Went catfishin this weekend in a little lake. Fished from the bank and there were definitely cats in there (mostly little channels, but was just taking my 5 year old out for some fun night fishin).

Anyway, I was using DK's on a treble hook and was getting a lot of bites, however I lost a TON of lines in the water. I had an egg sinker about 15 inches up the line, then the treble hook on the end.

Is there a better way to fish this at night? This is the only way me and dad fished growing up.

Try putting a small float about 6in above the hook. Big enough to lift the hook off the bottom but small enough not to float on top. Also if you can find snag free sinkers that will help too. They are shaped like a pencil. Also when you go to reel in your bait, lift up the rod and reel in fast.

When you say float, you mean like a tiny bobber like when fishing on top?

Yep.

yeah a crappie float

You might also try a slip bobber and try it at different depths which will also keep you from all of the hang ups on the bottom. Try and determine how deep it is where you are casting at and set your bobber a couple feet short of that depth. This will also keep the sinker off of the bottom of the lake also. Just another idea.

Might try that. Never fished with a bobber on top for cats. Didn't know if they'd hit DK's if it wasn't on the bottom. Might grab some lighted bobbers next time and try that.

Yes, alot of times you can catch them on a bobber set up. And using all sorts of different types of bait also.

They will definitely take DK under a float.

Guide Cliff Hill has the slip bobber set up on his home website in the tips and tricks section. He also showed me that you can sue these little chemlight glowsticks that you can buy at Academy and tape them onto your bobber. It's a lot less expensive than lighted bobbers. The brand of the glowsticks that he uses is Rod and Bobb's. Good stuff! Here's Cliff's site:
www.hillcountryfishin.com
Steven