Cold Water Catfishing

[Blue Bruiser]

Anyone do any cattin lately? If so how are ya doin.

[dinkbuster1]

went today for about 2 hrs, caught 5 channels. water was 41 degrees and a little muddy. air temp was 35 degrees, not too bad but it turned windy and i couldnt handle it anymore.

[slider]

went below clarksville thursday one lake sturgeon no cats

[turtle1173]

Haven't got any big fish down here this winter (none for me anyway). A week ago, I got a 5, 12, & 15. Saturday we got a 4.5, 13, & 17.

So, we've caught a few but nothing to get much excited about. Water temp has been 40-41 degrees.

[Hannibal Mike]

41* water, wow! Was the sturgeon on worms? Did you use shad sides ? The Mississippi is fairly fast around the channel up here, did you fish side channels or behind dikes? Thanks for the encouragement and exploration! Hannibal Mike

[slider]

water temp was 36.5 was fishing below the dam in moderate current using fresh cut shad having no problem finding fresh bait

[NANNER]

I went out on the Mississippi Saturday for the first time in a couple of months. I went up Plattin creek, and my buddy got 4-5 dozen shad (Ave 5inches) with the first throw of the net. I told him he jinxed us for sure. We fished 4 hours or so. Outside air temp was 55 and the water temp held pretty steady at 40 degrees. Winds were strong and gusty out of the south, so made for a really tough run down river. Our first few spots were uneventfull, so I motored downriver about 10 miles to the Rush Island Plant, and fished some hot steam discharge areas. We immediately put 2 fish in the boat, one 3 pounder and one 15 pounder. THe water temp in this discharge area was 41 so I guess just one degree can make all of the difference in the world. The current switched on us, and we didnt get any more fish, so we headed back to the ramp as it was getting dark. I did note several large schools of fish suspended in the 15 foot range, but couldnt get them to bite. I figured they were the asian carps. If anyone can find any patterns on these cold water blues, dont be stingy and pass them on. I'll do the same. Best Of Luck Fishing.

[BKS72]

Only patterns I've heard on the river is a lot of travelling and watching the sonar. I've been out a few times in the last couple of months and couldn't buy a fish. Main channel, deep holes, shallow, everywhere I could think of, but no fishies. I think they're all at a convention somewhere.

[NANNER]

We need to find that Convention!! I agree, I think more time motoring and watching the sonar is well worth the time. I skipped alot of normally very productive areas as I didnt see a single fish on them. I did find the Blues bite is very subtle this time of year. They dont grab and run and empty 20-30 yards of line like they do in summer. They pick it up, and hold it. I'm a die hard gamagatsu circle hook fan, but I think I may go back to the J's for the winter. The bite is just to soft for those circles to work. I missed a half dozen or so strikes before we got on those two fish at the discharge. I'm going to try again this weekend if the weather cooperates. Good Luck Fishin:cool:

[turtle1173]

I finally got a decent cat last Saturday. He weighed in right at 50 lbs. 46 inches long with a 31 inch girth. Caught him in a big cut in about 65 feet of water on cut shad.

With this water coming up like it is now, things are going to be tough for a while I believe. It's supposed to be over 27 feet (new Madrid gauge) by Sunday. Flood stage is 34, so we are getting close. This continual rise though really has the lumber coming down the river. I might be waiting until things level out a little before I venture out again. Then again ... ;)

[NANNER]

wow, thats wild. The river down here is low, and there is nothing floating. I cant even get my boat up the creeks to catch shad. I think your right though, if the water is coming up the Blue Bite sure seems to go south. I've never done very well on a rising water condition. I'd much rather fish when the water table has been stable for quite a few days, and were sitting on a stable barometer. My big ones have always come on stabile conditions. Congrats on the nice fish. My biggest this winter is a paltry 15 pounder. Keep up the good work.:cool:

[Blue Bruiser]

The Missouri here is so low I could probably walk across it. The Miss is pretty low as well. One thing though I have always had THE BEST LUCK when the levels are rising and after 3 stable days. All of my BIG blues have been caught in rising conditions.

[NANNER]

Thats a neat observation Chris. I never catch big ones on rising water. Do you fish the rising water any different? Its kind of hard to pry me off of those dyke tips. I've just done too darn good on them. BUt, if theres something to this rising water thing, I'd be willing to give it a try.

