OK ShawnIL-Tell us about ~ - Catfish & Sturgeon - Catfish & Sturgeon

My Clonk story is a long and interesting tale. First of all, in theory I think something like the clonk could stimulate interest of flathead catfish. However, my limited experience hasn’t supported any specific effect (other than wet arms from creating a froth in the river). I didn’t even keep it in the boat last year…

In intermittent Life and Times of Procats, guide Denny Halgren asked me to write an article about the Catfish Caller. He thought it may be used in an outdoors periodical, or maybe somewhere else. This was spring 2005. So, he mailed a package with the Catfish Caller and the video, which is basically a few long and barely edited sequences of Victoria Sweet battling monster flatheads that would make even Larry Dahlberg jealous.

I taped interviews with guides Mike Cook and Denny, and wrote my article. Denny is one interesting character, and interesting to fish with. Discussions with him can veer off in many different directions, especially at 1:00-2:00am. And just when you think you’re way off topic, he’d provide an awesome soundbite. He’s an ardent promoter of catch and release, that’s for sure.

It was a fun piece to write…however, it wasn’t used in it’s original form. The best I could figure out, another writer was also asked to write the same type of piece. I even shared what I had written, some of which (I found out later) were published without shared writing credit. That’s all water under the bridge now, no harm no foul. I’m confident there was no “intent” behind what happened, more likely miscommunication and miunderstanding. As I said, it was a long story…

Catfish Wake-Up Call

The concept of “calling” catfish is an appealing idea. Get a catfish clonk, learn to use it, and you can expect results that are nothing short of divine intervention. The fish will actually climb right out of the water into your boat! Boy, it would be great if it worked like that, wouldn’t it. The truth is that while clonks have proven to be successful for European Wels Catfish for centuries, absolute proof of it’s effectiveness on North American catfish would be speculative. However, this hasn’t stopped American catfish anglers like Denny Halgren and Mike Cook to experiment with an interesting tool known as the “Catfish Caller.”

Denny Style

Denny Halgren’s fishing style is largely based on instinct and experience – every action seems carried out with a specific purpose in mind. He often targets flathead cats in their home space, relying upon active live baits to provoke an aggressive response from fish defending their territory. Denny had his first clonk in the boat for months before he even gave it a try. This was several years ago. He was aware of the effectiveness the clonk had on European Wels catfish, as fishermen have used clonks for generations to lure Wels cats up from the depths to be caught closer to the surface. Initially, he was skeptical that a clonk could be effective on flatheads. He figured it shouldn’t work. As Denny explains, “A catfish isn’t going to leave the bottom for hardly anything.” But, one night while on a spot that was proven to hold big fish, he gave the clonk a try. He hadn’t caught any fish on the perimeter of the structure, and was not getting bit by channel cats either. Since he was certain this spot held flatheads, he started experimenting with the clonk. He wasn’t impressed with the initial sounds he made. But he tried some different techniques until he came upon a sound where the clonk would initially make a “ker-plunk” followed by a “swish” through the water after entry causing a definite vibration. After several minutes of this, he started fishing again and did pick-up a fish. He didn’t make a connection at that time, but further experimentation with the clonk at different times has produced varying responses.

While Denny’s use of the clonk was pretty limited initially, he did start to work with it more and more because it did seem to produce results. He now feels it does seem stimulate interest in fish which may be holding tight to cover, or are inactive.

Be Very, Very Quiet…

Over the years we’ve all heard the same thing; “be quiet or you’ll scare the fish!” But, the whole concept behind the clonk is to make noise. Let’s examine this further – Are fish as easily “spooked” by sounds as we’ve been led to believe? Many times fish are taken immediately after baits landed with a loud splash in the water, or while other boats or barges passed by. Even anglers talking and making loud noises in the boat catch fish. One thing we do know – fish activity is stimulated by sound and vibration. Think about it – Fish must feed to survive. How do fish find food? They use their senses of sight, smell, hearing, and the ability to detect vibration through their lateral line to hunt. Catfish have a predatory nature. Channel and Blue cats are opportunistic, and capitalize on live prey when available. Flatheads in particular rely upon sound and vibration to zero in on their prey. In the murky waters often inhabited by cats, they’re relying more heavily upon their senses of smell and hearing/vibration than sight. A classic illustration of the connection to sound is bass caught on buzz-baits. You tell me, what makes a bass think he should eat an egg-beater? And does it really matter what that fish was thinking? It just goes to demonstrate if you can stimulate the curiosity of fish with sound, it’s likely increased curiosity could lead to increased activity level. This increased activity level may bring the fish out of cover to find your bait, resulting in a strike.

