Fall Channel Cat Madness

Fall Channel Cat Madness

By Brad Durick

The leaves are changing colors or might even be starting to fall depending on where you live. The mornings are cool and the sun is setting earlier than it did just a couple months ago. While we are raking leaves and getting the yard ready for winter, channel cats know it as put the feed bags on and eventually make the move to deeper water for winter.

Early Fall
Early fall is the time when the trees start to turn colors and the water temps begin to cool off. Obviously the cool off is more drastic the further north you go. Where I live, it’s not unheard of for water temps to fall from the low 70s to the mid to high 50s during the month.

During this time the catfish know it is time to get ready for winter and begin to really pack on the pounds in preparation for the times they do not need to feed as much during the winter months. The cats tend to feed upstream during this time. If the water temperature is stable you can expect to catch your fish in faster deeper water and along break lines. This is pretty similar to how one would fish channel cats in the pre spawn.

Some of the best locations in rivers during this time are outside bends that are deeper than the rest of the channel forcing a bit more current around the corner. Also the heads of holes where food is washing in for an easy meal. If you can find a trough between two holes it will create a funnel effect, a highway of sorts where the catfish will travel between holes.

This is also a time where the patterns can change throughout the day. Catfish being a nocturnal predator will feed in the structures mentioned above during the day and will move out to the flats and along the banks to ambush prey during the night. This makes them very susceptible to shore anglers during the night and may require some searching by boat during the day.

The fall of 2014 is a perfect example of this. It was late September and the catfish had put on one last feed before heading downstream for winter. I was on a great bite in my local section of river for a few days. I received texts on a Friday night from two shore anglers who were fishing a section of river about 45 miles north of me. The anglers were seven river miles apart and do not know each other making this report very reliable. For hours I kept getting reports of huge fish from shore. This went on until I turned my phone off so I could go to bed.

In the morning, I was planning to go to the river with an outdoor writer for the day and decided to hit that stretch of river instead of the home stretch. As we were about to depart on our 45 mile journey up the highway I got texts from both guys. One saying the bite shut off and he was going home and the other saying it just died. My outdoor writer asked if we should go that far with reports like that. My response was, “the cats moved to the middle for the day. We have access to the middle.” As I pointed to the boat in tow.

We had an amazing day of catching fall fish in the mid river holes. As the sun began to set and our day was coming to an end the texts started coming from the shore again that the fish moved up and it was game on for the night. The lesson here is pay attention to how the fish are reacting during these times in preparation of fall.

Late Fall
When the water cools into the 50s and dropping the channel cats will start to make a downstream push to find holes and wintering locations to where they will spend the next few months.

During this time metabolism is low and the need to feed is not near as much as it was earlier in the fall. The catfish tend to sit tight and need to be coaxed out with the right bait. This is the time when unlike the early fall when they feed in the current they will tend to avoid current to save energy. Before the fish get to the wintering holes the best places to find them is out of the current in a deep hole or even better off current near structure, usually along the edges of the channel.

This is also a time when fresh bait isn’t as important because the fish are not hunting as hard. In fact this can be a time when frozen baits can work very well as they hold the scent in the water better. It is also a time when downsizing baits can also help.

When fishing under anchor this is a time to fish slowly. Normally in the summer months a 15-20 minute sit under anchor is customary, but during this time especially when in a cooling trend it is often necessary to sit for 30 to 40 minutes to allow the sluggish catfish to find the bait and get the desire to come out and get it. For those of us who have made a career out of run and gun cat fishing it is a long and grueling way to catch fish, but it works.

If you fish a lot it is also imperative when the catfish are in a negative pattern to rotate spots. Usually the fish will be slower to re-populate the area during a cool off and it may take three to five days for new fish to move into a spot. Spot rotation is critical to success, especially when running long sit times because you don’t want to sit on a spot for nearly an hour for nothing.

As the water temperature near the low 50s and into the 40s the channel cats eventually settle into their wintering holes. Their metabolisms are so slow that they really don’t need to eat but a few ounces of food once per week. When the fish get into this mode it is time to use the electronics to find the best populated holes to fish. Set the baits along the edges of the holes and try to entice the fish that are going to feed on the given day. This can be a very productive way to fish in some bodies of water and might be a long process in others. Be patient and good things will come.

I tend to not spend much time on this bite due to the fact that the guiding season is usually about over and there are just so many other outdoor activities going on during this time. When I am targeting the fish I have a handful of deeper holes that have sweeping bends that have both slow and fast water in the same relative area. I set up on the sides of the deepest part of the holes to attract the most aggressive fish in the hole as they come out to feed. Some days it is great action while other days it is only steady and other days it is downright slow.

Hang in there for a few more months and you will catch some great cats during the fall!