Evening lads,
when myself and a few of the other lads are on Linear in 2 weeks time I intend to have a go for the cats that inhabit the lake.Not fished for cats before I would like to few pointers if possible with regards to bait and rigs.
The main stay of the bait for them will be Halibut pellets in 25mm and squid.The pellets are going to be fished 2 at a time on the hair and the squid is going to be fished with 2 or 3 20mm Squid and Octopus pop ups with the body of the squid pulled down over the pop ups.Rigs wise I have been told to get some serious sharp and strong hooks so Ive settled for Korda Wide gape X in size 2 and Arma kord leader in 50lb. Ive read a few bits and bobs about the rigs that people use and they seemed to be very basic rigs versions of carp rigs, I have no idea of the length of rig tho?? also been thinking about digging a shed load of worms to take with me, has anybody had any luck with worms for cats?? Any advise you can share with me lads on rigs or bait will be glady listened to J

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In search of another Bryn Bach Original

j when i fished for them i was advised to use 4 21mm pellets on a strong size 2, we was using very long rigs and was advised not to use a lead so we were freelining with a very slack line, the 4 21mm pellets will cast a fair distance, but may not get to the areas u want to fish, then i was told to use running rigs with slack lines to avoid any resistance.
good luck, Adam

cheers Ad fella. J

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"OBSESSION" - A word used by the lazy to describe the dedicated.
In search of another Bryn Bach Original

Jamie,

I did a weeks fishing a few years back on a lake in France targetting the Cats but I went in the other direction than the norm with regards to rigs and bait.

I started off with using two 28mm donkey choker halibut pellets on the rig and feeding the swim with 21mm's. After 3 days of no action I started to go into "Carp thinking mode" and re tuned rigs etc.

I dropped the donkey chokers and fished with just a single 21mm halibut pellet on the rig (normal carp type rig) to match my freebies. I started getting the runs instantly once I fine tuned my rigs and bait!!!!

Now, I still to this day can not decide if It was down to this change that got me the fish or the fact that throughout the 6 days of fishing, I set my alarm EVERY 4 HOURS day AND night to feed the swim with 60 - 80 pellets. Did it take me 3 days to get the cats on the feed in my swim or was it down to fine tuning my tackle??????

My mate in the next swim who was also fishing for the cats on the pellet had none. He was not feeding the swim every 4 hours or using matching hookbaits?

I ended up with 14 runs off the cats in 4 days.

Biggest was this one - 88lbs and took me 2 hours to land -- thankfully this one came in the day!!!

Awesome Pussy Rich fella, I can only hope of getting something like that mate, as the cats in St Johns are smaller then that what would you advise me to use my normal 3lb TC rod or fish for them with my 5lb TC spod rod??? Jamie.

_________________
"OBSESSION" - A word used by the lazy to describe the dedicated.
In search of another Bryn Bach Original

j i dont no wether i'd take the risk of a 3lb tc, i'd use the spod rod, the anglers fishing for the cats on hazel were using spod rods, an thats only a very small lake

Your normal 3lb carp rod will be fine mate.

yep normal carp rods are sufficient, in spain i saw 150lb cats landed on 2.75lb test curve rods no problem, but if there are snags etc a beefy rod would be much better, no need for spod rods though, i used 4lb test curve rods in spain and often felt over gunned, it was only when i hooked the biggun (185lb) that i got flat rodded LOL