Cold weather equals hot catfish action at Wateree
Blue catfish don’t mind cold weather – at least at Lake Wateree, where guide Chris Nichols of The Carolina Angler Guide Service usually knocks them dead this time of year
“They definitely bite well during the winter in most years,” said Nichols (704-860-7951), who also guides for catfish on Lake Wylie and North Carolina’s Lake Norman – both Catawba River system reservoirs upstream from Wateree.
“On Wateree, we probably catch 90-percent blues, and a few small channel cats. We don’t catch monay gigantic blues – most of them have been between two and seven pounds – but we’ve had them up to 23 or 24 pounds on most of our trips.”
Nichols said winter fishing calls for offshore structure on the main lake, drifting anywhere between 20 and 35 feet deep. Cut gizzard shad is always good, drifted on a “Santee rig” – an egg sinker threaded on the line above a barrel swivel, with a live-bait hook and a float about half-way up a 2-foot leader. That keeps the bait just off the bottom.
“The mid-day is usually good – just as good as the early morning,” said Nichols, who figures in wind direction when setting up a drift across the river channel – catching most of his fish on the breaks.
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