Giving bullheads CPR

Monday Commancharo and I picked up some bullheads for bait. I left with about 10 to 15 which is more than I normally take. I use a 5 gallon pail and when I get to my truck, I have an Airobait bucket (5 gallons with a built in bubbler in the bottom) with fresh water in it. Once home the bucket goes in the garage frig. I change water every three days or so and they last for weeks…or so I thought.

Last night, Tuesday I checked on them…(it helps to talk to them so they work better for you when catten…hot tip there) they were all lying on the bottom of the bucket in black/dirty green water. I couldn’t believe it! All dead in about a day! I did notice that there was a ring of ice arount the inside of the bucket. I normally leave the cover half way on but this time I left it off completely.
I through most of them out, but changed water hoping to find some kind of life at the bottom of the muck…nope all belly up…I saved about seven or so to cut today for cut bait. This morning I went out with my little baggie and everyone of them looked me in the eye and said ‘morning!

Guess I got the water too cold and put them to sleep…sure glad I didn’t have to give them mouth to mouth (never did like putting my lips on anything with whiskers)!

Mr. BK……..Has anyone ever told you that you are one freakin weird dude

So when we goin fishin?

I don’t know about the too cold deal, but maybe a fungus, or something grew in the bucket. If the water was so cold, I don’t think the green stuff would grow. Just an idea.

Brian,

I have to agree you are a weird dude. You starve your bait for weeks and wonder why you aren’t hammering the big boys?

No, no…cut up worms and buss bedding…but I try not to feed them for a couple days before going out…a hungry bullhead is an active bullhead. But that’s my wifes job

i never feed my bullheads, and there may be 10-50 in my crate at any given time……….

will feeding them really make a difference!!!??

I guess probably not. I never keep mine longer than the weekend, but I have a good source to get them from whenever I want them.

I’ve kept mine for about 3 weeks…everyday they are just as happy to see me as the first day I got them…unless the waters too cold. This is in a 5 gallon pail…with the bubbler.

I have to travel 12 miles round trip…to a hot location that Commancharo shared with me…doesn’t sound too far…but it’s in the wrong direction (most of the time). The good thing is I take my rod along but seldom need it. The kids are always willing to help out a bullhead fisherman..

Next year I’ll have a cooler similar to Dirks and Jetcats. Bait is bait and I don’t like having to go get bait each time I want to search for a Kitty. It’s really hard when at 8 at night, I say “screw it” i’m going fishing…just to find I need bait.

In using bullheads, do you cut off the “stingers”.

Also, do you use a quick strike rig, single large hook, ???

I just hook them through the tail with a big hook and chuck them out there.

Gator Hunter

I’ve experimented with cutting off the stinger/s and concluded it doesn’t make much difference. You may get an extra bite now and then if you cut a stinger/fin as it may make the bullhead struggle more because it is “off balance”. Even knowing that it seldom pays off, at least for me.

Gary! Never cut off the stingers! If you do…you will miss fish!

PS in photo above…After being coached…I don’t use circle hooks for flats…anymore. (It was the stingers lodge in this teeny cats mouth that brought him in)

I never really “catfished” a whole lot. Caught plenty of blue cats on the Cannon river as a kid. But that was my extent of it. Used crawlers or chicken liver.

So, do you guys eat these things????? Or is it just for the fun of it???

Quote:

---

CHICKEN LIVER

---

You’ve been hanging around Gator too much!

I keep saying that I’m going to keep a smaller one to eat…but I haven’t. Everything I’ve read says they are great eating….but I’ve read that snake ect is good too.

I don’t know of anyone that takes them home…from this site.

It takes roughly 20 years for them to obtain the 30 – 40 lbs mark..if I recall. I want my daughters kids (If she ever moves the h— out of the house) to be able to enjoy Great Cat fishing! My thought only.

