gold fish for cat bait

[Darryl]

Has anyone ever tried gold fish for catfish bait? If so..how did they do and how do you rig them for best presontation?

[Schoe]

Darryl, some fellas use goldfish around here on bank poles set for Flatheads and do pretty well. Others I know use them for pole and line fishing and catch Flats that way.
Myself, I have used them both ways and didn't have any luck with them. Schoe

[big country]

i know the gold fish work for bass,but it is illegal to use them in florida..

[Stump Bumper]

They sell them in the bait shops in Georgia along the Altamaha River for flathead bait but it's illegal to use them in Florida waters....Ray

[Screen]

Bait shop here sells them like hot cakes so I tried them (expensive) with no luck whick in my case means nothing!

[Timotha7]

Creek chubs is my bait of choice for cats around here..fish them rigged
"quick strike" under slip floats in lakes, lighted bobber, no stop on it, just cast to area I am looking to hit and let the bait drop straight down on slip rig with a 10-24" leader with a cigar float up by the bait to keep it up off bottom an kicking..slip bobber lets me hit specific structure can cast right to it and
let bait drop under bobber, know just where it is going to end up and then just tighten line an stand up bobber works great for me

In rivers same kind of set up for the big chubs using big slip bobbers with as little weight as possible just nuff to come to bottom an let it roll (lot like how fish wing dams, cast up stream let bait roll back to front of dam)
Like to throw the floats upstream in current an let them work down to
structure rolling with current
Lets you cover a lot of water and by maintaining control of the float you control the drift line on your bait

Nothing quite like floating a big bobber on small river into a snag an having it go under so fast you can hear the noise of it :-)
Biggest flat is only 28lbs (hope to better that this year ..have been saying that for long time :-) ) but the smaller waters round here hold good bunchs of flats running 15-18 lbs and for my money flat that size hammers a live bait as hard as any fish I have ever had on the end of a pole

[Schoe]

Quite a few years ago I did use Chubs for bait as they were very plentiful in the small streams and creeks surrounding the Quad City area. I don't know if the pesticides and weed sprays have made them disappear or what but I haven't seen any Chubs here in years. Another good bait used to be the Green Leopard Frog which the large Channels used to tear up. Those fellas have disappeared around here also. Now my bait of choice is live Bluegill the bigger the better. Schoe

[Darryl]

You guys give good advise!! I'll get some shad, not too hard to come by, creek chubs, just need some patience. {for me, that's hard..better take my g.son!} I do have large bobbers, sure will give that a try also. Thanks for advise.

Darryl:

[Timotha7]

Will definitly have to give suckers a try, some small water here that I know has a lot of them in it

The creek chubs we get I take the grands out and those chubs will hit small
flys on end of cane poles, boys love it, I get bait and the fun of watching them

Only thing they like better than chubbin is going into the creek and turning over rocks an looking for crawdads (grandma doesn't think much of it, but
boys need mud once in while)

This year the grands are big nuff to do some camping and we are going to spend some time on the water give grandma a break an give grandpa some GREAT memories!
Going to go to lake here in Iowa called Prarie Rose, had stocking of flats put in it years back and from what Biologist for that region of state tells me they definitly go into 30-40's
Figger we will be make couple week long tent trips up there an see what we can find

[Timotha7]

Kirk
For sure nothing beats taking the kids fishing, sitting there can go back to the days when my grandpa was laughing at me backlashing myself to metal rod with his shakespeare and that NASTY dacron line!
Or when we used to get on bikes with 202 combos ( those old Zebco's ROCK! I still got some that work great from back in the day) and ride our bikes to farm ponds then stay too long an end up with the "designated mom" coming to get us and following us down country road so we could see
to ride in gravel in the headlights..
Catching fish is the least of the lessons learned in being a fisherman (Sportsman) conservation, integrity, love of outdoors so many things that can cross over and make a person a bit better in the real world if attention is paid and the lessons taught and learned the right way..
I LOVE FISHING!
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Ron
Think of a BIG fathead minnow and you have creek chubs
They have a wide range so I would imagine you have them in your area
when I got the picture found several references to them in VA and down South

Picture of creek chub is attached here, they are supposed to get up to a foot in length, but round here big ones not much over 8 inches (at least in the creeks we go chubbin in) they feed pretty agressive, will hit flys and small twister tails

On the suckers, I think there are a bunch of different suckers, here is a link to some info on them ..I know they are a fish that is popular with bow hunters in some areas so I believe they must get pretty big

http://www.cloudnet.com/~edrbsass/redhorse.htm

[Screen]

Tim! Great post! Glad your aboard!

