Can't find a catfish.

[cclemon]

Thanks for reading. I'm trying to catch a catfish here at Lake Thunderbird in Oklahoma. Would you guys have any idea how deep to fish? The water temp is 85 at the surface. Thanks again.

 

[Fishbusters]

Re: Can't find a catfish.

Going out on a limb here and assuming you have a depth finger and a thermometer. You need to find the thermocline where the lake has stratified into the upper hotter water and a cooler band of oxygenated water then the deeper dead zone which has no O2. Usually by trolling along you can find the level fish are hanging at they will be up off bottom and may not be cats but bait and other species they will be in like a 5' to 10' section of lake. This could happen at 30' or even at 70' depending on your lake. When you find this magic level fish around suspended bait fish such as shad or herring especially if there is bigger fish showing nearby. Also fish the bottom in areas that are this deep with structure to hold fish. Drifting is a good bet this time of year as you get to cover a lot of water because cats are not holding on structure as much as the temp and o2. Of course all this assumes your lake does this. Mine does not and we usually find cats in deeper cooler water and drift baits on bottom till we pick up a fish or two then redrift an area.

 

[cclemon]

Re: Can't find a catfish.

Thanks Peter<br /><br />I did an Internet search on stratification and learned a little about it. I didn't know what it was. I had never heard of it. I am going fishing tomorrow. I will post the results. The more I learn about fishing, the more is seems like hunting. That's OK I like hunting too, the only problem with hunting is you can't through them back. I give them to a program called "Sportsmen against hunger".