Catfishing; Limblines and Jugs

[DaveS]

I have caught many a good cat with rod and reel, and also on trotlines. I am interested in trying my hand at "limblines" (large flatheads) and jug fishing due to a streak of laziness. Anyone have some advice/info? I tried youtube and most of all I could find was a bunch of "Ya'hoos" wanting thier face on the internet. The other dudes were wearing turkey mask and sunglasses (poaching?).

My personal goal this year is a 50 + pounder!

Any advice is welcome...

Dave "wd"

Edited April 13, 2012 by wd-40

[TripleDigitRide]

The bigger the bait, the bigger the fish.

[xd shooter]

Skipjack for bait

These were 30 & 35lbs. Cought at Wheeler on jugs. It was the only 2 fish we cought that day.

Edited April 12, 2012 by xd shooter

[DaveS]

That's awesome stuff! Was your "skips" live or cut? I'm trying to learn new tricks here....

I've read that live bream is deadly on cats....

[DaveS]

The bigger the bait, the bigger the fish.

I've heard that about "C-4" also.....lol

[Luckyforward]

For the jugs - I mean jugs for fishing - LARGE hooks and LOTS of chicken guts.

If you are game, let the chicken guts get really rank . . . cats love it!

[TripleDigitRide]

Skipjack for bait

These were 30 & 35lbs. Cought at Wheeler on jugs. It was the only 2 fish we cought that day.

Awesome!

I spent some time in the swamps of Louisiana where fishing with yo-yo's is big. It was nothing to catch catfish upwards of 50-60 pounds on a very regular basis. The biggest problem was getting the fish out of the water before the giant turtles ate them whole.

We pulled a 200 pound turtle out of the swamp. We had to tow to the dock with the boat. Once in shallow water, the turtle planted itself on the bottom. We had to pull it out of the water with a Chevy Luv pickup truck.

[xd shooter]

That's awesome stuff! Was your "skips" live or cut? I'm trying to learn new tricks here....

I've read that live bream is deadly on cats....

We used the skipjack as cut bait. Very stinky & a natural food so not as muck "playing" around with the bait.

As said big hooks & a gaff to pull in the big ones.

[DaveS]

I catch alot of SkipJack here and fish it as cut bait. Trying to figure out the limbline business! I have a bunch of frozen "jack"...may try that.

[DaveS]

For the jugs - I mean jugs for fishing - LARGE hooks and LOTS of chicken guts.

If you are game, let the chicken guts get really rank . . . cats love it!

I have problems getting that stuff to stay on a hook. Maybe a "set line" is better than casting.

[whiskey]

JG is the expert limb line fisherman. Give him a call. He likes to fish moving water for flatheads. He and I talked about setting some limb lines on the Red River, but never got to it.

One of the certified, card totin' rednecks at work catches skipjacks and uses just their guts for cat fishing.

I know flatheads want live bait, that's about all I know about them. I grew up fishing for channel cats in the Coosa River and on TIms Ford and Woods Reservoir. We used chicken livers more than anything else and fished jugs alot, We used empty 2 Liter coke bottles with twine and stout hooks. Every now and then we would catch shad and use cut bait.

[DaveS]

JG is the expert limb line fisherman. Give him a call. He likes to fish moving water for flatheads. He and I talked about setting some limb lines on the Red River,

I talked with JG, he hooked me up. His "X" partner Jerome, wants to hook up and do some Jugging and Limbline fishing too. I work with him a couple times a week at the Refuge....we have our feelers out. I have never fished the Red River due to the posibilities of "catching" a dead body. Just not what I have in mind for a good day of fishing.

If you and your little one decide you to fish some let me know. Me and "K-Bug" is planning a weekend (overnighter) near Paris landing for some catfishing action some weekend coming up.

[peejman]

Do they still taste good when they get that big? Love me some catfish, but have often wondered if the taste gets bad beyond a certain size.

[Guest USMC 2013]

Do they still taste good when they get that big? Love me some catfish, but have often wondered if the taste gets bad beyond a certain size.

Big Flatheads taste just fine because they tend to only eat live stuff once over 5-6lb range. Clean meat.

Big Blues are normally pretty good, but when you fillet one if the meat has a little yellow tinge to it just make sure you soak the fillets in buttermilk over night and they'll be great tasting.

