Northwest Fishing Reports

I have never caught a catfish, I have vaguely tried over the ears but never with any seriousness. I know that gissberg is supposed to have channel cats. so my question is..

what is the best bait? worms, power bait catfish stuff
what size of hook should I use?
do I need gloves or anything for retrieving my hook?
should I cast as far out into the middle or more like 15ft from the shoreline?
do they get big? should I bring my steelhead pole instead of my little trout rod?

any other pointers would be great thanks!

Berkley stink bait for catfish or night crawlers in our area. JMO

I've tried gissberg a few times for cats with no luck. That said, catfish in general are most active at night. Now given gissberg is closed then dawn & dusk are will be the most productive times they'll let you fish it. Once the water surface temps get in to the mid 60's and above they'll tend to find someplace in the shallows to hide (logs & branches, overhanging banks, or brush over hangs).

As for gear i usually use something rated for 10 to 12 lb line rating on it (normally my steelhead or salmon rods) and a nuber 1/0 hook unless i know there's something really big swimming then i bump up to 3/0 or 4/0 hook. you shouldn't need gloves to handle them they don't have much for teeth and the only thing you gotta worry about is the spines on the pectoral fins when they get rolling around.

I like a few different baits when i fish channel cats (and have had a lot of success in the past at Harts & Swafford):

nightcrawlers with some garlic stink squirt on or in them
chicken livers (not rotten, fresh & bloody)
herring chunks

i've got most my fish on one of those 3 baits with herring getting the biggest fish. Truth be told though if it's got a lot of scent coming off it chances are a catfish will bite it. they have very poor eyesight and hunt mainly by smell. Hope that helps let us know if you hook up out there.

Good call Spokey. I have loads of herring in the freezer from last salmon season. Thanks for the tip.If the chicken livers aren't rotten then I'll saute them first for me. I would't waste good livers on a catfish. LOL

No prob racfish, the bigger ones love an oily piece of fish

Sounds good i am not expecting much, i have my 2 pole endorsment so i figured what the hell why not throw one out for a catfish. i will let you know how i do

Where are the Gissburg ponds anyway?

Try raw, bloody steak. I've seen it work well for catfish.

racfish wrote:Where are the Gissburg ponds anyway?

Gissburg is by Smokey Point, right off the freeway.

The few times I've tried to catch cats here, I've come up without a nibble(unless you count incidental sculpin & trout).
Never caught a cat before though, so that might have a bit to do with my poor success. I've tried doughbaits, cheese, sponge baits, liver, and nightcrawlers when I went.

If the water isnt to colored up you can catch cats on curly tail grubs, i would recommend a night crawler though. Almost every catfish i have caught was floating a worm 4 feet down under a bobber.

Cassidy out by Lake Stevens/Marysville has bullhead cats apparently. I'll be giving that a shot pretty soon, and might hit up Gissberg as well. Good info in here!

Cut bait=best bait, catch some bluegill or whatever you can and cut it into pieces for bait. I've been using crappie only so far this year, I need to go fish for some pikeminnow for bait. I use 2/0 and 3/0 hooks out on the river.

I'll add chicken gizzards to the list. IMO, and coming from the Eastside growing up having caught hundreds of cats over the years, they are probably as effective as stinkbait, livers or worms. Their advantage is twofold, they are cheaper than anything else except cutbait, and they stay on the hook tremendously well due to their grisly nature. I have not found cutbait to be overly effective on the smallish cats that are over here, but it does work well for the bigger fish over on the eastside in the Columbia/Snake/Yakima systems.

racfish wrote:Where are the Gissburg ponds anyway?

Also called Twin Lakes, just south of the Costco near Arlington (Snoho County) on the West side of I-5. Be advised: the northern lake is classed as "Juvenile Fishermen Only."


Ref bait...the "go to" bait that we caught many catfish on in AZ is...wait for it....pieces of hotdog!