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Night Fishing Equipment To Have On Hand:

• Boat
• Boat Anchors
• 12v Auxiliary Power System
• Night Lights
• Submerged Lighting
• Bait Live Well
• System For Chumming
• Boat Rod Holders
• Heavy Duty Bait Casting Or Spinning Rig
• Insect Repellent

Night fishing for catfish can be a very rewarding fishing trip. Trust me If you do it correctly you will catch fish, not only will you catch fish but some will be lunkers! All species of catfish are very active at feeding and foraging. If you put yourself in the right place were the cats are feeding aggressively you will be in for a amazing night of fishing. Catfish have a very keen sense of smell and are attracted underwater fishing lighting. So If you can locate their nightly haunts you can entice them on to your hook with some simple methods I will explain here. Before I explain these methods in detail, there are some basic night fishing setups we need to address. Fishing at night is a totally different ball game then fishing during the day.

Boat Setup for night fishing

Before you even think about going night fishing for catfish you need to have the following items:, Lighting to hang inside the boat ,battery powered, or propane powered Coleman type two mantle lanterns Distribute your lanterns evenly through out your boat. I personally fish from a 20 foot pontoon and I have 3 halogen battery powered lights hung 2in the front, left and right and one hanging from my canopy in the rear.(I have used my Coleman’s but they attract a huge amount of insects)

I also recommend you purchase a small light you clip on the visor of a ball cap. This light is used for re-rigging your fishing poles.You are probably asking why do i need these lights when I already have inside lights, Good question;These small lights have pin pointed light intensity that is great when you have to thread line through a hook or when putting bait and sinkers on. (you can limit this by using heavy tackle and making sure your line is fresh) I personally use a led light that clips to the visor on my ball cap.

Your Next light source is to illuminate the surface of the water. A 12v halogen that you can clip onto the side of your boat and pivot the light source at different angles, and hook to a external 12v power source does nicely here. I personally use and adjustable halogen that I can clip to the railing on my pontoon. Direct the light at a 60 degree angle from boat to water. This will illuminate the surface.

You will need a submerged light source. You are probably asking your self right now why do I need submerged lighting?The underwater fishing lights will attract bait fish by the hundreds, and I am sure you already know the baitfish attract the cats. The reason the underwater fishing lights attract bait fish is because they generate what is called a plankton swirl, of which the baitfish feed from. You will be amazed how fast the big catfish will come and position themselves around the bait fish ball generated for the submerged fishing lights. Submerged lighting Underwater fishing lights can be purchased in a variety of different sizes and shapes. I use a submerged fishing light that is 4″ in dia and 36″ long.You want to place your underwater fishing light in the center of the light pattern that you surface light is generating. Anchor your submerged lighting about 12 ” off the bottom, (without an anchor they will float on top of the water).. make sure the light completely submerged under the water. I recommend you use a 5lb weight as an anchor. If possible, anchor the submerged light about 2 to 3 ft from the boat.

I haven’t mentioned much about the secondary 12v power source that you will need to have on board your boat to power your underwater fishing light,other secondary light sources, and your bait aerator. “do not use your boats power source” This will drain your battery.”you don’t want to get stuck on the lake at night right? If you take a well charged 12v marine battery as your second source it will last through the night.

You will need all Your poles pre-rigged If you have the rigs I would set up 3 poles , per person in advance of getting on the water.Rigging tackle at night can be a real pain the butt , and you want to have your poles in the water as much as possible. You will end up doing it anyway , but if you have spare poles already set up, use them first before you have waist valuable time with poles out of the water.

The Importance Of Knowing where the catfish are at night

It is very important that you do some pre-planning and research the body of water you intend to go night fishing for catfish on. Every body of water is different when it comes to catfish habitat locations, but it has been my experience, that in any body of water the bigger cats roam the shore lines or back waters in search of food at night. I highly recommend you do some research on the body of water you intend to night fish for catfish on. At Minimum Get a topographical map of the area before you attempt your trip. These can be attained at any of the local bait and tackle shops in the area. (I recommend you visit one of these shops to get the local scoop anyway, if you dig deep enough these guys can pin point on the map Where to start fishing. This will save you lots of time.)

Arousing The Catfish’s Senses For A Better Catch.

If you can get the catfish’s sense of smell perked up with the following additional step, you can push the catfish into night fishing feeding frenzy! The submerged lighting will get the schools of bait fish coming , but I take it step one step further because if you play on the catfish’s extra sensitive sense of smell you can drive the Big cats into a feeding frenzy! Ok You say how?

Well the answer is by introducing “chumming”. Chumming releases a slick of dead fish smells and fish guts that the small bait fish and catfish feed on.There are many commercial chumming systems you can purchase and they work very well, but I use a simple very inexpensive method that anyone can set up.Find yourself a nylon netted bag that you close tight with a string. If you can find a netted bag that holds golf balls they work very well. This is what I use, works perfect , very inexpensive. Next , get some good size freezer bags, 3 should do for one nights trip.

Next, Purchase about 2 dozen good size chubs or cut up some other fish like small bluegill, and cut them in 1″ to 2″ slices, make sure you do this in a pan that will not drain all the juices. Fill the freezer bags pieces and juice all together, and let them sit outside in the sun all day long. Yes it will stink to high heaven by the end of the day, but that is what you want! Now stick the freezer bag in side the meshed bag that can close. Close the bag tight and tie a line at the bottom of the bag about 2 feet long. Attach about a 2lb anchor to get the bag to the bottom . Now tie a line at the top of the bag with enough lead line to get the bag on the bottom. Now before you lower the chum bag to the bottom take an ice pick, or something sharp that will puncture the bag , but not tear the plastic. Punch the freezer bag numerous times, then lower to the bottom an tie it off on the side of the boat.

Now its time to fish! But before we go there lets re-visit Your catfish rigs. There are many catfish rigs you can use, and they all work in situations they are designed for. Your rigs do not need to be setup for long casting, keep in mind you will be placing your line only a few feet away from the boat, at the edge of your underwater fishing light source.

You will be fishing only a short distance from the boat, so your rigs need to be set up to fish in close proximity to the boat. You could fish tight line with a basic catfish hook and a small sinker. Or use a slip bobber system. I prefer to use the slip bobber system.

my preference is a single hook tight line or slip bobber rig, both work fine , but single hook is just my preference. I do use the double hook rig when fishing for other types of fish.my fishing rigs for night fishing are all heavy duty. I have all open face spin cast reels spooled with 30lb test. I use a heavy test line because you never know when you will hook into a monster catfish when you are night fishing.You miss some smaller cats, but it’s well worth it when you catch your first 10lb plus catfish.

Night fishing for catfish baits

Blue catfish and channel catfish will eat just about anything that has an oder, and they love small suckers,small shad, bluegills alive our dead. I use both live bait and dead “cut bait”. I will normally set one pole up with a small live gill no more that 3 inches in length. My other poles will be baited with cut bait , normally LARGE suckers 6″ or longer cut in 1″ to 2″ chunks.

Now Bait your rigs,Get Your Boat Setup and get ready for an exciting Night fishing for Catfish Trip! Once you catch a lunker 10 pounder + You will be Hooked for life! So have fun and good luck!

Mark Fleagle Webmaster. 30+ Years Of Fishing Experience Expert Author At Ezinearticles.com. Click This Link To Find Out More About catfish at night Fishing Webmasters , Need 100% Free Automated Fishing Content Instantly? Click This Link: Free Fishing Content

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