catfish help!

[Jig'em83]

It's not my first rodeo but has been a while. I live on about a 20 acre lake that gets fished but not much. I have heard stories of big cats and spoonbill. I'm lost on how to go about catching these guys. I have access to a boat but plan on bank fishing. What is the best baits to use? Shallow or deep? Full moon is coming up and yes I'm one of those guys when it comes to catfishing. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Hope to have some good pics to share.

[kentuckykingfisher]

I like using cut bait for cats. Skipjack, shiners, sunfish ect. For smaller bodies of water it's hard to beat livers or a big gob of night crawlers. I like to find spots near a deep drop off or a hump of some sort. This time of the year I mostly catfish at night in shallower water fishing on bottom. Here's a pic of a 30lb blue I caught off of skipjack. Don't worry it was released!

[restornator]

where do you live? lol. Does anyone manage the fish in the lake? Does it have a feeder creek? Near the Ohio R.?

I'll make you a nice topo map for fishing privileges, lol.

[Jig'em83]

where do you live? lol. Does anyone manage the fish in the lake? Does it have a feeder creek? Near the Ohio R.?

I'll make you a nice topo map for fishing privileges, lol.

Lol.....some things you got to keep to yourself...it has 6 feeder springs....for the quality of fish it's managed well but no one keeps it up, just mother nature and the occasional guy that gets hungry, lol.

[llg]

Their stick and egg worms work really well. Sewer dip bait is good. They used to have shrimp flavor--it was great. You can buy this stuff and store it somewhere where it does not dry out. I like to change the hooks to 4/0 circle hooks.

Quick and easy to be fishing in just a few minutes.

[olgreenboat]

jig some of my favorite bait to use in such places is whats there to use small bluegill heads ( from 4" fish) are a favorite of all catfish so is using a bunch of guts on a hook. Now as for the spoonbill cats they are plankton eaters and do not bite hooks for say but i have hook them in the mouth and put them in the boat (KY lake) before and though they are very tasty fish they are one of the best rough fish to have in a lake and i would leave them alone . They eat alot of plankton and filter the water better then grass carp .
That must be a deep lake to have spoonbill catfish in it and they can get 100 pounds.
As for catching big bluegills ( 8" or bigger) try to take only the females and put the big males back in the water to protect the eggs and nest . female bluegills most allways have a yellow belly were the males are black .
Jig If you find a way to or a pattern and bait to easly catch fish out of this lake KEEP IT TO YOUR SELF and don't tell your friends or even ur mom or dad what or how .
Ok back to bait night crawlers and redworms are also my favorite but not store baught crap . Go out and dig some redworms and go night crawler hunting get on the net and learn how to make worm beds for them..
I promis you will catch bigger gills with freshly dug redwoms and more chanel catfish with fresh night crawlers then any of the crap from canada ..
One last thing jig never bring live or cut bait from another pound or lake and use it in this lake you could cause some real problems with parasite's and disease's or even worse would be to throw live bait bait from another lake or pond in the lake..
Tight lines .

[Basshunter82]

This lake isnt in oldham county by any chance is it?

[riverrat12]

This lake isnt in oldham county by any chance is it?

If it is I'm pretty sure I know the guy who stocked it LOL.

[Jig'em83]

This lake isnt in oldham county by any chance is it?

It is a shame at the way y'all are acting. How about a little respect for me? Your showing your true character. I didn't post to tell you about my "secret spot" , I posted to get helpful information but only a couple of you have the decency to do that. Do y'all poach when hunting? This is about the same to me. I worked to gain access to all my fishing holes by spending time on the water and making friends with ppl who trust me. Not by spending time finding other ppl's places to fish. This is the sole reason fisherman get such a bad wrap. Thanks to everyone who actually tried to help and not try to "find" my secret spot.

[peckerheadernie]

If you can find any catalpa trees that have worms on them they are great catfish bait. We had a great day at Taylorsville lake yesterday and if we had kept all of the catfish we caught we could have filled up two big coolers. They are on the trees right now in our area. A little work, but well worth the trouble.