Cat rig?

[Dick Dastardly]

Bryan was right about Biopharm,they now have a Web site at-

 

http://www.biopharm-leeches.com/

[steve17]

i havent managed to find any rules either, i presume it to be all the usual carp lake stuff, i dont mind using dead baits etc, i just find the hooking of live fish as a bait abit cruel but i wont go into that....each to their own i guess. Tackle wise im ok, will just use my carp gear etc, just the rigs and baits mainly also some hints of where you are most likely to find them day and night.

thanks

[steve17]

to add to that, this link may be of slightly more relevance.

 

http://www.fisheries.co.uk/docklow/

scroll down the page, the cat lake is 'major bill'

[jim doyle]

all the posts are great, budgie has aproven track record so he wont see you wrong! If you are not allowed to use live or dead baits think laterely about your boilies, liquidised squid or mackeral make a good base ,add eggs fishmeal, pellets and make them big. I use owner hooks cause you can basically swing from them and they dont straighten! good luck!!

[jim doyle]

The other thing to try is steve burkes perch method of trying to get a good shoal of bait fish feeding in your swim hoping that they willattract the predators

[Newt]

Bryan Andrews:

I think it's Biopharm that sells the leeces, from memory, they are about £6 each but can be reused.

From http://www.biopharm-leeches.com/ they show the larger leeches for fishing at 6 for £28.

 

Carolina Biological Supply House sells a variety of biologicals and their leeches (non-medical use) are less expensive but probably not as large. $30 per pack of 12 so £16 plus whatever shipping costs.

 

They are easy to maintain and grow though so the 2" ones from Carolina Biologicals can easily be gotten to 4" or larger.

 

Here are some directions for raising them and some ideas of where to find your own. One thing they didn't mention but that has worked for me is to take a chicken leg (uncooked) and tie it to a string then toss it into a likely place. Leave overnight and next morning you will probably find a few leeches clinging to it when you pull it back to shore.

[Anthony78]

Hi folks, I am planning a session for cats at shattersford lakes and was wondering if I could use the same gear that I use for carp fishing i.e.12' 2.5tc rods and 15lb line.

[Dick Dastardly]

Yes thats more than enough mate.When I fished for cats regularly in the UK my normal gear was a 2lb TC North Western SS5 rods,Mitchell 300S's and 12lb Maxima with 25lb Kryston Quick Silver hook lengths.Hooks were Cox & Rawle Uptide Extra in sizes from 2 -3/0 dependent on the size of bait used.

 

Admitedly then we were only catching fish up to mid 30's tops and many UK waters now contain a lot bigger.Through action rods are certainly the best for playing cats on.Certainly no need to go much heavier as so many reccomend.

 

To put it into perspective for bank fishing abroad I only use 4lb TC rods and the equivilant of 25lb line and this lands the biggest of fish in around 7 minutes!

[chesters1]

i agree with budgie ,i too own NW 2lb tc rods through action (havent a clue what the SS5 bit means though) and i managed a 39lb cat with no problem ,i love through action although not to good for hitting the horizon (i tend rarely to fish further than 30ft at night) they are extremly forgiving with last minute escape flights under the rod tip ,as i said elsewhere you can catch anything on anything if its balanced and set up correctly,the only occasion you kneed sea fishing rated gear is if your swim has a potential snag and you need to bully the fish away from it ,but even then you should know where the snag is and taken it into consideration

 

[ 14. February 2005, 08:41 PM: Message edited by: chesters1 ]

[tbonejones]

Ive caught loads of catties on simple carp rigs. I find they go for oily, meaty boilies if youre gonna use them.