august 27, 2008 05:35pm

Skinny Dippin' for Catfish by Texas catfish guide Bobby Kubin.

Skinny Dippin' for Catfish

By Bobby Kubin


You're probably thinking this article has something to do with a form of catfishing that does not necessarily require a rod and reel and clothing may be optional. I hate to disappoint any of you, but it really has nothing to do with diving into the water and wrestling some monster flathead catfish out of its lair. I am going to walk you through a few simple techniques and tips for locating and catching catfish in shallow water using dip baits.
Dip baits have been around quite a while
and have taken their fair share of catfish. This form of catfish bait is often referred to as a "Cheese" bait primarily for their typically
main ingredients being some form of
cheese. Dip baits are typically thinner than dough baits and do not have the fibers to keep them on a hook like a punch bait. They usually have the consistency of peanut butter and require some sort of catfish bait
holder such as a dip tube, plastic worm or sponge to keep the bait on the hook. Team Catfish Dead Red Dip Tubes and Furry Thang bait holders are excellent examples of catfish bait holders that I use for dip bait fishing. The dip bait must be extremely sticky and adhere to the bait holder or it will wash off before the fish finds the bait. The function of a dip bait is to immediately
saturate the area around the baited hook
with lots of scents and attractants. Any
wave action or current in shallow water will quickly spread the fish-attracting scents around the area of the baited hook in a more horizontal direction. This allows the catfish to easily pick up on the scent and home in on the source quickly. Thus making dip
baits an excellent choice to use while
targeting catfish in "skinny" water.

In order to catch shallow water cats, you first must locate them. I prefer to begin fishing wind-blown banks with brush, grass, stickups or other types of cover. If the fish are there and actively feeding, we will usually
get bites and start catching fish by the time I get the third or fourth rod in the water.

Keeping fresh baits in the water will also help increase the number bites and the number of fish you catch. If a rod doesn't get bit in five minutes or so I will rebait it and cast it out again. I focus my shallow water fishing techniques in waters less than 5 feet
deep. Often times we will be fishing in water less than two feet deep and even catching fish in less than one foot of water.
When dip bait fishing, I prefer to use a
simple Carolina rig consisting of 20 pound test main line, 1 to 2 oz. egg sinker, barrel
swivel, an 18 inch leader (17 lb test) and a dip tube with a #4 or #6 treble hook and loaded up with Secret 7 catfish bait by Team Catfish.

The majority of the fish I target on
dip baits will be eating size fish up to 10 lbs or so with an occasional trophy sized fish. I prefer the lighter leader line due to the number of snags that occur while fishing in heavy cover. When you hang up and need
to break off, the majority of the time you will only lose the leader, hook and dip tube, while saving the weight and swivel. Dip baits can also be fished with great success on slip cork rigs as well, but that's another
story all by itself.

The most important tip for locating and
catching catfish is if you are not getting bites or catching fish in 15 minutes or so and you have freshened up your baits you need to move. Keep changing locations until you find a concentration of fish. Once you find
that school of actively feeding fish, dip baits can quickly put a bunch of nice eating size catfish in the box for your next fish fry.



For information about guided catfish trips in
the Dallas and Fort Worth areas contact:
Bobby Kubin
Bobby's Catfish Guide Service
Lake Lewisville and Grapevine
(817) 455-2894
www.bobby-catfishing.com
Email: bobby@bobby-catfishing.com


Thanks for the great article Bobby. We at Team Catfish are glad you are using all our bait and tackle.

Folks if you need a good catfish guide in Texas, please check out Bobby Kubin's info.

august 18, 2008 09:45am

Manufactured bait CHAMPION!!!

August 16th,
Dubuque Iowa
Mississippi River

Team Catfish's SECRET-7 catfish bait has just won really big again! This was not just another catfish tournament though.....This was the Bass Pro Shops Big Cat Quest Manufactured Catfish Bait Championship of 2008. "The Big Cat Quest is highest paying catfish tournament trail in the country!" said Ken Freeman owner of the trail. "We have lots of great tournament anglers and manufactures coming together to have a great time here in Dubuque Iowa. We are all about family, friends and good times with a competitive spirit." Ken added. When it was all said and done Team Catfish's SECRET-7 had claimed 1st, 4th, and 8th places in the top 10 at the Big Cat Quest Championship. There was also a local team of Joe Dyer and Don Reul that won 5th place using a small sample of the SECRET-7 catfish bait in conjunction with the local favorite, Cat Tracker dip baits. Dyer and Reul also used some of the DEAD RED Dip Tubes and the mini FURRY THaNG bait holders to help them seal their 5th place victory.

