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Cast the rig downstream to the intended target area. STRAIGHTLINING must
always be done in a downstream manner. Pull line tight until you feel spinner vibration.
Hold as you feel spinner working. You now wait for a hit.
(See Diagram A)
Here you see the Bait-Walker and its bait as the catfish begins to scent your bait and
is about to inhale it... Note the spinner is rotating and the bait is being lifted slightly up
and down off the bottom for better scenting. This bait reaction is due to the wire arm
which keeps the bait up off bottom in current flow.
(See Diagram B)
The next action to occur is the channel catfish walks forward with the bait in his
mouth. This upstream maneuver can be 10 to 24 inches in length. As this happens that
Bait-Walker Plus rotates forward, the spinner slides down the shaft and stops rotating.
AT ROD TIP you cease to feel this rotation, THUS SIGNALING A CAT HAS TAKEN
YOUR BAIT. The line between rod tip and bait will slack off and droop.
It is at this point that the angler should COUNT TO THREE and SeT THe HooK!
The reason for this is the channel catfish is crushing your bait and is most vulnerable
to being hooked. What he does next will surprise the most ardent of catmen.
(See Diagram C)
So far you haven’t felt any tap-tap just the rotation of the spinner stopping. Next Mr.
Cat opens his mouth, swallows the bait, leaving the hook laying in his mouth. The hook
is a foreign object and will not be swallowed. With his mouth remaining open the cat
backs up with current to the point where he first engaged the bait. Here he turns one way
or the other and retreats back downstream to his original holding position. It is at the
point where he turns that the angler feels the first tap-tap. IT IS TOO LATE! Because his
mouth remains open any setting of the hook now sees the hook jerked out of the mouth.
WHY? Because, for reasons never explained, channel catfish keep their mouth open for
30 to 60 seconds after ingesting food during the heated water periods of the summer.
Diagram B
The key to hooking 95% of those tap-tapping catfish during summer heat is to set
the hook just after the rotating spinner stops and your line begins to slack off. Learning
the straightlining technique will see better than 70% of those summer tap-tapping
catfish on your line.
The spot marked x on the diagrams indicates the point of bait pickup.
Diagram C
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Fishing Tips:
‘ABOUT CATFISH’ (Continued)
x
Crushing
x Mouth Open
61
Set
THE HOOK
F i s h G a p e n ’ s
– Brush Piles and Fallen Tree Structure –
FACT: to take the biggest catfish out of brush piles or fallen trees along rivers is best
done from the upstream side.
angler reaction:Most catfish anglers like to tie off to a fallen tree or the
downstream side of a brush pile. Such positioning will generally produce small cats. The
reason is the big cats which inhabit this structure prefer holding at the top (upstream)
side of the structure. The reason is simple! Food in rivers comes with the current. Thus it
is that bigger cats position themselves to gather in the food before the smaller fish have a
chance at it.
If you are a bank fisherman, instead of sitting on the fallen tree and fishing in the
eddy behind the structure, you are advised to walk up the bank 20 feet or so, and work
your bait in front of the brush pile or fallen tree structure. Such positioning will attract
the big cats which have stagged under the front side of your targeted structure, first.
If you fish from a boat, forget tying off to a limb on the structure itself. Instead anchor
your boat 25 to 35 feet above the targeted area and work your bait just in front of it.
–Straightlining–
Increase your
summertime catch
by 65% to 75 %.
FACT: Channel catfish,
even flatheads, tend to work into
shallow rocky areas when feeding.
When they are confined to a river
hole, such as the one on diagram
D, they will work into current out
of the hole to find the rocky flat
where food is abundant.
Fishing Tips:
‘ABOUT CATFISH’ (Continued)
Diagram D
Stagging area for catfish
Deep Hole
Migration path to food
Larger cats position
Fallen tree in water
Smaller cats position
angler reaction: No
matter what river you fish, north or south, channel catfish follow a given procedure when
looking for food. This is especially true when the angler works medium to small rivers.
With food on their minds these river cats always migrate upstream into the first
rocky flat they can find. If the deep hole they stag in is situated downstream, as much as
1/4 of a mile, they still will migrate up into the rocky area for food. See the migration
marked on the diagram.
In the north the migration can take place in daylight hours but as the summer wears
on the late day and night hours see migration occur during the darker times of the day.
In the south, other than the months of January and February, the migration to food
generally takes place after dark. In dirty water streams the southern catman may see food
migration occur during lighter hours but this seldom happens and generally will occur
in early spring or late fall days.
In rocky areas which provide food for catfish the STRAIGHTLINING technique not
only works best when water hovers in excess of 70 degrees but by using a snag-free Bait-
Walker rig the catman finds he can maneuver his bait offering in places that normal sinker
rigs would snag up.
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F i s h G a p e n ’ s