Ultralight Catting - What are your tactics?

[C_wernett]

I've fond of a good fight, and even though it sometimes limits me to only fish in the 1-5 lbs. range, I like fishing with light or even ultralight gear for catfish, especially when targetting channels.

My #1 set-up is a 6' Quantam Iron-X light action rod with 6# test Spiderwire mono, set up with a slip rig, small circle hook(sharpened before hitting the water if necessary to facilitate hooksets), and generally fished using fresh 4' threadfin or hickory shad.

Set-up#2(my favorite) is a 4'6" Quantam Micro-light 00 ultra-light rod with 4# test mono, set up with small #8 Eagle Claw baitholder, short leader slip rig with a bell sinker, slow drifted with a night crawler or again, dead shad.

The second set up is a blast! I was just wondering if there is anyone else around there that has tried similar tactics for some wicked fights!

[Katmaster Jr.]

Yeah I've done it before but once I had accidently hooked too many BIG cats and they broke my small poles and reels, I just gave up on the ultralight cats..... :sad: :rolleyes:

But it was fun though, just couldnt afford to keep replacing the rods and reels I was going threw. :)

[TOPS]

I have caught catfish with an ultralite while bait fishing. That was one of the best fight ever! :D

[C_wernett]

Wow, I sure wish I had your BAD luck...ha ha ha

You must have been nailing some lunkers for sure. I've landed fish up to 15lbs.(not always cats) on my light and ultralight gear and my 7' medium heavy rod spooled with 12# mono has landed fish over 20lbs more than once. It seems that whenever I come "prepared" the fish aren't around to help out. My 7' heavy boat rod with 30# Yozuri hybrid and 40# leader has landed one whopping 7lbs flattie and two 3lb. channels...this year....hardly seems worth bringing it sometimes when my light gear has been outfishing it all summer.

Maybe I'll get luckier with the upcoming year... :D

[Chanellocked]

I tried it once on a private pond, used a 5ft ultralite rod w/a Quantum Snapshot reel spun with 4# test. Landed 4 flatheads over 5#. It took 15 to 20 minutes to land each fish, but God! I was havin' a blast :D

[Katmaster Jr.]

Well, I consider Bass gear to be ultralight if you catch my drift.... ;) LOL
Seriously I've been spooled MANY times in the lake I fish just trying to have fun with some cats. I have to admit it was a blast anyway though. I think some of the ones that spooled me were big Stripers though.....whatever they were, the were big.....I had like 12 lb test loaded on the little ultralights. Then I couldnt never hook them big ones on my big gear....go figure.... :rolleyes:

good luck :)

[gadzooks]

Interesting thread. I'm in Texas, but thought I'd add my 2 cents. Light lines and ultralight rods/reels will work with almost any size cat. The problem with cats is where you find them, often in places with lots of structure to get hung up on and for the cat to wrap your line around. But, I've caught plenty of cats while fishing for bluegill on meal worms. My set up is a 7'6" ultralight rod with a Shimano Sedona reel holding 6lb line. As long as I can keep the cat in open water, I"ve had no problem bringing in channels up to 5 lbs. A long rod will tire down a fish with no problem. Just can't set the drag too high.

[C_wernett]

I've always considered using one of the longer rods, but seeing as I don't do all my fishing from a boat, casting gets tough with anything over 6'...lol

Yeah, 12lb test wouldn't be considered ultralight, unless you were fishing line that heavy on ultralight gear, which would makes sense for broken rods and spooling, because you wouldn't have a rod to handle what the line could, and the smaller reel wouldn't hold as much 12# as it would 4 or 6# test. Unless I read that last little bit all wrong, then I digress... :p

I can't lie though...my techniqes started when I was crappie and bass fishing and just "happened" to catch a cat once, back in my home state of Iowa. Since then I've been trying different stuff to see exactly how big of one I can catch now on light or ultralight.

[Katmaster Jr.]

Yeah, I caught a couple nice channel cats and stuff on ultralights with 8 lb test. And then hooked some big one's and they always brokemy line, got me hung, spooled me, etc. So I got mad and just put 12 lb test on all my ultrlight gear.....I guess that could explain the little poles with all the guides ripped off of them....LOL :rolleyes: :D :D

[gadzooks]

If you are going to use heavier lines on ultralight spinning reels, go with Power Pro or some other braid. For a while, I used 20lb P-Pro. It says its diameter is the same as 6lb mono, but seems a lot thicker than Berkley XL 6lb test. Liked the fact that it didn't twins, hated the way it would rap around your rod if your yanked back and had to cut it, couldn't just break off if it got snagged bad.

[Katmaster Jr.]

If you are going to use heavier lines on ultralight spinning reels, go with Power Pro or some other braid. For a while, I used 20lb P-Pro. It says its diameter is the same as 6lb mono, but seems a lot thicker than Berkley XL 6lb test. Liked the fact that it didn't twins, hated the way it would rap around your rod if your yanked back and had to cut it, couldn't just break off if it got snagged bad.

It didnt damage your ultralight gear?

[Tomahawk]

The only time I mess with lighter lines for cats is in the springtime. I have a place where I can catch them on lures. I using 10lb line and spinners when the water starts warming up. Fishing in 2-4' on the flats. It's a blast those channel cats hit a lure like a frieght train.

[Katmaster Jr.]

Tomahawk, I bet that is a blast man. Your lucky! :)

[loanwizard]

Earlier this spring I caught a 32' Shovelhead on my bait rod w/ 6lb test. What a blast. Of course I had a 9" shad on it .... what did I expect? The kids and wife had my big gear. ;)

[Katmaster Jr.]

