Bait Fishing : Catching Catfish In Shallow Lakes And Reservoirs Details Here

Shallow lakes and reservoirs often have featureless basins and shallow shorelines

. You can catch channel catfish by drift fishing the large basins using cut baits such as gizzard shad, creek chubs, and shiners as you catfish bait selection. A good bait fishing catfish rig for drift fishing would be a three way swivel rig. Use a sinker large enough to stay on the bottom and a 5/0 to 7/0 hook.

To fish shallow reservoirs and lakes at night head to the shallow shorelines because bait fish will concentrate at night there. If you are fishing in a boat locate edge lines where soft pan bottom turns into sand or rock. Drop anchor here and cast your catfish bait towards the shore line. You can also attract channel catfish to your area by dropping a underwater fishing light and chumming the area. You can catch channel catfish while your bait fishing with a simple slip bobber rig, or by fishing tight line.

Cover edges in shallow water are also excellent areas to catch channel catfish because the channel cats are attracted to abundant numbers of bait fish such as shad , minnows moving in and out of the cover. They are also attracted to shallow flat areas adjacent to cover that are sandy and have a good population of mussels. These areas are extremely good under winding conditions. Use bait fish such as gizzard shad cut into pieces for your catfish bait. Or if you find a adjacent flat that has a population of mussels use the mussels as bait. You can also use soiled mussels by extracting the mussel meat and let it soak in sour milk for about two day prior to your fishing trip. Just a note, channel catfish love mussels so do not overlook them as a catfish bait.

If you are going to target roaming channel catfish on large featureless flats, try to fish with a three way swivel rig fishing rig, while drift fishing because your catfish bait will be suspended slightly off the bottom. Use live bait such as creek chubs or shiners, or cut bait such as gizzard shad as your catfish bait selection. Make sure your sinker selection is large enough that it constantly bumps bottom as you are drifting. To locate a good drift fishing starting point on these flats look for a slight look for points that have a slight depth change.

I want to thank you for reading my article about bait fishing. We wish you the best of luck on your next fishing trip!

by: Mark Fleagle

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