# channel catfish questions



## tcba1987 (Jun 22, 2004)

i do alot of catfishing in the warmer months , and do pretty well. the question i have is how soon do the catfish bite , i fish the tusc river, it is a small river but has alot of decent channel cats. do they bite all winter ?? i use chicken livers mostly will they work this time of year or should i be using creek chubs or shad or cut bait?? should i fish the same locations i do in the summer or look for the really deep holes this time of year ?? i usually dont start catfishing till may, can i catch them now ??? is the bite really slow ???  

thanks in advance 

Brian


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## flathunter (Apr 5, 2004)

They will hit all winter, if you can find them..I would stay away from liver when the water is cold and use cut bait if you can find it.


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## rockbass (Apr 16, 2004)

I caught a few channel last winter from the river using cut pieces of shad I froze the previous fall. I did not get any shad this past fall to freeze, so I am bumming right now for the bait I want. Hopefully I can get out to get some shad somewhere before the first tourney!


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## Raines (Jan 28, 2005)

my freezer had the same problem till i went to santee in feb. before leaving bassman23 and i were going to spend the rest of our money on shad just to take the pressure off,then the guy running the camp said "YOU YANKS BUY THAT COOLER AND I'LL FILL IT W/ SHAD" so for 7bucks a piece we got around 50 pounds of shad. not to mention money left over that our wives didn't know about. about the cats if you can boat it find the hole in your stretch of river thats got the best looking cover,depth and if there is any kind of slower current around .with a good fish finder you bound to stumble onto some good spots.HOPEFULLY WE HAVE A SPRING AND COLD WATERS NOT AN ISSUE FOR MUCH LONGER. good luck


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## H2O Mellon (Apr 5, 2004)

I would buy a cooler full of Shad for $7 any day! Man, I wish I could find somethign liek that around here.


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## flathunter (Apr 5, 2004)

Bryan, I remember when I had a bunch of fresh shad, and you insisted of fishing with chicken breast


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## H2O Mellon (Apr 5, 2004)

Shut up Jack, Man how many times do I have to tell ya', thats my secret bait!


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## RiverRat (Apr 5, 2004)

You can catch cats all winter long in certain river systems(ie Ohio river).
My normal season starts for channel cats around mid March most years and runs to late Nov. early Dec.

Cut bait is all i use....for me the fresher the better.

Scott


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## husky hooker (Apr 6, 2004)

as a backup cutbait i always did pretty good in the tusc with ocean perch from the store. cut it up and it stAYS ON GREAT AND IF YOU EVER SMELLED OCEAN PERCH YOU KNOW WHAT MEAN!


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## mastercatman (Jan 30, 2005)

I just wanted to say this about fishin the tusc this time of year. If finding cutbait is really an issue I guarantee you will have just as good of success with nightcrawlers. I live directly across the street from the tusc and have been fishing it for about 17 years in canal fulton. I have fished night crawlers and cut bait consisting of shad, suckers, carp, and chubs side by side with little variance in preference this time of year. This will change though as the water warms you will find that channel cats will show preference to fresh cut baits. This time of year there is more precipitation that washes more food sources including nightcrawlers naturally into the river systems.


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## pendog66 (Mar 23, 2005)

I have caught catfish on hot dogs. shrimp. cutbait, and nightcrawlers. But by far the best bait i've used for a big catfish is a sunfish. Catch a small sunfish and prepare for a fight of a lifetime


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