How deep are you fishing? Are you using a Carolina Rig or a Kentucky rig? Always use a Kentucky/Paternoster rig to keep the hook off the bottom.
I am fishing a impoundment with a mucky weedy bottom. Using a sinker and fishing the hook is lying in the muck is this ok? or should I use a bobber to keep it up from the muck.
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How deep are you fishing? Are you using a Carolina Rig or a Kentucky rig? Always use a Kentucky/Paternoster rig to keep the hook off the bottom.
You could try some type of "pop up" rig, which is standard in carp fishing:
How to tie a pop-up rig | Big Carp News
As an alternative to the floating corn, you could use a very small float (like the ones used for fly fishing) to keep the bait off the bottom.
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The water is about 10 feet I am fishing in the river channel. Am using no roll and egg sinkers
rig different poles and fish both and let the fish tell you. And one day may be different then the next.Catfish of any species are not exclusively bottom feeders. They are opportunistic and will adapt the way they are feeding to whatever and wherever the food source is.
I always fish at least two poles so I can always present a different bait in different way until I think I have them pegged....then I will rig both the same way. Have no preconceived notion about what you have to do. And don't sit more than 15 or twenty minutes without a bite without trying something else. If I am pretty sure the fishing is off do to weather or other factors...I will sit that long maybe a little longer...If I am pretty sure they should be biting conditions and time are right and I know my bait is around them I want a bite in ten minutes or less or I am going to change something. Remember too that catfish may have a feeding area that they don't stay in. And they may only feed one or two periods a day. So if you'er in the right place at the wrong time do not expect to get bit.
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In my eyes,Pounding a lure / bait in the muck,is better than letting it lay in the muck.I generally use a floating rig,a sliding sinker with a floating bait or something to keep it up out of the muck.I use the same technique to keep my bait/ lure just above thick submerged vegetating.
A slip bobber is also a great way to keep your bait/ lure in the strike zone,I use both the floating,and slip bobber even when I'm ice fishing,using a Sabiki set up,I catch more fish on the bottom bait/lure,usually within a foot of the bottom or the weed bed.
If it's only 10 feet, a slip cork will be perfect, man.