2009 Catfish Tackle Discussion

[wastewaterguru]

Yeah fellas.........guess what I am ordering from CC....

Nothing.

That's right, I am standing my ground. I got 6 rods that all work, plenty of tackle left from last year, and the bait tank will be all ready to go again. I am going on year 4 or 5 on my braid rods with no line changes except for when the line gets too low to cast. I still might order a couple more hooks but that's gonna be it.

Just saving for gas for the new boat!!!!!!!!

[Shack]

Same here also. What I had last year, will be what I have this year. I dropped some ching last spring and everything worked out. The clicker on one reel is a little soft, I figured out what I was doing wrong on the Salt Stocker bait caster and I dropped enough ching in my boat last year, it is ready to go (minus putting on the all ready done new bunks on the trailer).

[aanderud]

Quote:

Have to see what the team catfish rods are about, I like the fact that they're white.

They seem like a real nice stick. It's a toss up for me right now with the TC and the E-cat. I'm probably gonna only add one new cat rod this year, otherwise I'd go ahead and get both!

I bought a 3/4 ton team catfish rod today from Bob. I'll let you know how it handles my first 50+ pounder as soon as May rolls around.

[wastewaterguru]

Well that sucks....I spoke a little too early today.

After my post this afternoon about not needing anything, I went out to the garage and spread out all the tackle I had. I found a few holes and went through the CC catalog to fill them.

I got some 3/0 and 4/0 circles for channels and sturgeon, some 8 oz weights for those times last spring where I wished I had some, some 1 and 2 ounce weights for sturgeon and slack water channels, some 7/0 kahles cause I can't live without those, and some line cause two of my big girls were pretty low on line from some nasty August snags.

I needed the 1 and 2 ounce weights and the circle hooks for the sturgeon excursion.......and could have stopped there and called it done for $30........but I got a little carried away. Hope the wifey ain't too upset. I still had some Christmas and birthday money to spend anyway.

Nearly $200 later.....I am all set.

[DTro]

It sure is nice to see some other retailers stocking gear. I even noticed some additions at the Big Blue Box store the other day (larger hooks/sinkers etc).

Let’s not forget about the small baits shops such as Moore’s Bait and Tackle (and others I’m sure) that have listened to us for the past several years to stock the gear we needed. Bob might not be in the position to compete with “the big dogs” price wise, but when it comes to service he’ll blow them out of the water.

[wastewaterguru]

I stop at the local shop by me a couple times a week during the summer and am always mentioning catfish tackle. They aren't interested in carrying any. Bob on the other hand does an excellent job of catering to a very wide variety of anglers. I have my eye on a couple rods for this year and will get up there to check out the selection one of these days....

[aanderud]

I still need to get some line and a few various sizes of hooks. Was thinking of ordering a 1500 yard spool of the line and sharing it with a couple guys but honestly, they don't seem to give a very good discount on it for how much dang line a guy's buying.

[Slowhand]

Most important part of the tackle . Leftover soldiers from 08 campaign; the goal is to see if one will make it to "flathead opener" .

[aanderud]

That's a great pic. I guess when you only have a few it's much easier to keep them alive, especially in that nice clean water. Here's a funny story.....

Sept 27 was my last catfish outing of the year. Knowing we weren't going back out, we gave away our leftover bait to a couple guys shore fishing. Put the boat in the garage and didn't think twice about the bait cooler since I knew we gave away our bait....

Fast forward to Nov 23 when i put my boat in storage....take out the bait cooler...oh there's still water in there. Oh look, there's a bullhead, just sitting there swimming around wondering why I haven't opened the bait cooler in 2 months

Single fish in about 8 gallons of water, no aeration, all through oct and nov. Amazing what cool water does to their metabolism.

[Slowhand]

[PoorWordUsage]...that is cool story. Did you give the poor fella a hotdog at least? Thats the beauty of bullheads; they make creek chubs look like premadonnas.

We kept them just to keep the tank in-cycle and active. End of 07 we shut 'er down and cleaned it out with simple green....big mistake.

