What to Look for in Catfish Fishing Poles

Catfish fishing has come a long way through the years with the advancements in technology. The catfish is one of the first species to be sought after as a sport partly because of the amazing sizes they can grow.

Some of these fish are huge! They also are one of the best tasting fish you will ever have the pleasure of eating. These are some of the reasons they are so popular.

You can catch catfish with just about any type of bait because they are will strike at almost anything that gets their attention. However, considering how large they can grow and the struggle they can put it, special catfish fishing poles have been designed to make reeling in this species easier. They are stronger and made for the different types of catfish you will encounter lurking around in the depths of the water.

Features of a Good Catfish Fishing Pole

There are several features that make up a modern fishing pole. To determine which one would suit you the best you need to understand the features and how they affect you when fishing. The "power" and "action" of the rod is two things that you will hear a lot about. The "action" refers to the amount of bend the fishing pole has and where the bend occurs. There are five types of action rods available, they are listed below:

Extra fast-action rods will only bend at the very tip of the pole.
Fast-action rods will bend only within the last quarter part of the pole near the tip.
Moderate fast-action rods will bend a third of the way down from the tip going towards the handle.
Moderate-action rods bend about three quarters of the way from the tip to the handle.
Slow-action rods will bend from the tip all the way down to the handle.

The "action" the catfish fishing pole has is very important and will affect the way you fish. The more "action" a rod has the more flexibility you will have and it's easier to keep your bait on the hook with these fishing poles because they don't use as much force when casting. However, a slow-action rod won't cast as far as a fast-action rod because they don't have as much force behind them.

The "power" of the fishing rod refers to the strength of the pole and how much weight it can hold without straining from the line, lure and weights that are added for fishing. An ultra-light fishing pole can't handle much more than 6 pound test line combined with a 1 1 1/2 ounce weight while the heavy rod can handle anything you want to use.

No fishing pole is complete without the reel. There are several different types of reels available and the one you choose will mainly depend on the type of catfish you are fishing for and the one you like the best. The main types of fishing reels are the fly reel, trolling reel, casting reel, spinning reel and the saltwater reel. Any one of these will be a good choice for catfish fishing.