Your Place To Have YOUR Say

just been told that using a big float for fishing for catfish is a good tactic as they feed mid water as well as on the bottom is this true ?? maybe use a big pike float of carp float. and i was told that dead bait with the float will catch catfish easier than having live baits on the bottom ? iv been told these tactics from an old boy who used to fish for big cats in spain as well as the uk, if so what rig is best for the catfish on a float. if you dont agree then what rig is best using a ledger on the bottom off the lake

Generally I fish live or deads on a still water by using a running rig off the bottom and have either a single poly ball to let it rise in the water to your desired depth - the advantage is that the bait holds its position whereas a float presented bait will drift out of position due to the wind or current. I generally favour using a dumbell rig over a single polyball as this generally prevents the livebait tangling with the line going down to the ledger weight.If I were river fishing and in anchored boat then I would use the float as it would hold a general position behind the boat and be held on the current. have had many large cats using teh dumbell rig

i may sound stuped but iv never used the dumbell rig it will be hard for you to explain to me but is there any tips on how to make this rig. i fish for carp but never caught a cat fish so i want to try and catch one thats why im asking for advise ect...im going tommarow

You need 2 poly balls and a stick or stiff tube basically the balls go on either end of the tube. I have used kebab sticks and threaded the line through the ball along the stick or tube and out the ball at the other end and then added a swivel and set it into the ball like a swivel on a semi-fixed lead. The hook link tied to the swivel, it should be shorter than your tube length, as this helps avoid a live bait being able to swim round the line that is coming up from your running lead on the bottom. Like using a marker rod when the lead is on the bottom pay out the line you want to represent the distance off the bottom you want to fish.

You can get a long hollow 60cm tube with a cone rubber on the end to set your swivel into - some kind of tube rig - I have seen 3 for £1 in Decathlon but I am sure the tackle shops do them. This produces a better rig than my kebab stick! Set your clutch on your reel just to hold the live bait in postion but lightly so the cat can run off with its prey (or just clip your line so once out of the clip it can run freely - as too much resistance will cause the cat to drop the bait). Good luck

sounds good thankyou very much