Once the smallie bite slows down, i'm runnin the river all summer for big cats. Although, we've been catchin them even now, just not in high numbers and the smallies are killin minnies up at the doc street dam, so cats take a back seat for awhile. What is written below has been working for me for years both during the day and at night, usually getting more numbers with decent fish in the mornings and the "catfish hunters" at night haha. I usually catch some bluegills, creek chubs, and trout for bait. Those hatchery trout taste like crap anyways. A lot of my friends always ask what size hook I use, and I always tell'm match the hook size with the size of your bait. In some instances i've used hooks clear up to 0/6, and that was using some very large creek chubs for bait. For tackle, I have a few thick, what I like to call pier rods for salt water, usually with 40lb test. I rig up a triple swivle with one obviously to the main line, one with a 12-16 inch leader to a 1oz sinker, and about the same leader to whatever size hook matches the bait. I'm not a big fan of using chicken livers, they seem to catch nothing but smaller fish, but they're useful if you're going out to catch many smaller dinner sized cats. With the bait I use, live is better for the monster flatheads, but i've caught'm on dead stuff as well, actually my 30lb'er last summer was caught on a work using a #2 hook to be exact. The channels will eat anything, and with the bluegills, chubs, trout i'll slice a few cuts down their body or just straight up cut'm in half, the heads usually work the best. For fun sometimes i'll make up a dough ball bait, and there are millions of recipies online to choose from. One I like to use is soft dog food, mixed with flour and crushed frosted corn flakes, mix in a bowl until it becomes a hard paste. When fishing with these baits i'll use a treble hook, and sink it right into the middle of the ball. Sometimes i'll even freeze these dough balls the night before I go out, and once they hit the water they slowly release they're smell downstream, and stay together better. This is not a bait I would use in fast moving water, they don't seem to stay together long. We've tried taking a few cans of that wet dog food, punch holes in the can, tie it to a line and just drop it over the boat right under it. I really don't know if this helps bring'm in but i'm sure it can't hurt haha. I never really had any luck with any of those pre-made catfish baits, and only ever caught small fish on dipbaits. Cut bait and very large live bait is the way to go for BIG cats, and from what i've fished, the best fishin for large Cats is at Falmouth and Bainbridge access points on the susky. I've also got into some big fish next to the Harrisburg international airport, about the first red signal lights up the runway. Get into some deeper channels, cast in and set your drag for a fight, its def some of the most exciting fishing, even if its not technical! There will be lots of trips made this summer just for this reason, and if anyone wants to catch some monsters sometime pm me and we'll get together for a saturday. Good luck!
