Bad Catfishing Information Overload

OK, so now that I got my rant out of the way about catfish gear to catch fishermen and not fish, I am going to move on to another rant on another topic, and then I promise that I will move on and quit picking on people and complaining.

I know what works for me and has for many many years now, and that’s what I share. I get these articles and ideas in my head and I dismiss them most often but sometimes I cannot forget about them, my ADD kicks in and I just start writing and an article is born.

Here it goes………….

I know a few things about fishing catfishing, but every time I fish I try something new, tweak something a little bit, or do something a different way. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t but I always use it as a learning experience to help me grow as an angler. This is what every single successful angler I know does.

Part of the reason I started Learn To Catch Catfish was to provide a place where people could go to learn and get good information from a reputable source, because I find that the internet and print media is littered with a lot of really bad information.

Here are some examples of recent events:

He started reading me an article from a very popular outdoors magazine that has been around for years that was a “how to” on a subject pertaining to catfishing. When he gets to the good part, he pauses, laughs and reads a paragraph of the article to me that I first of all cannot believe the author even wrote, but second, cannot believe it made it through the magazine editors.

He emailed me the article and dared me to post it here and call them on the carpet but since I am still trying to play nice I am (again) going to pass. I did however email the editor, who I have worked with in the past on a couple of article he did for the magazine, and brought the issue to his attention. To say the least he was pretty embarassed.

Now, I want to preface this by saying that I have worked with some really good outdoor writers from Texas and all over the United States in the past that have done amazing articles about or with me and have accurately portrayed everything we discussed. I have also worked with some outdoor writers in the past where I later read the articles and wondering if they were actually on the same phone call with me when we had these discussions about catfishing.

Again, there are some AMAZING outdoor writers out there that do an awesome job, but there are also some people that have absolutely no clue what they are doing, and some that are even just reporters sitting an office who either “Google” a topic or call a few people and do some short interviews and then regurgitate a combination of what they “think” is right based on a combination of the information that they received. Many don’t even have any knowledge of fishing or the outdoors (I could rattle off half a dozen names that I have spoken to in the last six months alone).

They are perceived as an “expert” so people read, or listen and run with bad information and start using it, then don’t understand why it doesn’t work or why they are not catching fish.

Websites

Just as there are many outdoor writers out there who ”Google” a topic or call a few people and do some short interviews and then regurgitate a combination of information, they are also out there and own websites or write for websites that have absolutely no fishing experience at all. Do a little research, rewrite stuff you find online, and then spew it back out and you are now an expert, right? WRONG.

The cold hard reality of it is that there are even some of these websites (which I am tempted to name but again, I am playing nice) that don’t even bother to write or even fact check the information that they publish at all. Rather, they use outsourcing websites where they can pay a few bucks to someone in Pakistan, pick a topic, and have them email them back a 600 word article that they immediately publish on the internet and they are all the sudden an expert. These are typically an attempt to ultimately (within a day or two) lead the reader down a road towards a product they sell.

Now don’t get me wrong, there are some really great sites out there, but there are also some awful ones as well.

One of these so called expert sites sent an email newsletter to a guide client of mine the other day and he forwarded it to me, with the topic being on jug fishing. The email had some pleasantries at the beginning, a sales pitch for their product and how many fish you would catch if you used it, and then went into the topic of jug fishing for catfish.

This is where it said, I am quoting this word for word “the absolute best catfish jug you can use to build your own catfish jugs is a 1 gallon milk jug”.

Now, go get a one gallon plastic milk jug, rig a jugline with it using my instructions here, and let me know how that works out for you.

If you have never tried to jug fish for catfish with a plastic gallon milk jug, I will tell you that you would be hard pressed to find anything worse except maybe a paper sack.

Another so called expert site posted an article on fishing for flathead catfish where the article proceeded to state, and again word for word “the absolute best bait known among those that seriously fish for flathead catfish is a small chunk of Velveeta cheese with some garlic salt sprinkled on it”.

I can promise you that you will have a REALLY hard time finding anyone that thinks the absolute best flathead catfish bait is velveeta cheese and garlic salt. I suspect the writer doesn’t even have an idea what a flathead catfish is.

Question and Answer Sites

One of the readers here at Learn To Catch Catfish emailed me a link to a catfishing question and answer forum the other day where the websites owner anwered the question. A visitor asked the question, “What is the best way to take a hook out of a catfish mouth” to which this so called “catfish authority” replied “step on it with your foot really hard and pull the hook with a pair of pliers”.

I suspect this so called “authority” has ever never been fishing, or is a 8 year old girl. If anyone knows please tell me.

His wife was with him and looked over at him giving him “the look” (like the look Mrs Redneck gave me about the catfishing grabbler girls videos) and proceeded to tell me that he had spent CLOSE TO A THOUSAND DOLLARS on a few fishing rods and some Abu Garcia 7000ic3 reels a couple of weeks prior, and then told me what kind of rods he bought.

Several days later he emailed me and told me that “XYZ” had posted 6 months prior on that very same forum that he caught his first catfish and how excited he was.

I have heard countless stories like this over the years, I hope he enjoys his thousand dollar fishing rods….

The internet and media is littered with bad information and so called “experts or authorities”, regardless of what the subject is (ask me about the time Mrs Redneck Googled “large knot in neck” and was convinced I had Lymphoma before the night was over, I had strep throat).

Be conscious of what you are reading, where you are reading it, and who you are talking to, for many reasons. You could end up with a pile of overpriced thousand dollar fishing rods, or wake up dead from a crazy stalker, you just never know.

I am transparent about my background, so at least you know who you are talking to.

Again, I hope this doesn’t come across the wrong way. I promise, I am moving back on to some great catfishing tips now…..