How to Fish for Catfish in Brackish Water
- 1). Choose and prepare bait that will attract catfish. They love oily baitfish such as herring, gold eye and shad. They also like shrimp, squid and soft crab meat, but if these are not available, they'll eat almost any kind of baitfish. Prepare the baitfish by chopping them into chunks or slicing fillets from their sides with a small, sharp knife or filleting knife.
- 2). Choose a sturdy fishing pole. Your choice of rod should be determined by what you want to spend, your size and strength, what is comfortable for you and the amount of time you will spend fishing. Fishing poles made of fiberglass are quite popular because they are fairly inexpensive, don't require a lot of maintenance and they don't break easily.
- 3). Locate a place where catfish are known to congregate. In rivers and estuaries where there is brackish water, catfish will congregate in the deep pools along the waterway or below dams where deep pools have formed. Any places in the pool where there is backed up water from fallen logs, large rocks or boulders are especially appealing to catfish. The Maryland Department of Natural Resources offers this information, "Catfish are bottom feeders that feed at night."
- 4). Bait your hook with the cut baitfish. Your hook should be extremely sharp, and the bait should be placed on the hook so that the barbed tip is exposed. Cast the baited hook into the slow-moving water in the deep pools and wait patiently for a bite.
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