Catfishing Questions + Some Answers For You

Question
Alright, so I currently reside in Cary, North Carolina.  That's in the middle of the state, up by the capitol, Raleigh.  There are two very large rivers that pass within 40 miles of my residence.  These bodies are the Cape Fear River, which extends all the way down by Wilmington and spills into the Atlantic, and the Neuse River, which is short and contained, however, isn't as wide as the Cape Fear, but it does eventually hit the ocean.  Cape Fear has 3 (I think) dam and lock systems throughout it's expansion.  The Neuse has only one dam just outside of Raleigh's city limits, and it's known as the Falls of the Neuse.

A little bit of history on myself:  I never was a huge freshwater fisherman, and would always go out to the beach for my adventures.  However, just last year, a friend got me interested in catfishing - particularly blue catfish and channel catfish, in a lake known as Bass Lake.  Ironically, you see more people bringing up catfish than bass.  In that lake, you could go with artificial stink bait and nightcrawlers, however there have been people that pulled out on some livers (I've tried it) and cut bait.  My friends and I only just recently started fishing at the Cape Fear and the Neuse where state record cats are pulled out every year.

Here are my questions:
1.  In the Cape Fear or the Neuse, is it better to use a) cut bait from freshly caught shad (castnet) or bream (small hook methods), b) artificial bait (stink bait in particular) or c) frozen/"fresh" bait such as shrimp and liver, etc?  And my thoughts on the artificial bait vs. live bait premises will follow my questions.

2.  We just tried fishing down at the second lock (Buckhorn Dam) in the Cape Fear river last night, on the lower part.  We were using live and cut minnows to fish and we caught nothing in a 3.5 hour period.  There were one or two "almosts" but that's about it.  The man next to us, using fresh mullet and four different rods in the water simultaneously hadn't caught a thing, and he was there since we got there.  As we begin to leave (Sun's setting), all of a sudden all of his rods start to twitch and respond as though fish started to mess with the bait.  My question is, do catfish base their activity on the sky's conditions?  I know of the theoretical position many fishermen have on the subject regarding the moon's position and brightness, but does this take residence in the Sun's position as well?

3.  And one last question.  I know, I'm sorry it's a lot of information.  Do you know if chumming is allowed in North Carolina rivers?  I've searched the entire database of all regulations and requirements on the NC WRC (North Carolina Wildlife Reserve Commission) site and turned up very little about the action.

Alright, sorry to ask so much... but I have some information that goes along with what you requested in your instructions.

1.  Insights about using live bait vs. artificial.

On the bass fishing end:
I seldom bass fish now-a-days.  When I was little, and lived in Indiana, it was a big thing.  My little brother, age 13, still does it and much rather prefers it than that of catfishing because he's "afraid to put the still alive fish on the hook".

From my understanding, bass rely on their site more times than not under clear conditions.  Something shiny would keep their sights on the bait.  Given a minnow or small shad, they'd do the trick.  However, so would a spinner bait.

A.  Unlike catfish that eat dead, decaying stuff on the bottom, bass eat live things naturally.  If you put a bass in a tank and threw in a fake minnow with scented features and a real minnow, which do you think it'd eat first?

B.  Although the live bait can always be obtained at any bait shop or tackle supply, there are times where we can find ourselves fishing at the most unreasonable times for the "normal" people.  Out at 3 in the morning, camping on the edge of your favorite lake or river, you're not going to catch Mr. Biggins on nothing.  Although I'm rather open minded to both types of bait, I do think that having one of the two types as a back up is a great idea.  You don't want to be stuck out on a lake at night thinking, "Darn it, I'm out..."

3.  Live bait is rather hard to keep.  In respective, you can't just net a bunch of shad, use half of them on the day that you fish, take the rest home and keep them alive.  They'll die without the proper water and feeding systems.

All in all, I just believe that the live bait v. artificial is an argument for foolish children, if certain people do believe about bickering about it.  I think we should all just go with both and figure out what times are better for each type.  It's always good to try new things.

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I read your profile thing before posting up my question to you.  From what I understand, you reside in Texas.  I asked my cousin (Student at the University of Houston) who is a big fisherman, or was before he went to college.  He said that the Texas Forest Open is a great tournament to start in, and after a few go arounds with victorious catches, many pro-line sponsored teams and tourneys spot people from that program and recruit them over to the pro-side.

I googled to see if I could find a link that would provide information on the Texas Forest Open, and I believe this is it:

http://www.tfcbasscircuit.com/index.php?action=home

There you go, and I appreciate it advance for anything you can provide me with information regarding catfishing up here.

Zach.

Answer
Sorry I haven't gotten back to you sooner.  My computer broke and then I went on a 5 day Quail hunt.  But back to your question.  I thank you a lot for the info.  I'm actually 15 now.  But hey that whole livebait vs. artificial or frozen all depends on fishing conditions.  But river cats will more likely than not hit live bream or shad and even feeder goldfish.  With your shad problem.  You don't wanna just haul 'em in, just keep a about six or seven extra.  Try using a 1/0 to 3/0 circle or octopus hook right through the top of the back close to the tail.  Not in the spine though that'll kill 'em.  Also cats sort of follow sun patterns in terms of lengths of the day.  They'll also hit right in the thirty minutes of dusk.  Oh, and I've also caught my biggest cats when it was raining.  I catch 'em right near the shore during that time.  This is because they feed off the things running off the land so if you can find a spot where the waterflow into the river is pretty nice fish infront of that.  I hope this helps.