Catfishing 101: Basic Tactics For Catching Catfish

Arizona Sport Catfish Species

Arizona is home to 4 different species of sport catfish. Catfish can range in size from less than a pound to over a hundred pounds. They can get huge. Here in Arizona, we have some great catfishing opportunities. You can find catfish throughout Arizona’s rivers, streams, ponds and lakes. If you are looking for a fish that can put up a fight, go hook yourself a catfish.

Channel Catfish

Where To Find Channel Catfish in Arizona

Easily the most popular sport catfish found in Arizona. I’d say due to the constant stocking of this species. You can catch a channel cat in most warm water lakes and rivers in central and southern Arizona including the urban lakes and ponds.

Catfish can also be found in most of the larger waters in northern AZ as well. Channel cats also like the deeper stretches of rivers and streams with moderate currents. AZ Game and Fish typically stock the urban waters late spring to early November. Check out the stocking schedule to see when they stock.

Catching Channel Catfish

Channel catfish love baits that smell. Their “whiskers” are harmless to touch and used to smell, taste and feel as it forages for food. Great smelly baits are I recommend are liver, shrimp, raw chicken, punch baits, blood baits, anchovies, stink baits, and hot dogs.

Think of all the food thrown into the urban and state park waters from ramada BBQ’s and camp sites like hotdogs, hamburgers and buns. Catfish will be come accustomed to that in their diet and these things make a great bait. Other baits that perform well are waterdogs, shad, minnows and worms.

These catfish actively feed in evenings. So get comfy in your camp chair and fire up a lantern and don’t forget to clip on a fishing bell to your rod tip so you can hear them nibbling your bait in the dark.

Flathead Catfish

Where To Find Flathead Catfish in Arizona

Flatheads are found in our warmer river systems like the Salt River, Gila River, Verde River and the lower Colorado River around Yuma. Often you’ll find these fish hiding in the deeper slow moving pools, or hanging out in swift running water below dams or a waterfall to feed on live fish. You can also catch Flatheads where a lake is fed by a river.

Catching Flathead Catfish

You can use any of the rigs I wrote about here in this page, but Flathead Catfish like to eat live baits. Try using live waterdogs, sunfish, or carp. Drop these near the bottom of a deep pool. Or cast your bait out in the churning waters below a dam. Make sure to read the AZ Fishing Regulations for special instructions about the use of live bait fish in the waters your fishing.

Black Bullhead Catfish

Where To Find Black Bullhead Catfish in Arizona

Black Bullheads like muddy waters. They prefer relatively quiet, murky waters, and soft bottoms and are rarely found in clear, rocky-bottomed habitats. They’re very tolerant of warm water and low levels of diminished oxygen.

Catching Black Bullhead Catfish

Here is another catfish that is often ignored as a sport fish. You can catch Black Bullheads with pretty much the same baits as as you’d use to catch a yellow bullhead.

Yellow Bullhead Catfish

Where To Find Yellow Bullhead Catfish in Arizona

You can find yellow bullheads in Apache Lake, Roper Lake, Parker Canyon Lake, Mingus Lake just to name a few. They’re also found in the Verde River and Lower Colorado River. These bullheads are pretty much everywhere but not very abundant. Favorite yellow bullhead haunts are clear water, rocky-bottomed, intermediate-sized warm streams, and the shallow areas of warm water lakes.

Catching Yellow Bullhead Catfish

I think the yellows are the least appreciated sport catfish in the State. Most of the catfish stories you see online or hear about are about Flathead and Channel cats. Having never pursued yellow bullheads myself, I understand they like worms, crickets or chicken livers fished on the bottom at night. I’m not 100% sure, but I would guess their dietary habits are much like the Channel cats.

Catfishing Tackle

My preference in catfish tackle is a spinning combination outfit medium-heavy rod and reel with 7 to 9 foot long rods. Your safe to use a medium rig, but I watched a buddy hook a catfish on his new 6 foot crappie combo and I’d swear he hooked a 4 or 5 lb cat that way it fought. His pole was bent like crazy, his drag kept peeling out line. We both were whopping and hollering “It’s huge” & “It’s a big one”

It was all groovy and exciting stuff until we heard a crack that sounded like someone fired a .22 caliber pistol next to us and we watched half of his new rod slide down the line straight into the water. After a few minutes when he pulled that fish in. Darned if the thing wasn’t more that 8-10 inches long. He was a little guy. A BABY catfish and it did an outstanding job of busting that new rod.

