Large fish
Of course, it is quite possible to fish for catfish with standard equipment rather intended for pike fishing. This is also how I caught my first catfish, small fish not exceeding 1.20 meters. But, already with these small subjects, I notice that the material suffers, in particular the hooks which find themselves opened or flattened in the mouth of the catfish.
When I saw this, I quickly realized that with a bigger fish, my classic hooks are no match for a big catfish, even on big sizes (2/0 or 4/0).
Choose reinforced hooks
Indeed, it doesn't matter the size of the hook, because I tried with triples intended for pike in 8/0 or even 10/0. The problem is that this type of hook is not strong enough to fish catfish. In fact, it is not necessarily useful to go up too much in size.
On the left is a model that I find too big, on the right is the one I use in 2/0
For my part, I generally use reinforced hooks in size 2/0, whether for triples or singles.
The choice of the brand
Personally I like the models distributed by Madcat and Blackcat, they are reinforced hooks for catfish.
Madcat "A-STATIC" hooks have an anti-static coating that minimizes the magnetic field and the possibility for catfish to detect our rig. You can also turn to sea hooks like the circle hook which is designed for strong fishing, these simple hooks are also very robust.
You can also find reinforced treble hooks in the sea section. For my part, I am very satisfied with the range of hooks "A-STATIC", they are very robust and rather discrete. For the moment, the ones I have used have not moved a bit, even when I have caught several big fish that sometimes reach two meters!