Earlier this spring I caught a 32' Shovelhead on my bait rod w/ 6lb test. What a blast. Of course I had a 9" shad on it .... what did I expect? The kids and wife had my big gear. ;)

Wow, I bet that was a lifetime memory! Good job catching a fish like that on small gear, it's hard....esspecialy when your use to using big gear!

good luck :)

[dinkbuster1]

back in 92 i was fishing at a paylake for some bait with a 10 ft uncle buck crappie rod (like a fly rod) with 3 lb test when i hooked into a 24 lb flathead. luckily there was no structure in this lake and i landed him in about an hour. funny thing was i was in a tournament and the small hook was deep in the flats mouth so i was within the rules. the owner was even there witnessing the catch. must have eaten the bluegill at the same time the bluegill ate the wax worm. i wound up winning the tournament with that fish. upset quite a few people lol. other than that i'll use steelhead outfits in lakes for channels, lightest i go.

[C_wernett]

Most of my cattin' gear is much heavier. I officially classify my smallest "cat" rod, a 7' medium heavy intercoastal rod with 12# test...but I think I'm going to keep flipping the light sticks in hopes for a light gear all-around best. I've caught lots of big carp on ultralight gear...which is a blast. And that is another part of where the idea came from. It's cool to see that several of you other serious catters have either accidentally caught good cats on light gear, or actually targetted cats on this type of gear. I'm not going to stop what I'm doing, and I'm going to get some pictures of the cats I get this coming year on light gear...hopefully I'll have something impressive to show off!

[chinook]

I catch a lot of 1 to 5 lb channels on a 1/32 oz crappie jig baited with a nightcrawler piece fished on a 6 1/2 ultralight rod with 6lb test. Also caught a 10 lb striper on same rig this fall. The trick is to steer the fish to open water, which is not always possible. I also fish heavier rigs, especially when the cats are biting. The ultralight rig is awesome fun, plus you catch all kinds(bass, crappie, etc) of fish when even when catfishing is slow.

[gadzooks]

The question was asked if the P-pro damaged my ultralight gear. Shimano reels like the Sedona can take it, good drag system and present no problems. I didn't notice any damage to the rod guids, but do wonder if the line cut into and weakened the rod tip. It snapped off when I hung up, never had a tip do that. Bought the rod at Bass Pro and they replaced the rod, no questions asked. Gone back to using mono, just don't care for the way braided wraps around the rod sometimes and not being able to break the line if badly hung up.

[C_wernett]

I used to use braided lines on my medium and light gear, but have gone away from doing so also. If you didn't have good eyes on the rod, it would always cut into the front eye from trying to pull out snags, fish running, or simply just the pressure from reeling a fish in. I admit, that I didn't have higher end rods at the time, so that probably had something to do with it, but I also noticed a huge precentage in missed fish when fishing heavy current from the bank back in Iowa. Which is enough to get anyone to go back to their old ways.

[Deltalover]

My favorite lite outfit is a 6/7 flyrod with an ultralite spinning reel, a slipbobber live shad or minnow, I use 10 lb power pro (size of 1lb mono) and circle hooks. I have caught quite a few cats in the 5 to 7 lb range as well as black bass, stripers, crappie, carp. That outfit has caught way more fish then the other gear I have spent hundreds of dollars on and with every fish, the action is explosive and an absolute delight to battle! ;)

[C_wernett]

I've never thought about doing it that way...just for kicks I might get a longer ultralight rod for just this sort of thing...but will keep my current rods for fishing the way I've been. Of course, I've currently got an extra Diawa-X reel set up for light to medium gear...so let's see what I decide to go with there...I'm sure it'll have something to do with catfish!!!

[C_wernett]

I went out with a buddy Chrismas Eve, during the day to dink around and see what we could come up with. Well, not too much...My buddy caught a big old bluegill, and then a really nice shellcracher and then we found some huge pods of 3" threadfiin shad, so we'd snag them and let them drift out of the pods to see what was down there feeding. Well, when it was all said and done, we'd boated two channels around 3lbs and 7 largemouth bass. The biggest being one I boated coming in at right at 10lbs! Which makes it my biggest bass yet, especially on 4lb test!!! I was really hoping for more cats though...it was a pretty nice day, which probably had them holding a little back, and the current was a bit slower, which allowed them to be swimming where ever instead of holding to the usual points and structure. I was sure they'd be following those shad in swarms though.... :cool:

[Katmaster Jr.]

Man, thats a huge bass esspecialy on 4 lb test, good job!

Zakk :)

[crlail41]

Back in the 50's my dad had some old baitcasting reels on 5 ft. steel rods and used braided line-not the kind used today. The only drag was flip off the anti-reverse. We caught many a catfish using these rigs. Didn't break off much terminal tackle either-just wrap the line around something strong and give a yank-the hook would straighten, Casting those old reels took a special knack!!!

[C_wernett]

My buddy and I went out New years eve to see what we could do. We only caught two cats. One little eater channel, and he boated a sweet 15-17lb. fish! We also got a couple of real nice sunfish, and a bunch of smallish bass this time. Here's a shot at a few pictures...

[C_wernett]

That's my ultralight rod I'm fishing with, fighting a 3 pounder. My buddy caught that big channel on slightly bigger gear, but still only 10# test on medium casting gear. Here are a couple more shots...

[Catcaller]

Earlier this spring I caught a 32' Shovelhead on my bait rod w/ 6lb test. What a blast....
Shawn...don't you mean you caught a track hoe?? 32 feet?? I'd like to see a pic of that monster!! :D