Catfish FIGHT HARD my friend! So if you plan on cat fishing, I’d recommend investing in medium-heavy or heavy tackle.

Catfishing Rod and Reels

No doubt, my favorite catfish rig is my Cabelas Whuppin Stick Spinning Combo with a 9′ medium-heavy rod and a Optix 60 reel. This combo isn’t available anymore. However, Bass Pro Shops has a Whuppin Stick combo with a 7′ rod. Another trusty combo I’ve used is a old Shakespeare Tiger Spinning Combo I got at WalMart ten plus years ago. It also has a 7′ long rod, though I noticed that they have a new Shakespeare Tiger 9’ Spinning Surf Combo which has a 9′ rod.

The newest addition to my catfish tackle collection I’ve recently added is the Lew’s Cat Daddy Spinning Combo. Guess what??? Another 7′ medium-heavy action rod. Anyone else seeing a trend here? LOL

Catfish Fishing Line

On all my catfish reels, I like run SpiderWire 40 lb test Braid Fishing Line. Heavier line is best when it comes to catfishing.

So with a medium-heavy combination rod and reel, 40lb test line, depending on my rig, I’ll add a either a 1oz Egg Sinker Fishing Weight or a 1oz Disc Sinker Fishing Weight. Then tie on a Gamakatsu Round Bend #4 Treble Hook or a Gamakatsu Round Bend #6 Treble Hook. All you need now to finish up making your rigs are some #2 Three Way Swivels, #4 Snap Swivels and #3 Barrel Swivels.

You are all set to start catching catfish!

Catfishing Rigs

I fish two different rigs when I catfish. It’s either a Carolina Rig or a Three Way Rig. Of the two, I prefer the Carolina Rig.

”Carolina Source Courtesy of DiscoverCatfishing.com

The Carolina Rig presents a bait on the bottom. It allows the line to slide freely through the sinker. When a big cat picks it up; it can swim away without feeling any weight.

The Three-Way Rig works by setting the weight and bait apart. It also allows you to determine how far you want your bait to be suspended above the bottom.

Source Courtesy of DiscoverCatfishing.com

The Float Fig is a variation of the Three Way Rig. With this rig, your hook leader line is much shorter and you will want to place a cigar float a few inches above your 3 way swivel on your main line. This will help float your bait up off the bottom.

Catfishing Baits

Chicken Livers

Chicken livers are by far my favorite Channel cat bait. I have hooked more cats with this than any other bait I’ve used in the past. Go to WalMart and buy a pint sized container. Livers are pretty cheap. All I do is add 2-3 heaping tablespoons of crushed garlic to it and let it stew for a bit at room temperature. Garlic soaked livers work GREAT.

Do you worry about how to keep the livers on a hook? Try using Bait Saver hooks. My preference is for the 3/0 and 5/0 circle hooks. They aren’t cheap and come two to a pack. I order about a half dozen or so packs each of the 3/0 and 5/0 sizes. If you take care of the hooks they will last you the whole year. I got tired of casting out a liver only see watch my line go in one direction and my liver in the other. These work GREAT with preventing that. And you don’t have to cut up nylon stocking squares to wrap your liver and hooks.

Always go with Circle Hooks. Why? For the type of bait we use catfishing, Circle hooks work best. And its claimed that you can improve your hook set by 30%. I read that in an online article years ago, but I cant find the reference for it.

I like to bring along a folding crawfish trap. Bait it with the livers or chicken breast chunks while I fish. Attach about 40 foot of line to it, I toss it out and let it sit for say.., 45 minutes to an hour. Then pull the trap it in and clean out the crawdads and bluegills. Easy way to catch live bait if you can use it.

