Catfishing In Lakes

Catfish caught last fall

The midwest offers an enormous amount of opportunities for catfishing in lakes with excellent populations of catfish.   Some of these lakes even offer fish of extraordinary sizes (every cat fisherman dreams of hooking into a monster sized fish).

When fishing in lakes one of the best places to pursue catfish is directly below a dam.  If there is no dam catfishing in lakes with submerged debris is a great choice.  When fishing in lakes watch for logs or other objects sticking out of the water.  These are tell-tale signs that there is good cover in which the catfish can hide.  Because smaller baitfish love to hang out in and around these areas, catfish will occupy these places as well hoping to grab a quick and easy meal.  If you are fishing from a boat, fish along cliff edges where cutouts may be  hidden under the water.  These areas are another favorite hiding spot for catfish.

When catfishing in lakes you can use about any rod setup you like.  Make sure that your drag is set appropriately if you are using a lighter rod and reel with light-weight line.  The best way to set your drag properly is to let enough line out that you can get a firm grip on it.  Next while gripping the line pull against the pole and adjust the drag setting until your line will slowly pull off the reel without breaking.  Setting your drag correctly will allow you to bring in fish that weigh much more than the line is rated at.  However, it will take a bit of time to bring those big fish in.  There is nothing like successfully landing a big fish while using lightweight fishing tackle!

Crawdads, shad, minnows, goldfish, cut baits, hotdogs and even spam are great choices for catfishing in lakes.  Note:  It is illegal to dump live goldfish or minnows into any body of water so be sure you take any unused minnows with you when you leave.

- Any day in the outdoors is a good day