The Big Cat Quest Tournament was held on the mighty Mississippi River in Dubuque Iowa. The date was August 16th. The weather conditions were beautiful, a sunny day with a high of 81 degrees. There was also a cool and foggy morning start of 51 degrees. The winds were light, but there was lots of boat traffic on such a beautiful day.

As for the catfishing, the bite was very tough according to most anglers. The anglers had anticipated a much better activity level, but the catfish did not cooperate very well. Many anglers had hammered the cats while pre-fishing earlier in the week. "They were pulling the rods over hard yesterday" said Jeff Williams founder of Team Catfish Tackle. We knew that there were lots of good catfish anglers participating in the event. We also knew there were many good catfish baits for the anglers to choose from. We had our fingers crossed for sure, but ultimately didn't know what the outcome would be!"

Jeff also added. "We could not be more pleased to have won a Big Cat Quest tournament at Lake Texoma in May 2008. This tournament was the first event the SECRET-7 had ever entered into as a sponsored bait. Then to win the Manufactured Bait Championship on the Mississippi River shows how versatile the SECRET-7 catfish bait really is. It also shows that catfish anglers can catch lots catfish in lakes and rivers alike with the very user friendly SECRET-7, manufactured catfish bait. We also want everyone to know that no matter what catfish bait they choose to use, most will work when it comes to catching come catfish. This is our first full year to be in the bait and tackle business and the response has been wonderful. We are selling bait and tackle to anglers all over the country now. The catfish tournaments are a great way to get you name out there if you have good quality products to offer. We are very excited about this win to say the least. We have kept track this year and we feel very confident when saying that as of August 2008 we have been the most winning brand in catfishing for the year 2008. We even had two man and woman teams in the big Cat Quest Championship that finished in 4th and 8th places....How cool is that! The reports and research we have done this year on the anglers winnings show that the catfish tournament fishermen that have used Team Catfish bait and tackle have easily won tens of thousands of dollars. I am also pretty sure that the winnings have gone well over $50,000.00. Heck, the tournament anglers using our products at this event took home over $7.000.00 in CASH between split 1st, 4th, 5th, and 8th places! That's too cool! It's a pretty awesome feeling when you realize there are lots catfish anglers that are using the bait and tackle we have worked so hard and that they are winning big, big, big."

Jeff also praised the B.P.S. Big Cat Quest saying "That this is a top notch tournament trail ran by a life long veteran catfishermen. Ken Freeman knows catfishing and does a marvelous job at the events he hosts. Folks can find information about his tournaments and his giant traveling fish tank at BigCatQuest.com."

1st Place team Zeke Reyes and John Buckley Won $5000.00!

4th Place team Chris Dykes and Holly Kraft Won $800.00!

8th Place team, husband and wife, Bill and Julie Kunzeman Won $450.00!


If you are interested in finding out more about Team Catfish and all their products please check out TeamCatfish.com. There are lots of cool things to check out online including the tournament winning SECRET-7 catfish bait.

The folks from Team Catfish would like to remind everyone to “hold onto your pole and good luck catfishing out there!" 2008

august 03, 2008 06:54pm

More catfish action in CA.

7/13/08
Met up with Jose of Santiago's guide service. There was 5 of us on the boat today things were
slow but they picked up! Overall a pretty good day, overcast all day and it did sprinkle a little bit.
I was using some STINK bait that had some STANK on it secret-7,I think it was called by Team Catfish.
This stuff stinks but it works brought in the biggest fish today!
Thanks Jose for taking us out today had a great time.

report by Brent Andrews

Thanks Santiago for sending us in Brent's report. Keep up the good work fellas.......

Santiagofishing.com

august 03, 2008 06:49pm

Santiago in Northern Ca.

This report sent in to us by Santiago's guide service located in beautiful northern CA.

