Where Are All The Catfish Mm83?

[RSPauls]

Last year I caught two 15 pound catfish. 1 mid summer at about 20' durning the day and another October ish in mud flats approx 5' after 3 good days of warming. These 2 larger fish were quite exciting to pull into the boat so I tried to educate myself this winter and read a lot on where .. when .. bait to catch these fish. This year I'm not even getting a nibble. I'm , fishing with shad, worms and stink type bait. Fishing holes in shallows when they come up to feed. Fishing night shallower, day deep, evening shallow again. Fishing points, structure, holes, outside bends, Rock walls and in shade and sunlight .... everywhere they are said to be. So does anyone have any ideas? Like the title states, we are MM83 (more river than lake) where our choice of fishing is a lot of 3-5' mud flat coves that slowly angle to 7' - 15' close to main channel and then drop to 30 ish feet in the main channel.

I appreciate any input.

If it matters .. we mostly fish out of a pontoon but also take a 14' tinny out when we fish the shallow coves. Tinnys a little scary on the main water.

Thanks

[Seth]

June is usually a tough month for blues and channels because they are n beds. Things should start picking up again from July onward. Check out the Missouri Reservoir section of catfish1.com for more up to date reports on LoZ cat fishing.

[RSPauls]

Thanks for the reply. So .... patience is the Key?

[Seth]

Just keep at it. Try different area's (deep, shallow, rock, wood, etc) and never sit longer than 25 minutes in a spot with getting bit. If there are active fish in the area, it won't take them long to bite.

[MOsmallies]

Great advice from Seth... Also give Green Sunfish a try as bait. That's almost all I use as they are much easier to catch than shad and I've always done well with them for blues and channels.

[RSPauls]

Great thanks .

[conorsixtakc]

Great advice from Seth... Also give Green Sunfish a try as bait. That's almost all I use as they are much easier to catch than shad and I've always done well with them for blues and channels.

x2. Caught a 25# flathead last Summer on cut green sunfish. I actually prefer them over bluegill.