subject: Catfish bait, catfish rigs, catfishing, catfishing in ponds [print this page] Catfish bait, catfish rigs, catfishing, catfishing in ponds
Catfishing Tournaments, should you enter?
It would be amazing to snag the biggest catfish and bring home a trophy, and if you feel youre ready for the Big Time, why not? However, there are a few basic guidelines you should know about catfishing tournaments.
Its tough. Make no mistake of thinking that there arent some guys out there who are truly hard-core anglers, stopping at nothing to bag top place. This doesnt mean that its not going to be fun. It will be, but probably not relaxed pleasure, more of invigorating, spell-binding, heart-racing kind of entertainment, which should be a great shift from recreational catfishing.
You need to know the rules even before hopping in your car to get to the tournament site. This way you bring everything you need, this way you bring the right catfish bait and dont have to spend on anything extra when you get there. There are some tournaments that have very stringent rules, and being a neophyte in catfishing tournaments, you could be disqualified at the gate. Read the fine print on the tournament details to avoid unnecessary expenses.
If you do manage to get an entry into a tournament, think of it more as a learning experience, aside from possibly grabbing headline attention for your awesome Flathead catfish catch, or whatever you may catch. Talk to people and try to unobtrusively get inside tips from expert anglers. You should start networking if you plan to continue joining tournaments. It can only help you next time around.
If the tournament is in an area you are unfamiliar with, get as much information as you can, not just on accommodations and supplies, but also the structure, depth, shallows, and channels of the water you will be fishing in. It would be great if you downloaded a map of the area with as much data as possible.
Keep in mind that the time when you will be fishing and kind of bait are significant factors to your success in the tournament. Bring different kinds of bait, and again, do your homework on the best tactic and strategy to use.
Some of the catfishing tournaments you should keep in mind for when you have accumulated more angling experience are the annual Cabelas King Kat Contest which has $60,000 in prize money, and King Kat products; the Southern Catfishermen Association Catfish Trl which has different divisions but requires membership to the club; North Carolina Catfish Association Tournament Series with a wide scope for cash prizes across the board; and Duracats which conducts weekly mini tournaments throughout the year.
There are two types of catfishing tournaments: open and the ones where you need to qualify or be a member of a catfishing club that has been accredited by the tournament organizers.
It is a process to get to the larger tournaments, and if you are willing to work your way up, you will find extreme pleasure in the process.
Finally, there is just one more guideline to keep in mind, and that is the matter of climate change. Since you are relatively new to tournaments, try to keep track of what the recent weather has been in the area you will be fishing in. Dont rely on encyclopedia information because the weather has a nasty habit lately of being off-key.
