With over 400 waters across the U.K now known to contain Wels Catfish, there has never been a better time to try and catch one of these enigmatic specimens. There’s no need to be put off by thoughts of complicated rigs or bizarre baits, as simple carp style tactics will catch you far more cats. The reason for this is simple, most cat venues are also popular carp waters and therefore the catfish quickly learn to exploit the easy pickings provided in the form of buckets full of boilies and pellets.
With this approach in mind, I headed South-West to the popular Anglers paradise complex www.anglers-paradise.co.uk on arriving I found a gorgeous landscaped 2 acre lake, and best of all, I had the lake to myself. A concrete outlet set a couple rod lengths out from the bank was an obvious feature as small fish continuously topped around the structure, whilst the surrounding area was slightly deeper than most of the lake, and made up of very hard clay, a perfect spot to present a bait, that a cat waking from months of winter inactivity wouldn’t be able to ignore.
A fishmeal based ground bait, was mixed with tinned sardines and fish oil, 12 orange sized balls where lobbed to the feature, an oil slick immediately flattening the surface, with the attraction in place a couple handfuls of 20mm boilie and halibut pellets were added over the top to give the cats something with substance, after all the more they grubbed around, the better the chance of a take.
As darkness fell a simple lead clip rig, with a Korum readymade size 6 hair rig holding a glugged 20mm boilie was swung out on to the baited spot, for the first few hours of darkness nothing stirred, heading to the comfort of my bed chair at midnight I thought my chance may have passed. At 3 o’clock the line bites began, some were so savage that they pulled the bobbin tight to the rod, as below the surface a 4 foot monster clumsily made the most of the feast I had provided. When the bite finally came it wasn’t the single tone screamer that you normally associate with the species, but a bream- like drop back, winding down I lifted into the fish, only to be immediately flat rodded as the fish ripped 20 metres of line from the tightly set clutch of my Kxi free spin reel.
10 minutes of arm ache later, and a whiskered head finally broke through the eerie moon lit surface in front of the net, a few seconds later and it was all over. Switching my head light on I took a quick look at my beaten opponent slumped in the bottom of the net, and punched the air in delight, as the first cat of the campaign was clearly a good one. Lifting the beast onto the mat I gently removed the barbless hook from the corner of the mouth, as I tried to lift her for a quick photo she got her revenge with a slimy slap round my face with her tail! I gently lowered her back into the margin; she used her 31lb of muscle to powerfully pull from my grip, bow waving down the lake, still full of attitude despite her capture.
With lots of other cats in the lake, including several over 50lb, I hope to repeat the experience over the next few weeks, and with catfish now so widely spread, why not give it a go yourself?
Jules 5 top catfish tips
- Find a venue with plenty of cats; don’t try sparsely stocked water’s when after your first specimen.
- Location, look for features, overhanging bushes, trees, snags, lily beds, cats love to sit in cover, and wait to pounce on passing prey.
- Use suitable gear, a 2.75lb precision rod, 60 size free spin reel and 15lb mono is the perfect balance between getting great sport and retaining an element of control over your quarry.
- Forget complicated rigs and bizarre baits, simple carp rigs and baits will catch you plenty of cats.
- Give them some food! Get them grubbing around in your swim with a generous bed of oily fishmeal ground bait, pellets and boiles.
