So I have had a problem catching catfish in Colorado. I used to catch decent sized Channels back in PA, but nothing here last year. We have some warm waters on the eastern side of the state, but I am talking cold river fed lakes here in Denver. I know the kitties are there as they are listed and have talked to people who have caught them but I can't. So, I have tried the standard chicken livers, hotdogs, some paste stuff, and mackerel from the seafood case. Two different rigs, one slip and one with a three way swivle. One bull head of the standard 12 inch veriety is all I have to show. I fish at sunset until about 12am in early June on, but starting later this year because river melt off is going to run long. Very high mountain snow pack. The water temp will be cold very late. So tell me what to do, oh Brotherhood of the Cat! :smile2:
You're in a tough situation. Have you tried looking at a topographic map to find large shallow bays or flats. They will warm up fastest and may hold more fish than you think. If you're in a boat, do some drifting as you will have a better chance of finding inactive fish.
There may not be any catfish, if the rivers you are fishing are coming from man made lakes. I used to live in Utah, and sometimes when the population of "trash fish" such as catfish, grew too high, the DWR would poison the entire lake, using a chemical that would somehow block the oxygen and smother the fish. Afterward they would restock with trout. It would take years before the fishing was any good in these lakes. I would imagine Colorado operates a lot like Utah. I would suggest that you do some research on the area that you are fishing. I'll bet that the trout fishing is good, you might have to get yourself a fly rod.:confused2:
Thank you so much for your responses. I really appreciate them. Yeah, I do really well for Trout, but am looking to change things up a little and am now going after Cats. Check out the Rainbow I caught on an 1/8 oz Rooster Tail. The pic was taken with a cell phone so the quality is not that good. Sorry. Jim
do you ever fish the arkansas river near the kansas state line from the lake down there are good channel in it the biggest ive caught was a 12lb channel and have had nights where i would catch about ten at 9lbs or smaller in one night i lived in syracuse ks. for a while and let me tell you the cats are untouched there people just dont fish for them there and i had the river to my self pretty much try there if your up to a drive its four hrs from you
hey jim, we used to fish the flaming gorge reservoir and the green river below it when i was a kid, in utah. i saw a lot of 10 pounders pulled out of there, on cut bluegill. the green is a hardcore trout fishery, but there are good channels there too, as you get on closer to vernal. i don't remember ever fishing at night, maybe because i was so little, or the risk of so many elk and deer and moose on the mountain roads at night. i know my uncle and brother in law never wanted to drive those roads at night. i never catfished at night till we moved to logan, and by then i was old enough to run the riverbanks by myself on the bear river. we used chicken livers and trout guts there. we didn't know the guts were illegal, never had any parental supervision on the fishing until i got my catch home. all that water was very cold all year long but didn't freeze any in the wintertime except around the edges on the rocks. on the bear we didn't catch the size of the ones on the green, but the numbers were way higher. we also fished red fleet, steinaker, and a lake called silver lake up against the state line by vernal and caught channels and muds on worms from the compost heap. i know it wasn't colorado, but maybe the situation was similar and this helps you out.
TRY CREEK CHUBS OR SHAD CUT BAIT ALSO BLUEGILLS WORK FOR CATS AROUND THE LONGMONT LOVELAND AREA BUT I STILL USE LIVER AND JUST DONT HAVE MUCH LUCK UNTIL AROUND JUNE BUT THEY ARE THERE JUST SLOW LONG NIGHTS LOL
