# Shallow water catfish



## Star1pup (Aug 3, 2004)

The cove behind our house is only about 5' deep and gets down to about 4' at the boat dock. It sure would be fun to do some night fishing from the dock if I could entice some catfish up from the deeper lake.

Might try chumming with something, but what? During the spring I can catch a lot of walleyes, bass and crappies up here, but the warmer weather has them back in the deeper areas. Still, I'll bet catfish of something will cruise up here at night and maybe some chum will get them to come more regularly.

Any advice?


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## neocats1 (Oct 14, 2006)

catfish will come into shallows at night to feed. A lot depends on the presence of baitfish such as shad and bottom composition.


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## Steelwolve (Apr 18, 2006)

I cant give any advice on chumming, Ive never tried it. But I can tell you that I have caught almost all of my channels this year out of less than 3 FOW, including many over 10#'s at night. Like Neocats said baitfish presence has a lot to do with it. Also when I bank fished I would throw my bait out as far as I could, but since Ive been on a boat Ive learned that I have much better luck throwing at shoreline structure. Target downed trees in the water and under water brush, just be sure to have good enough line to pull a fish out if it gets hung up. Good luck!


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## Star1pup (Aug 3, 2004)

We have baitfish in the cove, but I have been thinking about adding some more enticement. I read on a catfish website that range cubes are good. They are a small, round concoction of grain & some sort of sweetener. I found some at Tractor Supply and will give it a try. Experimenting is part of the fun of fishing.


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## lucky1 (Jun 6, 2007)

Get a 5 gallon bucket with a lid, drill some holes in it. Tie a rope to the handle and fill it up with the chum of your choice. Dog food works good, fish guts, canned cat food, old cheese, stink bait, dead fish, shrimp. Make sure it's light enough to throw out if you are shore bound. Know that this will likely attract the smaller cats, and the bigger ones will come to the bait fish. Use the rope to pull it back in and don't litter.
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I like this one better:*

Cut the top off of a whiffle ball bat and put in a little of one of those baits mentioned earlier. I use cut shad, shrimp, and dog food most often. Wing it with an overhand motion in all different directions to cover more water. Hope this helps!


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## Predator225 (May 14, 2005)

You may not even have to try chumming. I fish super shallow for flatheads this time of year, I mean less than five feet generally. Lately, the channels cats have been driving me nuts. They will come up shallow, especially on dark nights!


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## hunted (Dec 10, 2006)

chumming will more than likely bring more numbers of fish,just smaller ones.
i would fish it without chumming it first.


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