[Kutter]

I've always found rising water to be great fishing for catfish as well as most other species. I fish shallow areas that had recently been out of the water. The cats go there to find new food. Worms work pretty good under those conditions, but most anything will do. Worms will attract other fish too, so that's a problem. Mostly the cats are along the edges of the water, right up close to the bank.

[Bigmagic]

Actually the bite is still good but locating them is tougher. Feeder creeks are a prime area when the water is rising as is any runoffs in the back of coves. A Blue lives to eat where's the food?

[NANNER]

I think I will give this shallow water idea a more serious look this spring when the rains come and we get rapidly rising river conditions. It makes alot of sense to me. Thx for the advice.;)

[BKS72]

Went out today for about 6 hours by Lexington. More of a check ride for the boat than for fishing, but we caught a couple of channels for dinner and a bunch more dinks. Don't know where the blues were, but we were in the shallows by a feeder creek most of the day. Tried a couple of scour holes, but I had my kid with me, so he wanted to get where he could go play in the mud:)

Jetdriver, I agree with you on the hooks. I can't wait for summer when all I have to do is listen for the rods to bang in the holders instead of stare at the tip for a little nibble. I finally took off my circles and switched to some small Kahles and Gama octos. The Kahles were what got fish today, but most of them were smaller than the bait:)

[NANNER]

I agree with you Stolib. However, just last week I caught a 15 pounder that picked the bait up and screamed downriver with about 25 yards of line. He hit like a summer time fish. I couldnt believe it. Maybe he wasnt smart enough to know the waters is cold. I was fishing a steam discharge though, and the fishes metabolism in this area may be alot higher. I caught him on a Shad Head, a pretty big one at that, as it was my last piece of bait. Good Luck this year.:cool:

[Dave53]

Two questions..how are you guys handling the light bites?? When I was out last week I was using shad gut and had several light bites but nothing took the bait.. changed the size of my hooks and still nothing..they would hit it over and over but not take it! Second..you guys that are fishing the Missouri..where the heck are you putting in at? I put in a Washington and thought I was going to have to leave the boat and trailer in the water and just come back when I wanted to fish again..old truck did not have the butt to pull it back up on the concrete ramp when I pulled out.

[Willy]

Trick I have found is when you are gettin that bunch of machine gun bites or taps is to scale the hook way down to the size of bait you are using. I have used circle hooks the size of my thumbnail and the shad gut just covered the hook and most of the time you had to just fish one rod and it needed to be real limber(8ft 6in med hvy salmon action ugly stick ) and ya have to feel the fish out and just if ya feel pressure to gently sweep the rod and most of the time you hooked the fish,alot of fun on that light action rod with the size of fish not gettin over 10 lbs max,going to try a braid in that style of fishing with just enough weight to be able to cast your presentation.

[NANNER]

Im a huge fan of circle hooks, however, I have definitely changed my thinking on using them during the winter time. The bite just isnt forceful enough for the circle hook to work properly. I've found I connect with more of those subtle winter time bites with regular straight shanked hooks, placed in the very edge of the bait.

[turtle1173]

Have you all been doing any fishing? Or has every one been cold and snowed in? Weather is looking good for the last part of the week!!

[NANNER]

Certainly not as much as I like to Turtle. I've been out a couple times this winter, and both days were almost identical. I caught two fish both times, one dink and one around the 15 pound mark. Caught all four fish on hot water discharges. I'm fishing the USCATS opener in Owensboro, Kentucky on the 4th so I'm looking forward to that. I hope to start hitting it hard this spring.

[BKS72]

I'm going to get out Sunday if the wind isn't too bad. I almost called it a day at noon today and headed for the river, but everybody at work would have known what was up:) I'd like to go Saturday, but I have to work. River doesn't look like it's dropped too much more, I should still be able to get the boat in and out at Lexington.

[crazy]

That reminds me i was going to see how much the river has droped lately. I noticed it looked a little bit lower today when i drove over it. Some wet sand around the edges behind the wing dams.

[fishingbuddy4]

yea i here that brandon ,think we should head to chamios to look at some spots for the march 18 tournement

[aaronm283]

been to the osage river a few times not much luck