By Neil Taylor
The Catfish. An interesting one. Despised by most who fish saltwater. Freshwater: A source of food in addition to a Fish To Catch.
It is “catching a fish.” Not the one most people want but it is a pull on the line.
Spines, I always felt like I had the flu for four hours if one stuck me. Catfish are a reason all by themselves for carrying pliers or a dehooking tool at all times Steer clear of these spines.
Salt water: There are hardheads and galltopsails. The Sail cats can get large. You catch one, you have slime on everything.
Never forgotten: I was on the radio with Mel. He was talking about visiting the Skyway piers. “People were just throwing their catfish on the cement to die. Why would they do that?” I replied “Because there were no bushes to throw them in?” First and only time I pressed the cough button. Lisening to the replay of the show, even with the cough button you could still hear me laughing. Mel was a live and let live guy. I was anti catfish. I’d catch them jigging for pompano. They would die. I never thought I was having any real impact on their population.
Mel Berman: gafftopsail catfish provide plenty of good pulls, enthusiastically slam dunking virtually any bait in your tackle box.
There are people who are happy to catch them. I was never one of them
The catfish is almost universal: They are pretty much everywhere. Providing an option for “action”, the catfish has that place in life.
The saltwater catfish is a scavenger. Cleaning the oceans bottom, they catfish has that role in the ecosystem.
If your bait smells that’s best. Pretty much any natural bait with scent will catch a catfish.
- The Neil Blog… - July 26, 2023
- The Catfish - July 26, 2023
- update - July 22, 2023
