This year will be the first year I go on the hunt for Blue cats. I am typically a bass fisherman, but that big blue cat fishing sure looks fun. So, I think I have read and see enough to have a good idea of how to go about it, but I would like to double check some things with you experts before I start off.

First off

I'm assuming the 3rd week or so in Nov, it should really get going, through Feb?

A Carolina rig with a live or frsh shad is one of the best baits?

Can I get away with using a bait caster I do my heavy pitching with, to catch these Blues? 7 foot M/H rod and 17lb Floro?

Bait should be a few cranks off the bottom, on main lake points, slowly drifting? I know this can change daily, but what is a good place to start, as far as presentation?

I will fish Lewisville all winter, and I know a guide would be best, but I want to figure this out on my own. Any tips and info would be appreciated.

17 lbs a little light .....30 lbs ould be lightest I would go ..my rigs have got team catfish braid 65 lbs. or 40 bls mono..Car. rig with a cork floating your bait...call by most the Sante Cooper rig...fresh cut gizzard shad with double action 8/0 hooks I used Team catfish hooks and gam. octopus hooks...yes your bait caster will do fine ...depending on the fish your rod should be ok ...I have heard of guys snapping poles ...on hook sets but never personally done it.. some fish shallow all year some fish deep this depends on bait and temp...have a plan for both....deep humps and river channels....shallow flats near deep water ...good luck.....if you cant find shad use a black bass...lol just kidding on the last part...welcome to the dark side....

you better grease them drags good with only 17# if you want to see any big fish !imho step up to bigger line

dang bt you type quick !

what he said

For smalies the rig you described will catch ALOT of good sized cats.. But you never know when that big mofo will come your way...

Use BIG bait. It keeps the small guys off the hooks.
If your catching alot of 14-22's Go up on the bait size, untill it wont fit in their mouths, this will get ALOT of hits but keep them off the hook. If its in the water for more than 15mins with no fish, bring it in and reset. 2 casts or rehooks per shrimp load then rebait. DONT TOSS the shrimp into the water! its just food that keeps them full and off your hooks. Bag it and use for chum just before you leave!

I have ALOT of success with 2 jumbo white RAW shrimp on a 5/0 or bigger circle hook. Sprayed with garlic spray if they are still frozen or natural if they are thawed and been sitting in the back of my truck for a day or 2. I like to often poor in some raw garlic salt into the bag of shrimp, shake it around and let it sit in the shade on a warm day for a day or 2. WOW its potent!
Tip, wet your hands before hooking the shrimp, the stink will wash off easyer.

If you can get a heavy rod regaurdless of the reel you use.
The cats I been pullin in will snap anything less than med/hvy.
and pop 20pound line like tissue paper.
I use 7'6" ers. its what Im used to from bass fishing. with 60# braid attached to large steel leaders, If you get snagged the clips will open and you will get your gear back -1 hook.
Just beshure to palamar knot it or you will be really mad!

I like to find trenchs running through channels. drop my weight on the edge of it and suspend my bait over the edge. With a semi tight line.
Once you find a spot and pull a cat. keep on that same spot as close as possible. Just liek bass they will rotate into holes channels etc...

Good luck!

BTW even Bowfin like the shrimp!

If you choose to use shrimp and only one per hook. slide that shrimp onto the hook from the head end through the middle of the body and out the side of the last scale just before the tail.
Just pop the barb through and thats all..
Keeps the smallies from pullin it off the hook and allows for a solid hookset when a big boy gets on.
If you dont pop that tip through you will constantly pull the bait from out their mouths.
Shrimp is my confidence bait. Never had any luck on shad alive or dead.
And remeber DONT set hook on circle hooks, put tension on them and just reel in slow until he startes trashing! let the fish set the hook...

lol that thw firt time someones told me that ....lol

Where do you fish Ezdaar that the fish snap rods and 20lb line? Will you take me? I have been dying to get into some fish like that. The fish in my sig bottomed out my 32lb scale, and I brought it in on a Garcia 6500 with 20lb, yes 20, Berkely Big Game, 50lb mono leader, Quantum Medium/Fast Saltwater grade(Glass rod SS eyes, but otherwise the same as any other medium rod), 4/0 VMC bait holder hook. A lot of guys that I fish with use big hooks, 8/0 and bigger, and I have one buddy on this site that uses some 13/0 hooks. Me personally, I like medium sized tackle. I'm after the fight, not the fish. I dont keep them because I dont eat them. But I'm serious Ezdaar, if you are willing to take me to catch some of those big, big fish, I will go, and fish like you tell me to, we can even take my boat if you like. I'm always willing to learn. Most of my catfishing techniques came from Brother Terry and DEERSTRANGLER, two of the best catters I know.

My new sig. Thanks Nathan.

I speak the truth, Bob.

