River cats

Tyler Barnes shares his tips on hot-weather catfish in moving water.

Tyler Barnes of Pikeville, NC is no stranger to river fishing. Or to hot-weather fishing. He caught North Carolina’s state record flathead in the Neuse River in July of 2020. And it wasn’t just a fluke. Trying to trick river catfish into biting is his passion.

“I love all kinds of fishing, but there’s something extra special to me about chasing catfish on rivers. Something about that moving water, and about how rivers are constantly changing is really appealing to me,” said Barnes (www.4reelfishing.com)

That’s especially true in the summer, when conditions can change from low-water drought, to out-of-the-banks flooding, depending on local weather and conditions.

During the summer, especially when rain has been scarce and the water is lower than normal, catfish have fewer places to hide out. But one thing that stays constant for Barnes is current seams.

Current seams are basically where a faster current meets a slower current or even slack water. Baitfish and catfish move in and out of those seams looking for food, and looking for places to lay low.

“Don’t get me wrong; catfish don’t mind current. So sometimes, they’ll be right in it. But usually, if they can find some calmer water to get in, that’s where they’d rather be. So I target those calmer waters a lot,” he said.

One of the easiest places to find that calmer water is on the inside of a bend in the river. The current naturally pushes hard to the outside of the bend, especially if it’s a fairly large bend. So the inside of those bends have a much slower current.

“When you find a sharp bend in the river, the backside, or inside, of the bend is going to be calmer water. If you’ll take a look, you can easily see the water there is considerably calmer than the outside bend,” said Barnes.

Anchor down

Once he finds a spot he wants to fish, Barnes drops his anchor, lets the boat settle, then casts out multiple rods.

“I fish with eight rods a lot. It just allows me to cover a lot of water, which means more chances to catch fish,” he said.

Barnes uses baitcasting reels mounted on Hellcat and Big Cat Fever rods from Catch The Fever, a disc sinker, and a 10/0 circle hook. He uses a variety of baits, and he prefers bait that comes from the water he’s fishing.

During hot weather, he said eels are premium baits. He cuts them into chunks, and puts a chunk on each hook, running the point of the hook into the inside of the eel part, piercing it to the outside. He just runs it through that one time, then it’s ready for the cast.

Shad are also great baits. He likes freshly-caught shad the best, but he said frozen shad, especially ones vacuum-sealed when freshly caught, are almost just as good.

Barnes believes in patience, but he doesn’t believe in wasting time.

“I give a spot 30 to 45 minutes. If I’m not happy with the results by then, I reel everything in, pull up anchor, and find a different spot,” he said.

That doesn’t mean that time must be completely unproductive for him to move on. If he catches one or two small fish in that amount of time, he’s most likely going to head to another spot.

Sometimes, his next spot is immediately on fire. Other times, it’s a grind. That’s why he said you need to be prepared to fish multiple areas. His experience has shown him that more often than not, if he keeps looking, he’ll find a productive spot. That’s why he doesn’t tie himself to any one area for any longer.

While targeting those slacker waters, he doesn’t ignore the current seam. He’ll cast at least one rod into the seam itself, or even into the faster-running water.

And in certain spots on rivers, the current pours fast through the middle, with slacker water on both sides. When Barnes finds these situations, he likes to anchor down and fan cast across the entire spectrum, with some rods in the slack water to his left, some in the slack water to his right, and some straight down the middle in the fast current.

Find deep holes

Some rivers aren’t very deep, but Barnes has found rivers like the Cape Fear have some holes up to at least 25 feet deep. When he’s in a river (or section of a river) that he’s not very familiar with, or when he’s in a river that doesn’t have a very strong current, he turns to his electronics to map it out. When he finds a deep hole, he’ll use three-way rigs, which use a swivel that has three eyes. The main line coming from the reel goes to one eye, then a long leader goes to the disc sinker. The other line, which is shorter, goes to the 10/0 circle hook.

“This keeps the bait off the bottom,” he said.

Barnes anchors in a position that allows him to cast baits all around the deep hole. He’ll make a couple of casts in the shallower areas of the hole, then he’ll cast most of his other baits into the deeper areas.

“And I’ll often cast one or two outside of the hole, to the other side of the river where it’s shallow,” he said. “This way, you’re covering everything that a catfish could want.”

Another approach Barnes uses is to find a fallen tree that has at least part of it directly on the river’s bottom. When he finds that scenario, he’ll anchor close enough to the tree that he can cast several baits all around it.

When the summertime heat really ramps up, Barnes switches to fishing at night. He finds the fish, especially bigger catfish, to be much more active during the cooler hours of darkness.

“Once the summer heat really sets in, the daytime catfishing can slow to a crawl. But the night fishing can be excellent,” he said.

Barnes offers guided trophy catfishing trips on the Neuse, Tar, Roanoke and Cape Fear rivers. Click here to book your trip.

Sock it to ‘em

Drift socks are commonly used by anglers that are drifting, but Barnes uses one even when he’s either anchored or is using the Spot Lock feature on his trolling motor.

After dropping anchor or deploying his trolling motor on the front of his boat, he’ll toss a drift sock out the back of the boat. It opens as the current loads it up with water.

“That drift sock helps keep your boat lined up straight, and prevents the rear of the boat from swaying left to right due to the current or wind,” he said.

While the Spot Lock feature on his trolling motor keeps him relatively still, he said the current and wind can cause it to work a little harder and cause the boat to move some.

“When the current or wind is really strong, it can knock you slightly off course. And that will cause your trolling motor to constantly adjust right or left. With the drift sock out, it creates enough tension that the trolling motor can keep you straight a little bit better and without working so hard,” he said.