CATFISHING HELP

[2thDoc]

OK. In my never-ending drive to be the best freshwater fishing moderator this site has ever seen, I plan to continue my education by going catfishing.

OK. I bought a boat....check. Rods...check. Bait...check.

I was thinking about going out of lowfalls or maybe the wateree at 378. I can't imagine that you yahoos would get all worked up over your "super-secret catfishing holes" but I was wondering what to look for this time of year in terms of areas that hold fish. Depth? Log jams? Bends in the river? Sandbars?

I plan to fish late evening and into the night. any general advice is appreciated. what is your "go-to" bait? what types of structure do you like? what is your favorite beer? how about dip?

[Aricks]

Start in deep water, as night falls move to shallower water. Small bream work good. Bud Light, marlboro lights.

[BigBrother]

toof, during daylight find a bend in the river especially where a creek is coming out...and look for the hole. At dusk and and night, find a sandbar with a deep hole on one side of it. Fish on the sandbar, the bigger fish move in the shallows at night to feed...best bait is live or freshly dead/frozen oily fish. I have had excellent results using bonita...During late august when pogies and mullet are thick inshore I will freeze as much as I can use and fish with this through the winter.

Also, be sure to use circle hooks...you will lose less rigs to the log jams...

I will usually put out about 10 bush hooks while I am fishing...baited up with bream that I recently caught. They dont always produce, but when they do, it is usually a nice flathead.

[JABIII]

33 28'48.64N
80 16'29.73W

[mirroman]

Log jams during daytime. Blowout 3-4' of water at night. Bream for bait... When you get on them let me know and we will take my pontoon out for an overnighter...

[2thDoc]

i was thinking a spot more like....

33 47'05.99"N
80 36'10.33"W

[2thDoc]

google earth took me into the lake near round island?? i can do that...but was thinking it would be easier to catch a fish in the river right now. gotta be pretty low, huh?

[2thDoc]

you seem right set on that spot....

[JABIII]

33 28'48.64N
80 16'29.73W

[JABIII]

You won't be dissapointed. If you want a vector, give me a shout. If you are set on the other and want access no problem...

[2thDoc]

i dont even own a GPS....so THAT might be a problem.

[JABIII]

Nahh you just run the stumpfree channel until it makes the turn. You will see all the trotlines. Watch out for the biggest gator on the planet that cruises the trotlines snacking on 40 pound kittys.

[Dook]

Here ya go toofy, Put in at lowfalls run the river towards the upper lake, as you get to the "end" of the river channel, and you see cypress trees in front of you as the river makes an "s". Right off to the left there is a creek channel that runs right beside the back side of the canal Dyke.That "point" for lack of a better term, and fish the river side in the daylight, all along the grass....its is a good drop off, maybe 10-20 in 50 ft...as it darkens, move in towards the cypress and it gets 4-5 foot deep. There are some big mamajamas hanging out in the s turns that feed on that big flat going to yer left.

If you wanna put fryers in the boat, go into the river from low falls, bust a left to the tressel....before you get to the tressel on the right, there is a huge hump 200 yards southeast of the tressel, 25 yards off the right shoreline as you approach the tressel. Have sat there from daylight to dark, 1lbers out the wazoo, if you don't get into the eels to bad......

Best bait experience:
American shad caught and frozen, dethawed and oily
deer liver
chicken gizzards soaked in liver fer a week.
cut brimps, live will get you a ticket.
shrimps

Use a closed end hook or circle hook it will keep you from getting snagged....If there is a ton of current in the river, make sure you got good lead, drop that bait to the bottom, reel it up 1-2 foot, and tight line off the side of the boat.


All else fails, fish every creek mouth you can find off the river......daylight hours look for 20+, night time, stick to 10 or less.

That fails, buy more beer and drift the canal.

Take lots of mosquito coast by bullfrog.

[MCMARINE]

Originally posted by JABIII:
Nahh you just run the stumpfree channel until it makes the turn. You will see all the trotlines. Watch out for the biggest gator on the planet that cruises the trotlines snacking on 40 pound kittys.

how big is the above mentioned gator.....i may want to argue about him being the biggest...the big one in the hatchery should be the biggest in the universe???? wish i had a pic of this thing...it is scary

[SwampDunkey]

Go to the Grocery store and buy some Skrimp. Put a plate in the cooler the other in the sun. Bait up yore bush hooks with the plate from the sun and eat the other shrimp while you wait

[2thDoc]

fished the wateree river after friday evening's downpour.

caught plenty of bream for bait and ZERO catfish.

thanks for the help....seriously.

[BigBrother]

With your skills, perhaps you should have a backup plan and placed an order with the fish market... [img]graemlins/confused.gif[/img]

[2thDoc]

i have mad skills...

plus, i had some bream to eat if I had been starving.

do i look like I'm starving?

[greencows00]

i tell ya what we like to use.... crawfish (crayfish).. the big ones peel them so the white meat shows good.... fish deep holes... fish holes with some structure... you will get hung, but you will catch. we have been up to wateree river and have fished this way before and have caught some nice ones....

[WhitewaterDuck]

Everyone seems to be pionting you right as far as I know. The blowout is the only place I've had consistent luck, and it is hit and miss. Packs is out of bait for the season, but if you can catch some bream and keep them alive, use them alive. If you are good at catching shad or know someone who can catch em, the best luck we've had with the big blue cats is with whole shad. For some reason, they seem to like shad better than herring. Early June, we went down to the blowout...go to Packs or Lowfalls and head down to where it opens into the flats...and we had a good run every ten minutes or so from 6:30 till 3:30 till we ran out of bait. Ended up with eight blues that totaled ~100lbs. A shitpile of big gar were fun but annoying to catch. Went two weekends ago and got skunked. I think we were fishing behind a front. Dosen't matter though, cause fishing down there is beautiful whether you catch em or not. People have been saying that if you can catch em running water through the D-canal this time of year you will burn their arses. The only problem with that is that I have no clue how to figure out if there is water moving through there or not. The Pack bros can tell you with a fair amout of certainty via a computer program they understand if you can get ahold of them. Good luck, and don't forget the new blue cat regs.