8/2 & 8/3/08

Pro MMA fighter Clark Bevans back for rounds 4 & 5 !!!
We caught bass, nice size crappies and lots of nice channels on the secret-7 catfish bait.

all the fish were released. Thanks again Paula & Clark for coming back for your 4th and 5th trip.


Thanks for the report Santiago....keep sending in those reports.

Santiagofishing.com
760 793 5020

july 24, 2008 06:30am

New article by South Texas Catfish Guide Cliff Hill

Here is a great new article by a master catfish angler and long time vetran guide Cliff Hill.


Slipping up on the catfish. By Cliff Hill.


One of the most productive ways to fill a cooler up with catfish is to use slip bobber. It's absolutely a blast to watch that bobber go under and have a catfish try to pull that rod out of your hand. It's one of my favorite ways to fish for several reasons.
Using a slip cork is easy and most everyone can do it, not mention it reminds you how simple and fun fishing is supposed to be. There are several things I do when setting up my slip cork rigs and I'll discuss them in detail. I prefer a medium baitcast or spinning reel such as a Shimano Sahara 4000 or Abu Garcia 5000 loaded with 30-50 pound HI-VIS braid of your choice. The reels are attached to medium action; 7 to 7 half-foot rods. You want a rod with enough backbone to set the hook and you want a dependable reel that will get those whiskered fish in. When considering floats there are a bunch of corks, bobbers, floats out there that work fine. I prefer a 3 inch fluorescent pencil float for several reasons, they are easy to see, the offer least resistance to finicky fish, they cast well and are readable. When I say "readable", I mean studying that bobber when it floats naturally with out a fish messing with it versus when one is "mouthing" or playing with the bait which the cork "alerts" you to by it's sudden unnatural floating. Once you fish them for a bit, you'll see what I am describing. The next item is your stop knot which can be pre bought at most outdoors stores in packs of 40 or so, then you'll need a 6mm or 8mm bead, a swivel and some sharp Team Catfish treble hooks. I like to a attach monofilament leader of 20 pound test between the hook and swivel, so when I get snagged I only lose the hook.
Next is the series in which these items go together. The bobber stop knot goes on the mainline first and is cinched down through the loop created in the middle after removing the plastic tube, next you put on the bead and slide your line through the cork, float, or bobber. I prefer to use a 3/8 or ¼ oz. egg weight below the cork. (Simply slide the line through the weight) then tying this off with a barrel swivel. The amount of weight varies but you want to be sure you have enough to cast a good distance and still be accurate with either type of reel set up. I like to then set my depth by moving the knot to my desired depth that I wanting to fish. It is important to trim the excess line off the pigtails on your knot, not too much but a bit to keep them from getting hung up in the eyes of your rod. Once your satisfied with the depth, then cinch the pigtails down. The knot is slide able to fish any depth and go up on your spool with out causing any problems, which is a benefit of fishing slip bobbers. The mono leader is then attached with a dip bait tube for catfish baits like the Secret 7. Slide your leader line through the tube then tie off with your favorite knot onto a treble hook ranging from a #6 to 1/0.
This is how I fish for catfish with clients 90% of the time. The cork allows for easy identification of bites and being able to lower or raise your bait to the depth the fish are at with the simple sliding of a knot. Catfish are aggressive feeders and using this rig allows you to be able to pinpoint productive areas with quick results. Utilizing a slip bobber is best on lakes and ponds where there isn't a lot of current and is also great on lakes with a lot timber. Pitching to the timber and structure of lakes whether it is riprap, stumps or over hanging limbs and using a slip bobber will allow you to catch more catfish. I recommend using equipment similar to the above along with a proven catfish bait like Team Catfish's Secret 7 dip bait, Dead Red Spray and the dip bait holder tubes along with a cork and you too can "put the slip on the catfish".


Cliff Hill
Texas Licensed & Insured Fishing Guide
830.632.5964
www.hillcountryfishin.com
Lake Calaveras,Braunig,Choke Canyon and Guadalupe River Trips Maximum Outdoors Pro Staff www.maximumoutdoors.com


Thanks Cliff for the article showcasing our products like the SECRET-7 catfish bait and DEAD RED Blood Spray.

Cliff's a great guide.....Look him up when you are in South Texas!!!

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