Another Perspective

When I talked to Kansas catfish guide Mike Cook, he shared his own fish story. He had read about the clonk before trying it, receiving one about seven years ago. As he explained, “There is something to it… my most recent experience with it was last Sunday. We couldn’t get the anchor to hold anywhere I wanted to fish, and we had had a cold front come through the Saturday before. The temperature dropped 30-35 degrees, and the wind was still blowing. I had marked a lot of fish in this brushpile out in 25′ of water in the channel.” The fish were up-current from the brushpile, which suggested to Mike the fish may be in a feeding mode. He continues, “We did catch a few small fish out of the shallow water, but we didn’t catch anything where we had marked the fish. I pulled the anchor up, and as the wind moved us over the brushpile, I used the clonk about half a dozen times and re-anchored on the same spot. We pulled four nice Blue Cats out of that brushpile within half an hour of re-anchoring, and a few more channel cats out of the shallow side.”

Some Like It Rough.

In general, Mike Cook’s fishing style is based on moving frequently to target active fish. He enjoys fishing shallow water, and he doesn’t mind fishing windy areas with rough water. As Mike explains, “the wind carries plankton to the shoreline, with the plankton the shad are going to follow. Then, the predator fish are going to follow the shad…” As far as how he employs the clonk, he doesn’t just go to a spot and immediately try it. As he explains, “If there’s a spot and I know fish are there, either by marking them on my locator or just my gut feeling, and I don’t get bit in fifteen to twenty minutes – I’ll clonk it.” He feels the clonk does stimulate interest in these inactive fish – that the noise and vibration of the clonk is affecting these fish in a positive manner. He continues, “I’ve primarily used it on tough days, where the fish weren’t really active. Generally, on a cold front day I see the channel catfish go to pecking at the bait instead of hammering the bait. They won’t really pick it up, or not even touch it on some days.” At times like these when the bite is tough, the clonk is an additional tool that he can use. As far as why the clonk works, Mike suggests that the sounds created by the clonk bear a striking similarity to the sound of feeding fish like stripers attacking baitfish near the surface.

Flathead Strategy

I asked Denny Halgren how flathead anglers could work a clonk into their fishing repertoire. As he explained, “An experienced angler might go to a spot where he’s repeatedly caught fish from. But he might not always catch fish there. On those days where he feels the fish are there but have gone into an inactive mode, those are ideals times to try a clonk. If you can use it and can get a hit or a pick-up, it reassures you that you were on the fish.” Whether or not it was the vibration that stimulated the activity of the fish, the important thing is that at least you know you made the right decision because fish were in this particular place. Denny also admitted there may be times where a piece of cover doesn’t hold big fish initially, but this still doesn’t mean you give up on this spot. As he explains, “you want to trust your instincts. The worst thing that could happen is you prove yourself wrong.” Returning to the clonk, Denny continued, “If you’ve spread your baits out and around the structure, and nothing is happening – automatically try it before moving along to the next spot… Or, if you’ve caught a few fish that were pretty aggressive and the activity slacks off in that area, instead of moving immediately go ahead and use the clonk. With flatheads the numbers of fish may or may not be there. But if you’re fishing channel cats or blues it’s quite possible you can pick-up a couple of incidental fish.” As Denny finally related, “If you’re getting pick-ups and they’re not consuming the bait – they’re just picking it up, or just hittin’ it – that’s just a semi-inactive fish. And for whatever reason they do that, they do. Those are times you can try it to stimulate the interest or activity of the fish.” And if you can get the clonk to stimulate the curiosity of a nearby flathead, it’s a good thing.

There Are No Short-Cuts

A key point to remember in all this is any device that you’re using is just another tool to use. It’s important to bear in mind, especially if you are targeting flatheads, you need to have invested the time to locate the fish. As Denny explains, “The fish have to be there, unquestionably. If you’re on an area that has no fish, you’re not going to catch fish. It doesn’t mean your bait doesn’t work, it just means you picked the wrong location for that given day. You can’t just go to a river, start clonking, and start catching fish. It’s not magic; that’s not going to happen.” He continues, “This isn’t going to be a short-cut to catching fish. You’re going to have to have done your homework. You’ve found your structure, found your depth, found your current, have caught fish there before, and now you’re in the process of proving whether or not this is a piece of structure that’s going to hold fish on a regular basis.” You’re looking for proven spots – habitat areas that big fish have been associating in the past. So while Denny and Mike both feel they have benefited from using the catfish caller, don’t expect to just go to any area and rely on a clonk to create a fish feeding frenzy.

I have a few still pics Denny forwarded me from the video shoot with Victoria Sweet and some monster flatheads in the 60-70 lb class. Maybe I can upload and link later…

Shawn