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limblining for catfish

Posted By: loosegoose

limblining for catfish - 03/30/19 08:25 PM

So I've decided I'd like to try my hand at limblining for catfish this year; I only live 3 blocks from the river, so I'm looking for some advice. First off, I'm assuming it's probably too early in the year to start? My idea for a setup is 5 feet of 3/4" pvc pipe, hammered 2 feet into the mud, 5-ish feet of line with a weight, swivel, another foot of line, and a 5/0(?) hook of some sort, either kahle or circle hook. This is similar to setups I've seen in the river already. Cutbait or liver or nightcrawlers for bait. Not looking for monsters, just eaters. Thoghts? Suggestions? Is it like trapping where I can just check once day, or do I need to check more often? I'm completely new to this.
Posted By: danny clifton

Re: limblining for catfish - 03/30/19 08:32 PM

I check more often. check your bait too not just look for a bent pole. its not to early. snell your hooks. you will catch more
Posted By: BigBob

Re: limblining for catfish - 03/30/19 08:39 PM

Check your states laws, in Mo all rig's like that left unattended must be labeled with your name/addy, I use a trap tag.
Posted By: Northmocats

Re: limblining for catfish - 03/30/19 08:44 PM

What Danny Said... Check more often , I rebait mine sometimes 3 times a Night and have taken nice fish off the same pole in one night..
Snell knot also like he said.. Had good luck with all the Hooks J, Kahle and Circle.
Posted By: il.trapper

Re: limblining for catfish - 03/30/19 11:02 PM

IMO 5 ft aint long enough. I use 8 ft. and at times I am wishing for longer. Depends a lot on how steep the bank is.

Also I use to use #5 hooks. Now I use #7 or larger. They still catch smaller cats but won't break when a biggun gets on the line.

I also almost always use live bait on limb lines. I have caught a lot of fish with cut bait, but live bait has proven to be better.

I don't know your river or the type fish in it. But you may be very surprised at how many larger fish you can catch right along the bank. I have caught 80+ lb. flatheads and blues in less than 2 feet of water.
Posted By: brianmall

Re: limblining for catfish - 03/30/19 11:27 PM

Originally Posted by BigBob
Check your states laws, in Mo all rig's like that left unattended must be labeled with your name/addy, I use a trap tag.



It's important to know laws!

Here is how I do it.

12 Mechanical Fisher's Yo Yo Fishing Reels (Flat Trigger Model) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00AM4K6K8/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_taa_.R.NCbM7PB784
Posted By: loosegoose

Re: limblining for catfish - 03/31/19 12:11 AM

Originally Posted by il.trapper
IMO 5 ft aint long enough. I use 8 ft. and at times I am wishing for longer. Depends a lot on how steep the bank is.

Also I use to use #5 hooks. Now I use #7 or larger. They still catch smaller cats but won't break when a biggun gets on the line.

I also almost always use live bait on limb lines. I have caught a lot of fish with cut bait, but live bait has proven to be better.

I don't know your river or the type fish in it. But you may be very surprised at how many larger fish you can catch right along the bank. I have caught 80+ lb. flatheads and blues in less than 2 feet of water.

The section of river I'm thinking of is around 6 feet deep. I'm thinking of trying baits on the bottom and just under the surface? Do you make sure yours reach the bottom, or somewhere else in the water column? The river does have some big fish, I've seen them on other people's limblines (I look but never touch, trying to learn from their setups). Our state won't let you use a live fish caught in one body of water in another body of water, not that it hurts anything, but the laws the law, and I don't know if I want to try keeping bluegills alive, unless it's super easy. If I can catch some in the river,can I just stick them in a tank with some water for a couple days? Interesting about using bigger hooks, I just assumed that a smaller fish wouldn't hook itself on a bigger hooks.
Posted By: Bob_Iowa

Re: limblining for catfish - 03/31/19 12:19 AM

Big thing to remember is cats have a big mouth, when just regular fishing cats in the river I sometimes use night crawlers, because they’re handy, when I use a small hook I have caught carp.
Posted By: trapperkeck

Re: limblining for catfish - 03/31/19 12:20 AM

When I trapped the Missouri River by Santee, NE, the cat guys were running lines as soon as the ice went out. Most were using creek chubs, bluegills or crawdads.
Posted By: Wolfdog91

Re: limblining for catfish - 03/31/19 12:28 AM

Here's a video showing how I make mine. Their 3/8' fiberglass 8' long and so far they have been doing pretty well on these creek channels !


Posted By: k9-hunter

Re: limblining for catfish - 03/31/19 01:16 AM

Originally Posted by loosegoose
Originally Posted by il.trapper
IMO 5 ft aint long enough. I use 8 ft. and at times I am wishing for longer. Depends a lot on how steep the bank is.

