How to read the water

Question
I love to catch catfish but I have days where i just go and feed them or not get a bite at all.  I want to learn how to read the water whether I am fishing from the bank of a pond or big lake or in a boat could you please help me?? Thank You, Mark

Answer
Mike, First let me say I am sorry for being so late in answering your question. I am having some health problems and couldn't get to it.

It would help to know where you live and the kind of catfish you are fishing for but since this is not now available I will have to make some generalizations.  Most catfish are opportunity feeders which means they eat most anything they can find or catch.  They also feed mostly by some sort of smell using the barbels and the lateral line to find food. While most catfish will eat live bait if they can catch it they also like many kinds of non live food such as cheese, soap, chicken liver, and worms.  Crayfish, grasshoppers, frogs and cut up fish are also good baits.  Most tackle stores have special made catfish baits made from chicken or other blood, cheese, bread and some secret ingredients.

Catfish are also generally bottom feeders with a couple of exceptions such as channel catfish and flathead catfish both of which like live fish. Channel cats will eat most anything but like live bait at times. The flathead almost always likes live brim (bluegills) etc almost exclusively.

All of the above are factors in finding and catching catfish.  Another factor is the fact that most catfish are nocturnal meaning they feed most at night.  They can be caught in the daytime if you find where they are hiding.  Most catfish like to hide during the day but will bite if you get a bait in front of their noses or at least get the smell of the bait to their noses.  Therefore the secret to catching them during the day is finding them.  Some species like a place where there is little current while others like to rest and wait for food to be washed in a current, especially channel cats and blues like some current while bullheads and other "mud" cats like calm water.   So to find the "mud" cats look for a downed log or brush pile or large rock or the inside bend of a stream or on a long  straight stretch with little current that has some cover such as stumps, logs, rocks etc. where these fish can find calm water.  Some catfish such as bullheads actually go back into holes in the side of a muddy steep bank. As a kid I used to reach back into those holes and pull out pound size bullheads. (I would never do that today) LOL.
If you can find a log or downed tree upstream from a steep bank you can often drop your bait upstream of the log or tree and let the bait drift under the log.  The scent will often drift slowly along the steep bank and drew the fish upstream to your bait.  For the current preferring catfish let your bait wash in the current into and under any cover or around the midstream end of a log or rock letting the bait swirl in the current as it slowly is allowed to move downstream.
When bait has moved well past the log, rock etc. reel in and start again.  If two or three tries brings no bites try another bait or another place.  Each drift of the bait should take several minutes depending on the amount of current.  Seldom in daytime will you find catfish in open water in a stream they are almost always hiding in or behind something out of the current.  Even the current loving kinds do not stay out in the current.  They find an ambush point just out of the current.  

When fishing a pond always more difficult especially if it is one of those which has very little cover such as stumps, logs and downed trees.  About the only thing one can do is cast into the deepest part of the pond, and if that does not produce try any other places where you know the deeper water is.  Usually a pond has been stocked with a certain kind of catfish, often channel cats. In such cases some kind of prepared bait often works best although chicken livers and worms also work.  From a boat on a pond search out the deepest part of the pond first then try shallow water.  

A lake from bank is often more difficult because of limited places to get to the water and these are often heavily fished.  Try to find a place where there is some sort of cover in the water such as sunken logs, fallen trees or wash outs. (Areas where water running in from a heavy rain has washed out a hole in the lake bottom)   While weeds are not the best cover for catfish if that is all there is it will be the only cover and the fish should be in them somewhere.  You may have to hunt them.

From a boat in a lake look for someplace where the bottom contour makes a relatively rapid change such as a drop off or a sunken island gives a place for the fish to lie in wait for wind blown current to bring them food.  Also check if the lake has a dam that is used to make electrical power.  When water is being drawn off currents are created around islands, rocks or shoals making good places for fish to hide and wait.  Any kind of log jam or brush pile on the bottom is a natural place to find catfish.

Now let us look at the problem of feeding the fish.  If you are getting bites but can't hook them you are likely using bait that is too big for the size of the fish or using too large a hook.  Back when I did most catfishing  I used too big a hook and had the same problem you are having.  My idea was big bait plus big hook meant big fish.  Over time I learned the reverse was often true so I began using a small treble hook and a smaller bait and often caught fish that I would have simply have had them chew off the bait.  With the treble the fish was more easily hooked.  

I guess some of the things I suggested before apply to reading the water.  Try to think like a fish might think.  Where would be a good place to be out of the main current yet in a place where I could smell food coming down the stream before it got to me.  Where would be a good place to dart out and grab something good to eat according to smell.  Try to get your bait upstream from that place where you are thinking the fish would hide and wait and let the bait slowly go down to him.  Always look for places where the current is deflected by something underwater then figure where you would be waiting if you were a fish.  You might anchor a boat and fish an area or let the boat drift dragging the bait behind as you drift over different kinds of bottom.  Look for places where the wind or current has moved leaves or floating brush into a bank or against a downed tree or a fallen log.  Anchor above that place and cast upstream and let your bait drift.  Control the drift by changing the amount of weight so that you get the right drift speed of your bait.  If the bottom is full of snags etc use a bobber  to hold your weight just over the top of the snags but leave your bait near as possible to bottom.  If you are using a small treble hook ball the bait up on the hook so the points are covered to keep them from hanging up.

About the only other thing I can think of is if fish don't bite one bait try another.  If they still don't bite try another and if they still don't bite move.  Even if they aren't biting now they may be in an hour or so and time spent fishing whether catching or not is better than time spent in front of a TV anytime.

Reading the water is something that is an ongoing thing as long as you continue to fish.  It is a continuous learning situation.  I have been fishing for about seventy years and still I learn something almost every time I go fishing.  I do not think one ever knows everything about this or any other facet of fishing.  That is one thing that keeps fishing exciting.  If we caught a big load of big fish every time out it would become boring like playing golf.  Oops maybe you like golf. Just kidding.

I hope this has been of some help to your fishing.  If you can come up with some more specific questions I will try my best to answer them for you.  Good fishing Mark!

Jack L. Gaither        (JackfromSeminole)
Lake Seminole, Georgia