I'd like to start after them water cats and just wanted to ask some questions. What are some good baits and techniques for cats? Also what depth water and what kinds of objects to fish around(logs, trees, rocks)?I'd sure appreciate it.

depends what kind of catfish your fishing for.....theres 4 main species in the US..... Blues, flatheads, channels, and mudcats.....they all like diffrent things....narrow it down...maybe we can help....

In Florida we have

Channels
Bullheads
Blues

They can all be fished pretty much the same. For a lot of bites...chicken liver is great .However..difficult to keep on the hook.
Minnows are real good here in Florida along the shoreline for Channels because some are still bedding. Fish just like specks.
I catch alot of catfish but throw them all back. I do not like the ones caught in Florida...too strong for me.
Alot of Florida crackers use freshwater mussels or worms and fish deep holes. That always works.
C7
Chuck7

Channels and Blues. Thanks

Around here we use alot of stink bait, but the majority of your fish won't be that great in size. Channel cats will bite great on this type of bait. I don't usually catch to many blues, but the ones that I have caught were on nightcrawlers and were fairly small.

When we use bait fish (shad, minnows, goldfish), we usually catch less fish, but the size is alot bigger. Shad heads, fillets, and guts are the best if you catch them fresh, although frozenshadworks butnot as well.

If you need a good pole, go to Wal-Mart and they have several good catfish rigs there. I have a Shakespeare (a Contender I think) from Wal-Mart along w/ a Rhino pole with a Zebco 33 reel on it for some smaller cats. I also spent a little extra money and bought a Cat-Maxx from Bass Pro and has handled all the cats I have asked it to.

i usually have really good luck on worms, or chicken liver.

try cut bait!

I fish for cats (blues) on the susquahanna a lot and do my best with chicken livers, The trick I found to keeping them on longer is hooking them through the white part that holds them together (I don't know what to call it). This part is pretty small but really tough. I'll also put the hook through a bumch of times and then slide the liver up the line as though I'm stringing it on then I'll let it slide back down and rest on the hook. I can keep a liver on this way for many casts no matter how hard I cast it. If you don't want to try this I also have good luck with cheese filled hot dogs cut into chunks. Just be sure you hook them through the skin since the meat on the inside is really soft and they won't stay on. Good luck.

another good way to keep chicken liver on is by taking some thread and wrapping it around the liver when it is on the hook

dont tell anyone but live bream is really really goood to use for fish about 10 lbs and bigger and it dont take to long round here for them to bite it had one out the other night for five mins for i got a bite but shad also works real well and night crawlers bunched up with cut bait

Try live minnows about 3-4 inches long,cut bait,worms and my all time favorite chicken livers.

Run a large egg sinker up your line,tie a heavy swivle on and make a 16 inch leader of 15-20 lb test depending on how large the fish are in your area.At the bottom snell on a 2/0 circle cat hook. And use whatever bait you wan't.

Another way to keep chicken livers on is to tie them in to old nylon stockings or like trout eggs in a wrap of some sort.
BBJ