How To Catch Catfish From A Canoe

There are many benefits to catching catfish in a canoe. One is the very fact of mobility. You can take a canoe into place you could not get a boat and a trailer. You can get to remote fishing locations that have much less fishing pressure than places you can get to with a boat or on the bank. There are some things that you should consider when it comes to catching catfish from a canoe.

You are going to want your canoe to be light weight. Think in terms of Seventy pounds or even less. There may be times when you will have to lift and carry your canoe alone, and you want to be sure you can do this with the model you choose.

If at all possible, test out a similar model canoe. Rent one or go with a friend who has a similar model. Be sure it is comfortable for you and will work to fulfill the needs you will have when using it. A general rule of thumb is that the wider the canoe, the better, and this is especially important when it comes to fishing for catfish, which can be large and put up one heck of a fight.

You do not want to be in a flimsy, tip prone canoe when you have a fighting cat on your line. Still, if you get anything much over forty inches wide, you could experience problems if you try to haul it on top of a smaller car. Just consider that before you buy a canoe.

When you are fishing for catfish from a canoe, it is always a good idea to have a model that has a keel in the bottom for added stability. This is not a canoe for white water situations, though, because the keel can hang up on rocks or submerged trees and give you problems. So, you will be best served if your canoe is used exclusively for lake type fishing rather than white water areas.

Once you have decided on a canoe, and gotten really good at handling it, it is time to consider the implications that come with fishing from it. Now, when you are fishing for panfish, you should be ok. When you are fishing for catfish, it is important to consider the fact that you might accidentally catch one of the monster cats that happen to be out there. Now, it is going to be very hard to do, for an avid catfish angler, but if you get a really big cat on your hook, you just might have to cut line and let it go. Never put the catch before safety.

One way you can catch table sized catfish, which is the much more safe target size for catfishing from a canoe, is to select smaller bait. Smaller bait catches smaller fish. If you fish with small minnows or worms, you will usually catch smaller fish. If you use blood bait, big fresh or thawed frozen chunked bait, or some of the stronger commercially prepared scent baits, you are likely to catch fish larger than you can handle when you are fishing from a canoe. So, the safest thing you can do is keep the bait relative to the size fish you hope to catch, and use the more standard fare of smaller catfish.