Sound Bites: How to Use Rattles to Catch Catfish

Most anglers seeking big catfish tend to cater to the fish’s senses of smell and taste. Given the catfish’s many extrasensory taste buds and incredible olfactory sensory cells on their skin, in their mouths and on their whiskers, this makes perfect sense. However, while fresh, live and cut baits can certainly draw in giant spring catfish, adding sound and vibration can greatly boost one’s odds, and this bite only improves as water temperatures warm in the spring. With a few small adaptations to spring and summer bait rigs, you too can ring the dinner bell for catfish.

CALL ’EM IN

Captain Anthony Cubbage currently runs a guide service in Virginia (atomicfishingcharters.com) focused mainly on targeting blue catfish on the Potomac and Rappahannock rivers. Before that, though, he lived in Missouri and spent a bunch of time targeting catfish on the state’s lakes and reservoirs. It was there that he built up his catfishing knowledge base, including the use of rattling baits, which he often applies on his new home waters.

“What I like about fishing rattles for catfish is I feel like it will grab [the] attention [of fish] that are parallel or even upstream from you,” Cubbage says. “Catfish that are on the prowl for food will hear that rattling sound, and they’ll turn around and get into that scent cone downstream before they come up and investigate the bait.”

While scent from cut and live baits drifts downstream, sound travels to fish both up and downstream. Thus, anglers can draw in fish from a wider area. Adding a rattle, Cubbage says, simply creates even more of a commotion and increases its ability to attract.

Minnesota fishing guide Darren Troseth of 3 Rivers Fishing Adventures (3riversfishingadventures.com) targets flathead and channel catfish in the Minnesota, Mississippi and St. Croix rivers. An early adopter of adding sound and vibration to his lines, he feels that a catfish’s curiosity, more than anything, draws them to the noise; the tasty bait simply seals the deal. He especially likes using rattles for pre-spawn catfish moving out of wintering areas and seeking spawning grounds and summer habitats. In fact, the entire spring pre-spawn period is ideal for intercepting migrating blue, channel and flathead catfish that must feed along the way.

On lakes, both Cubbage and Troseth like adding a little sound and vibration when they can. Cubbage will rig a floating rattle above his baits and then drift through likely spots, dragging and moving baits with the help of a light wind or a trolling motor. Troseth, who often fishes a Minnesota chain of lakes famous for abundant channel catfish, similarly adds a floating rattle with a little color above baits.

“Adding a floating rattle gives you three things that can help you catch fish. What I’ve found is that none of the three ever hurt the bite, and anywhere from one to all three can help you,” Troseth says. “You have the floating aspect, which positions the bait up over the fish in a way that suggests it’s an easy meal. Then you have the colors, which can be triggering on certain days. And then you have the rattles and the sound. It’s just another thing for the catfish to key on.”

The only drawback to adding rattles, Troseth notes, is the extra cost. For this reason, he recommends skipping floating rattles if you’re fishing somewhere with a lot of snaggy areas.

On rivers, Cubbage’s go-to rig includes a sinker slide with a weight above a SPRO heavy swivel, with a single glass bead to protect the knot and keep the slide from popping over the swivel. Below that, he runs 50-pound monofilament line with good stretch to handle the shock of big, abrupt pulls from heavy blue cats. His typical leader is 18 to 24 inches long. In the middle of its length, he’ll rig a Spook-style rattling bait body (sans hooks), running the line through the line tie and hook rings on the bait’s underside, before tying off to a hook below. He positions the rattling bait body 6 to 12 inches away from the hook, and to keep the vibrating bait pinned in place, he runs the line through the bait’s front and rear rings twice.

“You don’t want the rattle too close to your bait, especially if it’s cut bait, because it may cause that hook to act extremely erratic in flow,” Cubbage says. “And cold-water catfish can sometimes be lethargic and slow about how they want to [eat] it. They aren’t going to grab it and run right away. Sometimes, they sit there and nibble on it, nibble on it, nibble on it. I’ve also [had them] get hooked and just sit on bottom. So, you have to be paying attention and sometimes give the fish time to chew on the bait.”

Troseth’s rigging takes a few forms. Sometimes, he’ll run rattle pods in line with beads on leaders. Other times, he’ll use floating panfish bobbers with BBs inside placed above live baits. He’s also rigged up with Spook-style body baits or even inline rocket-style rattle pods with fins that provide continuous movement and add noise and vibration in moving waters.

