I will never give up.
Second to last time on the water, used a stealth bomber/bunny leech dropper rig. Caught a bass. No cats.
This last time out, dual bunny leech, one weighted, one not. Absolutely squat. 100 degree weather, warm water temp. Fifty to sixty feet out in shallow cover, all kinds of large fish are dolphining. What the heck am I doing wrong?!
If I were going to target catfish I would use a scent, not sure which one but catfish rely on scent a good bit.
During certain times in the year, channel cats will actually feed aggressively on dry flies. They will also feed on large nymph patterns. However, smell does play a major role in their feeding behavior. Chunks of bar Ivory Soap have been successfully used as trotline bait!
If it was easy, you wouldn’t appreciate it as much! ;o)
Keep at it!
I don’t add scent to the fly, but I have on occasion chummed an area with bread in the evening to bring the catfish to the surface to feed. Once they start rolling on the bread, an unweighted #6 white woolly bugger will sometimes elicit a strike. Not always…but sometimes. When they do hit it, you’ll know immediately…so HOLD ON! Let the big ones run.
When its hot go early in the morning. Fish streamers or a crayfish fly, fish the weed bank edges. If you happen to get a rain be sure and hit the in let areas as it will concentrate cats. I catch channel cats and the time in hot weather and I never scent my flies
Don’t forget to include P&G and Octagon soap for catfish baits. Yes I know I’m showing my age.
Another way I differ from Catfish. When I was a young lad, my Mother introduced my to the taste of Octagon soap if my language was not acceptable. I did NOT find it palatable. If I was really offensive, I had to chew it up. No castor oil was needed after that… Do the fish a favor, tie up an expendable woolly bugger (or whatever) or two and soak them in oyster juice. Use natural materials to hold the flavor longer.
Ed
There is no need to add scents to fish for cats. Find a road kill of some kind. Cut off a strip of fur for a zonker. Do not scrape or tan the skin. Tie this fly to your leader immediately and then put the rod with the fly in the back yard far from the house. After four or five days days the fly is ready to fish.
i have never tried fly fishing for catfish, but over the past couple weeks i have been catfishing on conventional gear (i know shoot me) using primarily cut shad as bait. been catching tons of 6- 10 pounders and the fish have all been holding next to sunken trees and horizontal logs/ brushpiles in less than 6 feet of water. The water was very warm, high 80’s-low 90’s, and the fish were still there though i had to put my baits RIGHT in front of their noses to get a reaction. warm water normally means that fish move around less especially during the middle of the day. just try and tailor your strategy to really picking apart the structure you are fishing to get the cats that are in there, but just no wanting to move far from where they are sitting.
best of luck to you!
Fo sho? That’s crazy!
It’s the animal fat in soap. Ever see Fight Club? 