This blue cat almost stole my rod! In my experience I think shad might be the best bait for these blue cats

Nice job with the big blue, man!

He had certainly been through the wars protecting the nest, pretty scarred up on top and slim for a big blue, so he should get back and get fat now he will be feeding again.

I loved that Gar video you posted earlier in the rough fish forum, incredible fish and amazing you bought him in on that tiny hook. I am not convinced the small hook is the way to go with big cats though. Why? The big circle hooks most of use makes hooking up easy, no need to strike just let them munch down under tension and they hook up themselves, and my experience tells me that works more often than not.

A big thumbs up for the big gizzard shad as bait. It seems to be the preferred bait and I have caught almost all my big cats on the same bait, although I always chop the tails off to leave a better blood trail/scent when using them.

Great job on the video once again. Bravo!

Interesting you use a big spinning reel for this. They are my preferred reels most of the time, but for cat'n I prefer to use a big heavy duty bait caster, but hey that's just me.

Hope you get your back sorted, that aint no fun.

Neat video as always. Good job Sir.

Thanks for the support! So far I’m 3 for 3 with the small hooks. 2 gar around 5’ and 1 small cat that actually got foul hooked above the eye. No damage though. I’m not sold on using them for cats either yet but I’m going to keep testing it out. See what happens. I’ve tested circle hooks on gar and my hook up ratio dropped big time.

Going to see a pain management doctor this week. Fingers crossed they can help