Hi mate, i'm no expert, as i have caught only one catfish in my life! BUT, i have done an awful lot of reading before i went to make sure i went witht he best chance possible.
The fish Happened to be the lake record of 49lb!
This is quite a valid point, in that you don't really fish for big fish, you just fish for fish. (i know some do target big fish with bait size etc but you get the point) They aren't going to bite your arm off when you land them, they are very calm on the bank.
Catfish are much much much less finniky than carp. They are thought to have a sense of smell second only to the eel, and as predators, they are opportunist feeders. If i were in your position i'd fish the lake with the most cats in to maximise your chances, and then you might also bag a bigger fish! They play similar to carp rather than say pike, going off the one i landed and the 4 that my fishing partner had over our 48 hours. By that i mean they slower powerful pulls. That is were the similarity seems to end though as the power is ridiculous! 18lb will be fine. (I landed my 49lb on 12lb mainline with 2.75 test, as it was my first trip although i now have 18lb)
Obviously Halibut Pellets are known as a good bait, which i had mine on 2x21mm soaked for 2 weeks in Sensus Sardine & Herring sauce, cast out with a mixed bag of Halibut and high oil trout pellets, on a hair to size 1 Catfish Pro Eaglewave hook on 35lb cated Quicksilver 12" hooklength with a running lead. My cousin had his 4 all on popped up Makarel sections on the same rigs, the section was cut as long as the fish was high to create almost a cube 3"x3".
Squid, Liver, all sorts can be used as a good bait i suppose, with loads of different rigs.
My 49lb had eyes the same size as a roach! Their eyesight is crap, and so you don't need to be too tidy ike carp. I'm going for 48hours next week and 72hours at the start of June. Liek i said i am no expert, with only one cat under my belt, but i have a lot of info in my head that i can't wait to try out!! Thats my experience so far with them. I'll be honest, i have lost 99% of my interest in carp after landing that one. There is nothing like it! Also, don't move every hour or so like you might for pike. The Cats will follow the scent trails and if you keep moving the bait you'll just have lots of spots of scent all over the place. My cousin had a 41lb with popped up makarel after it being in the same spot for just under 36 hours.
The good thing about fish is you know it's on. The Halibut pellets don't forget will break down so you can't leave them in the water for too long. And don't listen to people when they say they don't feed in the day! 3 of our 5 were in the daytime. 9am, 1pm, and 5pm. Maybe some places are only catching at night, but you never know!
Hope some of this helps mate, good luck!
Oh yeah, take "photo clothes". Land the fish, then put your photo clothes on to handle it and get the shots! They are soooo slimy! And when you get it to the net, get its head over the net then give it some line. It will then dive straight to the bottom, into your net, making it much easier to get it in. I struggled for 10 minutes on my own trying to net mine, not knowing this! My cousin was landing it when his reel screamed off, so i was left alone!
John.
