Not crappie, Catfish questions...

So this year on my visits down to Santee, I've sort of concentrated on targeting catfish, specifically in and close to the canal in both lakes. Had some success with a few fish in the teens back in the spring. Last trip in late June, we caught plenty of eaters up to about 10 pounds and released most. Some guys were filling the coolers.

This past weekend (9/29-10/1) we went with high hopes and planned on catch and release only. Geez-Louise what a slow weekend. We fished the ledges on the river channels, edges of humps, up near the Marion Dam, down in Moultrie open water targeting humps along the river/creek channels as well as the drop off ledges, in the Canal, in the shallow "cuts" along the Canal.
We anchored, we fought the wind and drifted with the wind, we spot locked over likely areas, we pulled at .30-.60 mph along the above mentioned areas, with and without planer boards. We tried frozen Bream, fresh Bream cutbait, live Bream, Blueback Herring, even chicken breasts, plain and jello.
We fished at daylight to lunchtime, and fished in the evenings after dark. Sunday I came in at lunch time, went back out mid-afternoon & stayed after dark.
We got one 6 1/4 lb Flathead and one small Channel about 3 lbs. And we marked very few fish, especially compared to back in June.
We went with high hopes and it being this time of year, expected the bite to be hot. The other thing we noticed was there were not what I would consider "a lot" of boats fishing. It also was a full moon.

What did we miss? Where did we go wrong? Someone send out a memo to the catfish to move out? Are they way up in the swamp? I'm at a loss but trying to learn. Any words of wisdom?

I’ve had good luck with juglines and live shad on my lake years ago. Haven’t targeted them in awhile, but back in the day that’s how I did it.


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Skip Jack shad on jugs works well here.
YouTube Fisherman by catfish Dave has fished and video that lake. Maybe Dieter Melhorn also

I've been seeing and catching when I don't want to a lot of cat fish high in the water column chasing shad just like the crappie. Hate catching them on the ultra lights as they slime up the jig and line have to cut and retie on every one. Scott

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Bigtrout

So this year on my visits down to Santee, I've sort of concentrated on targeting catfish, specifically in and close to the canal in both lakes. Had some success with a few fish in the teens back in the spring. Last trip in late June, we caught plenty of eaters up to about 10 pounds and released most. Some guys were filling the coolers.

This past weekend (9/29-10/1) we went with high hopes and planned on catch and release only. Geez-Louise what a slow weekend. We fished the ledges on the river channels, edges of humps, up near the Marion Dam, down in Moultrie open water targeting humps along the river/creek channels as well as the drop off ledges, in the Canal, in the shallow "cuts" along the Canal.
We anchored, we fought the wind and drifted with the wind, we spot locked over likely areas, we pulled at .30-.60 mph along the above mentioned areas, with and without planer boards. We tried frozen Bream, fresh Bream cutbait, live Bream, Blueback Herring, even chicken breasts, plain and jello.
We fished at daylight to lunchtime, and fished in the evenings after dark. Sunday I came in at lunch time, went back out mid-afternoon & stayed after dark.
We got one 6 1/4 lb Flathead and one small Channel about 3 lbs. And we marked very few fish, especially compared to back in June.
We went with high hopes and it being this time of year, expected the bite to be hot. The other thing we noticed was there were not what I would consider "a lot" of boats fishing. It also was a full moon.

What did we miss? Where did we go wrong? Someone send out a memo to the catfish to move out? Are they way up in the swamp? I'm at a loss but trying to learn. Any words of wisdom?

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If the full moon was up anytime your fishing it usually affects the bite negatively. ( at least for me it does) when I go after blue or channel cats on rod and reel I fish where there is current to increase my odds and they usually taste better out of running water.
Also try livers, gizzards, night crawlers or stink bait to up your odds.



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traveling at 30 06 speed might have some play , catfish ain't awl that quick best I remember .....:Rofl
on the other side of the coin (serious side ) not knowing what the major food source is there I am at a loss as to the food preference of those fish.
one thing for certain though , I heard yesterday the catfish were slow on a lake I visited , might be transitioning to the winter playground since fall is upon us in mnay spots , just saying :dono

I'm kinda thinking the full moon was a problem. I follow a few of the catfish YouTube "gurus" and they all mention a full moon negatively. And like others have said, most of my full moon trips regardless what I'm fishing for, have been somewhat slow. Having said that, it doesn't explain not even marking many fish on sonar. I've fished enough lakes and dragged enough baits to have gotten a reasonable idea of what catfish in deeper water look like on traditional sonar. (Side scan is another issue...)

I would do a YouTube search for the most recent videos of Santee and what bait and depths they were catching fish. I would always ride and search with graph until I saw some fish before wetting a line. :twocents