Chicken Liver Storage

I can get two or three trips to the lake with a pint of livers. After each trip, I seal the liver container in a zip lock bag and put it back in the freezer. Be sure to use a zip lock. Once you’ve done a couple freezes-thaws and sitting in outside AZ summer temperatures, they can get super STINKY real quick. For you married guys who have one freezer, maybe you ought to just toss those rank-smelly livers out in the lake as you leave and pickup a fresh pint before your next trip.

Whatever you do…, don’t forget about these in your cars trunk or in your cool chest for several days. The last thing you need is the local sheriffs department prying open your trunk looking for a body while you’re sitting in a Dennys enjoying a BLT and cold glass of ice tea.

Raw Chicken Breast/Tenders

You can get a lot of hits using cut up chicken breasts. Chop these into 1-1/2 to 2″ chunks, add these in a ziplock, and sprinkle in a pouch of strawberry or cherry Kool Aid or crushed garlic. You can also do a Kool Aid/Garlic mix. Next you can seal the bag and knead it with your hands. Make sure the chicken gets mixed well and saturated with the Kool Aid. I’m partial to the red colored un-sweetened Kool Aids, though I think any Kool Aid flavor/color will work. Can you use the generic brands? I think so, but Kool Aid cost a few cents more and frankly, I’m sticking with what I know works.

Raw Shrimp

Shrimp is another go-to bait to bring along catfishing. Its a little pricey, but I like to buy a bag of raw jumbo shrimp. I take one out of the bag and hook it in the middle of the shrimp and chuck that thing out in the lake on a Carolina Rig. Right out of the store they usually are frozen. You should get maybe 3 trips out of that bag of shrimp. I store it in the ziplock along with my chicken livers. You’ll discover on about the 3rd trip, just like the livers, you’ll want to leave it to raccoons or bury it in the landfill. Shrimp starts to stink quick.

Night Crawlers

If your fishing…, when in doubt, throw a worm right? The worm is probably the most successful fishing bait ever. Whether your fishing for catfish, carp, trout, crappie, bluegills or bass. Pretty much any freshwater fish will eat a worm. When I fish with a worm, I’ll have it suspended a few feet below a bobber.

Stryker Bait (https://www.strykerbait.com)

Stryker 1/2 Gallon Punch Bait

Veteran owned and made in Chandler Arizona. What can I say about Stryker? It’s easy! Stryker Bait is taking catfishing here locally by storm since it was founded in 2021. Catch them on their Stryker Bait FaceBook page or their YouTube channel at Fishing With Stryker Bait.

Choose from 6 different flavors. Alpha Blood, Bravo Garlic, Charlie Cheese, Delta Secret, Echo Gizzard, and Foxtrot Anchovy. You can also pick from 4 different sizes available: 14oz, 1/2 gal, 1 gal, and 2 gallon.

This is a “punch bait”! When you have your line all rigged up, grab your line about 12 inches above the hook and repeatedly push the treble hook down into the bait bucket, pull it out, and repeat 2-3 more times. This should work up a nice chunk of bait around your hook. You can form it into a round ball, then cast it out and let the magic happen. Be ready to yell

Dough Baits

Dough baits work well too. I’ve always had success with blood-flavored ones. Any blood, anchovie, garlic or cheese-scented bait will usually work and produce fish for you. To use dough baits, just grab a chunk of dough, then work and mold it around your hook and when it’s in a nice compact ball, cast it out.

I buy my dough baits and when I do, I’ll get the Magic Bait brand. However, you can make your own dough baits. There are plenty of recipes online you can try and I’ll wager that the homemade doughs probably work better than the store-bought ones do. Like any bait, you going to want to have a few different scents with you. Dough works the same as using Powerbait for trout, keep trying different colors and scents until they start hitting one.

Wrapping things Up

Well…. Catfishing doesn’t take a whole lot of expensive resources. Once you’ve invested in your rod and reel, all you need is hooks, sinkers, an assortment of baits, and a headlight if you’re fishing at night. That’s it! You can fish for catfish day or night in just about any body of water in Arizona. Just plunk a line out with a baited hook, set your rod in a rod holder, or prop it up against something and wait. That’s basically catfishing. I hope you find our content here in our Arizona Catfishing Guide useful. Good luck!

Catfishing Resources

Cat fishing resource links to some great catfish fishing sites. Check them out

Catfishing Gear

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