[Andrewdouv]

Hey everyone! My names andrew and I love to catch catfish. Lets get started..

I live in a gated community which backs onto a quarry. It's only about a mile long, and 3/4 mile wide (at it's widest). The quarry has an overwhelming bass population. Basically, there are only a handful of people who actually fish this quarry, maybe 5 young boys, then me and my friends. My question is.. what are the chances of catfish being in this quarry, and how would I find them?

Let me give you a list of the ecosystem, as far as I know:
Rock Bass
Smallmouth Bass
Largemouth Bass
Snapping Turtles
Water snakes
Algae
Blue Heron
Night Heron
Bald Eagle (on occasion)
Great Horned Owls
Ducks and Geese

I've heard friends say they've seen a 'walleye' ONE time, or a trout.. I've heard (and believe) there are suckerfish in there. But as far as I know, none of these fish can be verified. And I've heard people say they see 'signs of carp', but I never see carp flopping about on the surface, and I am around that quarry ALL the time, day and night.

I'm not a complete rookie as far as catfishing goes, I do bank fishing at a nearby lake and am pretty successful at catching Channel cats.

The depths of the quarry are arguable, but I've heard it gets to be as deep as a hundred feet. I'll include a map in my post, and i'll also include a map with my estimated depths...

Where to fish for the cat?
Bad idea to leave rod out overnight to see if bait is taken (at least)?

 

[ccat]

I fished a quarry one time and a strip pit up in Illinois..........all bass.
When you listed the fish in there, that sounds like a bass lake/quarry.
But unless someone tells you exactly what is in there, drop in some cut shad, or do what I would do and put in some dip bait/Secret 7. We all know if there is a cat, be it channel or blue around, it will hit the secret 7. You will never know if you don't try.
That is my 2 cents worth. Try it and let us know. Good luck.

 

[belliott]

Welcome,I'm fairly new here myself. If it was me I'd grab a pole some liver and toss it out into the water and see what happens. I would probaly go out in the evening and fish right on the edge of 1-5 foot water where it drops off into the 20 foot water. Good Luck

 

[playin4funami]

fish the 2 to 10 foot deep area this time of year and use a livebait or fresh cut bait like a gill or something right out of the water in the pit, if it is what they are used to eating they will take it as soon as they find it, I've found these type waters don't hold the numbers that other lakes do but when you do connect they will be large clean quality fish, I fish a sandpit out my way that has the mix in it, I have never seen or caught a channel smaller than 10 lbs out of it, and the bigger ones definately prefer the gills for bait. welcome to the usca!

 

[Andrewdouv]

Thanks for all the prompt replies. I've got a 'strategy' for figuring out if there are catfish in there or not. Most of my fishing for bass is done around dusk, so when I'm fishing for bass at the quarry, I bring one of my catfishing poles, baited with cut rock bass, and cast out to a spot where I think catfish would hangout. Then, if no one's around (which no one ever is), I'll stabilize my rod with a bush or small tree, set the drag loose, and come back in the morning to see if my bait is intact.

I don't plan on getting up in the morning and having a fish on my line, although that would be pretty cool, but I wanna use the bait of figuring out if there's anything down there.

I tried it out for the first time last night, before making this thread, and when I checked the line this morning, the bait was exactly how I left it. That was before I saw your posts about fishing in 6-10 foot waters. I had it around 30 feet. Hopefully I'll find a big 'ol cat in there one of these days.

 

[m slayton]

first welcome to the BOC !! also do you have another stop you can fish ? the quarry is going to be a bass hole my friend and probably hold some monster carp i used to fish a quarry in deerfield indiana and bone heads would park there junk cars on the ice in the winter time and divers would fetch them in the spring,,,, they would tell us about the huge catfish sooo never give up but you can increase your odds by catching some cats @ another spot and simply releasing them at your quarry this can rest your mind knowing that you put some cats in there ..

also some thing to remember is that most pits are dug untill they hit a spring or aquafer this can allow fish to swim from any part of water that the aquafer is connected to and wind up in your quarry so it's really hard telling what you got out there .

i would start with livers @ nite and see if you get the eaters seems how there the easy ones to catch "sometimes" then target the biggins with bream shad shinners n what nots gl and you can tie your rod to the bush so if you should get a big cat to bite that he leaves your rod on the bank "i go in after ugly sticks bro!!!"

also do you know if it is an older pit, as in been flooded for many many years <---- if so bound to have cats} or is it new as in say 1-3 years old prolly not a good place to invest time for monster cats
but man you really never know for sure

 

[bluejay]

Welcome aboard Andrew.

 

[Thad]

You could try baiting an area to see if you could concentrate the kitties.

 

[Andrewdouv]

all good advice! I've thought about bringing fish in, but i guess I never really took it seriously. Seems like too much work, but i dont know. The quarry has probably been flooded for about 10 years. Also, one of my friends swears he saw a huge brown trout in there; so i guess I'm going to be trying to catch some trout as well

 

[jawbreaker]

Hey everyone! My names andrew and I love to catch catfish. Lets get started..

I live in a gated community which backs onto a quarry. It's only about a mile long, and 3/4 mile wide (at it's widest). The quarry has an overwhelming bass population. Basically, there are only a handful of people who actually fish this quarry, maybe 5 young boys, then me and my friends. My question is.. what are the chances of catfish being in this quarry, and how would I find them?

Let me give you a list of the ecosystem, as far as I know:
Rock Bass
Smallmouth Bass
Largemouth Bass
Snapping Turtles
Water snakes
Algae
Blue Heron
Night Heron
Bald Eagle (on occasion)
Great Horned Owls
Ducks and Geese

I've heard friends say they've seen a 'walleye' ONE time, or a trout.. I've heard (and believe) there are suckerfish in there. But as far as I know, none of these fish can be verified. And I've heard people say they see 'signs of carp', but I never see carp flopping about on the surface, and I am around that quarry ALL the time, day and night.

I'm not a complete rookie as far as catfishing goes, I do bank fishing at a nearby lake and am pretty successful at catching Channel cats.

The depths of the quarry are arguable, but I've heard it gets to be as deep as a hundred feet. I'll include a map in my post, and i'll also include a map with my estimated depths...

Where to fish for the cat?
Bad idea to leave rod out overnight to see if bait is taken (at least)?

View attachment 114197 View attachment 114198

All ya can do is try , but I doubt if there will be any in there unless someone stocked it . and dont think they would reproduce well either . I know in my part of the state there aint any channel cats with in a 45min. drive of here and those are rivers and one is in MD.

 

[brother hilljack]

Welcome to the USCA, This site is full of good info and great people!

I am guessing those other fish were stocked. Maybe you should look at putting some cats in there (within the law of course). Sounds like there is a good food supply and they should get big fast

 

[Mickey]

Andrew Welcome to the USCA, from So. Illinois.