We used to keep a few channels out in SD from the Missouri river. I’d say we would keep 4-6 fish, most were in the two pound range to feed the family for a fish fry. That was our Sunday afternoons, 12 pack, stinky shrimp, rod, lawn chair. We were set. We would fillet the fish up when we got home, deep fry them, dip them in ketchup with Lawry’s salt. MMMMMMmmmmmMMMMM good!!

Quote:

---

In using bullheads, do you cut off the “stingers”.

Also, do you use a quick strike rig, single large hook, ???

---

I use a single hook through the lips (lower and upper) and I do cut off the stingers. The hook is a 5/0 Kahle, which is big enough when you hook them this way, and through the lips because with bullheads (unlike almost any other fish) they’ll still struggle plenty when hooked this way, and it provides a better hookup ratio. I get a lot of bullheads to catch me more than one cat this way – when the cat gets the hookset, the first thing it does is purge the bait (unless it has it swallowed) and when they’re hooked by the mouth they just slide up the line and come in with the cat, all lively and ready to get to work again. I’ve had them swallowed and pulled them gently back out of the cat’s stomach and threw them out again too, and they were nearly as lively as ever. The 5/0 kahle is great for this work, but too small to go through their backs and have enough hook left exposed. I’ve used the wide gaps (which seem to get hooked back into the bait – no good) and the big Gama Octopus hooks, but I’ve had the most consistent luck with kahles.

As for the eating question, I eat the occasional flathead under ten pounds when they swallow the hook. Bigger cats in that situation I’ll just cut the hook off and hope for the best releasing them. They’re too full of methyl mercury to eat for one, and too important to the trophy fishery for another. The little ones are pretty tasty, and some say the bigs are too, but I’ll never find out. I don’t eat channels – ever – there’s just too many fish out there that taste better to bother with them.

So………..If I may ask………

Are you hitting the deep holes for these things, or flooded timber? I would assume that you are using something in the realm of a 5oz sinker (sliding sinker) to hold the bullhead in place????

No, I’m not interested in eating a cat…………did that too much down south…………

Sorry if these questions sound stupid……….I just never bothered to chase them at all before…………Wouldn’t have a clue where to start…………

Both timber and deep holes depending on time of year. About now (with the water temp up around 80) I’m starting to find them in deeper water but most of the summer I get them out of less than 10 feet of water. I use anywhere from 1 to 4 ounce no-roll sinkers depending on current. You’ll never keep them pinned down exactly, but keeping them from easy access to cover is the main thing – even so you have to bump them or pull in a foot of line every now and then to keep them from getting too comfortable.

Flathead…….

Just opened and read your website. VERY NICE and informative. Good job.

So basically, you best bet is to fish these at night. Is there much success to fish them during the day???

People fish them very successfully during the day, or so I’ve read, but I never have. To do so you need to pinpoint their location, which is usually in snags, and put your bait in front of their noses. The drawback, if you can do it, is that it’s difficult to get them pulled out of snags – you keep them on for thirty seconds and you’re snagged up. That and you get snagged up constantly while trying to get your bait to them. I suppose it’s different on wingdams, but I’ve never gotten them to hit during the day – closest was about an hour before sunset. Fishing evening/night is much more relaxing, you can try to predict their roaming patterns and intercept them with your bait far enough from the wood to stand a chance of landing them.

uess I got the water too cold and put them to sleep…sure glad I didn’t have to give them mouth to mouth (never did like putting my lips on anything with whiskers)!
Come on am I the only one who got a chuckle out of this??

BK- funny I have never really minded that!

Haywood…remind me not to go fishing with you….alone anyway….

Quote:

---

…….(never did like putting my lips on anything with whiskers)!

---

as i went to get some catfish pics developed, i encountered a woman with a mustache. This wasn’t some peach fuz Doogie Howser mustache either, it was circus quality.

i also cant forget to mention than i ran…. i ran like the dickens!

Hey, instead of starving the little buggers, try and get hold of some “PITBULL” bullheads…I hear they bite and don’t let go!