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Catfish Bite is Off

rsimms

rsimms

Well-Known Member
TNDeer Supporter
Joined
Sep 8, 2002
Messages
4,370
Location
Chattanooga, TN
Here is the latest Scenic City Fishing Charters Newsletter.

http://campaign.r20.constantcontact.com ... f9119ff6d8

My catfish bite is down dramatically this year. Still catching fish, including some trophies, but not the numbers we are used to.

Some of my other catfish contacts up and down the TN River have reported the same thing. I'm wondering what the hardcore catfish folks on TNDeer have to say?

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Thanks for sharing the pictures, don't most critters have cycles? some may be longer than a person might think
 
they are on the spawn on KY lake and sometimes there may be a drop in the bite during a strong spawn because the males usually wont eat on the nest. kind of annoying during the first bluegill spawn because you cant keep the prespawn cats of the hook.
 
I'm about to hit the water soon and find out. But will mainly be after flatheads on the Cumberland river.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
 
cbhunter":g7i1eqlf said:
Just go stick your hand in some holes and pull them out hillbilly style!! :tu: :super:
Click to expand...

my luck i would grab hold of a beaver and it would chew my arm off. lol, ive had zero desire to noodle a catfish.
 
WTM":2s5dfuoc said:
cbhunter":2s5dfuoc said:
Just go stick your hand in some holes and pull them out hillbilly style!! :tu: :super:
Click to expand...

my luck i would grab hold of a beaver and it would chew my arm off. lol, ive had zero desire to noodle a catfish.
Click to expand...


I went one time. we pulled out a 30lber in Springville. Pretty interesting and nerve racking too. Had to drink about 3 beers on the way over there to get my nerve up! ;)
 
Well, reporting back from my first catfish trip of the year. the bite has been real promising so far. From 7:30pm till 9pm had a good handful of takers, lost 3 or 4, boated 2 bluecats in the 10-15 lb range, 1 eater flathead, and one drum. Most have been towards deeper water but I also have lines up near shallow water with blow down trees. Surprisingly the blowdowns have produced nothing so far except the eater flathead which was on the drop off. I'm still fishing another hour or two.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
 
We fished just below the dam on Watts Bar today in Lake Chickamauga. We got there about 7am and it was an absolute mess. They must of opened every spill way or chute because there was logs and branches everywhere. About 30 minutes later it cleared out. As long as we had the boat in the right position for a good drift we either caught a fish or lost one most every drift. Nothing bigger than 5 pounds.
 
Snowwolfe":3dz0omr7 said:
We fished just below the dam on Watts Bar today in Lake Chickamauga. We got there about 7am and it was an absolute mess. They must of opened every spill way or chute because there was logs and branches everywhere. About 30 minutes later it cleared out. As long as we had the boat in the right position for a good drift we either caught a fish or lost one most every drift. Nothing bigger than 5 pounds.
Click to expand...

Good to hear. Thanks for sharing. :tu:
 
I fished with Rsimms on May 19, if the bite was off the fish didn't know it. We landed 22 catfish and several bluegill on a rest break. I caught a personal best 30 lb blue, a 22 lb blue and several between 5-12 pounds. We caught blues, channels and flathead. Thanks again Richard.
 
Biggun4214":x84yjz51 said:
I fished with Rsimms on May 19, if the bite was off the fish didn't know it. We landed 22 catfish and several bluegill on a rest break. I caught a personal best 30 lb blue, a 22 lb blue and several between 5-12 pounds. We caught blues, channels and flathead. Thanks again Richard.
Click to expand...
Sounds like the bite was "off the charts"......... :tu:
 
Biggun4214":ixtyhvmg said:
I fished with Rsimms on May 19, if the bite was off the fish didn't know it. We landed 22 catfish and several bluegill on a rest break. I caught a personal best 30 lb blue, a 22 lb blue and several between 5-12 pounds. We caught blues, channels and flathead. Thanks again Richard.
Click to expand...

We hit some optimum conditions I haven't had much of the year... and I'm GLAD of it! We are getting into a more normal and consistent "summertime" water flow schedule so I expect our bite to improve and normalize!
 

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