Mix these tips with cold water for big cat action
Catching catfish during the winter is popular with Carolina anglers because it’s generally the prime time of the year for catching big blue catfish.
Some tactics and techniques work better from a seasonal perspective, and they vary on different lakes and weather conditions. Two tactics which are year-round producers, anchoring and drifting, need refinements to best target January catfish.
Tournament anglers and guides target trophy catfish. And they’ve learned to employ specific strategies to consistently hook big cats.
Anchor for precision
Brandon Miller from Gold Hill, NC primarily fishes the Yadkin Chain of lakes, with Badin and High Rock lakes two of his favorite targets. But Miller ventures out to a lot of different waters in cold weather.
“My basic winter strategy is to anchor fish, using electronics to identify specific spots where I can target multiple big catfish from a single setup,” he said. “Falling water temperatures tend to congregate forage into specific places, often in the deeper water in many of the lakes I fish.”
Miller said anchor fishing setups are good throughout the year. But during mid-winter, it works well for him because he’ll find fish in very specific, and highly-localized places. By anchoring, he can cast baits in areas where multiple big fish are staged.
“It’s not random. It’s highly specific fishing and requires diligence with electronics to find these areas,” he said.
For much of the winter, a typical scenario for Miller is to employ side-imaging on his electronics to locate multiple catfish congregated in a small area.
“The exact depth pattern varies daily. And it changes from different portions of the same lake, as well as from one lake to another,” he said. “But the classic situation is to anchor at the top of a ledge or drop-off. At this time of year, the flats away from the ledge are not as productive. I’ll fan cast around the boat from the top of the ledge all the way down to the channel bottom. I’ll specifically load up baits in the depths where I marked fish on the graph. But I also realize these fish, if they’re marked off the bottom, are likely feeding and moving around. If I get on a strong bite in a specific location or with a solid depth pattern, I’ll target more rigs on those specific spots.”
“I’m patient and feel that anchor fishing gives me the best chance to catch more big catfish,” he said. “The majority of tournament winners on the Yadkin Chain of lakes during winter are anchor fishermen.”
Miller prefers cut bait, with big chunks of gizzard shad or white perch his go-to baits.
He also employs a float rig that enables him to suspend a bait off the bottom. He uses a 3-inch round float above the leader and will use a 1- to 2-once sinker to hold it in place.
“I’ve found during the winter, catfish will move up in the water column,” he said. “I spot them on the graph, but they’re usually within 15 feet of the bottom. If I mark fish suspended, I know the depth to fish. When I don’t mark suspended fish, I’ll work one bait 3 feet off the bottom, and another a bit shallower in the water column. On some days, these are the hot rods and can make a big difference in a tournament with big-cat hookups.”
Drift away
Zakk Royce guides out of Lake Gaston in North Carolina and has multiple triple-digit sized catfish to his credit. He also routinely catches large numbers of catfish, primarily blue catfish, throughout the winter.
“I love winter fishing primarily because the trophy fish bite is the most consistent of the year. Plus we still catch lots of catfish,” he said.
Royce said areas where he consistently catches big catfish when drifting are reduced in January, as big catfish tend to focus on areas where depth changes in the bottom are available. Drifting across large flats with little depth change is generally less productive as it was in the fall.
“Deep water is relative to the lake or river being fished. But follow the forage, and you’ll be in the right area,” he said.
Royce (Blues Brothers Guide Service; 919-724-2474) said his primary tactic is a controlled drift using his electric motor to move the boat on a specific route. He’ll scan ledges, humps and points, working specific contours where forage and fish are present.
“One productive pattern I work is fishing along channel ledges,” he said. “The specific target and depth vary even during the same day. I may work the bottom in the deepest water or along the shallower top of the ledge where it falls into the deep water. Sometimes fish are at a specific depth along the drop. Use your electronics to guide you on the depths and locations. My drift speed in winter is around 0.5 miles-per-hour, but slower at times, and is reduced from summer and fall fishing.”
Royce is a believer in using planer boards to spread his bait presentations further away from the boat. He commonly runs two planer boards on each side of the boat, sometimes more, as well as pulling lines far behind the boat.
“By manipulating the position of my planer boards, getting some far from the boat, I can often cover different types of water on a single drift,” he said. “I’ll have baits working both the top and bottom of a ledge and multiple depths in between. I think in cold weather, having baits away from the boat is more productive.”
His favorite bait during the winter is typically an assortment of natural baits from the water he’s fishing.
“White perch and gizzard shad are certainly two I rely on,” he said. “I scale down bait size during winter on some of my baits, because bigger bait is not always better. I’ll present various bait sizes. And we’ve caught lots of huge fish on small baits.”
Skinny water
Shallow water fishing can be highly productive in January when catfish follow forage to the shallows.
Rodger Taylor is a full-time professional guide who primarily guides on lakes Wylie (in North and South Carolina) and Lake Wateree in South Carolina. But he has fished lakes throughout the Carolinas.
He said shallow water setups can work during January, and one unique pattern often develops, especially during intermittent warm spells.
“Catfish are likely to be found at multiple depths,” Taylor said.
“Once I establish that some blue catfish are in the area, I may not move far. A hundred yards may be plenty to get into a different cluster of forage and fish,” he said. “In this shallow-water situation, I know catfish are here to eat, so I don’t have to be as patient as normal. If I catch multiple catfish, and then the action stops, I’ll move. It’s not unusual to hook big catfish in this shallow water. It’s a productive opportunity, and working these fish in shallow water is best from a quiet, anchored setup.”
Taylor (803-517-7828) carries self-made poles he slips into permanent rings attached on the bow and stern of his pontoon. He buries the poles into the bottom substrate. This holds the boat steady with minimal intrusion and time. It’s effective, quiet, and quick to set-up, and to remove, when shifting positions in skinny water.
Taylor has studied this pattern for years, and said it works because early in the morning, the coldest water in the lake is usually in these shallow flats. And that’s because they’re influenced by low, nocturnal temperatures. Conversely, the shallow flats warm quickly during the day, particularly on sunny days, enticing shad to move into the area, and the catfish follow.
Shad move shallow, blue catfish follow, and anglers feast. That’s a recipe for excellent cold-weather fishing.
When to go shallow
“While deep water is often a reliable pattern, when conditions are favorable, catfish move shallow. And by favorable, I mean the forage moves shallow and they’ll follow and gorge on it.”
One instance with Taylor occurred on a cold January afternoon, after he’d caught catfish in deep water on Lake Wateree that morning. As the sun beat down on the water that afternoon, Taylor wanted to try skinny water in the back of a creek.
“I’ve learned that on warming afternoons, shad will get into shallow water during winter,” he said. “I’ll search the back of creeks on these afternoons where the water temperature has warmed the shallow water. Shad may migrate to those shallow areas, often in the 2- to 8-foot depth range.”
And where the forage travels, these blues with insatiable appetites will follow. In this situation, his fishing target is where the shad cluster, not necessarily an underwater contour change. The shad may scatter over shallow flats and may, or may not, be located near a small change in water depth.
“I fan cast rigs all around the boat,” he said. “White perch are often feeding on the shad, further enhancing the setup because big catfish love to eat perch. If gulls are present and diving, then I know shad are present. And they’re the key.”
Taylor doesn’t hesitate to move if he doesn’t get bites quickly. If he gets a couple of bites, he’ll hang around longer.
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