Whats in your tackle box?

[Ralph Wiggum]

LOL, that sounds like fun!

[Random guy]

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Okay, I gotta ask what the sling shot is for.

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Guys with banjos! Sorry Wiggum didn't mean to stir up those bad pictures again.

[Guest]

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Basically anything with glowing eyes peaking out of the woods. Bigfoot, Lions, Ninjas, Skunks...man I hate skunks.

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I can handle all of these.. just keep the big hairy spiders on your side of town! Especially the ones that jump at you out of nowhere.

[rushing]

I had never known minnesota to have this tarantula lookin spiders untill last summer and I look down on my leg and there is a hairy spider the size of the palm of my hand. That same night a skunk creeped right up to the back of my chair. I was fishing by myself but my buddy was on the other side of the river wondering what the hell was going on when all he could see is my head lamp darting around the shore line. Great looking spot and not even one bite with all the grief I put up with that night! lol

[DARK30]

Funny how those little lamps can't see everywhere at once when your alone in the dark eh?...I'm almost 45 years old and sometimes I still need to "check" behind me just in case

[Guest]

Those big hairy spiders pop up quite a bit when I am fishing more rural areas along the Mississippi.. In all reality, I am usually alerted of there presence by hearing them land when tackling some type of bug by my lanturn.. I would rather have the bug than the spider.

We get urban wildlife too. Ralph the Noober had a racoon walk right up within a couple feet of him last year. Manny had observed it taking its sweet time to get behind Ralph and was enjoying the show from inside of his car. When Ralph took notice of the racoon he had screamed in terror the words * OH [censored] * and had run about 6 feet to the elevated waters edge within the time of a heartbeat.. and had his fist up like he was going to fight... I'm surprised he didnt dive into the water 15' below to be honest.

I didnt know racoons could run as fast as it did when Ralph got out of the chair.

Nothing like a good laugh at the expense of your fishing partners To this day I still throw an occasional used up baitfish back in the brush to try to draw the critters around when I'm in town.

[blacksportsman]

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Ralph the Noober had a racoon walk right up within a couple feet of him last year. Manny had observed it taking its sweet time to get behind Ralph and was enjoying the show from inside of his car.

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Ah, Ralph the noober and the raccoon...a classic moment in shore cattin' history

Something told me I should warn him about the approaching coon, but after being the butt of so many jokes and gags myself, I thought, for once, I should get to laugh at a fellow angler's expense

[I Da Man]

Boat fishing, we heard some voices on shore..then a little later the "kerplunk" of a rock hitting the water. Thought someone was trying to keep us from fishing there. This happened a couple nights...less the voices.

That's when I learned that flathead fishing and beavers go hand in hand.

SteveD has a great beaver story...that he might share!

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I didnt know racoons could run as fast as it did when Ralph got out of the chair

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I'm guessing you didn't know that Ralph could run that fast either....

[Ralph Wiggum]

I wish I would have been there for that, although I know the raccoon that you're talking about. He's pretty brave. I would have loved to see Ralph the Noober wrestling with a raccoon. Heck, the raccoon might have been bigger than him

[Random guy]

Note to self: put small gun in tackle box and set up parimeter fence when fishing.

[MJCatfish]

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Does anyone use floats or bobbers? I read about someone using balloons for cat fishing. He liked balloons because you could easily control the size and they are inexpensive. At night you could put a light stick inside.

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That's right. I always have a bag of balloons in my box when catfishing. They do have their purpose, and I'd bet that a glow stick taped on the side or stuck inside would be a great addition! Great idea!

MJ

[rushing]

A glow stick would probably work but the way I have seen a balloon rigged you hear it go flat when you get a bite. I have seen a fellow FM catman use the ballon trick but I havent seen it produce yet.

[SteveD]

Last year I rigged a 400 Watt power inverter in my boat so I could convert the power from my front trolling motor battery from DC to AC. The power inverter gives me two AC power plugs. I rigged in a 6' light pole that fits in the seat mount on my front fishing platform. The light plugs into the power inverter and I run one of those new 15 watt low wattage florescent bug lights that puts out about 60 Watts worth of light. It lights up the whole inside of the boat plus about 6' around the boat which works great for landing fish in the dark. The good thing about the power inverter is that I am hoping to be able to get a few Twins games on a TV while I'm fishing. I'll only be able to get the non-cable games but heck - what could be sweeter than drowning a bullhead in a good flathead hole and watching a Twins game on the TV. Life is SWEET!!

[Blue Kayak]

I took another look at the site that suggested using balloons. The Web site is run by a guy named Tiny Tim Smith, and he has a lot of tips and ideas not yet mentioned.

With his balloons he uses a lifesaver. He holds the balloon in the position he wants to fish and lets the lifesaver dissolve so the bait drops where he wants it placed. It can take up to 20 minutes for the lifesaver to dissolve, but you could speed things along by partially sucking on the lifesaver before rigging it up. Might work good for spitting on the bait too.

He competed in long distance surf casting and cast over 200 yards. He has a number of different ideas for long distance casting with catfish rigs and bait.

He has some breakaway sinker rigs for fishing in sharp rip rap or areas with lots of snags.

Some of his knots he strengthens with superglue.

He has pages with lots of pictures on the following:

*A battery powered model boat that can run the bait out to different areas and drop it.

*A bait tank made from a 150 quart cooler. He keeps it on the back of his truck.

*Making sinkers and showing how to get clean lead using waste lead such a used wheel weights.

*Reel cleaning and lubrication

If you google "Tim Smith Catfish Fishing Tips" you should find the site. I should remind you that my first try at catfishing was the Cool Cats, so I don't know how good these ideas are. To a newbie, some of them look interesting.

And, like Dennis mentioned he stresses the importance of sharp hooks. He recommends checking hook sharpness with your fingernail before every cast.

One other thing I haven't seen on the list that I read about somewhere else is using picture frame wire. If you unravel it, the individual strands are very fine and work well to hold on soft baits. Maybe if one of those hairy spiders lands in your lap...

[Blue Kayak]

Since Chris has been nice enough to write some great starter material on catfishing, I thought I would find the post that helped me the most as an absolute beginner. This was started a little over two years ago, and it has some great tips on what you need. It seems like a good time to bring it back up to the top.

[hanso612]

Tunes, deck of cards, clevis and spinners,spare fuses, and beef jerky and on a realy good night a girl. Hans