By Jon (J.E.B.)

Catfish have an excellent sense of smell, taste and vibrations, as any catfisherman would know.

Usually when channel catfishing, a fisherman would use livers, cutbait or stink bait. I am sure that much fewer use live crawdads, which in any creek containing them are a main source of food to the fish. To fish one, I have a way to rig these on the hook. This rig will keep the 'dads on the hook much better than through the tail.

First, you'll need the crawdads. For catfish I use ones no smaller than 3 inches, if you can't find ones this big, buy them at a bait shop or use the largest crawdads you can find. Now for the hooking, a good hook size for the 3-inch crawdads would be no smaller than 2. Any larger may tear the shell. Smaller ones use smaller hooks, no larger than 4.

Now to the rigging, you want to put the hook up through the bottom tail, right in the middle, and out the top. Then bring your hook (pull a bit of line trough the tail) around to the left side of the main shell, push the point trough, and bring it out the top. If your hook size is wrong or you don't do this carefully, this is when the shell will tear. Next, push the point in the head about 1/2 in. behind the eyes (on the 3-inch 'dads), and pull it out an eye (either one).

Now to fish this rig, cast it into a pool where you know there are cats. Don't weight it unless the crawdad(s) don't reach the bottom within 10 seconds (in 3-4 feet of water), or if they don't sink at all. If this happens, put on a small split shot or two to get it down, but don't anchor it unless you're in swift current.

You should get a cat within 5 minutes, depending on actitvity. Also, drum and bass may end up on your line, so be sure there are mostly cats in the hole you fish. In the creek I fish, I would get drum in the main channel under and just downstream from a small overpass, and about six feet downstream from where the drum were, I'd get nothing but channels. My largest caught with a crawfish was 18 in, from the Harpeth River (see pictures of catfish and the Harpeth below the underpass).

Good Luck and get the big one.