SEE!!! I learn something here every day! If it's not panfish one day it's chubs the next! LOL

[Timotha7]

Chubs are a lot of fun for the kids to catch, we have small creek that has bunches of them in it just west of here, and creek feeds over a spill way down by small water plant and the creek above and the overflow pond has some fair crappie in it, not real big, but it stays open all year and it is real hard to beat crappie filets outa serious cold water

One of those "secret spots" we have fished since we were kids..
I love fishing in small water round here go out in spring an scout them while picking morels an then come back an spend time just walking and casting
sometimes get some real nice suprises out of small water
Some of the little feeder creeks will hold some flats upwards of 15 lbs an
they are serious fun on lighter tackle

[Rainman4u2]

Schoe, I think I know where we can get some Chubs south and west of Woodhull. I knew the creek was good for bullheads, but after looking up chubs in the search engine, I know they are in the creek(I've seen them). I'll just have to ask around, and get permission to try for bait. By the way, closing date on the house is the 15th of May, and after that, we'll have to hit the channels at Snake Den with some of those chubs I hope to catch.

Ray

[Schoe]

Sounds good to me Ray. I do have a few minnow traps that work well for the Chubs. I used them a lot out in Ohio while I was working there. Schoe

[Screen]

Someone post a picture or in detail describe what they use for bait or rig?

Just trying to learn!

Wish I had more time! I'm missing out on all the fun!

[Timotha7]

Favorite rig for me on larger live or dead bait is a "quick strike"
the pics posted show the "double" hook used (I have not been able to find them in a while, got a friend over in Spain that is going to send me some next time I get a package from him though :D
The bait rigged is a dead bait for pike, but this same rig with big bait and mono instead of wire is
how I fish all big live baits

What I do since I don't have the doubles is substitute a very small treble
(#8 works pretty good) in place of the doubles and put one of the tines in the meat along the back of a big chub (or big live or dead bait)

This type of rigging allows for a hook set immediatly upon pick up and start of
run keeps from getting gut hooks

It does not take a huge hook to hold tight on a big fish, IMO harder to bend one of them little short shanked hooks straigh than it is a much bigger hook

Attached is a picture of the double hooks I am hoping to get hold of again
and a picture of the rig substitute trebles for doubles and you get idea of how I do it

On smaller bait I will generally hook through the eye sockets on minnows

I favor Kahle hooks for bout everything but leeches and I go to a very small, wide gapped hook through the sucker for them (leechs ROCK for bout every species of fish I like to go for except crappie and for them I favor small minnows, tube jigs popped under bobbers or when they start filling up the ditches and corn row edges I love HOPPERS!)

I use mostly light or med spinning rigs, smallest hooks/weights/test line possible to get the job done

Even fishing in current I will use bobbers to drift fish or just enough weight
to let bait roll to spot..also can use a heavier no roll and drop bait up above holes and then feed slack line through weight slip rig set up and let it drift
down that way

[Schoe]

Tim, thanks so much for the above post I'm sure others as well as mysef find this very informatonal and interesting. I certainly will try this method. Schoe

[Darryl]

Timotha7 you sound like a talking-walking spoksman for all kinds of knowledge! Wish you lived next door to me! Don't know your age, but, from your picture, you look about 19 years old fella!! By the way Schoe, can "you" put my picture in here for me? Don't know how to do it.

[Timotha7]

LOL Darryl 19 huh THANKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I have a little bit of "knowledge" but one thing I learned a real long time ago,
anyone I meet along the shoreline knows somthing that I don't..
I love a place like this where I can share knowledge I have and hear bout things from others that know a lot that I don't ..

I turn 51 in July I have been around a day or two
My grandpa was a SERIOUS fisherman, was friend of Kautsky in Ft Dodge Iowa and helped develop Lazy Ike Lures years ago.
Fished all over the mid-west and some up north with him
then when he retired to FLA he had his own little Fishing show on radio down in Dunedin (Tarpon Springs) and I got to make a few trips down there before I joined Navy early 70's He passed not to long after that

Think the main thing I learned from him was love of the outdoors and that it is important to remember that sharing that goes to more than just showing someone how to catch a fish, goes to showing them how to see the beauty that is around them with open eyes and how important it is that as a sportsman you do what you need to do to make sure that everyone has same chance to see and enjoy the things you do

I try to pass it on to my kids and my grandkids, hope that they do the same,
Ripples on the Pond, share with one person, end up with that knowledge being passed and hopefully being shared with a bunch more