Fly for Wels....?

[quote:d626a70af5="Martin Joergensen"]Dada,

I guess you refer to catfish?

Catching those on a fly in not the easiest task, but it's possible as you can see from the [url=http://globalflyfisher.com/patterns/my-favorite-dad/]crayfish pattern article written by Michael Smith[/url] (Rybolov in this forum).

[url=http://globalflyfisher.com/patterns/my-favorite-dad/pic.php?id=2827&call... on this picture.[/url]

Martin[/quote:d626a70af5]

Hey, somebody pointed to me. I guess I had better chime in.

What we have here in the Eastern US are channel catfish. For the most part, they are not as large as the Wels, but I think the concept is the same. Believe it or not, they are very active predators and feed on baitfish and crayfish.

I've caught about a dozen or so catfish on a Skip's Dad, including a 3-foot monster that I didn't expect to be there.

I think it's easier in the spring, when the cats start looking for holes to lay their eggs. At that time, they're usually in the slower backwaters and more accessible to fly gear.

I still can't imagine unhooking catfish. Their feelers freak me out just thinking about them--I'm cringing as I say this. Definitely need the hemostats to release them.

Hi Dada,

In South Africa we have sharp-toothed catfish, which are very similar to wels, in the last few years I have been very sucessfull with large black flies , like a giant leech. When they are feeding close to the surface I use a team of flies, consisting of a big popper that is conected to a #1/0 black leech ( I use 40 cm of 25kg Maxima green - since they are not at all leader shy) this works very well since the catfish have very small eyes and rely on sound/vibrations to locate their pray.

The technique is to locate fish close to the surface then to cast as close as possible to them, the retrieve is usually hard pulls - to make the popper 'pop'. In my experience smaller fish - up to 5kg take the leech , the bigger oned tend to hit the popper.

Hope this works for wels... tight lines

Hi Dada,
Sure, I will take some picktures of my set up tonight, and hope to have them on the site tomorrow, will you be fishing rivers or still waters ?

Dada,

This is what my set up looks like, the popper is 2/0 and the leech is tied in size 1 , - smaller than when I use a leech only, but as you can imagine, this set up is quite difficult to cast. Also due to their moths being bone hard I use stainlessteel hooks only.

Dada,

I used to cast this on a medium action 6wt, but as you can imagine it is about as difficult as trying to cast a live chicken..... it is a bit easier on a fast 8wt, but you will have to be happy with only casting about 15 -20meters , but it is well worth the sacrifice in distance. I have caught bore cats on this rig than anything else, plus Bass are also very fond of this combo.

actually an 11wt might not be a bad Idea..... but if you are going to be casting all day I think you will be fine with a fast 8 or 9wt

Hi dada.

I use foam from a pair of flip-flops , it is light weight, floats very well, and it is very durable

Dada,

I start fishing for them late in the afternoon, until deep into the night, the most productive time usually is dusk.

Tight lines