catfish in colder temps.

[rivermouse]

Things are getting cooler here fast. I know mid summer is good for cat fishing but wonder about this time of the year.Are they still laying low in the deep water?

 

[Cap'n Chaos]

Re: catfish in colder temps.

I haven't been fishing in about 2 months... and we caught plenty of small cats (and a few big ones) in the Neuse River then.... all I can say is go out and try. You never know.

We tried fishing the Neuse up towards New Bern and caught plenty of BIG shellcrackers, a nice Catfish and my fishing buddy caught a Striped Bass, . (Had to throw it back - out of season, but it was a great fish.)

What water(s) do you fish?

 

[jigngrub]

Re: catfish in colder temps.

Winter is the best time for big Blue Cats IMO. The blue in my avatar was caught on Jan. 6th in very cold weather.

Use dead shad or live shiners on the bottom in 20-30 FOW, preferably near the mouth of a creek. Huge schools of shad tend to bunch up and overwinter in these areas, if you have sonar on your boat you'll be able to locate these schools without any problem. The best time of day to fish for them is 1-2 hrs. before sunset 'til 1 hr. after sunset.

 

[Shamfarlango]

Re: catfish in colder temps.

Great looking fish....sure wish i could leave my boat in the water and use it all year. Best we can do here in January is ice fish. Not my idea of a good time, you end up with a frozen *** or leather faced from the hut heater.

 

[rivermouse]

Re: catfish in colder temps.

If Im lucky I may get the boat out one more time this year. I only fish out of Lake Wylie and Mountain Island lake near charlotte nc. Thanks for the advice and those are great pictures.

 

[foodfisher]

Re: catfish in colder temps.

Downunder I hear its the other way around.^^^

 

[jigngrub]

Re: catfish in colder temps.

If Im lucky I may get the boat out one more time this year. I only fish out of Lake Wylie and Mountain Island lake near charlotte nc. Thanks for the advice and those are great pictures.

What's up with that RM? Can't take the cold? It's really not that bad when you bundle up and find a place out of the wind and in the sun to fish. Not much boat traffic and you have the lake pretty much to yourself... and the fishin' can be great!

 

[Shamfarlango]

Re: catfish in colder temps.

2-5 feet of ice stops me from goin out

 

[ufm82]

Re: catfish in colder temps.

Catfishing is very good in the winter. The fish will bunch up in current breaks, under structure or areas that takes the stress of swimming off. It's not unusual to find a lot of fish in one area. Many of the largest fish caught each year around here come in the winter or when the water temps drop. If you can take the cold it's worth it to prospect. Good things can happen.

 

[catfishr1]

Re: catfish in colder temps.

Howdy rivermouse; While I lived in Az. fished every month of the yr. My biggest cats historicaly came in Dec., Jan., & March. What ufm82 posted is dead on. If you find one of their wintering holes, it is Katy bar the door. do not know what your winters are like in NC ,But if you have soft water & can hack the cool temps. you will probably be richly rewarded.

 

[R Socey]

Re: catfish in colder temps.

If you can find a warm water discharge, it will hold tons of baitfish - gizzard shad is what the big blues prefer
but they ain't picky - big baits, big fish. Good Luck!
Here are some pics. I just dug up: winter-warm discharge!

 

[rivermouse]

Re: catfish in colder temps.

Thank you for the info. I plan to try for some deep water cats the next time I go out. My little tinny gets cold and I guess I will wait a little longer . I got a depth finder for xmas and cant wait to find some deep water channels.The only bad thing is they just released a report that the dioxins and mercurylevels in lake wylie make eating the catfish unsafe.....someone needs to pay a LARGE fine for this crap.

 

[R Socey]

Re: catfish in colder temps.

The bright side is, if they are unsafe to eat: people don't take them - they grow big! That is what has
happened in the Potomac. I gave many hundreds of pounds away for many years ( most caught bait fishing
for stripers ) until it was posted that they were unsafe! I didn't care about depleting the population, as the
Blue cat's are not indiginous to the Potomac - many think they migrated through the Cheasapeake bay
from the James river. That is why the James produces larger fish at this time. Why don't you take a trip to
Buggs Iland rivermouse? They just caught a 120, something lb. one this year, and another hundred some-
thing last year - North Carolina !

 

[River_Lizard]

Re: catfish in colder temps.

Socey,

It won't be long before the Potomac will be better than the James River for catchin' Blues. Big numbers of 40's and 50 lbers are coming out of Potomac with several 60's being caught also. Another 5 years and it'll pass the James River for numbers of large cats. The James has got a new cat taking over and I can't wait for them to start hitting the 50 to 60 lb range. The number of Flatheads being caught in the Lower James has increased in the last 2-3 years BIG TIME. This last season 2011 more Flatheads were reported caught with some good sizes to them also.
Buggs is definitely a nice place but if you're use to fishing tidal rivers, it'll take some getting use to fishin' a lake for Blues. Also, I hear they have a major "jug fishin'" problem down there.

