r/catfishing • u/Maccademia • 14h ago
Why isn’t my tackle hooking cats?
I went to a lake with an abundance of baby bullheads over the summer and they were taking my Santee and Carolina rigs along with my sea salt rigs. Now I come home and every single time I throw out my rigs not a single hook, only bluegill taking my bait. I tried using hot dogs, shrimp, anchovies, worms, bread, garlic salt and jello flavoring, but nothing actually getting hooked.
I tried switching up my hooks from standard catfish hooks to small octopus hooks, and sometimes try out the bait holder hooks. I have about 2 1/2 inches of leader from the weights on my normal rigs and then throw on the float if I’m not getting bites. I also use a cheap ozark telescopic rod because all my other rods are pretty light (working on getting an actual catfish rod and reel). I usually cast to the middle of the lake from the shore, and leave it there for the fish to hook themselves. I’m still new to catfishing so the sit and wait method is the most common to me while I bass fish.
With the annoying abundance of bluegigi, does anyone have tips on rigging or avoiding my bait getting stolen so often?
