Catfish Lower Buffalo?

[Chico]

Well we'll be heading to the lower buffalo again the middle of may and was curious if any of yall ever catch catfish in this stretch of the river? If so, what method has worked out best for you? Thanks

[Al Agnew]

Never fished for them, but I saw a few fairly big channel catfish, and one big flathead one time, while snorkeling. I wouldn't consider it a great destination for catfishing, but there are some in there.

[Quillback]

I think it was 3 years ago, AGC stocked some cats in the Buffalo. It was an effort to improve the population. Haven't heard anything more since then.

[Ham]

I don't think the population is all that great. Lot's of other creeks I would look to first, but I understand if you're going to be on the Buffalo why you might want to try for some. You might catch enough to eat.

[Wayne SW/MO]

We met some people one time from Mtn. Home who told us they had a yearly family fish fry using flatheads from the lower Buffalo.

[Fish Bork]

Channel Catfish don't regularly reproduce in the Buffalo as it flows into the COLD White river and it screws up where they like to spawn (I used to know the full reason as I worked for the park service one year). There are a lot more flatheads but channel cats are pretty rare in the Buffalo

[Ham]

I think the catfish population is still decent in Crooked Creek which is odd since it has the same cold water issue as the Buffalo.

[Riff-Raft]

Well we'll be heading to the lower buffalo again the middle of may and was curious if any of yall ever catch catfish in this stretch of the river? If so, what method has worked out best for you? Thanks

I have caught some catfish in the Lower Buffalo region and they become very active near darkness and at night. I've caught channel catfish and a few flatheads and have seen some channels or blue cats well over 10lbs while paddling down river. I would recommend finding a good wide deep section to set up your camp which I think would increase your chances of catching a big cat and tight line fish with your bait on the bottom of the river.

As far as baits go, night crawlers have worked well for me as well as live or dead bream which can be caught for bait during daylight hours using a fly rod with a popper, or the original worm and bobber.