Go nocturnal for catfish

Cooler temperatures are just one benefit

Catfishing is a year-round sport, and with the typically stable weather of June, nighttime can be the right time for big catfish.

For many anglers, fishing at night is an attractive alternative to daytime fishing and competing with other recreational users on crowded lakes. The water temperatures have warmed, elevating opportunities for success with all of the big three species: the blue, flathead, and channel catfish.

Most lakes in the Carolinas have healthy blue and channel catfish populations, and many also have flatheads.

All three species migrate to shallower water in the dark hours to feed. And with a good plan, fishermen can find and catch them where they chow down.

Rodger Taylor is a long-time catfish guide from Rock Hill, SC. He primarily guides on lakes Wylie and Wateree but has also fished throughout both states at night.

“My basic strategy works on just about any lake, modified to the specific lake in terms of depths,” he said.

Be stealthy

Taylor said his philosophy of catfishing at night is like deer hunting. He employs a strategy to target his quarry where they prefer to eat. Stealth and organization improve his odds of making catfish connections.

Taylor offers nocturnal catfishing adventures from late spring through the fall.

“I offer day or night trips,” Taylor said, “Daytime fishing is good, but the night trips are my favorite time for consistent, shallow-water action. I can fish how and where I prefer without factoring in recreational boating traffic.”

Taylor said it’s important to have an organized boat at night. His pontoon boat has a place for everything, and equipment is stored in easy-to-access places.

“I employ subtle lighting to illuminate the boat. So watching rod tips and moving around is easy. But I don’t light it up like downtown,” he said.

Taylor’s (803-517-7828; Catfish On! Guide Service) on-boat organization is also a function of comfort. And catfishing at night is often a game of patience interspersed with frantic action.

“I make my first setup before dark, and that first setup at dusk is often productive,” he said. “Long waits are rare at night when we’re fishing the right areas.”

Taylor fishes from stationary setups, targeting shallow water at night.

“Hungry catfish move toward the shallows to eat at night, and I target those areas,” he said. “Being comfortable and able to chat while our heads are figuratively on a swivel watching rods makes the time fun, enjoyable, and productive.”

Taylor said most fishermen anchor, but he prefers long poles to hold his boat in position. The poles are held in place by metal rings permanently mounted to the boat, and he runs the sharpened end of the pole through the ring and pushes it into the lake’s bottom substrate.

He does this on the front and back of the boat. It holds securely, is quiet, and is less intrusive than anchors.

He said the depths at other lakes vary, and it may be too deep to use poles on some lakes. But a stable setup is crucial.

Taylor casts bait into the water only a couple of feet deep near the shoreline, in mid-depths, and he also casts a couple of rigs into deeper water. The bottom contour will have noticeable depth changes around the areas he fishes.

Frequent, aggressive bites

“A good example for a night setup would be a point coming from the shoreline that gradually drops into deeper water,” he said. “That has fish-catching potential, but a point dropping into an old creek or river channel makes it a prime target.”

He said the channel bends near the shoreline tend to funnel forage and catfish into the shallows, making them good targets. Mussel beds are prime areas, too.

“I prefer my nocturnal targets to have forage or food that catfish want to eat, like a stacked dinner table at Thanksgiving,” he said. “Find this scenario, and catfish will come. Even when not guiding, I’ll go out at night to test places and stay tuned in to catfish feeding areas. Plus, it’s just fun.”

Catfish bites are frequent and typically aggressive. Because of the stealthy setup, Taylor minimizes spooking fish, and it’s common to hook catfish before he gets all eight rigs out.

On a nocturnal trip in 2023, Taylor fished four spots that night and caught multiple catfish at each place. The first fish loaded on within a few minutes at three of his setups, even before he got all the rigs out.

“That tells me the fish were already here and feeding,” he said. “That’s why stealth is important.”

When the sun goes down, squeezing in a nap on Taylor’s boat is a low-percentage opportunity.

Moving targets

Spencer Hodges of Winterville, NC, loves to target big catfish during the dark hours.

“I catfish year-round, but targeting them at night is certainly a favorite,” Hodges said. “I prefer a stationary setup because I tend to catch bigger fish at night.”

Hodges fishes multiple lakes and rivers in pursuit of big catfish and is a former professional guide on the James River in Virginia and the Santee Cooper lakes in South Carolina.

“The basic premise for night-fishing holds for most lakes,” he said. “I’m looking for transitional patterns where catfish move shallower to feed at night.”

Hodges said anglers can utilize topographic maps on their graphs to pinpoint potential hot spots.

“I’ll identify travel routes catfish can utilize to migrate from deeper daytime hangouts to shallow water feeding areas,” he said. “It may be a feeder creek or a ditch running through a flat, leading to shallower water. One of my favorites is a creek coursing from deeper water that leads back into a shallow flat with a mussel bed or where other finned-forage species gather.”

He said feeding fish are moving, so a stationary setup with multiple rigs fan-cast around the boat is ideal, and the feeding fish will find them.

“When it gets dark, they’ll move into the shallows to feed, and I’ve set the table with a buffet of dining options waiting for them,” he said.

Bait can be specific to a given fishery. A primary forage from that lake is usually ideal. Both Hodges and Taylor recommend using various types and sizes of bait to determine the best one for that night. White perch and gizzard shad are prime offerings for most lakes, and if big flatheads are in play, live bluegill or perch are also used.

They’ll give a spot only 30 to 40 minutes to produce, because by targeting feeding fish, they expect bites. So they don’t linger if the bite is slow.

“I love the peace and tranquility of night fishing,” Taylor said. “I like it even better when a rod doubles over, and I hear the squeal of the drag with line peeling off the reel. And on most nights, we get a healthy dose of both scenarios.”