[manchu_fire]

Yea, keeping the bait in the tank year round keeps the tank very stable not having to rebuild the enzymes every year. Slowhand I think at one time we had 4 to 5doz living well in that tank over a few weeks of fishing with no issues. Nice to head out fishing and not have to rush to the bait store.

[MinnesnowtaWild]

Anyone have any experience with the Shakespeare Alpha A180 spinning reel? I'm going to order it for my Channel/Carp rod to mate to my 8' Creekside Catfish rod. Now I will have two rigs for my two needs. My Abu Garcia 6600C4 on a 7' Ugly Stik Catfish rod for Sturgeon and Flatheads, and this Shakespeare spinning rod mated to the Creekside rod for all my daytime river fishing needs.

Here is the reel:

It's only $18 from Catfish Connection, and it's only one ball bearing. I know it's not super nice, but it's exactly what I am looking for. It holds 200 yards of 30# test and has a nice big handle too. Let me know what you guys think.

[AceintheHole]

It 3:45 and what do I hear a tap on my door it's the little brown truck with all my cattin gear One thing you don't want to skimp on is the reel. If your are going to get a reel and have the money get a decent one. When you are fight a 20+lbs carp you will know how important the reel is.

[MinnesnowtaWild]

I currently have a Quantum SX35 on that rod now and caught lots of nice 15 lb. range Carp, so I'm trying to upgrade over that thing.

There's just not a lot of big reels like this inbetween the cheap range and the expensive range. I would drop up to $40 on a reel for this task but this one fits what I'm looking for.

[MinnesnowtaWild]

Got one question about using PowerPro. Should I be using a mono leader, or just use the PP for the leader?

[Scott K]

I havent been using a mono leader, and I havent had any problems. I actually use 80lb PP, then make a 50 lb leader of PP.

[DTro]

I've heard of way too many good Cat guys who don't even use a leader. I'm going to experiment with that this year I think.

Two less knots to tie and less failure points.

[aanderud]

Yeah, after reading the swivel thread from '05 over on IDO I decided not to order any new swivels this year. I have some from last year, I figure I can try with sometimes and without sometimes.

What would be great is if we could use 2 lines, I could go swivel-less on one and swivelled on the other, do a direct comparison.

[Larry FlatCaster]

Got one question about using PowerPro. Should I be using a mono leader, or just use the PP for the leader?

You can do either.... I prefer mono for a little shock absorption, but I use really stiff rods.

I think that the mono sometimes help with abrasion not that I use that long of a leader, there have been times after a battle, its been pretty roughed up.

I know a lot that use PP.

[Here-Kitty-Kitty]

fluorocarbon is normally what I normally use. Works the best for me.

[A.W.Wolfram]

I have my eye on a couple rods for this year and will get up there to check out the selection one of these days....

Make sure they fit in to your Inspector gadget tackle box

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BusQ3U01Y8U

[harvey lee]

John Kimbo.

[wastewaterguru]

Nice......

It IS a tumor!!!

[A.W.Wolfram]

Thanks Bob,

It's great that someone takes care of the cat fisherman.

You have a good selection of hard to find tackle.

[aanderud]

Well, I couldn't let my wallet sit idle while everyone else was posting long lists of various hook sizes that they ordered, etc. Plus I ddin't want my bait to die on the 8/0 hooks, so I figured I'd order some 1/0, 3/0, 5/0, and 7/0 as well.

So much for keeping it to a minimalist approach --

I started a week and a half ago with 100 kahle hooks and split with a guy, so all I had added to my arsenal so far was 50 of the 8/0 hooks at 13 cents a piece. $6.50. A cheap way to start the year, less than a Chipotle burrito.

Well, I went cheaper yet this time. Bought 100 of the 1/0, 100 of the 3/0, 84 of the 5/0, and 100 of the 7/0. Combined shipping helps a bit, so these ones cost closer to a nickel each.

Split in half, that's 242 new hooks, which ought to last me a while.

Then I looked at my sinker collection and started wondering why I was running low. Added in 30 lbs of lead to the arsenal in 2, 3, 4, and 5 oz bank sinkers.

Wahoo, I'm set.