Micro Spots

I have spent a great deal of time catfishing alone. You see, I like to get up really early...there's something about the river at 4:30am with a cool fog laying in and the barges working. Alot of catmen like to hang out past sundown, but I like early morning. Maybe it's the duck hunter in me. Anyway, it leads me to the topic at hand, namely fishing micro spots on medium to large rivers.

Several summers ago, I spent most of my time alone in a 14' jonboat on a large local river. I began to develop a hit-and-move strategy that would have me fishing 15-20 different locations in a six-hour fishing trip. This particular river has lots of wood and brush along the edges. My strategy was simply to anchor upstream from a likely looking piece of brush, drop my cut bait on the upstream edge of the cover and set my watch on the seat where I could see it. If, after 7-10 minutes I had not been bitten, I would reposition the bait on the cover. Another 5-7 minutes and I'd be pulling anchor and moving.

This strategy really paid off on this river because of the abundance of small pieces of brush. I found I could easily put together good catches even on tough days. You wouldn't believe how many ten to twelve pound channel-cats I pulled off of tiny little pieces of brush.

Often, there are only one or two cats in these micro-spots. These spots are often tough to fish with more than one or two people, as there is typically not enough room to place more than a couple of baits. These small spots get overlooked, however, and can really pay off big if you're willing to move around alot.

Details

Details, details, details. Some of my fishing buddies enjoy giving me a hard time about my preoccupation with details. I guess it comes from being a full-time software developer and part-time fisherman. In software, it pays to be meticulous. I believe that the same holds true in angling.

Rigging and knots are one area where some people think I go overboard. After having lost too many big cats due to knot failure, or failure of terminal tackle; I developed some techniques that really work. It's not some radical new approach, rather it's a combination of proven features put together in interesting ways. I will describe my absolute favorite riggings for catfishing local rivers.

I generally use 17 or 25 lbs Trilene Big Game in Solar Green (I like the visibility against the muddy and/or stained waters I fish). On the business end, I tie a bimini twist about 30 inches long. I really like using a bimini, as it adds so much to the overall strength of the rig. If you've never tied a bimini twist, now is a good time to start practicing. It takes me both hands, both feet and my teeth to get one tied. You can find instructions on tying a bimini [ here ].

Most times, I'll use an egg sinker from 1 to 2.5 ounces, sliding on the monofilament. Then I add a plastic bead and tie on a heavy crane swivel using a Trilene knot. This gives me a bead for the sinker to hit, and FOUR wraps of mono around the crane swivel. I really like the durability of this setup.

On the bottom side of the swivel, I tie a leader of 35 or 50 lbs test braided micro-dyneema superline ( I like Tuf-Line, which happens to be what I use on most of my musky rods). This leader is generally between 12 and 20 inches, depending on the conditions I'll be fishing. I use a palomar knot [ instructions ] to connect both ends of the leader. I like the superbraid because it is thinner and softer than monofilament, and I believe the catfish is less likely to "feel" it than heavy monofilament.

On the business end of the leader goes a good quality 5/0 or larger circle hook. More about hooks in a later article.

I generally tie up several dozen "leaders" ahead of time, each leader consisting of a hook, a length of superbraid, and a swivel. I wrap these around small pieces of hardboard or 1/4" plywood and secure them with rubber bands. That way, when I'm on the water, I can tie on a new leader without spending time tying the extra knots.

Here is a drawing of the completed rig. Click on the image to view a larger version of it.