 

[R Socey]

Re: catfish in colder temps.

I agree River_Lizard: I think the Potomac is much cleaner than the James, and therefore has a larger pop-
ulation of bait - especially the anadromous species like the herring, Hickery, and White shad, White perch,
and Stripers. It also has two warm water discharge facilities ajacent to each other which not only concen-
trates the prey, but boost the cats metabolism so they can continue to feed heavily all year! I wasn't a-
ware that the James had Flat Head. Maybe they will make their way to the Potomac. I think the cats are
all but going to take over eventually. It is ridiculous how the population has exploded. I think that a 78lb
is the biggest so far for the Potomac.

 

[River_Lizard]

Re: catfish in colder temps.

There's a lot of people worried about the population but it'll level off and be fine. We're hearing from Fish and Game that the James is showing signs of that right now. It been a fairly strange season for catfishing on the James and many of the local guys agree, that something is going on with the Blues in the James right now. I'm hoping it doesn't "crash" and we completely lose our trophy waters.
Maryland Fish and game is completely "anti-catfish" and wants them gone! They've been trying to get laws passed to wipe them out like they have for Snakeheads. It's completely impossible to get rid of them and I told the lady from Maryland's fish and game that they have a gold mine right in front of them and they don't even know it. People from all over the country come to the James River to fish for huge catfish and the Potomac is going to be the next "hot spot" for fishing for them and the revenue they can make can benefit them big time.
I bet this year that 78 lb record falls!!

 

[R Socey]

Re: catfish in colder temps.

It will fall sooner than later I'm sure. I heard that 80% of all fish in the James are Blue cats, but that maybe pro-
paganda! I believe nothing the government has to say- too many hidden agendas, and pure political crap. What
is the favorite bait for the blues down in the James? My brother, and I catch gizzard shad - I plea the 5th on how
we do it They weight about 3lbs. We seem to get the best bites on the heads; the bigger fish. It's crazy, I
have been fishing the Potomac for 46,years, and never caught a cat more than 13, pounds. In the last 4, years
only fishing for them 2-3, times a year, we have caught I bet 30, over 30lbs.
You are correct about the monetary value of any big fish. People here too travel great distances to tangle with
a potential monster. Is it true that a Flat Head wont take a dead bait? Brother :

 

[River_Lizard]

Re: catfish in colder temps.

General bait on the James River Socey is Gizzard Shad (Cutters) and yes, I know the stupid rules on the Potomac for bait catchin'. Many guys from the James that head up to the Potomac to fish get their bait from the James the night before or early in the AM before heading up to the Potomac; due to the gill net rules up there.

A guy just caught a nice FH on the James yesterday (in February, I can't believe it) on a cutter. They usually like live bait but at least on the James they'll take cut bait too.

We fought (catfishermen) with a government group last year because they wanted to put the "Death Warrant" out on Blue Catfish and FH's on any water connected to the Bay. Their main focus was the James and Potomac and they were treating the Blue catfish like Snakeheads. What came out in the meeting that I attended was, that they didn't have ANY research that showed that Blue catfish affected a waterway/native species. Although only about 15 fishermen showed up, it was more than they thought would plus those that didn't show up sent emails to everyone of the people of the board of directors of this group, letting them have it over even considering to put some death warrant on our trophy waterway. I'm sure they've gone back to their little hiddie holes to work on figuring out how to get around the issue so they can start killing the catfish in VA/MD. It's funny to see Omega 3 rep sitting on the Board of Directors and the rest of the guys don't see a problem with that?!! I let them know that day I was none too happy about seeing such a person of this BOD when they focus is making money off of natural resources in our Bay. It's unbelievable that guy sits on that Board of Directors to protect the Bay.

 

[River_Lizard]

Re: catfish in colder temps.

double posting, sorry.

 

[R Socey]

Re: catfish in colder temps.

Did we hijack this thread River_Lizard? :redface: I think it was abandoned
I don't think we have to worry about them eradicating the cats. I think the last two species on the planet will be cat-
fish and coackroaches. I don't think I'd do too good in those meetings - though I applaud your attendance.
Yea that duplictious crap gets me going. You know when I was a lad, I use to catch untold numbers of big bluefish,
and weakfish on the bay at the mouth of the Potomac - 12 - 15lb BF, 8-13lb WF. Then the Omega bunch started spot-
ting the huge schools of Menhaden ( porgy,bunker,alewive ) with airplanes, and started catching them right before they
entered the bay. That is why the big blues, and weakfish have abandoned the Chesapeake- the ocean population is strong!!! Also the red leasions found on many bay stripers are reportedly from malnutrition - they an't getting their Omegas!!!