Nighttime catfishing trip

[Riverwhy]

This not an exciting report but just a little overview of my trip Saturday night.  I’m pretty thick skinned so poking fun at my lack of success is all good.  We launched out of PB2 about 5:30 PM and went searching for shad with our electronics.  We hit several coves but always seemed to find them a bit too deep for an effective capture by using a cast net.  An hour of casting yielded one big shad.  We kind of goofed around some points trying for a bonus white bass until setting up for the evening.  The waves created by the flotilla coming out of party cove was somewhere between spectacular and scary.  We regained our sanity and moved into a cove with a flat about 20 feet deep and anchored the boat.  We tossed out night crawlers, shrimp, previously frozen cut shad, and BeeJay.  By 10:00 PM we had failed to get bit.  We pulled in the rods and headed to a small cove/big cut off the main lake with wood in the back and shelf rock on one side.  We fished until 12:15 AM and I caught two channels running about 1.5 lbs each on the cut shad. One one the fresh shad and one on the previously frozen shad.  I missed one bite and the shad.  No other bites on any of the baits.  We again packed up the rod and headed to the main lake bluffs and anchored up in about 22 feet of water off a shall point that extended out into a flat.  We once again set out our ties with cut shad and night crawlers.   I missed one good bite that saw the fish make a strong run but in my old age I have a bit of trouble seeing in the dark and failed to get the rod out of the holder in time to set the hook.  No other bites and we headed in at 2:30 AM.  I might mention that while we were out by the main lake bluffs there was a noticeable strong current headed towards the dam.  Once back at the ramp our trailer lights went out as we were pulling the boat out.  We ended up taking out the horn and radio fuses from the truck to replace the blown trailer fuse. (Yes, it blew a second fuse.). I finally got back home at 6:30 AM this morning.  So in summary, pretty meager results but great company and a beautiful evening.

[navery]

They are running a lot of water through both dams so that is what is causing the current. You should try Warsaw next time. The catfish bite has been excellent.  We have been catching at least one over every trip with several slot fish and a ton of unders. 

[Blazerman]

Next time you are there head to the party cove as everyone is leaving and anchor about 3 quarters of the way back and you can drop a line there with about anything you want to use for bait and have a catfish on in about 30 seconds. The bluegill and catfish have learned that when people cove out and party hardy, they drop or throw out a lot of food. Any kind of cracker or chip will bring them to the surface and have them feeding in no time. 

Saturday we were at a very well know coving out cove around the 24 mile mark and i brought a light spinning rod with me just to have some fun catching the catfish that always show up. I was baiting my line with half a corn curl and had a medium size split shot above the hook and threw it out had about a 2 lb cat on in 30 seconds. I caught a bunch and they key was enough weight to get it past the bluegill fast enough to get it down to the catfish.

I did not keep any but i believe if a person wanted a bunch of small cats for eating it would not be hard to fill up a cooler with small channels and blues. Think my biggest was about 3 lbs. If you tried it at night with the bait you were using i am sure you could pick up some bigger ones as well.

[Riverwhy]

2 hours ago, navery said:

They are running a lot of water through both dams so that is what is causing the current. You should try Warsaw next time. The catfish bite has been excellent.  We have been catching at least one over every trip with several slot fish and a ton of unders. 

Thanks Navery.  I had heard the bite was good at Warsaw but stubbornness kept me from changing my location plans. I appreciate the response.

[Riverwhy]

1 hour ago, Blazerman said:

Next time you are there head to the party cove as everyone is leaving and anchor about 3 quarters of the way back and you can drop a line there with about anything you want to use for bait and have a catfish on in about 30 seconds. The bluegill and catfish have learned that when people cove out and party hardy, they drop or throw out a lot of food. Any kind of cracker or chip will bring them to the surface and have them feeding in no time. 

Saturday we were at a very well know coving out cove around the 24 mile mark and i brought a light spinning rod with me just to have some fun catching the catfish that always show up. I was baiting my line with half a corn curl and had a medium size split shot above the hook and threw it out had about a 2 lb cat on in 30 seconds. I caught a bunch and they key was enough weight to get it past the bluegill fast enough to get it down to the catfish.

I did not keep any but i believe if a person wanted a bunch of small cats for eating it would not be hard to fill up a cooler with small channels and blues. Think my biggest was about 3 lbs. If you tried it at night with the bait you were using i am sure you could pick up some bigger ones as well.

My buddy and I talked about the flat in party cove but we were worried the boat traffic might have the fish spooked.  I appreciate the information .