Also I use to use #5 hooks. Now I use #7 or larger. They still catch smaller cats but won't break when a biggun gets on the line.

I also almost always use live bait on limb lines. I have caught a lot of fish with cut bait, but live bait has proven to be better.

I don't know your river or the type fish in it. But you may be very surprised at how many larger fish you can catch right along the bank. I have caught 80+ lb. flatheads and blues in less than 2 feet of water.

The section of river I'm thinking of is around 6 feet deep. I'm thinking of trying baits on the bottom and just under the surface? Do you make sure yours reach the bottom, or somewhere else in the water column? The river does have some big fish, I've seen them on other people's limblines (I look but never touch, trying to learn from their setups). Our state won't let you use a live fish caught in one body of water in another body of water, not that it hurts anything, but the laws the law, and I don't know if I want to try keeping bluegills alive, unless it's super easy. If I can catch some in the river,can I just stick them in a tank with some water for a couple days? Interesting about using bigger hooks, I just assumed that a smaller fish wouldn't hook itself on a bigger hooks.

what do you mean" Our state won't let you use a live fish caught in one body of water in another body of water, not that it hurts anything,"a lot of harm can happen from transferring fish from one water system to another you ever here of evasive species that how we ended up with zebra mussels,rusty crayfish,gobeys even the carp are evasive
Posted By: loosegoose

Re: limblining for catfish - 03/31/19 01:25 AM

k9-hunter I know there's all kinds of problems with playing "bucket biologist". I meant that there's certainly already blugill in the river, just not that I've ever caught, and all the local lakes drain to the river, so they likely already share the same diseases and such, so its highly unlikely that an errant bluegill or two would cause a problem. Not to mention a lot of the bank lines I see in the river have a bluegill or green sunfiah for bait, so it's already being done. But in any case, I don't plan on using live bait unless I can manage to catch some and learn a super easy way to keep them alive for a couple days.
Posted By: il.trapper

Re: limblining for catfish - 03/31/19 01:34 AM

I myself always use fish caught in the same body of water as bait. Unless it is store bought minnows or such.

Depth depends on time of year, current, and what type cat I am targeting. For Flathead I use live gills, or bullheads. I want them right near the top of the water.

For blues I use cut bait or live shad and gills. Cool water gills a little warmer shad. If the current is running I want them towards the top. If no current I will sometimes sett them deeper. Either way I keep them as near cover as possible without them getting tangled.

For channels I use cut bait most anytime. Depth don't seem to matter as much but setting on the edge of cover makes a big difference.

I set mostly in creeks. Some as far up the creek as I can get. Just below where a creek dumps into the river can also be a good place for limb lines.
Posted By: Matt28

Re: limblining for catfish - 03/31/19 03:03 AM

There is no way I could catch enough bait out of the same body of water I fish. If you run 20 lines in the river with it bank full you need 20 baited every time you run the lines and some times you need 30 per run. To take fish off on the way back down the river. If you run lines 2 times In the day and 3 times at night that's 100 baits in 24 hours. I run 3 or 4 big perch traps in the best bait ponds I have all summer then put the bait in a bait tank to keep till used.
Posted By: il.trapper

Re: limblining for catfish - 03/31/19 03:12 AM

Ya'll don't have shad? A cast net and you can catch 100's most anytime. hard to keep alive yes, but doable.

I don't limb line alot. usually it is a long weekend or a camping trip with a few kids around wanting to fish. they are my best bait catchers.......LOL

I'll try and put something together showing my bait tanks. And how I build them. I have built several over the years. Some pretty easy, some take awhile.

Give me some time though, I am swamped right now with ADC work and opening another biz.
Posted By: Matt28

Re: limblining for catfish - 03/31/19 03:44 AM

There is shad in the big lakes but that's a 30 min drive away. No shad in the river that I know of. I like live bait for flat head, I don't mind catching blue cat ms but I dont care for channel cat I give them away.
Posted By: danny clifton

Re: limblining for catfish - 03/31/19 10:34 AM

if you catch bait in the same drainage how can it not be the same body of water since all are connected? if ticketed I would have to take that one to court.
Posted By: danny clifton

Re: limblining for catfish - 03/31/19 10:40 AM

easiest bait tank is a small metal stock tank under a shade tree. a big aerator and water filter. a 2x4 frame with 1/4 inch hail screen over the top to keep sunfish from jumping out.

a five gallon bucket and lid with a hundred or so holes drilled in it and trot line string tied to the handle works good to. keep them in a creek or river where there is a gentle current
Posted By: trapperkeck

