Summertime Bluecat Fishing Tips

It's a common misconception about summertime catfishing by fishing deep in the summer and a lot of environments won't allow the fish to be deep this time of year ... in fact the shallower you fish is a lot of times the best way to approach summertime fishing in lakes that don't have much or any current. the thermocline will keep the fish above 6 ft or less.

Here's what I look for ... I look for a decent shad population in an area ... now this means just seeing a few flipping on top ... you most of the time don't want to see millions of shad in an area because if you do there's probably not any fish feeding on them ... that ain't always the case but most of the time it is. you also want to see other things that'd draw the fish into an area like vegetation ... flooded areas like when the lake comes up a few feet and covers a new area that hasn't been under water for a while ... shad in the area with fresh vegetation is an excellent place to fish most of the time. by fresh vegetation I mean that hasn't been under water over a few months ... the fish will be up in there feeding on shad and the vegetation. I think this type area is such a good draw because the shad can't escape a catfish when there's stuff in their way. In areas like this I've sight fished and almost every time I see a big swirl I'll throw a shadhead right on top of the area and a lot of times you can't even get the rod in the holder before the fish nails it because that's what they're doin is chasin those shad through the weeds and grass.

This pattern is for more of a muddy water lake and clear water lakes are quite a bit different for daytime fishing ... these will be excellent spots for night fishing in clear water conditions.

Always cut your bait from live shad ... spend the extra time and little bit of money to make you a bait tank to keep the shad alive and that in itself will increase your success rate on catfishing many fold. I'm talking about bluecat fishing on this post.

if you have a silted in lake like the one I fish you'll have to do some special rigging to keep the hook off bottom also ... in keystone you can drop a bait next to bank and the swirl of mud it creates when it hits the bottom covers the bait up ... this also happens when you pull your bait across bottom by the sway of the boat using a carolina rig or something like that it'll plow the sinker and baited hook into the mud and the fish won't find your bait. go to my tips section and you can see the rig and instructions I'm talkin about at http://www.catfishin.net/TipsSection.html ... I think it's the top link.

my catfishing.tv site is down right now so ya can't get to the tips section from my signature url.

There are also other attracters that are good places to fish like trees in flooded areas that birds roost in ... mulberry trees by the water's edge ... poke berry bushes by the water's edge ... look for things like this when you're deciding on a fishing spot and it'll help a lot ... now if you find roosts next to a flooded plain with a few shad in the area drop anchor and hold on.

I hope this helps