Terry don't type fast he got his daughter to type it for him.She is eight.
Johnny

I took typing 2 years in high school finaly got up to 10 words per minute!!!

so you're saying that took you almost two minutes to type?

Yea I type chicken style, one peck at a time!!!

You guys have me drooling. I can't wait to get into some winter cats. Hope I do as good as you guys do since I'll be on the bank.

Dang Bullprick--
Looks like you've done "pretty good" off the bank!

Bullprick, we should go out together sometimes. I'm always sitting there on the bank alone, and there's always beer left in the cooler.

Gibby, what Bro. Terry said. I'll add my two cents, my new set-up for trophy kittys is 65lb braid main line with 50lb ande mono leader with Team Catfish 8/0 double action circle hooks. Rigged Santee-Cooper rigg. With circle hooks you don't set the hook so breaking a rod shouldn't be an issue. The mono leader is recommended because the mouths of the kittys will wear out the braid. I use glass rods 7-8ftMH. I'll add that filleted buffalo strips make good bait also. I think 30lb good quality mono would be fine for most trophys in open water but if your gonna be fishing in flooded timber areas the lighter mono will break your heart. Don't ask me how I know.

I took typing two years in college dropped it both times.....

I've had some luck in the shallows and some in deeper water, but nothing really big.Patterns don't seem to be working with all the rain. Where can I and others find bigger fish right now?

welcome to the tff stevenm i cant help ya, i cant find em either

for rod n reel to catch bigguns you gotta use natural baits and keep the baits out of the mud. work the wind blown side of the lake no matter how shallow it is as I don't think the blues go into full wintering mode down there in tejas because in order for that to happen the water temp has to hit the low 40's and then you have to have a good cold front come through to send them all deep like they do up here further north. When blues go into full wintering mode you won't find any fish at all in the shallows. if the water temp stays about 45 and above in the lakes you're fishing then they can literally be anywhere in the lake as there's no thermocline for them to deal with that'd cause them to stay up shallower ... once the water cools down the oxygen saturates the whole lake so that's why they can be anywhere. The reason I don't think they go into full wintering mode is because of the abundance of threadfin shad ya'll have down there. threadfin don't do well in the colder waters like up here in northern oklahoma ... we have a few but I haven't seen one in about 3 years here on keystone over on the cowskin bay area due to the extreme cold that hit here about 3 years ago. it also got so cold so fast that we had a real bad shad die-off in Janurary, of this year, also. so if you're bank bound you'll want to focus your fishing towards the windblown side of the lake if possible as there always seems to be more fish towards the windblown end of the lake ... usually the wind is out of the south probably 80% of the time so you'd want to fish the northern side of the lake or northern side of any arm of the lake depending on where you're able to get to. fresh water sources coming into the lake is a magnet for bluecat ... well all three of the major catfish species are attracted to current eddys towards the upper end of any lake as the fish will stack up near the edge of the current and if the lake is rising they'll be going right up into the current but once the creek or river crests they'll pull right back to the current eddys our just outside the current eddys is a great place to fish the shallow flats with float rigs and fresh cut shad or bluegill. use common sense and stay away from wives tale type baits or fishing methods and you'll start to figure it out. don't jump around too much from lake to lake ... learn one lake and how the fish react to environmental changes and then once you do that you'll be able to fish any lake anywhere and automatically have a really good idea of where the fish will be ... even on lakes you've never fished in your life if you'll do that one simple thing ... learn one lake and how the fish react to weather changes or environmental changes and you'll be an expert catfisherman before you know it. jumping around from one lake to another won't teach you anything because then you're depending too much on luck and luck has nothing to do with it unless you allow it to be your way of fishing. depending on luck is never dependable. Pay attention to what the environment and water is telling you ... look for fish activity on the surface ... watch the birds and pay attention to what they're telling you. if the gulls are diving down and picking up shad there's either one of two scenarios that happening there ... there's either just a lot of shad there or there's fish attacking the shad that are there disrupting their swimming pattern so that they're more vulnerable to the birds ... that's the kind of things I'm talking about that you need to pay attention to. if you see gulls diving down and picking up shad then throw a fresh cut shad out there where they're diving ... if they're just sitting on the bank then that means nothing at all .. if they're just sitting on the surface of the water that means nothing also. same with other types of birds but you get the idea of what I'm trying to tell you.

try to think more linear when it comes to catfishing instead of the way most people think of it which is static or spot type fishing because you can't depend on spot fishing when there's live creatures you're dealing with. they're going to be where they're going to be. sounds like yoggy berra don't it hahaha. when I'm fishing keystone I have to locate the fish just about every day and just about every day is different ... very seldom do I find the fish in the same spot as I did the day before and very seldom do I get them to bite the same way as the day before because it changes from day to day.... learn what evokes these changes and you'll never be hungry for fish for the rest of your life because you'll always be able to catch them at any time.

+1

Thats some good info. Gonna try it today