SUMMERTIME RIVER CATS
Below Dams
 EDITOR'S
NOTE: Watermelon, iced tea, suntan lotion, sunglasses
and fishing for catfish comes to mind when the sun climbs
high in the sky, and the mercury heads for the 100-degree
mark. Many anglers believe that to catch catfish in
the summer you simply throw a stink bait out on the
bottom of any river. But to consistently catch more
cats on every outing, you need to know where the fish
most likely will occur, what they're most likely to
eat in these spots, and what conditions cause them to
feed most actively. Catfish like to eat almost anything.
To catch catfish, determine the natural baits in the
river you're fishing, and fish them first. Check with
local anglers and sporting-goods stores to learn what
baits catfish bite in that region at that time of the
year. Several other factors affect when and what catfish
eat. The temperature of the water governs how actively
catfish feed, because the enzyme action in a catfish's
stomach doubles with each 8-degree increase in water
temperature. The hotter the  weather
becomes, the more catfish feed. Since most catfish prefer
a dark habitat, they eat mostly at night during the
hottest, sunniest weather.
When fishermen discuss catfishing, many anglers' minds
flash to images of bubbling, swift-moving tailrace waters.
In most parts of the country, the swift water of the
rivers below power plants and dams generally concentrates
large numbers of cats. One day, all day long, I watched
a fisherman and his wife loaded their boat with catfish
as they drifted through the swift water below a dam
and bumped the bottom with heavy leads and shad gut
for bait. However, they  consistently
took four or five catfish to the other anglers in the
area catching only one. "We're fishing the grooves
between the bubbling discharge from the 12-discharge
holes of the turbines of the hydroelectric plant.”
Once I tried their tactic, I too started catching catfish.
Anglers on the Red River in Manitoba, Canada, use a
tactic for catfish that you can use successfully anywhere
in the U.S. Cast upstream into the slack water just
on the edge of the current. The big channel catfish
that weighed an average of 20-pounds each held in that
slack-water area waiting on bait to drift by. To obtain
the best results with this tactic, you must continue
to take up the slack in your line as the current washes
the bait back to you. When the catfish strikes, reel
in the slack quickly, but don't set the hook until you
feel the catfish.
Two anglers anchored in the middle of a tailrace area
caught catfish on almost every cast until they caught
their limit. They weren’t fishing a groove because
of their position in  the
middle of the turbulent water, downriver from a discharge
hole. Several anglers in the region used their depth
finders to reconnoiter the area. I discovered a large
boulder that came up from the bottom about 3 feet. Then
they moved upstream about 15 yards and tied a three-way
swivel to their main lines. I attached a drop lead to
the bottom eye of the three-way swivel, tied 20 inches
of 20-pound-test line on the third eye of the swivel
along with a No. 1 hook and baited with cut shad. They
bumped the lead along the bottom until it hit the big
boulder. Then they moved the lead around the boulder
where the catfish attacked. Anytime you can find a large,
underwater boulder in swift water, especially in a tailrace
area, you usually can pinpoint catfish stacked-up like
cordwood behind the boulder.
TOMORROW: SUMMERTIME RIVER-CATFISH
BAITS
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