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Bullheads And Catfish - Names that Bring Joy and Disgust

When it comes to fishing, there are two names that make the sport great to me, ‘bullheads’ and ‘catfish’, no other freshwater fish get such a bad rap as these two old friends do. If I am at work or in a store or some other place, all I have to do is mention ‘I caught some bullheads or a catfish, and it’s like I am talking about some horrible skin disease. People frown or shake their heads in disgust, and start talking about how nasty they are and how they are bottom feeders. Let me tell you what I think about bullheads and catfish.

I think they get a back rap because they are ugly to most folks, I mean they are dark, they have whiskers by their mouths, and they have sharp spines at the dorsal and pectoral fins. Mishandle a bullhead while removing a fishhook or when placing one in the live well, and you can get horned or pricked with one of the sharp spines. The spines contain a poison that often hurts worse than a bee sting, and the pain and soreness can last a week. Bullheads and Catfish can actually use the sharp spines to attack other fish, I have seen this myself here in my home. I have a freshwater fish aquarium, in it I once had a bluegill, goldfish and a small bullhead. I noticed one day that the goldfish had a sore or bloody area near it’s tail. I soon learned how the injury had happened. I saw the bullhead literally ram the side of the goldfish and stick it with one of it’s spines. The goldfish went nuts, swimming around fast, later it appeared to be ok, except for another bloodied spot or wound on it’s side. I am sure if the bullhead continued attacking and pricking the goldfish in the right spot, enough times, it would of killed it.

I once was trying to remove a hook from the tough mouth of a bullhead I had caught, when I accidently got pricked by one of the spines, the area swelled up and it hurt for days, I was always a lot more careful when it came to handling bullheads after that. The poison contained in the bullheads sharp spines, can make even a small baby bullhead very painful if your not careful when handling it. The poison glands are common throughout the catfish and bullhead species.

Despite the appearance, there isn’t a more mellow and better tasting fish than a bullhead or catfish. There are numerous ways one can prepare them for a meal, but all I ever do, is gut them out, remove the dorsal and pectoral fins, spines, head and the skin, leaving the tail fin intact. Then I just get me a large skillet and pour a good amount of cooking oil in it, and get it good and hot. Then I roll the bullhead or catfish meat in flour, and gently place them in the hot oil and fry them. I eat them hot with a little salt and pepper, and dip pieces of the meat into ketchup. Bullheads and catfish have the large backbones that make them the easiest fish to eat without filleting.

I think people just get the idea that they taste bad because they are bottom feeders. This means nothing really, a catfish and bullhead will eat or bite on a worm just like a bass or perch will. They may tend to stay or feed near the bottom of lakes, ponds and rivers but they really eat no crap or other junk. They like feeding near the bottoms because that is where one of their favorite meals live, crawfish, and clippers. The bullheads and catfish actually push small rocks and stones, logs and other debris on the bottom to look for the crawfish and clippers, along with other live water creatures, and bullheads and catfish nest and burrow into mud and banks

It is true that large catfish may be muddy tasting, but that can be simply cured by not eating the large ones. Some catfish have a dark stripe in the meat that goes the length of the fish, this area is sometimes strong tasting, again, just avoid eating this part and you will be fine. I have caught and ate bullheads and catfish all of my life, and I love them more then any other fish, including perch and bass.

Most of the bullheads I have caught here in Pennsylvania in the ponds and lakes are the black bullheads, once in awhile I catch a brown one, But there colors can vary a lot, I have caught some bullheads that were yellow or a nice shade of green. I believe it depends a lot on the amount of algae and other plants in the water, and also the time of the year, water temperature, and other factors.

I have been told by a lot of different fishermen that the best times to catch bullheads and catfish is at night. I have found that this is not always the case, in fact most of my best bullhead catches occurred during the daylight hours. I have fished at night and have not even gotten a bite, other times I have been at the pond at 3:00 PM, the hottest time of the day, on a clear, sunny, summer day, and have caught a whole stringer of bullheads. Sometimes something strange happens that seems to awaken bullheads, making them bite a lot or to suddenly stop biting. One time I was fishing during a nice sunny afternoon, when the sky clouded over, it wasn’t the dark clouds, just the grey ones, as soon as the sun was gone, the bullheads stopped biting just like someone had turned off a switch. Another time, I was fishing on a sunny day when all of a sudden a thunderstorm hit, it got dark and started to rain, and thunder, all of a sudden the bullheads started to bite like crazy, then the storm passed and the sky cleared, when it did, the bullheads stopped biting. So whether it’s a sunny day, cloudy day, or night, it seems there is a lot of factors one must take into consideration when catching bullheads and catfish. I have learned that either they are going to bite or they are not, whenever you go fishing, no matter what time of day or night it is.

There is Computer Software that is made for fishing. After keeping a few past records of fishing trips, this software will help you to easily calculate what days will be a great fishing day ! The software is called: ‘ Fishing Buddy ‘, and you can download and try the software for free at this website address:

http://www.rb59.com/fishingb

By Robert W. Benjamin

Copyright © 2006

You may publish this article in your ezine, newsletter or on your web site as long as it is reprinted in its entirety and without modification except for formatting needs or grammar corrections.

Robert W. Benjamin has been in the software business on the internet for over 5 years, and has been producing low-cost software for the past 25+ years. He first released software on the AMIGA and C64 computer systems in the late 1970’s-80’s.

