How to Catfish - the 3 Golden Rules

There I was. I thought I knew How to Catfish. I had my line tight, and I just knew a big catfish was going to swarm it at any time. I couldn't wait to get home and show my family the fish I had cleverly pulled up out of the Lake. Any second now...he would bite, and everybody would know me as the glorious fisherman that I was! I looked at my watch. Tic...Toc...Tic...Toc. How could this be happening. I had learned how to Catfish when I was young! Nothing. I waited longer...but still nothing. Splash! My head shot around to the left in response to the noise. There is was. The largest Catfish I'd ever seen...but It wasn't on my line. The fisherman down on the left side of the bank from me had pulled MY CATFISH in. I decided that this would never happen to me again. I stormed over to the brown haired man with my fish and prodded him for secrets. After chatting with him a while, I learned...his 3 Golden Rules to Catfishing.

How to Catfish Golden Rule 1: Catfish love what humans hate.

Tha'ts right. Knowing how to Catfish is knowing that Catfish LOVE stinky, nasty, rotten things. It's practically what they survive on. When choosing your Catfishing bait, choose the stinkiest, nastiest looking stuff you can find in the store and use that as bait. Catfish love anything that repulses you. Now, there is a reason for this. It's not that catfish are disgusting, it's that they have very poor eyesight and rely almost 100% on their sense of smell to find their meals.

Once you throw out some stinky, slimy bait and the oils and stench starts spreading through the water, a Catfish will hone in on the source of the stinkiness. Remember, Catfish are all about smell.

How to Catfish Golden Rule 2: Catfish are bottom feeders

If you really want to go catfishing, you're going to have to go where the catfishing is good! Go where they are!. In order to catch a big Catfish, you're going to have to get your bait to the bottom of wherever you're fishing. Lakes, Rivers, Ponds, Streams - They are all the same. Catfish lurk along the floor of where you're fishing (searching for nasty stuff). Catfish aren't out trolling around for bugs like bass and bluegill do - When you're catfishing, you bring the food to them!

How to Catfish Golden Rule 3: Use brightly colored bait

Now that you know some of the rules on how to catfish. You've gotta get stinky bait to go catfishing, you would also be wise to use bright bait that stands out from the natural color of the environment. As I said before, Catfish have poor eyesight. When catfishing, Using brightly colored bait will help differentiate the bait from the leaves, sticks and algae at the bottom of where you're fishing. This will help the fish to find the bait more readily, increasing the number of fish you catch in the amount of time you're fishing.

Use these three simple rules and you will be well on your way to catfishing like a pro. Remember that most of the time Catfish WILL NOT go searching for your top water spinners and middle depth lures. Get to the bottom, get stinky and get flashy. This is how Catfishing is done!