# Have Boat Will Fish...



## Thommes (Jun 6, 2005)

K been a while since I posted in this section. We boat a toon last spring and I've been posting a lot in another section dealing with Cj Brown Reservoir which is where we dock the boat. 

So now that we have a boat, we're trying to catch more fish.  I've done some reading and asking questions in the CJ Brown section and have gotten a few responses. 

Can anyone give me some sources for fishing from a boat in a lake for cats? We've been fishing all over CJ Brown and catching the tiny 1.5< channels, mostly on nightcrawlers. Also used shrimp and cut chad which have been frozen. The cut chad didn't do much at all. However, the shrimp did wonders for us this last weeked.... caught this 5lber on cooked shrimp. The son's largest so far. 

Really looking more for ideas on where to fish in a lake for the larger cats. There's not much structure in the lake, but people are working together to add more to the lake each year. Been trying all areas of the lake. This guy was caught in the shallow end around 7:30pm..

So some questions. 
1. Where do catfish like to hang out in a lake. All the stuff I've read talks about rivers
2. What time of day? I've caught some really nice cats in Lake Cumberland in the early AM like 3-5... 
3. What types of bait? Caught the large guys on Bluegills, but also have had some good luck with shrimp. Frozen cut chad seems to be worthless unless we're not in the right area. Anyone try the uncooked stuff? Can't remember if you can still buy it frozen or not... 
4. What type of set up are you using? A guy I was talking with at CJ said to put a bobber on the bait... seemed to me he was talking about inbetween the weight and bait put a bobber... haven't heard of that. We've tried a lot.. Slip bobbers.. .on the bottom...

Any advice would be greatful since we're trying to learn...


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## Flathead King 06 (Feb 26, 2006)

The best advise I can share is that the best channel fishing comes from the north part of the lake. Now that's not saying they can't be caught any where else... it's just easier to get into larger cats in the north end.

The typical baits such as livers, shrimp, stink baits, worms, etc... Will all catch the fish... But for the bigger cats fresh cut bait or live bait works best. 

The north end of the lake occupies the mouth of buck creek... There you can find all sorts of bottom structure changes ranging from silty muddy bottoms to rocky wooded structure and even an old road bed a little further into the lake past the islands.

CJ is full of shad. The number one bait for the cj cats. Use them live, but the best way is to use them as cut bait.

The best method for hooking into a bigger cat is to drift with large floats across the mud flats in the north end. If you use the searach option and review some posts from the member "Doc" or visit his website www.hookedoncatfish.com (correct me if I'm wrong Doc) he has taken alot of the guess work out of targeting cats in cj.

Hope this helps...


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## Salmonid (Apr 14, 2004)

Flathead king is right, id stay in shaallower water ( less then say 15 ft) in the heat of the summer and concentrate early and late in the day. CJ is a "numbers" lake for channel cats so what that means is youll have to weed through a lot of smaller fish to constantly get onto some bigger fish. This Spring, ina tournament, me and my partner landed 24 cats, biggest one barely went 4 lbs, next biggest was barely 3 lbs, one of those days where we were on fish, jsut not bigger ones, turns out the winners had 6 fish over 6 lbs each. They are there, I have have caught plenty of 5-8 lbers out of the lake. We always use fresh shad, cut up into smaller pieces and usually do well. Send me a PM and I can give you some more info that may help you or meet you up there soetime, I have a friend I have promised to take up there so he can get some eaters in the next week or two

Salmonid


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## TCK (Aug 24, 2011)

Catfish will ambush to feed, try where things tend to gather from the current and deeper holes. I have always done my best on uncooked shrimp (never tried cooked) and I like to put my sinker on the bootom and my bait about 6" off the bottom.


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## Thommes (Jun 6, 2005)

Flathead King 06 said:


> The best method for hooking into a bigger cat is to drift with large floats across the mud flats in the north end. If you use the searach option and review some posts from the member "Doc" or visit his website www.hookedoncatfish.com (correct me if I'm wrong Doc) he has taken alot of the guess work out of targeting cats in cj.


