A real dilemna for catfishermen some days as the weather cools is whether to go to the deer stand or get on the water. Cooler mornings after a scorching hot summer make a woodsman or fisherman want to get up and get out. Daily temperatures are beginning to moderate a bit and cooling off the water and woods. Cooling water seems to make the catfish a little more comfortable and a bit more aggressive. The improved catfish bite might get a catfisherman on the water as he waits for antlers to harden and bucks to get into the rut before they get on the move to be seen.
As water temperatures continue to gradually drop, these fish seem to get on the move. For a while they’ll be a little more shallow much like the spring time patterns. As other forage fish begin to migrate away from shorelines and begin to seek cover in deeper water the blue cats will follow. Shallow water fishing will be productive for some time until water temperatures drop down into the fifties or lower. Even then the warmer days of winter will produce fish in surprisingly shallow water for part of the day.
Generally blue cats will be found in ever increasing depths from October through the colder months of winter. That’s where the shad are also and that’s why the blue cats are there. These blue cats are comfortable in varying temperature ranges and tend to be scattered and caught at different depths throughout the year. The bigger fish may be a little more lethargic in the hotest temperatures and not show up in your creels as often until the water cools off. The bite for bigger fsih seems to improve as fall progresses into winter. These bigger fish will seem to be even more scattered for a while until they gradually move into ever deeper waters.
Whether bait preferences change may be a matter of opinion. Folks who use perch and bluegill may find tose choices harder to come by at times and select shad or herring. It’s hard to imagine that a big, active, feeding blue cat would get too finicky about a meal but many catmen will attest to the fact that you’ve got to have the right bait especially during fall and winter. There are exceptions of course from day to day but most experienced catfishermen are sure to have shad, herring or mullet as the baits of choice. As the water continues to cool most have more consistently good fishing with shad or herring.
The first good cold fronts in October usually bring the true fall pattern changes that Santee Cooper catfishermen are familiar with. Santee Cooper lakes, especially on Lake Moultrie, experience a migration of juvenile herring and shad as they try to leave the lakes for their salt water destinations farther north to grow up and eventually make their way back to start the cycle all over again. It is during this time that the real pattern change takes place. These little fish tend to get bottlenecked on the lower end of L. Moultrie and become easier prey since they are so concentrated. At this time is when the finicky nature of blue cats may appear. They will be more “focused” on the smaller herring and shad and may virtually ignore other offerings a lot of days.
A little different presentation of baits may be in order. Drifted baits around those concentrations of fish may not always be productive. Fishing suspended baits with “down” rods either anchored or drifted can be very productive especially around concentrations of densely schooled bait. Drifting will be more successful later in the season as the concentrations of bait change from herring and shad to threadfin and gizzard shad. The location of these large schools of bait will change as well. Some prospecting will be needed.
It’s always catfish season for me but from now through late spring is my favorite period to be on the water. I’ll be out there a lot beginning in October.
Jim
