Catfish - Sauvie Island or around Portland

[cdumitru78]

I went to Sauvie's island recently and caught a few bullhead cats and what looked like a channel small cat. I was fishing some of the lakes on the Island, off Reeder road. Most cats where around 10 inches or less, good fighters though. Are there bigger cats in that area, and is there a good method to target them? I was getting bites on worms and this catfish dough that I got from Dick's sporting goods. I've been reading about them a bit, sounds like the water needs to get warmer and I need to target them early AM or late in the evening. Any tips on how to get into some bigger fish?

 

[sapo]

Chicken liver works well but I've been trying to get into bigger cats at Progress w no luck. There is a massive bullhead though i've seen in progress but thats it. thats about all i know about catfish

 

[cdumitru78]

How big do these bullheads get in these parts? If I could get into them at over 15 inches, it would be fun, they look and act super feisty.

 

[muskieguide]

They do get over 15 inches but not by much. Try nightcrawlers and garlic marshmellows with garlic scent from about 2 hours before dusk all the way through the night. Use a slip sinker and slide a secondary size 4 hook (untied). You want the second hook to slide up against your primary hook and use that one for the marshmellows. Hope that helps

 

[cdumitru78]

Thank you Muskieguide, I will try that! I caught what looks like channel catfish in there as well, I would assume this works for them as well. So I would have night crawlers on the main hook, on a line with a slip sinker (thats how I fish for them anyways) and then slide a size 4 hook untied (so sliding hook) with the marshmallows on it? I keep hearing chicken liver too, any thoughts on that?

 

[muskieguide]

Yes, that is all correct. There are channel cats in there too. Try lettin the livers sit out a bit in a plastic bag too and get a lil stinky. Everywhere is different though. Try some fresh and some stinky. The advice the others gave you is perfect too.

 

[cdumitru78]

OK, I am ready to go, got all baits I can think of - hot dogs, chicken liver, worms, bread, some weird catfish dough. Anything else I need to know, I will be there first thing tomorrow.

 

[cdumitru78]

OK, tried a few things and had some fun with it. Chicken liver, no bites at all. Worms wasn't bad, we got bites and actually landed the biggest bullhead on worms. Interestingly, I got some really good bites on hot dogs, and landed 4 nice cats using hot dogs. For some reason, they seem to hit the dogs hard, really nice strong bites. I still think the water needs to get a bit warmer, and I need to fish in the evenings, we started fishing just before 9am, done by noon. Fun stuff though, and we saw TONS of carp jumping and splashing, still spawning there.

 

[Hawk]

If you can find them catfish love Pileworms... They pretty much like cut anchovies too. If you want to you can wrap some thread around the bait & hook to keep it on.

There are some nice catfish, some channel cat, in Brownlee Lake, & the Snake River. Some crappie too.