Fishing for catfish can be somewhat confusing for beginners who are just getting started, especially considering there are so many different species of catfish. But following these general guidelines we will help get you started learning to fish for channel catfish by choosing the right catfish rig.

Many people think of catfishing and think of big monster trophy fish and rod slamming strikes that nearly pull the fishing rod from the anglers hands. While this might be a real visual for the action one might encounter fishing for big blue or flathead catfish in most parts of the United States channel catfishing action is much different.

There are waters that boast huge populations of big channel catfish (like the Red River of the North) but most waters don't have huge populations of channel catfish of this size and most anglers can expect to catch fish from 1-5 lbs when targeting this species.

The channel catfish can have a very hard and ferocious strike at times but they are more well known for a very subtle bite that can often times be hard to detect by the inexperienced angler or one that doesn't choose the best catfish rig when getting started. These subtle bites are often mistaken for being very small fish or other species of fish (other than channel catfish).

The truth is it is not uncommon for anglers to incorrectly assume that these bites are small fish when they very often are nice sized keep fish that the angler is just missing.

One common mistake that causes this is trying to fish with rods left sitting on the boat, shore or in fishing rod holders and waiting for the rod tip to move or a bait clicker to sound. Often times this happens and the angler moved to the fishing rod only to find no bait or no fish.

What happens often in these situations is the channel catfish has bit or "mouthed" the bait and met resistance by anglers using a catfish rig like a slip sinker rig and by the time fisherman reached the rod, the fish was gone as it became disenchanted after meeting the resistance.

This again commonly occurs from anglers using the slip sinker rig or three way rig and also very often because of using too much weight.

A popular setup and catfishing technique that is used for helping to detect these ultra light bites is using a slip bobber rig (also commonly referred to as a slip float or slip cork) and holding the fishing rod. The use of the slip bobber rig in combination with holding the fishing rod allows the angler to see when the fish first begins to investigate the bait, and allows the fisherman to react.

The slip bobber rig therefore can be one of the most productive setups for channel catfishing.

To tie the slip bobber rig the angler adds a bobber stop to the main line followed by a small bead designed to stop the float from sliding too far up the line. The float is then threaded on the main line followed by a small split shot lead sinker and then a hook.

The dept of the float is set by sliding the bobber stop up or down the line to achieve the desired depth.

Next time you go catfishing for channel catfish try out a slip bobber rig as one of your starting catfish rigs and you will likely see dramatic increases in your catches of channel catfish.

To learn more on choosing a catfish rod and get more catfish tackle suggestions visit the Learn To Catch Catfish website.

Chad Ferguson is a professional catfish guide who operates guided catfishing trips on Lake Lewisville, Lake Worth and Eagle Mountain Lake in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. In addition to being a successful catfish guide Chad also manufactures a popular catfish bait called Redneck's Catfish Bait Soap, catfish juglines called Redneck's Juglines for Jug Fishing as well as other fishing products.

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Photo Credit: HuntFishGuide