I personally through back channel cats bigger than 7-8lbs. I find that even with the buttermilk soak the meat isn't as good. They eat anything and it reflects in the taste of fillets. Semper Fi,

Joe

[Guest USMC 2013]

I have caught many a good cat with rod and reel, and also on trotlines. I am interested in trying my hand at "limblines" (large flatheads) and jug fishing due to a streak of laziness. Anyone have some advice/info? I tried youtube and most of all I could find was a bunch of "Ya'hoos" wanting thier face on the internet. The other dudes were wearing turkey mask and sunglasses (poaching?).

My personal goal this year is a 50 + pounder!

Any advice is welcome...

Dave "wd"

WD,

I make my jugs out of pool floaties, with a 3/4" length of PVC run into them, 2" of PVC hanging out the end. Drill a hole in the exposed PVC to attach your line and use the rest of the area to write your TWRA info (legal requirement). I run the line as long as I want (usually 4-5') to a three way swivel. From the bottom eye of the swivel run 2-3' of line and attach a 4 oz sinker. From the other swivel run a 12" leader with a circle hook.

For bait nothing beats live bluegill and live, or fresh dead, shad. Skipjack, your favorite stink bait, etc...follow as next best baits. I've run a LOT of jugs and this set-up works the best of the many I have tried and these baits work the best for me around here.

If you want to see a made up jug give me a hollar. Semper Fi,

Joe

[MacGyver]

Thanks for the info, joe!

This is something I've been meaning to get out and try this spring. I've done a ton of trotline fishing over the years, but I figure this is a good way to keep the kids engaged, too.

[DaveS]

I like Channel and Blue cat, but Blues over 10-12 pound are kinda strong and oily. I've been told that a "flathead" of any size is good. We'll see.... I bought the stuff today for limb lines and have my bait tanks set up for keeping live bait. I'm looking for "Catzilla"!!!!!

[10-Ring]

I grew up jugging, limblining, and trotlining. That was my grandpas favorite method so I kind of fell into it. I never caught monster cats but I caught a ton of cats 15 lb and under. For limblining I would find a good strong limb that had some give to it 3-6' above the water. I would use nylon string and tie it so that the hook rests about 6" below the surface of the water. You want to set it in atleast 3' of water or else that cat will hit the bottom and get loose. As previously mentioned bluegill work great. Go catch a bucket full of them and hook them right under the dorsal fin. I always baited my lines just before dark and checked them as soon as it was light out. When I got old enough I would check them every two hours during the night, rebaiting as necessary. I usually used blocks of styrofoam for jugs, maybe 6"x6"x8" They were more durable than milk jugs. Half the fun of jugging is finding those things in the morning, it's also fun to just float at night and check them with a spotlight periodically. If you do use jugs fill them about 1/3 with water, especially if you are using live bait as this will cause them to drift a lot less. I'm thinking if you wanted to go after bigger fish use bigger bait and bigger tackle. I always just went after the smaller ones and would catch so many I wouldn't keep anything bigger than 2-3 pounds a lot of times. Been a good 10 years now since I've run a line or chased a jug and writing this has got me missing it. My friends and I used to run about 50 limblines, 25 jugs, and 4 trotlines all at the same time. By the time we got everything checked it was time to start over, we kept the whole community in all the catfish they could eat. I remember having a 4th of July catfish cookout and having over 100 people show up, and we didn't run out of fish.

[DaveS]

Thanks for the info everyone....Sunday is "game time"!!!

[dlm37015]

you can do pretty good behind mt house in pond creek i have caught several large catfish on jugs there

[Timestepper]

Like 10-Ring, I grew up limblining and trotlining for cats (jugging is illegal in my home state of Kansas, although I've done some in other states). We always used stout braided nylon line with a heavy duty swivel and a good 2oz weight to hold the bait (usually bluegill goldfish or small carp or suckers) down. Tied with a slip-knot to a good stout limb with the bait anywhere from 3 to five feet under the surface (depending upon the depth of the water at that point) and hooked just under and slightly to the rear of the dorsal fin. We generally set our lines just before dark and checked them just before first light.

Biggest I've ever caught was a 48 pounder that my cousin and I got in the Verdigris River in Southeast Kansas many years ago, but most have run from 6-8 pounds on up to the low 30's.

[DaveS]

Thanls for the info everyone!

[dlm37015]

any body want to go to the white river next week

[DaveS]

any body want to go to the white river next week

Where's the Whit River?

[dlm37015]

its in ar in the ozarks world class trout fishing