PHIL KING ON CATCHING CATFISH WHEN THE WEATHER SIZZLES

King's Favorite Dog Day Catfish Baits

EDITOR'S NOTE: Phil King of Corinth, Mississippi, one of the nation's leading catfishermen, has proved his prowess in both national, regional and state catfishing tournaments and derbies. King took first place in the 2001 Cabela's King Cat Tournament held at Pickwick Lake on the Alabama/Mississippi/Tennessee border and third place in the 2001 National Catfish Derby. A catfishing guide below Pickwick Dam, King has to fish in any type of weather -- sometimes when the weather's so hot you can fry eggs on the sidewalk. This week, King will tell us how to find and take river cats.

Question: Give me your lineup of the best baits to fish during extremely hot weather in the summertime.
Answer: I like to fish a hickory shad fillet and this usually will be my number 1 or number 2 bait. Anytime I start fishing in the summertime, I'll have at least one rod with this bait on one of the hooks. I've caught more big fish 20 pounds or better on this bait than I have any other bait. My partner in the Cabela's King Cat tournament took a 28- and a 38-pound cat in the same day using this bait. Besides catching big fish, this is my favorite bait for catching large numbers of catfish. My number 2 bait that I'll always have with me whether I'm fishing for big cats or large numbers of cats is fresh chicken livers. The fresher they are, the better they are. At anytime of the year, I'll usually have a chicken liver down beneath the water when I'm fishing for cats. My number 3 bait will be the guts of a gizzard shad, cut pieces of gizzard shad and gizzard shad minnows. For my number 4 bait, many times I'll cut a gizzard shad in half and fish with the head or tail of a gizzard shad. I think the catfish believe that this is a shad that got ground-up in the turbines. In hot weather, dip baits are also good. I like Cat Tracker Dip Baits, Joe-Joe's Pasty Bait and Joe Joe's Super Supreme Dip Bait. I've caught catfish that weigh up to 19 pounds using these Joe-Joe dip baits.

Question: When you leave the house in the morning, how many catfish of what size do you expect to catch when the temperature is 90 to 100 degrees or more?
Answer: At this time of the year, I'll be fishing for quality fish that will weigh from 2 to 50 pounds each. The biggest catfish I ever caught, I took on July 28 one year when the weather was as hot as it gets. That blue cat weighed 64 pounds. On July 4, 2000, I caught 14 catfish by myself. The best 10 cats weighed 92 pounds. On July 13 of 2001, my fishing buddy and I fished in the Cabela's King Cat tournament held on Pickwick Lake. We won the tournament with 10 blue catfish that weighed 142 pounds and 7 ounces. One of the cats weighed 38 pounds, and another catfish weighed 28 pounds. This limit was the largest 10 catfish limit that a partner and myself ever had brought in during a catfish tournament. So, for me the Dog Days of summer seem to be the best time to catch really big catfish.

Question: If you weren't fishing for big cats, but just wanted to catch eating-size cats that would weigh from 1 to 8 pounds each, would you fish any differently?
Answer: Yes, I would. I'd fish with smaller hooks and fish strictly with chicken livers if I were fishing downriver. If I were fishing near a dam, I'd use either shad guts or shad minnows. When I'm fishing shad minnows near the dam, I'll fold the shad minnows in half and put one on the hook. Then I'll fold a second shad minnow in half and put it on the hook. I'll break the tails and smush the bait so that the scent from the bait goes out in the water. Then the cats can find the bait much easier. Using smaller hooks and these smushed shad baits, I'll generally catch channel catfish and blue catfish that will weigh from 1/2-pound to 4 pounds. This bait will also produce flathead catfish.

Question: Phil, when you go downriver to fish holes in the river, how do you position your boat, and how do you fish those holes?
Answer: I'll start fish above the hole and bump my baits back with a controlled drift -- using my trolling motor so that I can fish in front of the hole first. If the cats are in a feeding mode, they'll be out of the hole and from 5 to 10 feet out in front of the lip of the break. If they're not in a feeding mode, they'll be down in the hole. So, as I bump my bait up off the bottom, I'll let the lead drop off into the hole and should find a catfish there. As I drift down the hole, I'll look for a boulder, a tree, a log or maybe a second drop-off in the hole. That's where the cats often will be staging. Remember, I define a hole in the bottom as a small depression that may only be 4 or 5 feet wide and 6 to 10 feet long, or it may be a deep bottom break that runs for 1/2-mile down the river.

Question: Why do you encourage people to fish for cats during the Dog Days of summer?
Answer: I believe the hot summer months are the best time to catch really big catfish. At this time of the year, the cats have already spawned-out, and they have begun to go on a feeding spree to build fat and store energy for the spawn next spring. The baitfish generally have just spawned, which means plenty of bait for the catfish. I've just found that catfish seem to be roaming more at that time of the year. Many times when the weather's so hot you don't want to breathe, you can find the most cats and the biggest cats -- if you'll get out on the rivers and lakes and try some of these proven techniques that have caught catfish for me.

Question: Phil, how do you slow troll?
Answer: I use 7-foot flipping sticks with baitcasting reels and 80-pound-test braided line.

To fish with Phil King or to learn more about how to catch river catfish, go to his website at http://www.h2othouse.com/catfish/ or call (662) 286-8664. To learn more about fishing below the dam at Pickwick, contact the Hardin County Convention and Visitor’s Bureau at info@tourhardincounty.org, call 731-925-8181 or 800-552-3866, or visit www.tourhardincounty.org. Pickwick Landing State Park offers fishing, boating, hiking, camping, swimming and golf. Lodging includes the lakeside inn with over 100 rooms, cabins that sleep eight and a campground that contains 48 sites with grill and electric/water hookup at each site. A restaurant at the park offers delicious southern cuisine. Call 731-689-3135 or 800-250-8615 to learn more.