Favorite catfish hooks

From top left to bottom right...

10/0 Eagle Claw Kahle- used primarily for flatheads and large live baits in lakes or ponds... jerk to set the hook

8/0 Gamakatsu Octopus- ALL TIME FAVORITE, used for every species of cat with live or cutbaits, same as the kahle, jerk to set

8/0 Team Catfish Double Action- used primarily for blues and flatheads on the river with cutbait... this hook combines the capabilities of a circle hook with those of a kahle or octopus... you can either just reel to hook a fish, or jerk to hook one...

8/0 Owner SSW Circle- always used on the river to fish for all cats using cutbait... lock your rod in the rod holder, let the cat "load" the rod, and just start cranking on the reel... I like to use smaller sizes of this hook also in small creeks or rivers for channel cats in the spring with cut shad and suckers

i really like the 6/0 and 7/0 circle hooks for cutbait and live bluegills and i also use a lazer sharp 1/0 treble for liver suspended.....i let the fish set the circle hooks and i drive home the trebles

bugeyedjig wrote:i really like the 6/0 and 7/0 circle hooks for cutbait and live bluegills and i also use a lazer sharp 1/0 treble for liver suspended.....i let the fish set the circle hooks and i drive home the trebles

I like using circle for cutbaits, but tend to steer clear of them with live bait... never done really well with them when using live bait... but that could just be me

I hate using trebles for catfishing! I believe it can cause too much damage to the fish if swallowed and they are a pain in the rear to get out of a fish when buried deep in the mouth... I prefer using a "j" style hook such as the gamakatsu octopus or the circle hooks and tightly wrap the liver on the hook with thread... dont tie a knot in it... just wrap it tightly about 25-30 times with thread... holds it on alot better than just hooking it, or using treble hook IMO

we have never had a cat swallow one of our trebles in the quarry where we fish. these trebles are huge that we are using. our chunk of liver is the entire 4 pieces hooked together right out of the tub. we take a piece of pantyhose about 4 by 4 inches and wrap it around the liver then secure it with girls hair braid rubber bands. they are real tiny, but stretch alot, like teeth braces rubberbands. the big cats don't care about the hose and the little ones stay away. all cats have been corner of the mouth hooked. maybe luck....but probably skill(ha, ha) we target huge channel cats. smallest so far 8 pounds and biggest is 18 pounds. lots of 12's and 15's. not saying i'm better than anyone, just telling how we do it. we catch a lot of 4 pound cats on circle hooks with cut bait. regardless of size of cutbait. just thought of this, i'll bet the reason we only corner mouth hook is , so much bait they never feel the hook until we pull it thru the liver gob and pantyhose. gonna post in catfishing the liver wrap we use.

forgot about my 7/0 kahle....favorite hook of all for live bluegills been using it from the beginning when kim and i first started catfishing together. i have used it also with big cut up bluegills about 5 inches long then fillet off one side throw the fillet down for later and fish the rest of the fish whole hooked in the middle just above the spine........these trebles are 1/0 2/0 and 3/0 or a 4/0 not sure. we fish them all depending who is with me. if i'm by myself then its the big one for sure, since it holds the most bait and targets the biggest fish. when i go alone, i am only after 1 fish and it may take hours to get it, but it is usually 12 pounds or bigger.

I like the Wide Gap hooks and the Circle hooks with the point pointing back to the shank