04-11-2008, 11:45 AM
You know, catfish can be a difficult fish to target, asside from what many people seem to think. There could be many factors associated with the lack of bites.
1. The fish are not responding to the lake's environment very well, and it's taking them longer to adjust to the conditions. (during this process, they won't each much; kinda like when you get a new fish tank at the house and the fish you put in there don't each for a few days)
2. Some fish go through a dormant period after their "spawning" stage. This may or may not be a factor, just throwing that out there.
3. Like previously mentioned, the lakes natural forage may be more effective. However, i'd say if the majority of the fish that are in there were stocked, even the lakes natural bait fish will seem out of the ordinary to them for a while.
I'm sure there are other instances that could be effecting the fish, but those are the three I can think of right now. For channel cats, i've found no finer a bait than fresh chicken livers or some fat Night crawlers. Channel cats dig structure and they dig deep holes. The combo of the two should produce fish. If you want to find the fish, simply stick a nice chunk of chicken liver on your hook and start a drift. Eventually you'll run into something.
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1. The fish are not responding to the lake's environment very well, and it's taking them longer to adjust to the conditions. (during this process, they won't each much; kinda like when you get a new fish tank at the house and the fish you put in there don't each for a few days)
2. Some fish go through a dormant period after their "spawning" stage. This may or may not be a factor, just throwing that out there.
3. Like previously mentioned, the lakes natural forage may be more effective. However, i'd say if the majority of the fish that are in there were stocked, even the lakes natural bait fish will seem out of the ordinary to them for a while.
I'm sure there are other instances that could be effecting the fish, but those are the three I can think of right now. For channel cats, i've found no finer a bait than fresh chicken livers or some fat Night crawlers. Channel cats dig structure and they dig deep holes. The combo of the two should produce fish. If you want to find the fish, simply stick a nice chunk of chicken liver on your hook and start a drift. Eventually you'll run into something.
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