Catfish On a Fly

[raiderhunter]

Alright, me and my fishing buddy have decided to put down our traditional rods and exchange them for fly rods. We have decided to try and catch everything we can think of on a fly rod.

We were curious if anyone had ever tried catfish on a fly rod? What line, flies, etc. are recommended?

Thanks,

Raiderhunter

[biot_midge]

I have had success with spawning channel cats on dark nymphs (black or brown) in #8. Here are a few that I caught one evening a few weeks ago

Steve

[92Esquire]

I caught one this weekend below a road culvert leading into a reservoir. Caught it on a 4" long olive/black bunny leech with a size 4 Gamakatsu Stinger hook

[CO_Flyfisher]

While I was in Tennessee last month, we (WarrenP, Jack Hise, and myself) caught catfish on the fly. On the same rig, we also caught Trout, Walleye, Bluegill, Black Perch, Crappie, Skip Jack, Green Sunfish, River Chub, and I know I’m forgetting one or two other species.

We used a Chicago Leech pattern:

@WarrenP

When the “Dough God” was here on a visit he left me one of his “Chicago Leech” patterns and I modified it some and have caught just about all species of fish on it. Rather than use just one color of leech yarn, I used black and white. I tie mine on a #8 “hopper/caddis” style hook or any streamer style hook you have. I use a 1/8" or 3mm tungsten bead behind the hook eye, tie in one strand of white leech yarn and one strand of black leech yarn behind the bead, pull them over the top of the hook shank and palmer my black tying thread over them to the back tail tie in point, take hackle pliers and grip both yarns and twist them together just enough so they will furl together when you relax it, hold them at the tail tie in point with a length of about 3/4" for the tail length and let them furl. This makes a nice tight tail. Then I run my tying thread to the front behind the bead, unwrap the 2 leech yarns, brush them out to make them real spikey and them palmer them to the front where they will be tied off behind the beadhead. With each wrap coming forward I pull the spikey strands to the back so they are not trapped under the wraps. I bind them down real good behind the bead and do a double whip finish. That is all that is really needed, but, like all tyers, I have my quirks and after I finish the whip finish, I pick up a bobbin with red thread on it and start it over the black whip finish and build another head over the black with the red thread and do another whip finish. Give the whole fly another good brushing to make it real spikey and then use a small tube of black fabric paint and put a black dot on top of the red whip finish on each side for eyes. Cover all this with a nice coat of Sally Hansons and it is ready to fish. Remember that the red thread and eye dot are probably not needed, but, they are for this tyer only. The fish probably do not care.

Here is a picture of my pattern:

Here is a picture of WarrenP with a small Channel Cat:

And here is a picture of a 29" 10 - 11 pound Flathead I caught:

I was using a standard 5-weight rig, floating line, a 7’ furled fluorocarbon leader (which almost acts like a sink-tip), and about 6 feet of 4-pound fluorocarbon tippet. No additional weight besides the bead on the fly pictured above. I hope this helps. :tieone:

[Valhalla_1]

I’ve had good luck on black wooly buggers in the Susquehanna River, but catfish are opportunistic feeders. I caught a nice 19" channel cat on a #14 beadhead nymph. It was a festive fight on a 4wt.

[Bluegill222]

This one came just the other day:

I seem to get them on flies with lots of movement: wooly buggers, pine squirrel leeches, bunny clousers, etc.
Also caught bluegills, crappie, white bass, smallmouth bass, and carp on the same trip

[MrFishingToughGuy]

37" flathead, est. weight 25-28 lbs.

Routinely caught on 6" bunny leeches (black, natural, olive and purple work best)…right here in good old Downtown Richmond. Average fish are in the 12-15 lb range. These are post-spawn fish that are guarding redds and/or on the feed.

Here’s another…you can see the fly clearly:

[Big_Bad_Wulff]

Chartreuse wooley buggers seem to work for me for some odd reason.

[Jeremy]

Da_n you guys…Nice cats! All of 'em…

Jeremy.

[Gigmaster]

I catch them all the time in the tailraces. They like Wooley Buggers and Shad flys.