DISCOVER CATFISHING

Where to find catfish in all seasons

Catfish are like any other fish in the fact that they have very specific movement or migration patterns. These patterns are heavily influenced by the change of seasons.

The key to successful catfish fishing all year long is being able to identify their habits during the particular season you are fishing in.

Like all living things, catfish have biological clocks programmed into them and length of daylight hours will trigger certain movements also.

Spring weather changes bring on the first movement of the season. Catfish will begin to stir from there wintering patterns as the days get longer and the water begins to warm with two things on their minds; food and the spawn.

Catfish will leave the wintering holes and begin to move towards the spawning grounds. In rivers they will move up river or into the tributaries, feeding heavily in preparation of the spawn.

If the option to move up stream isn’t available, catfish will seek out shallow or wood laden or rocky banks instead.

During the pre-spawn, catfish will often hold up in deep holes close to the spawning beds. Once the spawn is on, the males will move into the beds and stake their claim to certain spawning beds prepping them for the female to lay her eggs.

Once the female is finished here business she will leave the nest and the males will protect the nest until the eggs have hatched.

After the business of reproduction is over, catfish will slowly make their way back to deeper waters.

Typically the catfish will be a little sluggish and not as active immediately after the spawn, they will need a few days to recuperate from the rigors of the spawn before they will again begin to feed heavily.

Once they have recuperated from the spawn, catfish will begin to feed more aggressively. In early summer, the catfish are fairly aggressive about food. They will begin to occupy deep water flats, humps and other underwater structures.

Any place that attracts the forage fish will typically have catfish nearby. In the day time look to the deeper water lairs and as the sun sets look a bit shallower as they will follow the baitfish to the shallows.

Summer temperatures and sunshine will slow the catfish bite down in the shallows, but probing the deep water lairs with some suspended baits will still get successful results.

The catfish will still eat, but the offerings needs to be easy for them to get as they have fed up after the spawn, however catfish are opportunistic feeders and will not pass up an easy meal.

Slow presentations are the best bet this time of year.

Fall is another season of change that triggers their biological clock. The bait fish will make a move to deeper water at this time to over winter and as the days get shorter and the water begins to cool off, the catfish start to feed actively anticipating the long winter ahead.

There are few reasons for this, one of which is the females will need to stock up on food for energy in order to produce their eggs over the winter for next year’s spawn.

As winter temperatures kick in, the catfish movements and activity slows down. The catfish typically find deep areas to reside in throughout the winter months, making them easier to target because they will be somewhat concentrated in the deep water holes where they can find some sort of thermal relief from the cold.

They prefer to suspend below schools of shad or other forage fish if possible. Just because its winter doesn’t mean the catfish won’t eat.

Catfish will eat in the winter; they just don’t invest as much energy into hunting for a meal. Some of the best trophy catfishing occurs during the winter months, because they are the most predictable to pattern at this time of year.

Seasonal changes play a big role in the way you should approach catfish at any given time.

Their seasonal movement patterns are affected strongly from Mother Nature’s moods.

Understanding how and why the catfish moves at certain times of the year will increase your chances of being successful.

Understanding the difference between structure and cover for Catfishing

Simply put, structure is the contour composition of the lake stream or river bottoms, such as ledges, drops, points, depressions, creek channels, flats and deep holes. Any natural change of the bottom contour is categorized as structure.

Catfish will use these contour changes to navigate throughout the river, lake systems using them as highways to move from one area to the next.

Cover is considered as add on’s to structure or bottom contour! Such as stumps, log jams, bridge pilings or even old sunken boat. Cover can be natural or manmade elements and is either manually placed or has been deposited by Mother Nature.

In addition to knowing the difference between the two elements, understanding that catfish are attracted to certain covers and structures for some particular reasons. Determining which cover or structures are the most attractive to the fish for any given time of year will improve your catch rate.

In the late spring, when the spawn is occurring, a good piece of structure that is located in the deep channel is not going as good due to the fact that catfish have moved to shallower water. The same type of structure near the shore will be a better choice for catfish at this time.

In the warmer summer months, structures which are in deep water can be very good for catfish anglers.
In lakes that produce a thermocline in the summer or fall, look for structures that are above the thermocline of the water, the best structures will provide shade and cooler water that the catfish will seek.

In addition, the baitfish will also be attracted to these types of structure also.

During the fall and winter months, the fish will move to the deepest parts of the area, where the water fairly stable and there is plenty of oxygen. It’s known that deep water structures may be great spots during these times, but there is never a guarantee when it comes to these whiskered adversaries.

Underwater structure plays a big part in fishing for catfish, but it is not the only factor that needs to be considered.

Catfish can be unpredictable however you can make adjustments to increase your odds. Another important part in finding the underwater structures is the food factor. If the structure has no baitfish, the catfish will move somewhere else where the food source is present.
Many anglers will just assume that if an underwater structure is present, there should be catfish down there waiting for their baits, and this is not always true.

Another element to finding a great piece of structure is cover.

Cover is like a bonus when locating structure, if you can locate a piece of cover on some structure, you have again just increased your odds of having a successful day.
Cover on structure will attract baitfish as well as give the catfish an ambush point to feed.

Understanding the migration of the catfish throughout the seasons, as well as the food sources and their locations, will help you find structures that produce good catfish.

Understanding the movements or migrations of the catfish and the baitfish, will help you understand where they will be at any given time, giving you an advantage when it comes to choosing structures to fish.

It’s like a puzzle, all of the factors must be considered together, to help pinpoint structures that have all the elements a catfish is seeking for the time of year and the specific weather and temperatures.