Three Common Mistakes when Trying to Catch Catfish

One of the first mistakes a lot of people make when trying to catch catfish is that their equipment is to small. You need to make sure your equipment matches the available catfish in the body of water you are fishing. Typically medium heavy rods spooled with at least 20lb line will generally provide enough power to catch catfish anywhere from 2lbs on up to 35lbs easily. My personal best is a 55lb flathead caught with 30lb line, and the 30lb was more than enough to wrestle the brute in successfully.

Another common mistake is hook size. Catfish have a very thick lower lip the older they get. Again try to learn the size fish available in the body of water. If there is any chance you could catch catfish in the 20 to 30lb range, then a 6/0 hook is a goof general size. My personal choice is circle hooks, because they require less effort to hook the fish, and they generally hook the fish in the corner of the mouth. By using circle hooks you will loose far less hooks due to the catfish swallowing the hook, you will also kill far less in case you want to return the catfish to the water to fight another day.

Weight size is another problem for some. A 2oz weight is a good general weight to have in your tackle box at all times. Depending on whether you are fishing current or no current will mainly determine your weight size, as will wind. Don't be scared to go very heavy with your weight if there is a lot of current, typically a 5 to 6oz weight is a good size to have when fishing river current. I generally will have a weight range from 1/2oz to 6oz in my tackle box when I set out to catch catfish, this range will cover most water situations.