Expert catfishermen know the right number to dial for big cat action.

The gold-colored instrument Halgren plunked into the water looked like a cross between a ladle, a spatula, and something you might find aboard a flying saucer. The quick ker-plunk was followed by a gurgling swoosh and ended in a fishy splash. “It's all about the sound.” Halgren commented. “Does it really work?” I asked. “You tell me in about 15 minutes.” He replied as he squinted at the rod tips once more.

This wasn't the first time he'd sloshed an odd looking instrument over the side of the boat hoping to stir a giant catfish into engulfing the live fish tethered to the end of his lines. He explained the odd-looking instrument and the bizarre action of “clonking” it into the water. “Centuries ago, European cat anglers learned that catfish are predatory fish attracted by struggling baitfish. We don't know who thought up the device, but someone figured out a way to mimic that sound. Wels cats look a lot like flatheads so I figured it wouldn't hurt to try one here in America.”

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Lucas van der Geest is chairman of the Dutch Catfish Society and famous trophy Wels catfish angler. According to the Amsterdam fisherman, a clonk plunged into the water and swiftly pulled backwards creates a unique sound that stirs inactive cats into investigating the area.  According to the clonk-savvy cat angler, he can actually see a big cat rise to the bait on his fish-finder.  “I will watch the finder and if a large arch rises towards the sound of the clonking I know my lure (bait) will be attacked.” Apparently, fishermen abroad had been using clonks to “call up” catfish for at least several hundred years and the art of “clonking” had developed into a highly skilled and effective big-cat technique.

Denny theorized that since flatheads and wels cats are similar in appearance they may behave somewhat similar. The cats are highly camouflaged-- each sporting blotchy green, brown, yellow, and black mottling. Both are heavily built fish with pronounced under bites coupled with eyes positioned on top of their heads. In the fish world, under bites and top-set eyes are synonymous with ambush predation. The other piece of the puzzle Halgren would assemble was that flatheads and wels cats are known to use their highly-developed lateral lines to detect vibrations given off by struggling baitfish, as a method of locating a potential meal.

Halgren made the reach that a clonk could possibly work on flatheads but he was still skeptical. “A flathead catfish isn't going to leave the bottom for hardly anything.” But, one night while on a spot that was proven to hold big fish, he gave a clonk a try. He hadn't caught any fish on the perimeter of the cover. Since he was certain this spot held flatheads, he started experimenting with a primitive clonk. He wasn't impressed with the initial sounds he made. He then tried some different stroke techniques until he came upon a sound where the clonk would initially make a “ker-plunk” after entry followed by a “swish” or gurgling swoosh through the water by quickly drawing the device backwards, then ending in a splash as the clonk left the water. This technique seemed to cause a good vibration. After several minutes of this, he started fishing again and boated a 40-pound flathead in short order.

Was it coincidence or was it the clonk? Halgren would have to experiment with the unique device for a long time to answer his own questions.

Through many years of avid flathead angling, he assembled a major principle of flathead behavior which is that Big flatheads oftentimes hold in areas for long periods of time but don't necessarily eat every day. “When “Joe Fisherman” has time to be on the water, are the big cats feeding? Probably not.  It's just the law of averages. If inactive flatheads can be prompted to feed by jolting their primitive instincts using sound, then a clonk is a viable tool.” Stated the catfish guide known for landing numbers of huge cats every season whether he clonks or not.

Armed with years of flathead-catching experience and a clonk developed in America called the “Catfish Caller”, he vowed to find out first hand whether clonking worked on monster-sized flatheads or it didn't.  

“I fished for flatheads almost every day of the season-- which was sometimes as many as 120 days- many of them back to back. I know where the big flatheads live, what baits and presentations to use, and am consistently accurate with bait placement- but on some days that's not enough. Some days the big flatheads simply wont take a bait. I started using the caller and was amazed by the results. Especially on tough fishing days.” Halgren stated.

 Halgren told of 5 flatheads that stuck out in his mind as big fish that were undeniable in his mind as testament of the clonks sound power. The first was a 40-pound flathead he called out of a sunken tree that lay in 17 foot of water, a 25-pound fish landed while being interviewed on the water by Illinois DNR outdoor writer PJ Perea. The last three were impressive flatheads weighing in at 42, 59, and 70 pounds-- all caught on film during two different video taping sessions.

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Not only for flatheads.

Another catfish guide has also been experimenting and gives testimony to the clonk's effectiveness. Mike Cook of Wichita Kansas guides catfish-enthusiastic clients on large lakes. The surprising thing about mike's success is that he hasn't used the caller on flatheads but he has had some success using a clonk on channel catfish. While Channel cats do consume live prey, they are the least predatory of the big three North American catfish species. "I've primarily used it on tough days, where the fish weren't really active. Generally, on a cold front day I see the channel catfish go to pecking at the bait instead of hammering the bait. They won't really pick it up, or not even touch it on some days." At times like these when the bite is tough, the clonk is an additional tool that I use. Lots of days, the bite will be off or slow and after using the clonk we will at least get a flurry of activity.”

Mike also fishes a few lakes stocked with blue cats and relates some success enticing cold front-affected blues. “If there's a spot I know fish are there, either by marking them on my locator or just my gut feeling, and I don't get bit in fifteen to twenty minutes - I'll clonk it. One time we had had a cold front come through and the temperature dropped 30-35 degrees in just a few days. It was bad-bite weather but I still wanted to fish even though the wind was really blowing hard. I had marked a lot of fish in this brush pile out in 25' of water in the channel and we concentrated on it hard without a fish. We were blown towards the shallow side and caught a few small channels then re-anchored to concentrate on the deep-water wood once more. I used the clonk about half a dozen times.

We ended up pulling four nice Blue Cats out of that brushpile within half an hour, and then a few more channel cats out of the shallow side. Not bad for cold front lite-bitin' inactive fish."

According to Mike, the sounds created by the clonk bear a striking similarity to the sound of feeding fish such as stripers attacking baitfish near the surface. It seems that everyone has their own theory of what the clonk's sound mimics that provokes a cat's curiosity. It's been written that clonking resembles the sound of struggling carp on the surface, or other catfish feeding, or perhaps the sound of cormorant droppings hitting the surface of the water. We may never know what the clonking sound signifies but one thing is for sure, there must be something to it. Cook has gotten it to work on both channel cats and blues, and Halgren started out being the clonk's biggest critic and has turned full circle into its most open-minded proponent. The evidence dangled on the end of Halgrens' line as he deftly lipped a clonked-in 30-pound Rock River flathead and hauled it aboard. If seeing is believing, hearing is just as convincing.

Catch any kind of Catfish...Flatheads, Blue, Channel, Red Tail...

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