HOW AND WHERE TO CATCH CATS AT NIGHT

How To Rig For Catfishing

EDITOR'S NOTE: Jerry Crook of Gardendale, Alabama, a veteran Tennessee River angler, has over 22 years of experience there. Crook operates Tailrace Guide Service that focuses on live-bait fishing to provide his clients with a variety of opportunities to catch several species of fish in a day's outing.

Question: Most people use really heavy tackle, strong rods and hefty reels to catch catfish. Tonight we caught catfish from 10- to 18-pounds each. How did we rig?
Crook: We used spinning rods and 10-pound-test Silver Thread line made by Excalibur. You really can feel the bite through this co-polymer line, which is one of the most
abrasion-resistant lines I've ever used. Before, I've caught stripers as big as 47 pounds on Excalibur 17-pound-test Silver Thread line.

Question: Let's talk about the care of the line when you catfish. Do you check your line after every fish, and if you do, for what are you looking?
Crook: Since fishing for catfish in this area means you'll fish around rocks, you want to be real conscious of your line quality. After every catfish I catch, I'll run my fingers up my line as high as 2 or 3 feet to make sure there are no nicks anywhere on that line.

Question: The catfish also will roll in the line and use their pectoral and dorsal fins with their really sharp, bony spurs on them to cut the line. Catfish also have very abrasive mouths that will nick and cut your line, won't they?
Crook: Yes. If you have a catfish that's deeply hooked in the mouth, especially a bigger fish that has the hook way down deep, you'll really want to change and cut your hook off and retie it again. Catfish have bony, rough-edged teeth inside their mouths -- much rougher than sandpaper. So, catfish will wear through your lines. If you do get a big fish on your line, don't horse that fish in, but instead get it in quickly. The longer the fight goes on, the less chance you'll have of catching the fish.

Question: What size leads do you use, how far from the hook do you tie on the leads, and what type of lead do you use?
Crook: On a split-shot rig, I use a big musketball shot probably close to a 1/2-ounce. I rig it up 8 inches above the hook, a No. 2 Eagle Claw Pattern 84.

Question: Why do you like that hook?
Crook: If you put a hook bigger than that in a threadfin shad, the hook will crush the threadfin's head. We use live baits. Right now the cats are feeding on live shad, and we're trying to match their diet as closely as possible. I use that No. 2 hook because it has a thinner diameter than some hooks
Too, I've never had one straighten out on me. I really don't think that's a problem with that hook.

Question: Tell me about the rod you use.
Crook: I fish with Shakespeare's Ugly Stik Light spinning rod. The Ugly Stik has been a standard in the industry for years. These Ugly Stik Lights are made out of the same composites, but they are quite a bit lighter. I fish so much that the bigger rods hurt my hands. I like these rods. I haven't broken one yet and have been fishing with them for two years. I'm really impressed with them. I think they retail for around $45.

Question: The rods are 100% graphite. With what kind of reel do you match them?
Crook: I use Shakespeare's Intrepid spinning reel -- a light salt-water reel. I get a lot more service out of those than I do freshwater reels.

Question: Why do you like those reels?
Crook: They just seem to hold up better and last longer.

Question: What about the drag system? I've noticed that the catfish are constantly pulling off drag. How important is that drag system, how do you set it, and what method do you use?
Crook: I want the drag system tight enough that I can set the hook in the fish. Also, when the fish takes off on a run, I back off on the drag just a little bit because I don't know what the fish may get hung on down there.

Question: What do you do when you hook a big fish?
Crook: I watch and see how much line it pulls off. There's a point where you just have to go chase the fish down if you use this light-tackle outfit. I'll follow this fish around in the boat and try to get it away from the base of the dam in the deep-water hole.

Question: When do you fish heavier tackle? What size hook do you use on that tackle?
Crook: When I fish around a lot of current, I have at least an ounce of lead on my drop line, a 2-foot leader where I tie my hook on and probably 17-pound-test line. Depending on the size of my bait, I'll use anywhere from a No. 2 to a No. 4 hook.

Question: What size bait do you use? Why do you use it? Also how do you get it and keep it alive?
Crook: I have a livewell system that works really well. You can rig yourself up a barrel with a pump that will pump lake water into and out of the barrel. Frequent water changes keep the bait alive. I use a couple of feed salt. Cattle salt -- plain white salt -- is what I use. You can use table salt as long as it's not an iodized brand. Just do a lot of water changes. In the summer and during September, the water temperature is as high as 87 degrees. The hotter the water, the more water changes you need to do. If you will do a lot of water changes and rig up a pump that swirls the water inside, this causes the bait to line up in circular motion swirling around the tank. Doing that keeps the bait from bouncing off the sides of the tank and after a while getting red-lipped. When bait gets red-lipped, they are really no good for anything.

Question: I was most impressed with us dipping up approximately 2,000 to 3,000 shad around 11 o'clock a.m., putting them in a tank and then fishing these same shad until 1:00 a.m. Most bait tanks will not keep shad alive that long. Tell me about the kind of bait tank you have, and why you like it so much.
Crook: This is a very well-made tank made by Super Bait Tank II. This polystyrene tank is very strong and has a double-wall insulation quality about it and a filter system that works really fine for eliminating the shad's scales out of the equation. This tank keeps the water cooler, and the circulation system works well. For years though, I just used a barrel, a system that worked well, but this livewell system that I have now is easy to do. And I can keep a threadfin shad alive in that tank for three days. Threadfin shad, being filter feeders/plankton feeders, start getting weak after that time, and you can't supplement them. So for about three days, I can keep bait alive and frisky.

For more information on fishing the tailrace contact Jerry Crook at 1128-Meadow Drive, Gardendale, Alabama 35071, or call him at (home) 205-608-0933 or (cell) 205-243-6198. You can visit his website at www.alabamaoutdoors.net/tailrace.html.

TOMORROW: GENERAL CATFISHING INFORMATION