Has anyone tried to catch a catfish on a fly?
I realise it might sound mad but I regularly fish in Spain and over the past couple of years we have caught a number of cats on small jigs being used for zander. There is also a vast number of bleak in the river now, which the cats are feeding on.It just struck me that with a fast sinking line a big fly could seem the same.

I used to live in Pennsylvania in the States and we had American Channel Cats. These guys would take a fly especially on rainy days or at dusk and they fight like a monster brown trout. They hang to the bottom and run & pull hard. I had the best of it using a simple black woolly bug ger on a size 2 or 4 Mustad 3665A or similar.

Ard

A guy I know in France has been taking them on large flies of the type used for Huchon and a sinking line. His record out of the Moselle is one that measured a meter twentry but he told me it is a fairly boring hit or miss proposition as you're fishing blind. BlueOne was proposing a type of fly that should work quite well:

http://www.flyforums.co.uk/fly-fishi...-slovenia.html

Take care

Terry

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"He either fears his fate too much,
Or his desserts are small,
Who dares not put it to the touch,
To win or lose it all!"

I caught this channel cat on a fritz lure whilst fishing for largemouth bass, so they will take a fly but I would not fish for them exclusively , you could be waiting a long time, I guess the same applies to wels catfish.

The only British one I've ever heard of was claimed by John Meese , the Fiahery Boss at Grafham - he reckoned he'd had one around 40lb to the side of the boat and then dropped it . Experimental fishing for Giant Pike down deep .

And given that I've known him for about 30 years - who am I to disbelieve him !

Might be real fun off the rudder

Best wishes

Steve P

I caught Vundu catfish on a Rapala CD 14; but that was in the fairly clear waters of lake Nasser. Awsome predators...

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Save the softmouth trout

European catfish is a predator and as such a normal fish to fish for with flyrod. Spin fishing for catfish is widespread, flyfishing not so much as there are not so many lovers of heay flyfishing after all. But as with all fish, you must fish in the right spot and at the right time. Ebro, i think that should not be a huge problem at least judging by stories of how many catfish is there. Find a spot where they are hunting and you should get results. Blind fishing should produce too, but of course where they are and if possible with such configuration, that it will be ok for flyfishing too. I think some local knowledge might be a big help with that. I have a streamer that i am developing for catfish, but am not marketing it yet.

Streamers i have put on this pade are spin and or flyrod stuff, Monster Teaser and Mini Monster Teasers are predominantely pike streamers with Monster Teaser having far more complex structure, although huchos are more than kin to smack them too. Not surprising as they are a general pattern that mimics a bunch of possible fish species, from nose carp to grayling.

Lunker Snacks were at first developed for hucho/marble fishing and general idea behind them was to merge diffrent lures and with that diffrent pray items into one lure and with that increase chances of attack. Not surprisingly, they work with other fish as well.

Have in mind that in general catfish is a night predator, although in some waters they are active during the day. Water rising etc. can wake them up too. Storms too, although waving your flyrod at that time might not be a good idea.

I am sure it could be cought on flyrod in UK and it shall, as soon as somebody shall be determined enough to discover their habits (time of hunting, where they hunt etc.) for your waters.

Btw. classic fishing for catfish with bunch of worms or liver on the bottom and a piece of paper of white foil as bite indicator has its charm when in dark you suddenly hear:"shhhhhhhhh" and that paper or foil starts to go towards the rod. I know people use live fish etc on Ebro and catfish cought there are huge, but that ain`t bad either

BlueOne

pretty in depth article here on wels catfish

Flymage online: Fly Fishing Magazine

Wow, the article is brilliant ,thanks.
I didn't know about the mag...its really good.

Booked my first 2011 Catfish trip for March..will be taking a 12 wt with me now too! If I catch one on a fly I'll let you know!

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