Bumps in the Night

Anglers beat the summer heat and tangle with some of the region’s biggest flathead and blue catfish at Kerr Lake.

Sometimes when things go bump in the night it’s a good thing.

Take for instance, a monster of a flathead or blue catfish thwacking a piece of shad or live bream in the pitch dark, or the distinct “tick-tick” sound of a clicker reel announcing the bite of a giant catfish pummeling a bait with its crusher plates.These things make night-shift catfishing worthwhile and exciting.

When the stifling heat and humidity of summer get the best of the daylight bite — with sunshine-laden, cloudless skies baking the surface temperature — seasoned whiskers experts rely on night fishing to catch big cats. That’s not to say catfish won’t bite during the day, but the best bite occurs when happy hour begins for the mosquitoes. Serious N.C. anglers can’t mention choice night spots without speaking the words Kerr Lake (Virginian’s call the same body of water Buggs Island).

Flathead Fever

Although Kerr Lake claims Virginia’s current state-record blue catfish (caught by William Zost of Roxboro), with a 92 1/4-pound pig, it’s also a prime spot for fat, night flatheads during the heat of summer. With a large available forage menu, it’s to no one’s surprise the cats are reproducing and growing so rapidly.

Chris Coleman and Steve Tollerson of W&W Outdoor Adventures at Clarksville, Va., mainly target flatheads during the hot, summer months at the lake. When the weather is blistering, humid and miserable, Coleman and Tollerson get jacked up for some good catfishing.

“When it’s so hot at night that you can barely stand it, that’s the best time to be flathead fishing at Buggs Island,” Coleman said. “The best months are July and August.“

Coleman believes the Dan River arm of the lake is the best during the night summer months. The Dan offers a more diverse environment, he said, meaning there are more log jams, more openings, spread water (flats adjacent to the river channel), twists and turns.

“Flatheads love log jams,” Coleman said, “and the Dan has more of them than the Staunton, although our second-largest flathead (42 1/2 pounds) came from the Staunton.”

Stuff that recreational boaters have to avoid to protect their boat hulls is exactly what Coleman and Tollerson are looking for when trying to catch a bruiser flathead. If parts of a log jam or pileup span deep and shallow water, the fishing is usually better.

“That way, we can spread our lines from shallow to deep,” Coleman said. “At Buggs, shallow water for night flatheads is 2 to 4 feet, and deep is more in the 8- to 12-foot range, depending on the water level. To get up into the rivers, it’s best if the lake level is at least 300 feet.

“Navigating at the headwaters of the lake where the Dan and the Staunton form Buggs Island can be extremely hazardous. It’s a maze of islands, spread water and feeder creeks in this area, and at night, it’s even more hazardous.”

In addition to log jams, Coleman also favors outside channel bends because that’s where the wash carries the structure. Upstream ends of islands and outside curves are natural areas for debris.

“You’ve got to hunt these flatheads at night,” Coleman said. “Sometimes we catch them from underneath overhanging willow trees. If they’re in there, we’ll know within 15 minutes. If we don’t get bit, we’ll move to the next spot.

“Fresh, live bait is mandatory. We like to catch bream at local ponds. Any hand-size or smaller bream will do, such as bluegills or warmouths.”

Flatties in the 30- to 40-pound range are common at night, Coleman said. While the guide acknowledges he catches flatheads between sunset and the onset of dark, after midnight is generally the prime time.

Steve Tollerson has boated Buggs Island flatheads as big as 48 pounds, 6 ounces. The guide keys at up-lake areas, mainly in the Dan River, although he will fish in the Staunton River and the main lake near the confluence.

Tollerson said dusk can be tremendous.

“Flatheads kind of remind me of white-tailed deer the way they start moving at dusk,” he said. “Flatheads are the same way. A flathead will pick a good spot — although they do travel some — and sit tight and wait to ambush prey. If we don’t get a bite within 30 minutes or so, we pull the anchor and move to another spot.”

Coleman and Tollerson rely upon standard fish-finder electronics. They use a 1- to 3-ounce barrel (egg) sinker above a swivel, depending upon the current flow. Tied to the bottom of the swivel is a 24- to 30-inch leader and an 8/0 or 10/0 Gamakatsu octopus circle hook.

Tollerson said it’s important when targeting big cats, for example, 35 pounds or more, to use a properly-sized hook for the bait. He recommends a hook wide enough from point to shank with sufficient gap to accommodate the bait and still have ample hook penetration to stick the shovelhead.

“I like to use bait-casting reels with a clicker model for detecting the lightest of bites, plus the sound makes it easy to detect a bite when multiple rigs are in the water,” he said. “Because we fish around so much structure, there’s a fine line between how much you let them take the bait.”

Tollerson’s timing of setting the hook depends how close to the log jam the fish may be when it bites. Generally, he likes to let a flathead pull at least 30 feet of line — if the fish isn’t buried in debris. When he gets a bite in tighter cover, he won’t let the fish pull nearly as much line. As soon as he realizes a flathead is sniffing around, he takes the clicker off so the fish won’t feel it. Instead, he applies barely enough pressure with his thumb to the reel to prevent a backlash. He believes these fish are so wary when it comes to pressure at the other end that he advises anglers not to allow the flathead to feel anything on the other end of the line or he’ll be yesterday’s news.

