Secrets Of The Monster Catfish Master
Most people who fish for catfish are pleased with pan-sized specimens.
They enjoy a good tussle from a bigger fish now and then.
But a stringer of one- to three-pound whisker fish is just fine, thank you.
In fact, during over two decades of writing about the outdoors and outdoorsmen I've only met a hand full of catfishermen who pursue only the biggest bruisers.
Bob Lewis was the most memorable of this elite bunch.
When I first met Bob well over a decade ago, he already had been fishing exclusively for catfish of over 20 pounds for over 20 years, and jars of bait that bore his name were becoming popular.
To master this esoteric mission, Bob not only made his own bait, he molded his own weights and altered his hooks.
He of course used big tackle: salt-water stuff with heavy line that had little stretch.
But it was the terminal tackle that Bob thought most important to the termination of canny, lunker catfish.
The bottom line of his approach was the weight.
Depending upon how far he needed to cast and the strength of the current, Bob used slip sinkers of two to three ounces-heavy enough to kill a person if they got in the way of a cast.
"Big catfish are finicky and fickle," Bob said.
"They seldom just swallow a bait like the little fellas.
And if they feel the weight or the hardness of the hook, they'll drop it.
So I altered a mold to make heavy weights that the line would slip through when the fish picked up the hooks, and to cut down on the chance that they'd detect the hooks, I cut off one of the treble hooks to create a flatter double hook," he told me.
Bob doesn't fish with a tight line or attach bells to his rod.
He leaves the line limp and watches it closely.
If it begins to twitch or tighten, he feeds line to let the big cat move off and mouth the bait a bit without feeling any resistance.
In fact, he often waits until the line stops and often doesn't set the hook until the brute moves a second time.
"How they act-and where they're found-depends a lot upon the species," he explained.
"Big Channel Cats like a little current.
They often scoop up the bait and take off.
Blue Cats are a little less aggressive.
And big Flathead Catfish are downright lazy.
They like slow water, take their time with their meals and they move of slowly.
" Bob spends most of his time fishing big flows like the Mississippi and Missouri rivers.
Here he looks for eddies and current breaks created by large logs, pier pilings, wing-dams, big boulders and floating brush piles.
Floating bush piles are his favorite.
These are collections of floating timber and twigs that collect in eddies along the banks.
Big catfish lay in the slow water just under or behind this overhead structure where they can feed at their leisure on things gently washed their way.
"The best hours," he said, "are early in the day (4 a.
m.
to 8 a.
m.
) and late (just after dark until one or two in the morning.
) "You've got to be dedicated and patient to catch big Flathead Catfish," Bob said.
"Sometimes they will grab it and run, but more often they'll let it sit for up to a half-an-hour after the first sampling.
" Then he shared with me his recipe for catfish bait.
You've got to be dedicated to put this concoction together, too.
The main ingredient is cattails, the natural aquatic plants with heads that look like corn dogs.
They're usually found in the shallow ends of ponds.
They are not that difficult to find and collect, but Bob said they must be picked during the fall, just before they go to seed.
I've tried using cotton and a few other things," Bob said.
"But the natural fuzz of cattails is best.
" All you do is fold this fuzz into one-half-pound of hamburger and about four ounces of Limburger cheese.
Keep adding and working the fuzz into the mixture until it becomes stiff, yet pliable-much like bread dough.
About the only way to mix it is with your hands, squeezing it through your open fingers to mix it evenly; then kneading it like bread dough-which is why, I suppose, it's called "dough bait.
" If you've ever smelled Limburger cheese, you understand why I say "you've got to be dedicated.
" I suppose you could use your wife's bread machine to make big batches of Bob's bait.
But from then on, you'd have to be dedicated to bachelorhood.
They enjoy a good tussle from a bigger fish now and then.
But a stringer of one- to three-pound whisker fish is just fine, thank you.
In fact, during over two decades of writing about the outdoors and outdoorsmen I've only met a hand full of catfishermen who pursue only the biggest bruisers.
Bob Lewis was the most memorable of this elite bunch.
When I first met Bob well over a decade ago, he already had been fishing exclusively for catfish of over 20 pounds for over 20 years, and jars of bait that bore his name were becoming popular.
To master this esoteric mission, Bob not only made his own bait, he molded his own weights and altered his hooks.
He of course used big tackle: salt-water stuff with heavy line that had little stretch.
But it was the terminal tackle that Bob thought most important to the termination of canny, lunker catfish.
The bottom line of his approach was the weight.
Depending upon how far he needed to cast and the strength of the current, Bob used slip sinkers of two to three ounces-heavy enough to kill a person if they got in the way of a cast.
"Big catfish are finicky and fickle," Bob said.
"They seldom just swallow a bait like the little fellas.
And if they feel the weight or the hardness of the hook, they'll drop it.
So I altered a mold to make heavy weights that the line would slip through when the fish picked up the hooks, and to cut down on the chance that they'd detect the hooks, I cut off one of the treble hooks to create a flatter double hook," he told me.
Bob doesn't fish with a tight line or attach bells to his rod.
He leaves the line limp and watches it closely.
If it begins to twitch or tighten, he feeds line to let the big cat move off and mouth the bait a bit without feeling any resistance.
In fact, he often waits until the line stops and often doesn't set the hook until the brute moves a second time.
"How they act-and where they're found-depends a lot upon the species," he explained.
"Big Channel Cats like a little current.
They often scoop up the bait and take off.
Blue Cats are a little less aggressive.
And big Flathead Catfish are downright lazy.
They like slow water, take their time with their meals and they move of slowly.
" Bob spends most of his time fishing big flows like the Mississippi and Missouri rivers.
Here he looks for eddies and current breaks created by large logs, pier pilings, wing-dams, big boulders and floating brush piles.
Floating bush piles are his favorite.
These are collections of floating timber and twigs that collect in eddies along the banks.
Big catfish lay in the slow water just under or behind this overhead structure where they can feed at their leisure on things gently washed their way.
"The best hours," he said, "are early in the day (4 a.
m.
to 8 a.
m.
) and late (just after dark until one or two in the morning.
) "You've got to be dedicated and patient to catch big Flathead Catfish," Bob said.
"Sometimes they will grab it and run, but more often they'll let it sit for up to a half-an-hour after the first sampling.
" Then he shared with me his recipe for catfish bait.
You've got to be dedicated to put this concoction together, too.
The main ingredient is cattails, the natural aquatic plants with heads that look like corn dogs.
They're usually found in the shallow ends of ponds.
They are not that difficult to find and collect, but Bob said they must be picked during the fall, just before they go to seed.
I've tried using cotton and a few other things," Bob said.
"But the natural fuzz of cattails is best.
" All you do is fold this fuzz into one-half-pound of hamburger and about four ounces of Limburger cheese.
Keep adding and working the fuzz into the mixture until it becomes stiff, yet pliable-much like bread dough.
About the only way to mix it is with your hands, squeezing it through your open fingers to mix it evenly; then kneading it like bread dough-which is why, I suppose, it's called "dough bait.
" If you've ever smelled Limburger cheese, you understand why I say "you've got to be dedicated.
" I suppose you could use your wife's bread machine to make big batches of Bob's bait.
But from then on, you'd have to be dedicated to bachelorhood.
