Catfish have senses to help them survive. It is well known about the sense of smell. Yet people do not understand the sense of smell. You need to know how it works for fishing. The fish have other senses that help with feeding also.
Most catfish can taste food up to 15 feet away. Your bait has to have the right smell and taste. You can make the fish avoid your hook if something is not right to the fish. Understanding how a catfish finds and feeds is important.
A catfish uses smell and taste before sight when feeding. Their sense of sound is another aspect to consider also. Catfish have senses developed beyond what many people know. They find food easily and decide whether to go after it before they see the food.
Catfish Smelling Senses
Okay, you know the smell draws in catfish. Did you know too much scent will make it hard for catfish to find your bait? Catfish have one of the best senses of smell among animals. Using too much scent makes it harder for them to pinpoint the bait.
The scent overpowers their senses. In comparison, it is like having something rotting in a room. The smell makes it hard to find the thing making the smell. You want to get away. This happens to catfish also.
Catfish have two openings on the snout. They are called nares instead of nostrils. Inside the nares are channels or ducts with folds. Catfish have over 140 folds increasing the surface area. The area has sensory hairs. Catfish have more folds than other fish.
The catfish’s sense of smell detects amino acids. These are proteins in foods. Research states that they can detect 10-14 parts per million. This is like a few drops in a swimming pool. This is the reason to watch how much scent you use.
You need to use the right type and amount of scents. Baits shed molecules the fish pick up while swimming around feeding. These are what they follow to the food. Using a bait providing a desirable scent in a reasonable amount works best.
Tips on Baits
If you talk to experienced anglers about catfish. They use fresh or live baits for blues and flatheads. These anglers catch channels on chicken livers with garlic or kool-aid or Jello. The anglers use these to add flavor and scent. They do not use rotten stinking baits.
Few animals feed on rotting flesh. This is a myth in the catfish lore. The rotten smell is overpowering and unpleasant. You will catch small catfish on stinky baits. But big catfish like better-tasting food. Use bait that is live, frozen, or cured for fishing. These baits put off a scent a catfish will find from a longer distance.
Sense of Taste
Catfish have taste buds on their body, barbels, and in their gills. The average catfish has 175,000 taste buds on its body. The gills contain a high density of taste buds. This is followed by the barbels and mouth.
As a result, catfish taste food up to 25 body lengths away. The fish knows if it is going to eat the bait before it sees it. This does vary among the catfish family. Channel cats are the ones detecting amino acids.
Bullheads are the most sensitive. They taste the food at a distance of 25 body lengths. Bullheads have a weaker sense of smell. Yet, detect smells better than fish with scales. Look at trout and eels that use the sense of smell to return to streams to breed. A catfish with the lowest sense of smell has them beat.
Catfish Sight
The majority of catfish see well also. If you ever catch channel catfish on lures this is why. They see the lure and strike it the same as other fish. Catfish have the same crystals in the back of their eyes as walleyes. This is how they see well at night.
Catfish feed in low light situations. Using the other senses a catfish locates the food. Once within a short distance vision takes over for most catfish. Blue and channels have the best vision. Flatheads are a close second. If you study each species and the preferred prey. You will see a correlation between vision, smell, and taste.
Catfish and Sound
Sound is a sense people ignore when targeting catfish. Catfish are the same as other fish. The lateral line helps pinpoint prey. Using live gives off sounds a catfish detects. The sound helps the fish know if the bait is alive or dead.
Targeting flatheads using live bait is the best. People use bullheads for bait at times. A bullhead croaks when under stress. A big flathead sees this as a dinner invitation. The same applies to other baits. You may not hear the distress sounds. But the fish is making some sound a catfish will pick up.
Conclusions to Catfish Senses
Each species of catfish has its senses tuned to its environment. They have above-average abilities in all senses. Yet many species excel with one of the senses. Use the information to help you find and catch more catfish. Does the bait provide the best way of attracting the species you are targeting?