“Flatheads are famous for keeping the bait in their mouths and rolling it around,” Tollerson said. “They’ll sometimes take the bait and move 3 or 4 feet. Then they might stop, and then move another 4 or 5 feet. I pull the trigger when there’s a longer, steadier pull.”

Tollerson prefers a medium or medium-heavy rod in a 5-foot, 9-inch model, paired with an Ambassadeur 6500 reel. The guide generally uses 30-pound-test line for the standing line and 20- to 25-pound line for the leader.

“Any night that we fish, we expect at least one flathead to weigh 35 pounds or more,” Tollerson said.

Gettin’ the Blues

Although Tollerson and Coleman mostly chase flatheads during the summer months at Kerr Lake, the night blue catfish bite is also good. Tollerson said there really isn’t a bad place at Buggs for night fishing.

“But there sure are some great areas, too,” he said. “Anywhere between the bridge (U.S. 58) at Clarksville and the mouths of the rivers (Staunton and Dan) are prime territories for big blues.”

Tollerson believes the key to success is to work back and forth from the Staunton channel to the Dan channel, across the shallower water between the two.

“Locate the depth you’re marking the most fish and suspend your bait at that depth and just drift,” he said. “You can also be successful fishing the bottom.”

When the guide concentrates on the bottom, he opts for the standard fish-finder rig, just as when he fishes for flatheads. However, if Tollerson is drifting baits at suspended depths, he’ll then try various depths and suspend the baits underneath a float or even free line his fresh offerings.

He said blues can be fickle about how deep they position themselves from night to night. For instance, he has located blue cats at 6 feet one night and at the bottom in 25 feet of water 24 hours later.

Coleman said the banks of the river channels are great places to find blues in the summertime.

“They like to have shallow water to feed in, but still like deep water to retreat into if they happen to get threatened by becoming supper themselves,” he said.

“Surprising as it may sound, blue cats can also be taken in shallow water in the summer. It’s not unusual to catch them in 2 to 3 feet. Blues are nomads after they come back down into the main lake when the spawning is over (by the end of June), and they’re only concerned with eating and not being eaten. This lake is literally loaded with blues, and it makes pulling them in from most anywhere an easy task.”

Tollerson prefers live or cut shad as his bait choice for blue cats. He said bream and pond roaches work well, too, and so does a chicken breast or fish fillet.

He doesn’t think structure is as big a factor for blues as it is for flatheads. Blue cats are a much more mobile fish that search for their next meal, he said, where flatheads will lie in wait for their prey. The break at either side of the river channel where the channel begins to rise usually holds some fish, Tollerson said.

“In August, if you’re looking to just catch eating-size fish, you may catch as many as 100 in the 2- to 6-pound range from dusk to dawn,” he said. “If you’re looking to catch fish that will test your strength, then you may only catch a few that break the citation size (30 pounds). Generally, it will be a mixture of both.”

“On an all-night outing, an angler could expect 25 to 30 good fish if he’s in the right spot and using the right baits,” Coleman said. “Steve and I usually try to target larger fish and this is a little slower fishing, but when you get a nice 35- or 40-pounder on the line, it makes the wait worthwhile. It’s not out of the question to pull in five to 10 blues in the range of 20 to 30 pounds in a good night at Buggs, but you have to be in the right spot — or spots — and use the right baits.”

Coleman agreed with Tollerson regarding blue cat locations. He said most anywhere on the lake is apt to produce blue cats during the summer, but one of his favorite places is the area north of the railroad bridge at Clarksville between Perfect Point and the mouth of the rivers. He also recommends anglers try the mouth of Bluestone Creek for summer blue cats.

“Another good spot is out on the hump between the two river channels near Staunton View,” he said.

The guide opts for live shad as his go-to blue cat bait. He said blues are not as picky when it comes to eating as flatheads.

While Coleman’s largest blue catfish tipped the scales at slightly more than 37 pounds, he said he and Tollerson don’t target burly blues as they do massive flatties. The guides said they catch many blues in the summer, but they stick mainly with flatheads when they fish together for fun.

“There are many blues caught at night that are bigger than 37 pounds, but we’re up the river targeting the flatties most of the summer,” Tollerson said.

All freshwater species can get into a funk when certain weather conditions present themselves. However, catfish adapt about as well as any species to drastic changes. Coleman said weather conditions affect blue cats. He has learned from experience that the bite is much better after a substantial rain upstream.

“They seem to bite a lot better on rising water for some reason,” he said. “Other than that, falling pressure or just ahead of a cold front is always the best.”

Coleman said he prefers a waning, waxing or new moon to fish for any species, especially catfish.

“This is more important for flatheads than blues, but it’s just better all around for the night bite,” he said. “I think the darker, the better. That goes for the lights on the boat, too. That may be even more important than the moon light.”