Catfishing

[Catfish Hunter]

I tried catching catfish about two weeks ago after all the rain.Fished Turkey Creek & High point with worms & cut shad.Fish from 1 pm to 6pm with not even a bite.Would really like some help to catch some.Anyone know where when and what type bait to use?Regards,Ron

[Stockton Lake Guide Service]

you need to be on the flats and long points and drift fish from 10 to 20 foot of water. If you can throw a net, catch some shad and thread them on a hook, if not, just use crawlers. The catfish have been the easiest fish and the most dependable all summer. Walleye can be awesome one day, nothing the next and crappie are awesome on one brush pile, and one fish on the next.

If you have never drift fished, just let the wind blow the boat across the flats. use enough weight to keep your bait on the bottom and a big enough hook to thread the shad from the mouth to the tail. A big gold crappie hook is all I usually use.

I should be around tomorrow, wednesday, after about 10 am. If you have any questions, feel free to give me a call.

[Catfish Hunter]

Thank you very much for the advise.When your talking about flats,do you mean mud flats? Where are these located and what area are you fishing to catch them? I read your post about going into the back of greaser and find running water.I have not done much good there in the past. I went past bridge at turkey creek in 10 fow still no luck.Went to high point fished worm hole 10 to 20 fow still no luck. I used crappie minnows,night crawlers,and a bag of blood red baby Shad with no luck.Fished about two weeks ago on a friday from 1 to 6 pm after all that rain lake level was 878 Regards,Ron

[Bitethis]

Thank you very much for the advise.When your talking about flats,do you mean mud flats? Where are these located and what area are you fishing to catch them? I read your post about going into the back of greaser and find running water.I have not done much good there in the past. I went past bridge at turkey creek in 10 fow still no luck.Went to high point fished worm hole 10 to 20 fow still no luck. I used crappie minnows,night crawlers,and a bag of blood red baby Shad with no luck.Fished about two weeks ago on a friday from 1 to 6 pm after all that rain lake level was 878 Regards,Ron

1st things 1st - shad should be the only bait you use right now, they are very plentiful. if you don't have a net, get one that is at least 4ft (8ft dia) with 3/8" mesh (1/4" is preferable). Fill your bucket up with a couple hundred shad - 2 to 3 nets. Use 10-12# test, if you are fishing at night use flourescent blue line and rig up some black lights for ease. Use 5/0-8/0 circle hooks, I like 6/0. I use 1 (a singel one) #7 splitshot about 12" above the hook. Get your legal limit of 3 lines out of your boat with 6-10 shad on each hook, keep the bail open and let the line come out a little bit and allow shad to sink to bottom.

Flats can refer to different terrain, could be mud, could be pea gravel, sand, anything but chunk rock as that will present some challenges with drifting. Flats refers to water that is anywhere from 6-12'. Shallower water. Best in morning and evening, go a little deaper in the afternoon. Some good spots would be north of aldrich, in the first big bend on the east side of the lake. Anywhere along that bank. Try drifting at 10', then go deeper if you need. If the wind is blowing right, you can drift from 10' to deeper water, then look at your depth finder. Mark how deep it was then try and stay within 2' of that range. South of the bridge is nothing but flats...either way, 1 good 30-45 min drift will tell you if there are fish there. Been out about 7-8 times on stockton and pomme in the last 8 weeks...haven't missed a limit but once, never fished more than 5 hours, and fished as little as 90 mins.

hope this helps