Patience is important when anchoring for catfish
Guide Chris Simpson catches big blue catfish at Monticello by drift-fishing and by anchoring, but if he is targeting big fish for a client, he will usually spend some of his time anchored.
“One reason is the big fish are spoiled in this lake; in other words they fat and happy and to a certain extent, lazy,” Simpson said. “They feed when they get good and ready. You have to find them, set up on them and hope that their feeding schedule occurs during the time frame that you give them.
“Once I find what I’m looking for on the graph, I’ll give them 90 minutes after the last rod is out, sometimes longer, if I have a high confidence level in that spot or with what I see on the graph. Sometimes a big fish bite occurs within a few minute, but it may take an hour or more. Patience is rewarded here, because many times nothing has happened for an hour or more, then all of a sudden, two or three rods may go down with big catfish.”
Simpson said to keep in mind when anchor fishing it only takes one fish to make the entire day a huge success.
“When anchor fishing, the biggest thing is to have confidence in your graph and understand what it depicts,” he said. “It is like big-game hunting, and patience is a must. I spend a lot of time checking areas before I set up on the spot. In order to sit there for an hour-and-a-half, I have to feel confident that there are big fish in the area. I double-anchor (bow and stern) and fan-cast lines out around the hump, ledge, point, flat or whatever it is that I’m fishing in different depths of water, then patiently wait for a monster catfish to bite. I know they’re here.”
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