Re: limblining for catfish - 03/31/19 12:19 PM

I wouldn't worry about whether or not your bait comes from the same body of water. Pretty much, every body of water in Nebraska was one big ocean a couple of weeks ago. All of these microbiology experiments at the state level are doing little if anything, to stop the spread of invasive species. Good Lord, one big rain or a flock of migrating geese will, totally, wipe out any positive affects we are taking at a human level. The ridiculousness ranks right up there with "The Green New Deal". Curious, do you guys wash all of your traps, stakes and wire when you move to a new rat Marsh???
Posted By: loosegoose

Re: limblining for catfish - 03/31/19 01:02 PM

I agree that it's kinda silly about not transfering live fish, especially in a river system, and when it's perfectly acceptable to use dead cutbait from another body of water, but it's not worth the hassle to me, I don't think. There's only a couple of lakes here where we can use cast nets,and only to catch shad, but they can't be used in a river. I called a CO one time when I saw about 1,000,000 Asian carp swimming in a different river if I could cast nets them, and was told that the only legal way was to arrow them or hook-and-line them. Not very helpful if you ask me, but I'm not going to pay the ticket for it either.
Posted By: loosegoose

Re: limblining for catfish - 03/31/19 01:19 PM

From the Nebraska fishing regs:
it's unlawful to release into public Waters of the state any fish that did not originate from that body of water. (It's fair to say that bait doesn't get released, though)

Live shad can only be used in the body of water from which they originated. They can be seined or dip netted. Cast nets can only be used in a select few lakes, no rivers, only for shad and alewife, and only from July to November.

Sport fish (that would include bluegill and green sunfiah) can only be used if captured by hook and line,and only if used in the body of water in which they were caught. And even if using them for bait, they count toward your daily bag and possession limits.
Posted By: trapperkeck

Re: limblining for catfish - 03/31/19 01:26 PM

I spoke to a warden once who said, "Any bait fish you use must come from the same waters you are fishing, or purchased from a licensed bait vendor". Then, he said, "Of course, we would have no way of knowing if the bait you are using came from this body of water or a pond in Russia." Followed by a pronounced wink. As long as the species of bait you are using is already swimming in the river you are fishing, I wouldn't get too excited.
Posted By: danny clifton

Re: limblining for catfish - 03/31/19 01:59 PM

if you catch bait in a pond that drains into a ditch that drains into a creek that drains into a river your lines are set in, how can the bait be said to come from a different body of water?
Posted By: Bigfoot

Re: limblining for catfish - 03/31/19 05:13 PM

The absolute best place for a long term bait tank is tight against the north wall of a building because it's shaded all day, add a big shade tree and its eaven better .Keep it cool .direct sunlight is very stressful for any kind of bait.
Posted By: loosegoose

Re: limblining for catfish - 03/31/19 05:19 PM

Originally Posted by danny clifton
if you catch bait in a pond that drains into a ditch that drains into a creek that drains into a river your lines are set in, how can the bait be said to come from a different body of water?

I don't disagree with you. It's all connected. But I'm not the one who writes the tickets wink
Posted By: danny clifton

Re: limblining for catfish - 03/31/19 05:25 PM

We have that law here now too so I may be in court someday. I will bring a topo map. Plan to ask the judge what separates things into a different body of water. I doubt I get ticketed if its all the same drainage.


I just read the 2019 regs. Here if your in the same drainage your good. Just can't transport fish from below a dam to above it. So it has been clarified here. Some fish it is illegal to transport alive. Asian carp, white perch and fertile grass carp. I figure baby coons gotta eat to get big so tossed up on the bank ought to work.
Posted By: WadeRyan

Re: limblining for catfish - 04/01/19 11:30 AM

Originally Posted by loosegoose
k9-hunter I know there's all kinds of problems with playing "bucket biologist". I meant that there's certainly already blugill in the river, just not that I've ever caught, and all the local lakes drain to the river, so they likely already share the same diseases and such, so its highly unlikely that an errant bluegill or two would cause a problem. Not to mention a lot of the bank lines I see in the river have a bluegill or green sunfiah for bait, so it's already being done. But in any case, I don't plan on using live bait unless I can manage to catch some and learn a super easy way to keep them alive for a couple days.


It's not illegal if you can show they were purchased if you read the fine print of the regulations it says these regulations only apply to bait obtained for personal use. The reason you are seeing the bluegill/goldfish on the lines is in Nebraska you can buy them from people with commercial bait licenses and use them wherever you please. Soooo long story short I'm sure guys have a receipt for a dozen bluegill in their wallet, and I think it would be pretty hard to prove the 12 they are using aren't the 12 that they bought.
Posted By: WadeRyan

Re: limblining for catfish - 04/01/19 11:59 AM

The last time we had a good flood come through it brought quite a few cats with it. We really didn't have much luck on bank lines with liver, etc. Live is the way to go to get some good ones. We were only running about 20 lines and had daily nice catches for the three-four days we'd run them. If you're just looking for some fryers save yourself the hassle and take a bottle of stink bait down there every once in a while in the evening.

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