dropshotting) where a normal hook will hang a bait straight down/vertical. Cats usually won't hit a bait coming straight up off the bottom... they'll swim right at a bait on a horizontal plane, at least thats how I imagine them approaching, mouth the bait and then eat it. If you have a horizontal presentation, that allows for better accessability to the fish and I seem to miss less hooksets this way. Could just be me but I like to think the way the bait is presented has something to do with it. If I have the knot on top of the jighead, the bait definitely hangs straight out, especially if you just use a strip of carp meat as opposed to something like a one inch chunk. This is also why I cut my carp meat into triangles.... put the hook through the wide end of the triangle with the tip pointing out towards the fish. This is also a good way to hook carp meat if you're drifting a bait weightless. Hope that helps somebody... it has definitely helped me catch more cats from my tube over the summers.


----------



## metal_fish (Mar 19, 2008)

SWEET Idea! I will be using jig heads for now on! What bobbers do you prefer? Classic Red and white? Were do you like to cast out when looking for cats?
Could this jig head idea also work for carp because if they feel any weight on the line they drop it?
Thanks! Can't Wait for some Kittens!


----------



## Nambaster (Nov 15, 2007)

I use jitterbugs carolina rig for both trout and catfish. For bait I use whatever expired meat that I have in my freezer (the 3 year stuff that you usually dont want to eat) sometimes cooked and sometimes not cooked. Then I mix it with a few taco bell packets before I head out the night before. Be sure to leave it sitting out over night. Cut it up into thin little strips that you want to hook only once and allow it to have a little tail. 

The freezer meat has proven more effective than night crawlers in a side by side comparo. Initially it takes the meat a while to bring the catfish on in, but once they hone in they come up from every hole and suck the meat right up.


----------



## Riverrat77 (Sep 7, 2007)

metal_fish said:


> SWEET Idea! I will be using jig heads for now on! What bobbers do you prefer? Classic Red and white? Were do you like to cast out when looking for cats?
> Could this jig head idea also work for carp because if they feel any weight on the line they drop it?
> Thanks! Can't Wait for some Kittens!


I must say... not my idea. I got it from Tubedude on BFT. That guy seems to have ideas on how to catch anything that swims. As far as bobbers go, I use the cigar shaped bobbers now. I used to use red/white round ones but the cylinder shaped give less resistance when the cats/carp/muds/white bass or whatever else swims off with your bait. As far as where I fish, it varies.... I'm a HUGE fan of fishing along cattail points and tule weedlines. The first time I did that fishing with Tubedude on Utah Lake, I was in nice catfish all day long. Ever since then, I've not done much catfishing other than along weedlines. I do want to get out and try the dowel trick nightfishing this year though. When I was wading and night fishing, I'd use the egg sinker on the bottom method and usually I'd get out about twenty feet from the weedlines and cast parallel to the weeds. Seems the cats would come out and search out a bait more at night so you didn't have to cast right up into the weeds to get bites. Hope that helps some folks out a little.... now its got me really itching to go. :lol:


----------



## dubob (Sep 8, 2007)

Egg sinker, 'C' hook, Magic Bait, on the bottom. It works for me. :mrgreen:


----------

