Crappie Tactics, Catfish Results

All of us look for new ways to catch some catfish for the dinner table or just for fun. I have a couple of cross-over techniques that have worked for Sue and me even when we were crappie fishing but caught catfish.

Pulling crankbaits and plastics behind Off Shore Tackle planer boards is an excellent way to catch a bunch of good catfish. Almost everywhere we fish using this technique, we catch them on pink crankbaits and plastics. One hot color combo is black/pink.

Our equipment and rigging for this technique includes Offshore Tackle OR 12 planer boards with #1 Tadpoles, 10-pound Gamma Fishing copolymer line, Pico and Berkley Flicker Shad crankbaits and Bobby Garland black/pink Stroll’Rs with pink Road Runners or Bobby Garland heads.

We have caught a lot of channel and blue catfish using this technique as we fish for crappie. Once in a great while, we will also catch a flathead catfish.

The second technique is jigging thick brushpiles and laydowns with small crappie baits that many catfish love. Last year alone, I caught four catfish (two flatheads and two blue catfish) over 15 pounds on little 1/48-ounce Bobby Garland crappie heads trimmed with the Itty Bit Mayfly plastics. I learned that the black/pink Itty Bit Slab Slay’R was very effective as well.

Many times, if you match the hatch of the food base for any fish species, different fish species can be caught. I hope you try these methods for your next fishing trip.

Don’t forget to take a kid fishing!!

God Bless,

Dan Dannenmueller, Publisher