catfish are hitting strips of cutbait

We checked our dittypoles today and we had fish on. Yesterday we baited up with 4″ to 6″ bluegills hopeing for the bigger catfish of 5 lbs. and over. As we entered this area where our poles are the very first pole had a 3 pounder on it, we rebaited and then checked the rest of them. As we drove up to the pole we could see it was bounceing up and down and as we got to it we were guessing the weight.

Every pole but 2 had the bait gone or a fish but no bigger ones of 6 pounds and over on any of them, their not feeding in the shallows. The bigger bluegills were to big for the channels to take the hook and all but they managed to get them off. A couple poles also had fish on them but got off then the line wrapping around the pole after it pulled free from the fish. We rebaited with all cut stripbait and putting the hook in the end where the fish won’t feel the spines. We also put the hook in one end so the fish would have most of the bait in its mouth, then it’d be more likely not to let loose and then take hook and all.

The pics below are of the ramp and water level. With the water coming up this weekend where im standing taking the pics. will be under water. I’ll get some pictures of the fish we catch this afternoon.

Ok I apologize if this is a stupid question, but what is a Dittypole??

Bankpole
Iowans have to be different ya know.

Were killin them right now Herb, you know what I mean, I’ll post in an hour about today. The waters up and the fish are biting!

Not stupid at all Pete, im there asking questions about things that I don’t know about too. Below is a couple pics of the average fish yesterday and today, nothing big but nice. Were checking our poles about 2 too 3 times a day because of the bite, its good right now. Infact as we were checking another pole, taking the fish off and rebaiting it, the last pole that we had just done the same had a hit on it as we watched 10′ away. I told my buddy to shut the motor off as it hit the second time but by then it had spooked and was too late. It hit the bait and we said look at that, after a few seconds it hit again and thats when the motor was started and I yelled shut the motor off, were all kinda hard of hearing. Their hitting so good back on the bottoms that we watched our poles as we were leaving this area going back to the dock, almost taking bets if the poles were going to get hit or not as we left sight of them LOL, its a good bite right now! Theres only one pic but the fish ranged from 5 down to 2 pounds and their all like this, not big but perfect panfriers.

Hey Pete, It isn’t at all dumb, I ask questions too when I don’t know, smarter people do that. Heres what a dittypole is or as Herb says, hes an Iowan, he knows, a bankpole. You know what waterwillows are. Get one about 6′ to 10′ long, nice and straight if you can find one. Take and cut it at ground level at an angle so you can shove it back into the bank where you decide to set it. After you’ve cut it take all the branches off except the last two, or one in a pinch, the reason you want to leave the last divide on the mainbeam is because when you tie your line to it the fish won’t pull it off as he struggles to get free. Find a spot where you can shove the branch back into the bank a good ways, 12″ to 16″ or more, preferably 2′ for safetys sake at an angle. You don’t want it straight up or right over the water unless you have too, about a 30 to 45 degree angle is about right.

You tie the line on with the hook on it after you’ve got the pole in the bank and remember not to do this at the dock. The reasoning is you want to be able to set the depth of the hook/bait right where your fishing. You want to set the poles in what we call dead water or water with no current, or very very little, why?. The catfish were after and in this area don’t feed much in swifter current when the waters up like after an inch or two of rain, it washes the bait leaving a bleached bait with no scent, debreise?, and its too much work trying to bait your hook in swift water and the fish don’t feed there anyway, except on the very bottom.

After you’ve set the pole just wait and check it often so you can fine tune the bite in that immediate area. Bait size, time of day and raising and drop of the water has alot to do with setting dittypoles if wanting to catch fish. On a dropping water, the late afternoon the bait might be out of the water because its dropping. About 6″ to 12″ below the surface is where you want your bait. This is basicially dittypole fishing and its a blast when the fish are on a good bite, even when their not its still fun.