SEEK ’EM OUT

Early-spring river spots that hold catfish are often the places that warm the fastest. Troseth recommends fishing rattling bait combinations in shallow, dirty water that gets heated by the sun, or around inlets that are mostly surface-water fed.

“You may only be fishing in 1 or 2 feet of water, but that’s where these rattle baits come in handy,” Troseth says. “You’re calling in fish that are looking for easy meals.”

When he chases spring cats on lakes and reservoirs, he similarly heads to shallow, mucky bays that receive sunlight exposure and offer some of the warmest water available. As the spring continues and water temps rise, the catfishing on lakes and rivers will only improve.

Cubbage has chased catfish all over Missouri’s Truman Reservoir and has a few catfish hot spots up his sleeve that likely apply to many other reservoirs in the region. A notable one is a power plant.

“We paid attention to the hydroelectric plant schedules,” Cubbage says. “We wanted to see generators or spillways cracked. It was always pretty good fishing when there was a decent amount of moving water. You can have too much moving water, but if you get on the edges and pick your spots, it can be pretty good. I would definitely hit up power plants in the spring.”

On rivers, the guide often looks for a flat above a deeper hole. If an average river reading gives you 20 feet of depth, look downstream from a bend and you’re likely to find a deeper hole that results from scouring from the current.

“Your catfish will want to stage either in that hole or around it somewhere,” he says. “And I want to be upstream and up-current of those fish on that flat. It doesn’t matter if that flat gets super shallow, even down to 6 feet of water, I’d still be right around that precipice where the hole starts. That’s where I want to place my baits because the cats are going to come up from the bottom of that hole to feed. They’re looking for whatever is getting pushed over that edge, and I want to be right there with a free buffet.”

Cubbage also targets large, current-breaking structures on rivers in the spring. He says catfish will often rest behind (on the downstream side of) big rocks on rivers to escape the current.

“When it’s feeding time, they’ll pop out from behind that current break,” Cubbage adds. “If it’s a good hole, or if it’s a good, decent-sized rock, then there’s current moving around the outside of it, and there’s always food getting knocked around that.”

Bait-wise, he recommends paying attention to available forage and giving fish what they want in the spring.

“Your bluegills and crappies will start moving shallow as the water warms,” Cubbage says. “[In late] spring, your shad are going to have their first run; then I would match the hatch and run shad if you’re able.”

Early-spring suckers are on the menu when their spawn fires up, and chubs and shiners aren’t too far behind. With a little vibration and noise and a tasty and smelly offering, you can rattle in an arm-tiring load of spring catfish.

BIG-CAT BEAUTIES

• Five phenomenal fisheries offering great springtime catfishing.

Midwest anglers are fortunate to have access to a plethora of natural lakes, reservoirs and rivers with thriving catfish populations. Many contain all three common catfish species, and several of these can also provide opportunities for trophy-sized fish. Providing an exhaustive list of great Midwest catfishing destinations is almost impossible, but below are a few solid options for those looking to try adding a bit of noise to their bait rigs this spring.

• POWERTON LAKE: This lake in Illinois acts as a cooling reservoir for a coal-fired steam electric generator adjacent to the Illinois River and offers good blue cat action in early spring. Cut silver carp are a popular bait, as the Illinois River is overrun with the invasive fish. Just remember that using live silver carp (or any other live invasive species) is not allowed.
• BIG SIOUX RIVER: This Missouri River tributary runs through portions of South Dakota and Iowa and offers good opportunities for flathead, channel and blue catfish. A noisy rattling rig featuring a cut sucker is a great option for spring cats.
• MISSISSIPPI RIVER: The Mighty Mississippi holds more catfish than any waterbody in North America and provides amazing catfish action year-round. In spring, wing dams, back-channel flows and off-channel islands are great places to draw in prowling catfish with noisy baits.
• MENDOTA LAKE: This Wisconsin lake is home to giant channel catfish. Cast out and slowly retrieve cut bait underneath rattles along shallow-water edges, or drift such baits while on the move to elicit strikes from big channel cats.
• OSAGE RIVER: Missouri’s Osage River, which includes both Truman Reservoir and Lake of the Ozarks, houses huge flatheads, channels and blues. Explore south-facing arms of the reservoirs that warm fastest for curious cats attracted to noise and vibration. Hit up current seams when the Truman and Bagnell dams are dropping water for fast springtime action.

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This article was featured in the March 2025 issue of Game & Fish magazine. Click to subscribe.

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