Catfish-Pro Hooklinks

Being a relatively newcomer to the world of all things catfish, I decided to have a good browse around on the internet and find out what was what. It didn’t take long to discover that one brand name seemed to dominate the headlines when it came to all things Catfish and that was CATFISH-PRO.

So after a bit of digging around and after making a few phone calls, we made contact with Catfish-Pro company director Simon Clarke. With over 20 years experience in both British and European Catfish tactics, tackle and baits, this was the man we most definitely needed to have a chat with.

What we needed was an insight into the rigs and bait presentations commonly used to catch these exceptionally powerful yet mysterious creatures. So we put our usual nice heads on and asked Simon to send over a selection of terminal tackle products for us to have a look at and he generously obliged.

CATFISH-PRO Catlink XT

I had a chat with a couple of experienced Catfish anglers who informed me that now matter how much you spend on rod and reel to land big predation like Catfish, unless your end game is spot on, even a small Cat will make light work of an inadequate hooklink. When fishing for big Catfish it is recommended that a hooklink material is used that is highly abrasion resistance, yet supple and soft.

The CATFISH-PRO Catlink XT has the above characteristics and more. The Catlink XT is a pure aramid (Kevlar) braided line that is supplied to the angler in a Sage green colour that we found blended in to all underwater environments. Add to this that unlike many of the competitors braided hooklink materials, the Catlink XT sinks perfectly, making it the ideal choice when looking for a no nonsense hooklink material.

The Catlink also makes a great hooklink for carp fishing where high abrasion resistance is essential and numerous anglers also use it as a shock leader for spod and distance big lead work. The Catlink has also found favour amongst those anglers who target smaller predation, such as Perch, Eels and Zander. It is not recommended for pike fishing situations though because it has only limited cut resistance.

It is supplied in 20m spools in prices from £10.99 (100kg in 10m).

Final Thoughts

A very versatile hooklink material that can easily cope with the extreme pressures that any hardcore predator angler will without question experience when targeting big Catfish. The versatility of the Catlink makes it a must have for any angler looking for a reliable solution so situations when the risk of abrasion to your hooklink is extremely high both from the fish and its habitat.

CATFISH-PRO Toughlink 

RRP £4.99

With the development of new rigs and presentation that makes conventional braided hooklinks too supple and unsuitable producing poor presentation. It became obvious that a material had to be used that was stiffer than braid yet offered the same strength, abrasion resistance and all round reliability CATFISH-PRO’s solution to this problem is the Toughlink, a low memory monofilament line that is incredibly stiff and robust, making it is ideal for polyball rigs, cat-o-copter rigs etc.

There are three main benefits of using monofilament over braided hooklenghts for live bait tactics when fishing up in the water. Firstly, monofilament is virtually invisible in water making suspicious predation take livebaits with confidence. Secondly, the rigidity of the hookling makes your chosen rig virtually self hooking leading to fewer dropped takes and less missed bites. Last but not least, by replacing braided hooklenghts when fishing livebaits, you have virtually eliminated tangles.

Final Thoughts

I have used several brands of Stiff link material over the past couple of years and find them all to be pretty much the same, awkward to work with and a nightmare to knot correctly. However, I found the CATFISH-PRO Toughlink supple enough to knot without having to use unnecessary torque to tension the knot and potentially cause damage to the monofilament. A top quality stiff link material, that can multi-task and perform those many tasks admirably.