Entry 65-5

Billy Blakely On How To Catch More Catfish On Strike King Catfish Bait

Load The Boat

Catfish BitesEditor's Note: Billy Blakely, a guide on Reelfoot Lake in northwest Tennessee, is a member of Strike King’s professional guide service, and is known as the “Cat Master.” Throughout most of the year, Blakely can produce a hundred pounds of catfish or more every day he fishes. For the next five days, Blakely will tell us all how to catch more cats on Strike King’s catfish bait.

Blakely: If you just really want to catch a lot of catfish for a big fish fry, you can put out trotlines in the lake and load the boat. We usually will put out three lines and bait one with Strike King’s Catfish Dough, one with Strike King’s Catfish Bites, and on one line, we’ll use dipworms and Strike King’s Catfish Dynamite. When we run the lines the first time, whichever bait seems to be catching the most cats on that day is the bait we’ll use on the other lines as we replace bait.

We like to vary the places where we put our lines. We’ll put one trotline down the edge of trees, another line in the stumpy area and one down the edge of the lilypads. This way we can determine in what area the catfish are feeding the most on the day we’re fishing. Catching 200 to 300 pounds of catfish by 9:00 or 10:00 a.m. isn’t uncommon if you start baiting up right at daylight. I believe that the catfish in our lake bite best at first light, and that’s when I like to put out lines. I usually come back to Bluebank during the middle of the day. If I don’t have all the catfish I want, I’ll go back in the afternoon and put my lines out again. I have caught as many as 600 to 800 pounds of cats when I’ve put out lines twice in a day.

Catfish BitesI usually only put out trotlines when I’m trying to get a bunch of catfish for a big fish fry. When we have customers down here fishing for cats, they generally prefer to catch the cats on rods and reels, Yo-Yos or cane poles, because they want the fight out of the cat as much as they want the meat from the cat. Summer months, from May to September, are the best-catfishing months on Reelfoot Lake.

To contact Blakely and to fish at Blue Bank Resort, write Rt. 1, Box 970, Tiptonville, TN 38079 or call (901) 253-6878. You can also visit them on the web at www.bluebankresort.com or e-mail them at fish@bluebankresort.com.

 

 




 

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