Guide Jerry Kotal loves to fish for both spotted bass and largemouth bass, but he generally does so in the cooler months. His summertime specialty is channel catfish.
“There’s not a lot of fishermen that take advantage of the great catfishing at this lake,” Kotal said. “During summer, even when it’s 100 degrees outside, if you can take the heat, you can a big cooler of catfish. The crappie, perch and bass action is good, and striper action is often good as well, but for me, the consistent action of catching a big mess of great-eating catfish is my favorite fishing pattern for the summer.”
Kotal said while blues, flatheads and channel catfish are all found in Lake Russell, it is the channel catfish he targets.
“I only caught one blue catfish last summer, and (I) just don’t catch much of anything but channel catfish,” he said. “But in a few hours, I can catch 30 to 40 channel catfish that average in the 2- to 3-pound class — and on light tackle, that’s a lot of fun.
“One thing I have noticed is that typically, I don’t catch a lot of fish at any one given spot. I’ll fish a point, hump, channel ledge or drop and catch may catch eight to 10 fish on a good place, then the action slows, and I move on to another similar place. By doing so, the numbers pile up quickly, because when you get on the right point, for example, I usually don’t even get all four of my rods out before the fish start biting. When the fish are biting, even four rods is almost more than one person can handle.
“The catfish are funny in that they move around a lot during the summer, and every day is a new adventure in finding them,” he said. “I have my preferred hangouts where I typically catch fish, but it will change daily, sometimes dramatically. One day, they’ll be caught on the main river and the next day back on a hump in a big creek. I use the graph to find these type of spots, anchor up and give them a few minutes and if they are there, you’ll know it pretty quick. If no bites occur quickly, move on.”
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