Catching Cats on Artificials

Can catfish be caught using artificial lures? Certainly. Here’s evidence.

I recently examined all Master Angler Program submissions for a full year in Nebraska. Anglers submitted 415 qualifying catfish including 309 channel cats, 96 flatheads and 10 blue cats. No qualifying blue cats were caught on lures, but 22 channel cats were (7 percent) and a whopping 26 of 96 flatheads (27 percent).

Many lures enticed these cats. Crankbaits produced the most channel catfish (7), followed by spinners/spinnerbaits (5), jigs (4), plastic worms/lizards (3 each), spoons (2) and topwater plugs (1). Flatheads fell for crankbaits (10), jigs (9), spoons (5) and spinners (2). (Jigs tipped with minnows or night crawlers accounted for 6 of 9 catches in the jig category.)

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