How to rig up and find big winter catfish in the river.
Winter catfishing is the best time of year to catch big fish. The nasty cold winter days with a over cast ,when you just want to sit in the house by the fireplace, that's when you need to be in your boat looking for a trophy catfish. I am gonna tell you in a short and quick way how to get out there and find them big fish in the winter. I specialize in river fishing so all my techniques are based off of that. lets start off with the rite kind of tackle and gear you will need. Now keep in mind we are targeting big fish so you need to go prepared with the rite gear to handle them. I normally use my same garfishing tackle for catfish but it is a bit of over kill. This is what you need to have.
- 7' Ugly Stick medium heavy rod
- Abu Garcia 6500 c3 reel
- High -Vis monofilament line at least 50lb
- Clear monofilament line 80lb (for leader)
- Trokar 8/0 and 10/0 Kahle hook
- Flat bank no roll sinkers 6oz-10oz (depends on river current)
- Barrel swivels 1/0
- Rod holders
- Garmin sonar with side vu (optional)
Catching bait is probably the hardest part of this and with all fishing. You want to use for bait something that is natural to the area you will be fishing. Here is a list of my favorite bait to use for river catfish.
- Live bait (brim, perch,Blue gill,sun fish)
- Gizzard shad
- Cut bait (carp, Buffalo)
I like to use the Carolina rig. Run your main line to a swivel with your weight on the top of the swivel. running a couple beads between the weight and swivel is a good idea but not necessary. Run a 16-24" leader (80lb mono) to your Kahle hook. Now you are all set and ready to go fishing The next step is to get out there and find rite spot to start fishing. Ideally you want the water temperature in the mid 40s. That's when the fish will be heading to to there winter hold up holes. Normally a deep hole or bend in the river with bait close by. That's the key (bait close by). In the winter they don't like to move much but prefer to be in deep water so you want to find a deep hole in the river with bait near by. This is where the sonar comes in. What I like to do is scan the river looking for deep hole with structure in it while watching for bait. When you find your spot with all that in it keep your eye open on the sonar for a big fish on the bottom. you would then want to anchor up river from the structure and fan cast your baits back down river. Give it 30 minutes and if you don't get a bite go look for another spot and change your baits out. Keep moving don't stay in one place to long even if your seeing fish there. They just not might not be biting there but you go around the bend and they just may be hungry there. Hope this helps you out on your next winter fishing trip and good luck .
Alligator Gar Fishing With Bubba Bedre
What you need to know to go gar fishing and where to get it.
I grew up in the Trinity River bottom. My whole life has revolved around hunting and fishing there. I remember when you never even seen a boat on the river for weeks at time and the Alligator Gar were so thick in parts of the river it would seem like you could walk across them on the tops of there backs. Those days we killed every alligator gar we had the chance to kill. It was rumored that they eat all the game fish and we wanted to rid the river of them. One thing led to another. Now we have found a new way to kill them and it was fun and some what sporting. A cross between bow hunting and fishing. The sport took off fast. Wasn’t long everyone was wanting to come shoot one of these monster alligator with a bow. It wasn’t easy. You had to really know what you were doing to get up and close to shoot a big fish. Now the time is about 2007. The internet is growing and people from across the country and world are starting to hear rumors of this giant fresh water half alligator half fish creature that you can go kill in Texas. I now find myself guiding bowfishing trips. Having fun doing what I like to do and make a little pocket change to boot. That’s when we caught the attention of icon films from Europe. They contacted me and wanted to film the alligator gar with some guy named Jeremy Wade. I had never heard of this guy. So be it his show was a hit Success called River Monster , and aired on Animal Planet all over the world. Now we have anglers and bow fishermen alike traveling across the globe to see this prehistoric freak of a fish. Now I am now seeing other anglers, guides , and bow fishermen all over the once remote stretch of river. All trying to get a glimpse of this monster. Fishing holes that once held unbelievable amounts of fish are disappearing. I now find myself working harder to produce big fish for my guest. That’s when I realized and seen first hand the effect my hand played in the role of nature. I put my bow down and went catch and release only. I realized if we didn’t slow down on killing these really big fish that over time it would be to late. My days of running the river and not seeing a boat for weeks are now gone. The Trinity River has now turned into the most popular place in the world to go after alligator gar. I am seeing bowfishing tournaments bringing in people from across the county all set on killing as many of the big fish the law allows. I see numbers declining. Once good fishing spots with no fish there. I am traveling 30 miles of river just to keep my success rate as high as it use to be when I only had to fish 7 miles away from the boat ramp. I am seeing all this because I have seen what it was like before there was all of that. If you didn’t grow up on this stretch of river 40 years ago then you do not know what it used to be like. Now is the time we all need to set our differences aside. come together to protect the alligator gar for all likes of sportsmen. Texas is the best place in the world for trophy alligator gar. If we intend sustain enough big alligator gar for the growing population to enjoy then we must start with some kind of regulations that benefit us all. Capt. Bubba Bedre Garzilla Guide Service
Everone sees the glory moments, but they dont see what happens behind the scenes.
Fishing for gar with just a piece of nylon rope with out a hook.
best bait for alligator gar fishing and why we use it.
Marry Christmas From The Bedre's
WHAT THE BEST HOOK FOR ALLIGATOR GAR FISHING
I can remember 10 years ago when I decided to start fishing professionally. I was 32 years old, and There was only one other guide service offering catch and release alligator gar trips . Now look how much the sport has grown. There has got to be at least a dozen guides out there now. All popping up in the last 5 years . I posted my first gar fishing video to YouTube in 2008 and now its got over 1.3m views and here is the link to check that out. https://youtu.be/mil1pe_cF_U We have come a long way since them days. Every trip I am always exploring and trying new methods to catch the gar. I can say I have caught them with Snare lines using no hooks and even caught them on a plain piece of rope. if you got a idea on how we should try to catch one next leave us a comment. May be you idea will work. until next time Tight Lines