Noodle (Jug) Fishing for Cats

[jinzeo]

I’ve done that with the boys and have had great success. We will launch out of Lone Branch. Go out from the launch towards the main channel. As you pass the first point, start to place the noodles off the point and go towards the main channel. There is a long rock bar there that always seems to hold a bunch of cats that runs East/West. We keep our noodles in about 6-8ft. of water along the drop off. It drops off to about 27 ft. and the bar is about 3-4 ft. on top. Give it a go and let us know how you do.

[shad3036]

Thanks for the location info but I also have to ask what bait do you use? I have some nightcrawlers and some livers. Not sure if I need minnows or something else. What do you think? Thanks, Dave

[simplecircuit]

Shad,
on that location, if you’re fishing in low light conditions, make sure that you are staying close to your noodles and have the lights on in your boat. over the past couple of weeks, I’ve been seeing a lot of bass boats running the backside of that ridge/hump as a cut through back into Cedar Creek. it’s a little shallow for my confidence level, but lots of people are cutting through there.
j.

[jinzeo]

We always have used chicken livers. Next time we have decided we are going to use power bait.

[shad3036]

I don’t have any shad, I wish I did. I used to have some that I caught at the steam plant frozen in the garage freezer but someone (my wife!) threw them away. She won’t admit it but I know I didn’t do it. lol. Where do you get your shad? I do have some red powerbait chunks for catfish that I bought at Walmart. It is those nuggets that have blood and liver flavor. Yum Yum. We did pretty good with them on Dale Hollow during early May. I will let you guys know how it works on Old Hickory. I also have some chicken livers that I have set outside for a while in the sun, then froze them and now just unfroze them. They are ripe and smelly. I also have some nightcrawlers with the glow juice put in the container for them to eat. One container has florescent crawlers lol that look very creepy. Kids will love playing with them. The other container has regular crawlers. Will be interesting to see how they do. Heading to the lake since the storms have blown through. I hope it doesn’t kill the cat bite.

[shad3036]

We went noodle fishing in Cedar creek at Lone Branch on Friday night. We got there after a thunderstorm had went through with the high winds and lightning. We got there around 7:30 and everything had went calm including the wind. Hardly anyone was on the water. I knew it was going to be tough. I fished 40 noodles and only caught 7 catfish but could have been worse. It was one of those nights when nothing was stirring and the noodles were not moving at all. Caught 6 channel cats around 2-3lbs on nightcrawlers. Caught one pretty blue cat about 4lbs on the powerbait. Caught none on chicken livers for some reason. We had lots of fun. Easy fishing night.

[shad3036]

Got a question for simplecircuit. Where do you get your shad for noodle fishing? Do you buy it or catch them with a net? Or some other way? Thanks.

[simplecircuit]

I actually don’t fish for catfish.
However… I live in east nashville and know a lot of guys that do. They all use a cast net for their shad at one of two locations.

1 – the Pond at Shelby Park – there are a ton of gizzard shad in there over 6″.
2 – Metro Center – there is a bridge in front of the st thomas sports park [a.k.a. titans practice bubble]. i’ve seen lots of guys toss the net from the bridge and pull up big wads of gizzard shad.

I know that there are some local stores that sell frozen shad and shad guts [ick], but i’d assume you’re looking for something live.
j.

[shad3036]

Thanks again jinzeo for the location tip. I have a question. How do you keep your chicken livers on the hook? I was fishing them and couldn’t keep them on the hook. I believe the bream were eating them or they were just coming off. The hooks were always empty. That is obviously one of the big reasons I didn’t catch any cat on them.

[jinzeo]

We do get some picked clean once in a while, but overall that hasn’t been a problem. I know the boys thread them on the hook at least three times, more if they can so it is a tight ball on the hook. Maybe that is the secret? Glad you had some action and happy I could help out.

[simplecircuit]

some of the older guys that fish the river put them in panty hose balls. so, take a little section of panty hose, fill it with liver, tie it closed and put it on the hook. the nylon is really hard to pull back off the barb on the hook and allows for all the taste and stink to get out. another cumberland river favorite is big old shrimp. not sure if the cost of bait is worth it, but those guys swear by it. also, bream heads.
j.

[dwhbryan]

I remember as a kid fishing the Potomac for cats. A great way to preserve a stink bait like chicken livers is to use pantyhose. Cut small 4-5 inch squares and load it up with the stinkiest stuff you can find.

[Brian]

I grew up fishing the Potomac near the Occoquan river!