How to Catch Channel Catfish With Chicken Livers

Channel catfish are tremendous fighters and “catfishing“ for them is an exciting pastime for many anglers. Catfish fishing can be done in rivers, lakes, and creeks where there’s a decent population of channel catfish. Catfishing for channel catfish is best on warm summer nights or early in the morning, when channel catfish tend to be more active.

There are many different types of catfish bait and catfish rigs for catfishing, but one of the best ways to catch them is by using chicken livers.

Channel catfish mostly feed by smell, so using catfish bait such as chicken livers is the ideal choice. Chicken livers are soaked in blood inside the container and it gives off a strong odor easily detected by channel catfish.

Follow these steps for using chicken livers to catch monster channel catfish.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• fishing bell
• chicken liver
• fishing gear
• fishing pole
• fishing pliers
• treble hooks
• egg sinker
• rod holder or stick
• metal fish basket or stringer (if you wish to bring fish home for eating)

1. 
    
   Use fresh chicken livers for catfish bait.

   Buy the chicken liver catfish bait. Go to the grocery store and buy a container of fresh chicken livers. Any leftover livers from catfishing can be tossed into the freezer for future use. Don't buy the dried liver catfish bait from bait and tackle stores because they don't work as good as fresh livers from the store.

2. 
    
   Use Stren Fishing Line for channel catfish.

   Prepare your fishing equipment for catfishing. Channel catfish get pretty big and even the small ones fight hard so use stronger braided fishing line for catfishing. Using catfish rigs with 20-30 LB test fishing line is not a bad choice. The stronger fishing line will allow you to reel channel catfish over logs and under brush without breaking it.

3. 
    
   Use egg sinkers with catfish rigs.

   Set up your catfish rigs. It’s best to use a large size egg sinker instead of a standard size one. You can cast farther with a large egg sinker and most importantly the extra weight puts the catfish bait right on the bottom. Slide the fishing line through the sinker and then you can attach a regular size sinker right below it to keep it in place. Position the sinkers about 2-3 inches above the hook.

4. 
    
   Use treble hooks with catfish rigs.

   Use treble hooks for channel catfish. There are many different catfish rigs but treble hooks are sharp and they’re more likely to hook the channel catfish. Tie a medium size treble hook onto the line. Use a good fishing knot when you tie it on so it's strong and doesn't break off or come loose during a battle with a catfish. Treble hooks are good to use for this because the catfish bait is less likely to fly off when you cast and more importantly the hook is more likely to hook the channel catfish when you get a bite.

5. 
    
   Go catfishing for channel catfish.

   Go to a river, pond or lake that has a decent population of channel catfish in it. Catfishing is best early in the morning, or a couple hours before dark on a hot summer day. Some of the best fishing for channel catfish will be during the night as well.

6. Take a golf ball size glob of the catfish bait and push it onto the treble hook so that it's not loose or hanging off the hook. Make sure the ends of the hook are sticking out of the catfish bait.

7. Carefully cast your catfish bait out without having the liver fly off the hook.

8. 
    
   Use a fishing bell for a catfish rig.

   Set up your catfish rigs and rod holder. Use a bell when catfishing. Insert a fishing pole bell onto the end of the fishing pole so you know when a channel catfish bites. Keep the fishing line tight.

9. 
    
   Channel Catfish

   Quickly remove the bell from the pole after the channel catfish triggers it. Reel in only a small amount of slack at first, so the catfish doesn't notice and then set the hook. Catfishing using this method is an easy and fun way to catch channel catfish.

Tips & Warnings

• keep your fishing line tight after you cast your catfish bait out
• change your catfish bait every 30 minutes if you don't have any bites
• use a net to lift the channel catfish onto the shore
• watch out for stickers on catfish, they can sting you if you're not careful

[kingdomschild]

on 8/24/2009 Great tips!

[ljstraight]

on 8/22/2009 All men will love this article. 5 stars

[Psalmist4M]

on 8/19/2009 Well written, informing article on How to Catch Channel Catfish With Chicken Livers. I love eating them for sure. Thanks for sharing this article. 5*s

[showpup]

on 8/19/2009 I am addicted to fishing but never had the opportunity to go catfish fishing yet. One of these days!! Thanks for the education on how to do it.

[ringgold]

on 8/19/2009 I love to go fishing !!! I like to fish for trout & perch! I have only caught a couple catfish in my life!
I had a hard time reeling those guys in !!! Invigorating and fun !! That's the kind of thing that makes you go...Yeah !!!! Look what I caught !!!