Catfish Night Fishing – Luring trophy catfish into a feeding frenzy!

Equipment you will need:

• Boat
• Anchors for boats
• Separate 12v battery to turn lights on
• Night lights
• Submerged lighting
• Live Bait Guardian
• Friend Bag Rod Holders
• Heavy bait casting or turntable
• Insect repellent

Catfish night fishing can be a very rewarding fishing trip. Trust me. If you do it right, you will fish, not only will you fish, but some will be lunkers! Catfish feed at night and are very active, and when they go into a feeding frenzy, the fishing action can be incredible! Catfish are attracted to submerged lighting and have a very keen sense of smell. So if you can locate their night spots, you can lure them to your hook with a few simple methods that I’ll explain here. But first you need to be set up and prepared for night fishing, it’s totally different at night and then during the day. Things you take for granted during the day, don’t apply at night.

Boat setup for night fishing

Before you even think about going catfish fishing at night, you should have the following items: lights for the interior of the boat, either battery operated or Coleman fuel lanterns with two mantles. Set your lights so that they distribute the light evenly inside the boat. I personally fish from a 20ft pontoon and have 3 battery powered halogen lights hanging 2 in the front, left and right and one hanging from my canopy in the rear. (I have used my Colemans but they attract a lot of bugs)

You will also need a secondary light on your person. This light is used to reassemble your fishing rods. Trust me, no matter how prepared you are before your trip, you will lose some gear, be it from line crossings, snags, or fish breaking your line. (you can limit this by using heavy tackle and making sure your line is cool) I personally use an LED light that clips onto the brim of my baseball cap.

You will also need a light to illuminate the surface of the water. I recommend a 12v halogen light that can be directed to the outside of the boat. Mount it on the side of your boat, in the center. I personally use an adjustable halogen that I can attach to my pontoon railing. Direct the light at a 60 degree angle from the boat to the water. This will illuminate the surface.

You will need a submerged light source. You are probably wondering right now why I need submerged lighting. The submerged lights will generate swirls of plankton that will attract the bait fish. Once the bait fish start to form schools, the big cats will come. attract schools Submerged lighting rigs come in a variety of sizes and shapes, the one I use is 36 “long and 4” in diameter. Center the submerged light on the lighting pattern of the surface water lighting you just set. Anchor your submerged lighting about 12 “from the bottom (without an anchor, they will float on the water). Make sure the light is completely submerged underwater. I recommend using a 5 pound weight as an anchor. If possible, Anchor the light submerged about 2 to 3 feet from the boat.

You will need a secondary power source for the submerged light, the water illumination light, and to operate your aeration pump for your live or live bait. “Do not use your boat’s power source” This will drain your battery. “You don’t need it. You want to get stuck in the lake at night, right?

You will need all of your posts pre-assembled. If you have the rigging, I would install 3 poles per person before getting in the water. The reason I suggest this is because it is a real pain the “blank” to re-ride at night. You’ll end up doing it anyway, but if you already have replacement poles installed, use them first before you have valuable waist time with the poles out of the water.

Locate the places that cats frequent

It has been my experience that larger cats roam the shores or backwaters in search of food at night. Each body of water will be different. I recommend that you do a little research on the body of water in which you want to fish for catfish at night. At the very least, obtain a topographic map of the area before attempting your trip. These can be found at any of the local bait and tackle shops in the area. (I recommend you visit one of these stores to get the local scoop anyway, if you dig deep enough these guys can pinpoint on the map where to start fishing. This will save you a lot of time.)

Attracting cats to your boat.

Once you have your water surface lights and submerged lights set up and ready to go, you don’t even need to do the next step, you’re ready to go fishing. Submerged lighting will bring shoals of bait fish closer, but I go a step further because if you play with the catfish’s extra-sensitive sense of smell, you can lead the big cats into a feeding frenzy! OK you say how?

Well the answer is by introducing “chumming”. Chumming releases a stain of dead fish odors and fish guts that small bait fish and catfish feed on. There are many commercial chumming systems that you can buy and they work very well, but I use a simple and inexpensive method that anyone can set up. You will first need a nylon mesh bag that you can close tightly. (a good example would be net bags that you put golf balls in that have a string closure adjustment) This is what I use, it works perfect, very inexpensive. Next, get some good size freezer bags, 3 should be enough for an overnight trip.

Next, buy about 2 dozen good-sized chunks and slice them 1 “to 2”, be sure to do this in a skillet that doesn’t drain all the juices. Fill the chunks of the freezer bags and the juice all together, and let them sit in the sun all day. Yes, it will stink of heights at the end of the day, but that’s what you want! Now place the freezer bag on the side of the closable mesh bag. Close the bag tightly and tie a line at the bottom of the bag about 2 feet long. Attach a 2 pound anchor to bring the bag to the bottom. Now tie a line at the top of the bag with enough lead line to place the bag at the bottom. Now before you lower the bag of chum all the way down, grab an ice pick or something sharp that will pierce the bag, but not break the plastic. Hit the bag from the freezer several times, then lower it to the bottom and tie it to the side of the boat.

Now is the time to fish! But before we go there, let’s revisit their catfish rigs. There are many catfish rigs you can use and they all work in situations they are designed for. When you’re fishing at night and you’ve dipped a lighting setup, you want your line to be about 2 feet away from the light source, roughly at the outer edges of the source beam.

You will be fishing a short distance from the boat, so your tackle should be set up to fish very close to the boat. You could fish a narrow line with a basic catfish hook and a small sinker. Or use a non-slip bobber system. I prefer to use the slip bobber system.

I use the single hook rig. Both platforms shown in the illustration work fine, but I only have a preference for the single hook platform. I use the double hook tackle when fishing for other types of fish. I use all heavy duty, open face, spin casting rods and reels with a 30 pound test. When you have a lunker on your line, you want the tackle to be prepared to handle the fight. You miss some smaller cats, but it’s worth it when you catch your first catfish over 10 pounds.

Baits to use

Both channel catfish and blue catfish feed on almost any small fish such as suckers, small shad, or bluegill, both live and dead. I use live bait and dead “cut bait”. I usually post a pole with a small live gill no more than 3 inches long. My other posts will be baited with cut bait, usually 6 “or larger LARGE suckers cut into 1” to 2 “pieces.

Now bait your tackle, set up your boat, and get ready for some exciting night fishing for the catfish trip! Once you catch a 10lb + lunker you’ll be hooked for life! Have fun and good luck!