I was just wondering why ya'll choose to fish for catfish? I am new to fishing and want to know why some people choose to fish for a particular species vs. another.

You have the potential for giant fish. They fight hard. They seek out bait (so you have a fair chance catching them from the bank most times of the year). They taste good. You can cast out a few poles using cheap tackle (it is not complex or expensive).

Its too hard to catch a 20 - 40 pound bass and we live too far away from the coast to go for tuna.

Way more relaxing then LMB fishing

Fishing pressure on LMB is way to high. Its easier to catch a quality cat. I don't get the stink eye for showing up at the ramp wit a cooler full of fish. Its a lot easier for me to put my kids on a mess of fish when going after cats.

I fish for them because

*they are challenging to find
*typically school together and you can catch several in one place
*eat very well, yeild large fillets and are easy to clean
*require a solid hookset (which I like)
*many different methods to catch catfish

Catfish bring everything to the party.

You are not looked down on by the Fish police for keeping a mess to fry up plus they taste great.

It's not the butt whipping job that fishing for bass is.

Cost of equipment is low.

They are relatively easy to catch.

The chance for a trophy is there heck for that matter you have a better chance of catching a trophy catfish than you do anything else. Pulling up to trotline and seeing the line (stretched tighter than Dick's hat band) move a couple of feet is as good as it gets.

I love throwing out 15-20 jugs sitting back and having a cold one and if I want to go drown a jig or some minnows for crappie fine, if not that's fine too. Just sitting and waiting for the jugs to start tipping over is okay too.

All of the above, I like putting out 10 R&R's, turning on the clickers, and taking a nap.

Their are flat out fun to catch and good eating.

Well the first fish I caught out of the creek was a about a 12 inch blue cat and after that I started to get more and more in to it and now I am addicted to fishing but mostly catfishing!

I guess its like anything, there are bass guys ( for some reason or another they tend to have more money, grew up with more money etc...no offense), then you have the old crappie guys, and then you have us.. the catmen. Like most of us I got started catfishing as a kid. I was 4 or 5 when my uncle would invite me out to this old farm pond and teach me and my brother how to fish. Most ponds around Texas and Oklahoma hold some catfish so this is an easy start to get kids fishing. Well I graduated from ponds to creeks, again not costing much money, and plenty of places to fish around. You are pretty much almost garanteed to catch a couple cats at least 90% of the time, there has been plenty of times bass fishing ive caught none.
Well then I would come home from school, get off the bus, and of course the ponds were just a walk away so catfishing was always easy access for me. It just stuck. I fish for bass, and crappie from time to time but 99% of my time Im catfishing.
Its that constant chance that when that clicker starts screaming (a rush every time) could be that 30 or 40+ pounder that really gets you hooked. Where an 8-10 pound catfish is a good catch, an 8-10 pound bass would be a trophy. Cats in the 30's are very very common, kinda like a 5 pound bass, and fish in the 40' - 50's are still often caught.
You can also fish for catfish with just about anything. Smaller channels eat pretty much anything you throw at them, wich makes it easy access. You dont have to choose from 452 different colors, and sizes of plastic worms, spinner baits, etc.
Its fishing at its core. Down to the basics. its what you think about when you picture nice relaxing fun.
Try fishing for them for the summer, you will get hooked too.

I don't discriminate between species. If it's biting, I want to catch it. I like fishing for catfish because they are very aggressive, and I grew up targeting them. They make great table fare and I can keep 25 of them.

i like catchin' fish wiff bass on their breath

Family tradition. I grew fishing trotlines and throwlines. Like I tell my daughter, "all it takes is one to fill the freezer!"

hat has got to be the best response, I love it

Don't be fooled. Yes, you can catch fish with a very lazy demeanor. They will still fight put up a fight. My fishing Sensei, Cliff Hill (PLUG, PLUG, PLUG!) has shown me a simple, but exciting way to fish. In the end, it's still fishing. Bass guys wait for the bite and set the hook. It's the same thing with slip bobber fishing, and believe me, you can DEFINATELY miss quite a few hooksets. Some of the cats are pretty cautious! You can go either way with it. Personally, I like getting worn out by missing a few and hitting a few. That's the fun part! Oh, and for me, I love the taste of catfish. Prep it right, and cook it right (by "right," I mean "right" according to your own personal preference), and cats can be just as scrumptious as most other white fish. I am not knocking bass fisherman in anyway, but I RARELY hear about a bass fisherman that keeps his fish to cook. Catfishing using the slip bobber set up can be just as fun, but you go home with tasty table eats at an EXTREMELY lower cost than going to your local fish market and buying cats for dinner. That's why I like catfishing. Hope my honest oppinion and the other's here shed some light on your curiousness!

Don't forget the fine smell of the bait you get to use!

You can't forget that! Nothing like the smell of stinkbait or a bucket full shad in the morning!

Stinky slimmy nasty catfish, why would anyone want to fish for those things. Stay clean and fish for bass with a lure.

And how in the world is catfishing easier than bassfishing?

And the word bass should be **** out on this forum. There are young people that view this site.

Personally I like the fact that I don't have to snad around casting and reeling all day to catch catfish, I can toss a couple of rods out and then sit back and read a book, or get a little work done on the laptop, or sit here and harass y'all with all my posts on here while waiting for a bite.

Catfishing is true traditional stick and line fishing, it doesn't take a bunch of expensive lures, rods and reels, and stuff, and you can catch a catfish just about anyplace you can access the water.

nothingg wrng with bass fishing, some people are bass guys, some ar cat guys, some are crappie guys or what ever. Its just what you get into I guess.

bass fishins WORK CATfishins FUN PERIOD crapies ok

all the reasons already given. its easy to teach a kid to catfish compared to bass or crappie or saltwater fishing. thats how most of us got started on cats. parents or some adult we knew taught us when we were little and we were hooked. i fish for everything except carp and lmb because i dont like the flavor and if im goin for bass i prefer fishing for the various types of smallmouth and stripers, but i fish saltwater and for cats mostly.