Another noob question.

What does a catfish bite like? I was thinking, you just leave the rod out there and fish will do the rest. Hook it itself and you just reel in. do you have to anticipate the rod movement and hold it when you think fish initially hit your bait? Is there significant chance that you will come up with empty hook if you don't react in timely manner? if that's the case, when do you jerk your rod, as soon as you feel something is hitting?

thanks.

Sometimes very light, sometimes they try to take your rod. I would say they bite different every day. You just have to see what works.

What bait?

I fish for blues different than I do channel's--
And to me the bite is different-
I have fished for flatties a bit but I can't tell you about that from experience, never caught one-

Blues if your using circle hooks, and they bite like they are supposed to, will usually hook up theirselves. Channelcat if you aren't ready when they hit the first time, you better be jerking as they are hitting the second time or they will usually be gone!

He was just Greedy.

i am using circle hooks with live bait. And i am primary targeting flat. if not blue.

anyway, i have a report from hurbard last night.

i gave myself a second attempt to find a big flat. i fished for 2.5 hours from 9:30 to 12.
i had 3 rods.. two live gills and one cut fillet of gill. I had only one strong hit from the cut bait. But failed to hook it. bait was still on the hook.

It was better than first time, but one hit for 2.5 hours is kinda slow. Maybe it's wrong time to fish for flat now from bank. perhaps, i should revisit during fall or next spring.