This has been the first year of my interest in catfishing and I have had a blast getting into it. Thanks to a few suggestions along the way from fellow BFT'ers I feel I even became fairly successful. My main fishing area has been on the Bear around Benson. My new question is now that we are heading into winter does the fishing for cats just die or can I continue to fish for them with success. If so are there any adjustments to techniques I should consider?
Also as I've been reading about the fall walleye bite at Utah Lake its made me wonder if anyone has any experience with this on the Bear. I know I caught several walleye over the summer while fishing for cats, would it be good to target them now?
Thanks in advance!!!
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Hey Jethro12,
Yeah, you can catch catfish in the winter - you can even catch them through the ice. Like many other species of fish, they slow down a bit. During the winter or cold months, they will migrate to the deepest holes available within a system - sometimes they will travel quite a distance to do so(don't bother too much with fishing in the summer spots - they most likely will have moved). Look for them around dams or find the deepest hole in the area(especially if the hole has some cover or cover is nearby) and fish the spots that have the slowest current there. Your presentation has to be accurate as they won't come out to play unless they have a lot of motivation - and they don't range as much in the cold as they would in the warm water. A lot of times, they will just hunker down in the deep and wait. If you find one, there will be others there too. Try to fish on the warmest days and in the warmest part of that water system - that's when they'll thaw out enough to be a little more active. The fish you do catch will probably be the skinnier ones there - the fatties have the reserves and can remain inactive for much longer. But, you might be surprised.
At this time of year, I have not had much success with the dip baits(the pasty stuff) and only marginal with some kinds of stink baits - my best success has been from stink worms(if you can stand the smell) with a crawler chaser. If you can, use the real thing - that being the freshest cut baits of the primary forage in that water system(carp, minnows, sucker meat, etc). Fresh crawlers can work well if you drop them in the fish's face and let it wiggle for a while. You also will have to move around alot to find the fish. Don't spend too much time in any one spot unless you know the are fish in there - otherwise you might be fishing empty water that has no fish.
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catfishing in the winter..... possible yes.... fun hahahahaaa!!! i love catfishing more than life itself.... but it is brutal in the winter.. its hard enough in the summer. if you are going to attempt this feat, there are a number of variables to consider. winter catting is almost opposite then summer cattin. first cancel out the noctournal issue, dont fish at night, the only way to go is fish during a warming trend 2 days of warm weather or more, and in the middle of the day( when waters warmest) also key in on warmer water, it may only be one degree warmer but that degree is the difference of catching cats or not. also in rivers find the biggest baddest slowest moving hole u can.lakes are far more difficult, fish inlets or shallow warming bays. also patients is the key, on rivers fish with old carp meat.. works good in the winter.in the bear river ( bird refuge) there is alot of winter kill off, dont know why but lots of dead carp, that makes great bait. also never stay in one spot for more than 45minutes. keep moving. if you catch a fish stay there!!! there will be concentrated fish in that particular hole. because there is something there that the other holes dont have, food, water temp, depth, or current change. i hope i have been of some help... they dont call me catman for nothin!!
keep on kattin.
catman
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