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Bait Boating for Cats

Ian Wakeford

Fishing for catfish is becoming increasingly popular with UK Anglers. The techniques used by some anglers, are often adapted from carp fishing or pike fishing, but increasingly catting is developing techniques that occupy its own niche. The aim of this article is to describe a method I have been fishing for the past two seasons and offer hints and tips to maximise it's effectiveness.

Catting generally takes place at night and I have been fishing mid water and surface based livebaits. The problem with casting livebaits is that impact on the surface can stun the fish and repeated casts reduce the bait's longevity. Distance is always a problem and an alternative is to use a rowing boat to paddle baits out, but on many waters this is obtrusive to other anglers, and lets face it, rather dangerous in the middle of the night.

The answer is to use a remote controlled (R/C) boat, these vary in design but I will describe the use of an Angling Technics (AT) Bait Boat, as it is the design I am familiar with, and use on most trips. When designing rigs for R/C boats you do not have to worry about castability, merely can it be towed out and deployed cleanly without tangles. The basic design of the AT bait boat has two hopper doors, which open along it's sides. They are designed primarily for dumping boilies and hookbait.

From the diagram shown below, a poly ball or Kinder Egg Rattler is loaded into one hopper, while the lead weight is loaded into the other.

The buoyancy aid on the hook length is designed so that it will slide along the hook length. I am sure that a tethered polyball would generally not worry a catfish, but I have found that pike will drop a livebait if they immediately feel resistance. This method gives them 3 or 4 feet of movement before they feel the buoyancy aid, and the fish may have made their mind up by then. Assuming that you are having to position a bait at night, the following should keep you out of trouble.

Make sure you are launching your R/C boat from a swim clear of debris, e,g, dead reeds or twigs.

A gently sloping beach is better than a steep rock face, even small 2 inch waves will batter a boat against rocks.
Make sure the line is clear running on your rod with the rig on, i.e. no tip tangles or line behind spools.
Switch on your handset, then the R/C boat, if you do it the other way round, I have known my boat to shoot off as it picks up another signal it interprets as "Full Ahead".
Place (without bait) the lead in one hopper and polyball in the other. Close the doors. You can then add extra ground bait, I use sinking trout pellets, chopped up fish, old fishmeal boilies and last winters deadbaits to create a general smelly ambience to the area. Add these equally to both hoppers.
Then attach the livebait, either through direct hooking or hair rig.
Give the R/C boat a shove to quickly clear the rods and then engage "slow" forward. High speed is too fast for livebaits, they skim across the surface and end up exhausted.

If you are aiming for a specific feature then it's best to either mark it with something that can be seen at night. Alternatively, make a mental night of a feature, e.g. a tree, that is visible against the night sky, and gently cruise out until the predefined stop knot is reached. Thus giving you a bearing and journey length. (All very nautical this). Upon reaching the spot, close the bail arm and engage either baitrunner or backwind, let the R/C boat pull against this for the last few yards to straighten the line, then drop the bait, in quick succession drop the lead.

Initially tighten up your rod to the lead and then give line until the polyball stopped pulling line, and has reached the surface. I have found that my R/C boat will happily tow out a 1lb trout livebait and deploy this rig without tangles everytime. The other main advantage is that your live baits are positioned in pristine condition without having to resort to dangerous boating in the middle of the night. Baits can be back in action a minute or two after a run or fish, often when catfish feed, it can be in a narrow window of an hour or two, the more baits in the water in a lively condition, the better. And the proof of the pudding, a modest 34lber.

Note that on a long session a solar charger is a must, (bottom left of picture) even though it has rained all day , enough charge is generated to run a bait boat all day and night, and kept this boat running all week. The charger clearly work better in the sun and so do the cats! - One of 1999s cats 45 3/4 lb (below), note charger top left.

For Comments or Suggestions please E-Mail.