Noodling is probably the easiest thing for C&R catfish.
You mentioning blues being opportunity feeders reminded me of a article I read several years ago in a fishing magazine, maybe a field and stream. If I remember correctly it goes a little something like this: The Author stated that the biggest blue he ever caught was on a white and black speckled topwater frog. He was fishing in florida if I remember right, in a bit of water with lots of trees coming out of it. Said he watched herons or some other large birds in the trees, poop into the water, to which shad or some other bait fish would swarm and eat the poop. A catfish would then come up and gulp up the baitfish. He cast a white and black plastic topwater frog under a tree, it was swarmed by baitfish, and then the Blue Cat came up and gulped everything down, lure and all. It amazes me how voracious catfish can be, and how creative you can be to catch them.What I saw last year on Outdoor Oklahoma TV program was an ODW fisheries biologist out for a day of bank fishing for catfish.
The advice he gave applies to every lake in Oklahoma. It agreed with advice given to me by some fisheries biologist that were shocking Kaw lake for a survey when asking them questions.
Make sure you are where the catfish are. Every specie has a specific habitat and food sources.
Flatheads like rocky or woody areas with live fish as their main diet.
Channel cat are feeders of opportunity, bottom feeding or chasing live bait. I’ve caught them on top water lures.
Blues use old river channels in lakes like highways, coming out to feed on the flats with shad being their preferred food although they will also feed on other fish. Never caught a blue with a crawdad though.
Catfish move all over the lake at different times of the year. The old theory I grew up with was that in the summer you had to find deep holes.
In the summer, thermoclines develop in lakes from 12-20 feet depending on wind/wave action and currents. Below the thermocline there is almost no oxygen, so no fish stay there for very long.
The biologist told me to always fish the windy bank. Calm quiet coves don’t produce fish like windy banks. The waves wash the food like crawfish and small bait fish from their cover so bigger fish can feed on them.
I mainly target blue cat.
The places where the majority are caught are on flats near where the old river channel gets close to the bank or areas where sand bass are commonly caught. Those areas are hang outs for shad. You can find where the old river/creek channels run with a google search of lake maps.
Habitat and food sources are the key to finding them.
One of our members on here talked privately to me of a tree overhanging a lake where cormorants roosted and pooped. The catfish were thick under it. If there is a food source, they will come.You mentioning blues being opportunity feeders reminded me of a article I read several years ago in a fishing magazine, maybe a field and stream. If I remember correctly it goes a little something like this: The Author stated that the biggest blue he ever caught was on a white and black speckled topwater frog. He was fishing in florida if I remember right, in a bit of water with lots of trees coming out of it. Said he watched herons or some other large birds in the trees, poop into the water, to which shad or some other bait fish would swarm and eat the poop. A catfish would then come up and gulp up the baitfish. He cast a white and black plastic topwater frog under a tree, it was swarmed by baitfish, and then the Blue Cat came up and gulped everything down, lure and all. It amazes me how voracious catfish can be, and how creative you can be to catch them.
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