RB59 Software
http://www.rb59.com/software

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How to Hand Craft Your First Salt Water Fishing Lure

As the surface of the water explodes, adrenaline shoots through your body. Your muscles lock you into position for a fight against whatever has just smashed your top water plug. No doubt about it, you’re in for a scrap. You sweat, ache, curse and pray you’ll get the fish into the boat. Your heart pounds as you wonder, “Will my knots hold? Did I set the hooks deep enough? Will everything hold together long enough for me to get this fish in?” The eventual catch is made all the sweeter by one outstanding fact - YOU hand crafted this plug yourself. It was you who dreamed it, whittled it, sanded it, painted it, and fabricated its every facet. Now you have your dividends in spades. There’s a fish on. But first, let’s hand craft a minnow-imitation, Rapala type lure.

Hand Crafting a Lure

To hand craft wooden top water fishing plugs requires minimal equipment. Here’s what you basically need:

5″ long Wooden plug blanks, sawed off from an old broom or mop handle You can also use wooden dowel stock

A whittling knife or a box-cutter with break-off blades

Small cans of white, red, yellow and blue enamel paint to color the lure

Two Plastic doll eyes for each lure (the kind where the black eye part moves around)

3 or 4 Long-threaded screw eyes in brass or stainless to attach hooks and leaders

A small spool of red or white sewing thread for wrapping on buck tails

3 or 4 number 5, 6 or 7 stainless steel split rings to attach hooks and leaders

Barrel swivels to help prevent line twist above the leader

A few 3″ to 4″ square pieces of medium to fine sandpaper to finish the lure surface

4″ lengths of nylon ribbon or nylon rope to make the buck tail

A tube of Super glue to cement in the screw eyes into the plug body

Rubber cement to seal the thread wrapping of the buck tail

A little love, patience and a sense of pride to add to the patina of your work

Lure Assembly Procedure

The procedure is simply to whittle down the wooden plug into a minnow-like shape, then sand the plug body to a smooth finish. Screw in the screw eyes, back them out, fill the holes with super glue then immediately screw them back in. You’ll need one screw eye in the head, one in the belly and a tail screw eye. Paint the lure with a color pattern of your choice. The lure assembly should thoroughly dry for at least a day in good sun. You want solvent odors and residue gone completely.

Make big, bug-eyed lures

Attach lure eyes with super glue. Use the largest doll eyes that you can for the lure size. Yes, the bigger, the better. They drive the fish nuts, so you want a big-eyed lure. Attach hooks to belly and tail screw eyes using split rings. Wrap a buck tail on to the tail hook shank using the sewing thread. I like red thread with a white buck tail. Coat the thread with rubber cement to seal it. Use a fine comb to “comb out” the buck tail so it’s nice and fluffy. It should be just a bit longer than the hook. I use a moustache comb and small scissors to trim it up just so.

Attaching Terminal Tackle

Clip or tie on your leader or leader material. For strictly salt water use, I always use stainless steel wire leaders which are wrapped or double-looped and hand-tied on. The lure assembly should thoroughly dry for at least a day in good sun. You want solvent odors and residue gone before its baptism in seawater.

The final step is to test your lure by trolling it a moderate speed about thirty yards behind your boat. Just be ready for an explosive strike. Then, as the surface of the water explodes

Prof Larry M. Lynch is a bi-lingual copywriter, expert author and photographer specializing in business, travel, food and education-related writing in South America. His work has appeared in Transitions Abroad, South American Explorer, Escape From America, Mexico News and Brazil magazines. He lives in Cali, Colombia, fishes the South American Pacific coast, Amazon and Orinoco River basins for exotic salt water and fresh water game and food fish. For no-obligation information on how to get original, exclusive Exotic fishing stories, fishing technique articles, fishing-action photography and one-of-a-kind content for your fishing-related newsletter, blog or website contact him today at: lynchlarrym@gmail.com for a free, action photo-packed, South American fishing adventure article.

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The Big Bass Fishing Secret

The biggest Bass fishing secret is that there isn’t a real Bass fishing secret at all, there is no secret to catching Bass, no more than there is a secret to catching fish of any type.

Having said that there are certain things which you can do to help himself catch more Bass. Perhaps the most important thing is to set out to catch just one kind of Bass, as I’m sure you know there are several different varieties for instance the Small Mouth Bass, the White Bass, the Large Mouth Bass, and many more. Having decided which particular type of Bass you are trying to catch you can then decide on the appropriate bait and tackle.

In this short article I will deal with catching Large Mouth Bass but the principles discussed apply to any type of Bass,the important thing in trying to catch Large Mouth Bass or any other type of Bass for that matter is to know what their natural prey is. The nice thing about the Large Mouth Bass is it will take almost anything that is floating on the water from flies right up to small birds and chicks.

The thing you have to decide is whether you’re going to use live bait or artificial, if you decide to use artificial I have found a correctly used jig and pig combination produces very good results but you do have to give it a far try out. With Bass fishing bait local knowledge is very important and even though some fishermen like to keep these things secret it is surprising what you can learn by listening carefully when other fishermen are talking.

The next important thing to decide is where to go fishing for your Bass, in the case of Large Mouth Bass there is a very wide choice, as you will find this fish in both rivers or lakes, they are usually found quite close to shore, hiding under low foliage perhaps or near rocks waiting for suitable prey. If you decide to try the jig and pig bait, it will work well in both these situations.

The Large Mouth Bass can be fished for at most times of the year, but fall does seem to be the best time because the fish are busy building up reserves for winter and so will take any bait they can.

I suppose the true Bass fishing secret is to acquire experience of fishing in your area and to enjoy yourself while you are acquiring that experience.

For more Bass Fishing information and tips check out http://www.bassfishingbeat.com.

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