K... here's an update. We went out several weeks ago. Tried drifting for the first time. Had a decent current moving from the N end to the S end. Started out up west of Goose Island but not as far north as the fence post and gravel pile. Tried the float on the bait rig, basically a slip sinker with a float and then the weight. Used raw shrimp. 7ish at night. Wham... 3lber. Wham 3lber... current was keeping us right along the west side pretty much. Did not drift down as far as the railroad line before we headed back up and start the path over. Lost one cat? that was fairly large... 3-5lb? Then about 8:30 the tiny ones start hitting the large circle hooks with multiple pieces of shrimp on them.. talking 1lbers... like HOW CAN YOU GET THE HOOK IN YOUR MOUTH!!! LOL. We got one more decent size before the bites stopped altogether. 

Next night we go out, current is drifting us from S to N... notta. Notta. NOTTA... maybe a bite or two. Tried over by one of the old roads.. notta. tried by the structure... notta. Tried a week later... strong current taking us more east than south. Started at same place... west of Goose island. Drifted across the lake... same set up.. NOTTA... maybe a bite. 

SO when you say N end.. do you mean farther north than the Islands? New toon and not sure I want to take her that far north? I heard it gets SHALLOW back there? When you say a large float are you talking float on top of the water or between weight and hook? I tried it both ways with a slip bobber and caught stuff bother ways. 

Have read all of Docs website and met him earlier in the season. Seems to be a great guy. 

Thanks for the advice...


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## Flathead King 06 (Feb 26, 2006)

You have got it... The best bite seems to be when there is a north wind... Or at least a wind blowing from the north end of the lake to the south. 

If you were fishing in and around the islands then back out to about 15 FOW then you were in the right area. The old road beds, rail road beds and the creek channel will produce fish.

If you go much further north, depending the boat you run, you will start seeing places with 3 FOW and less.. Up to inches deep. Only a flat bottom jon, yak, or canoe will fit... A few years back while WB fishing up in buck creek towards new moorefield, I saw a 22' pontoon push it's way up into the creek, but they had to have messed something up on the boat in that shallow of water.

As Salmonid said, CJ has alot of dink bait stealers to weed through before you can get into the bigger cats. 

What I mean by floats when drifting, is big slip floats such as the river/lake bobbers Doc makes from pool noodles, placed above the weight, leader and hook... This allows you to set a depth equal to or just above the bottom which will let your bait drag, and bounce off the bottom, or float just above it. The other presentation you mentioned, placing a small cigar float between the sinker and your leader or hook will also work as it allows you to present your bait to fish right above the bottom... This is a really effective rig when fishing really rocky or wooded bottoms keeping your bait just above it.

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## Salmonid (Apr 14, 2004)

I have had steller days with a south to North wind as well as a North to South wind. Just depends where to start your drifts. 

When we fished Monday, the fish were "on" about everywhere, might go 10 minutes without a bite then all 4 rods would start at once. we caught fish from 4 to almost 20 ft. 

Id not worry about the wind direction and do like I do, i fish when i can and each day is a task to find out where they are located and then concentrate on those areas. its tha challenge that we all love!

Salmonid


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## Thommes (Jun 6, 2005)

Well we're headed out in a little bit to fish tonight. Hope the bite is ON tonight. We'll see what the lake gives us.


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## Nathaniel (Jan 9, 2010)

If you are day fishing try bottom drifting your float rig 17-24' depths you shoud get some size to your fish get off those dinks .3 to.6 mph. bait u with cut shad or live bait if you keep mising the hits throw a trailer hook on youll get them every time!!! 
good luck


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## Salmonid (Apr 14, 2004)

Ha ha, had a good laugh when you suggested going deeper for bigger cats at CJ....that lake is lousy with 10-14" fish, last time out we took over 30 and only 3-4 of em were over 3 lbs. and yeah.. we been all over that lake and right now the thermocline is around 15 ft so youll notice not many hits once you cross about 20 FOW, but that is just my .02, again, I appreciate the good laugh!, after the trip I had yesterday at CC for cats, I needed that! LOL

Salmonid


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