Sunday, May 19, 2024
Acosta
HOOD OUTDOORS
As a licensed professional fishing guide, Michael Acosta shows you how to find them. A Granbury resident of more than 35 years, he has been fishing all of his life, and has been a licensed guide since 1998.
Did you know there was a time of year, besides spring, where your chances of catching a big catfish are better than most? Well, believe it or not, a great time for bigger catfish is winter.
Those folks chasing the bigger blues typically like to work shallow flats adjacent to deeper water with cut bait. Many of the catfish will hold in the deepest part of the lake where bait is available. Our Lake Granbury has all three varieties of catfish, channel, yellows and blue catfish and this article is directed mostly toward the channel.
There are a number of factors that dictate what fish will do. The time of day, barometric pressure, and the other usual environmental variables are going to effect the fish, but it is the oxygen content and temperature of the water that will have the most impact. This is true for all species.
Temperatures tend to be such that the water may be too cold to have a 'comfort zone' — and with the cold temperatures comes a lack of water-foliage and bacteria. The differing amount of plant life coupled with the cold water and other conditions do not leave any optimum place for the catfish to hold. So, while you think they may just find a place and stay with it, catfish tend to use another factor as the method to decide location in winter — food.
There may be less to eat when compared to other seasons of the year. Fish will tend to hold in or near places where there is a food supply. The channel cat is no different, except that what it considers to be 'food' may not be what you thought it was.
As you all know, channel cats find food by smell. While a channel cat will eat live forage as well as dead, it will find either by using its sense of smell. In winter there is less to eat, less things being eaten, less waste being produced, and so on. The opportunity for a channel cat to eat may be rare, and may require a lot of effort on the part of the fish.
In the dead of winter, channel cats primarily eat live forage. There just isn't enough of anything else to eat. To get live forage means two things, you have to spend much of your time searching for your meal, and you need to expend energy to catch the meal. Well, two things channel cat are not very proficient at are searching and chasing. In a regular environment catfish will tend to eat, and roam, early and late in the day.
Size can be a big factor in the eating habits of a catfish. The bigger you are the more you need to eat. So, it will not surprise you that one of the great times to catch big channel cats is during winter, when it is hardest for the large fish to find adequate forage. Since the fish is pressed to eat, it tends to do so later in the day, partially because it is hungry, and partially because of what happens in the middle of a winter day — the water temp goes up a few degrees. This slight rise in water temp will cause bait-fish to move to the warmer locations to feed. Thus, the predator fish will also tend to move to these spots as well.
At this time of the year, the size of the bait can dictate the size of the fish. If you make the bait a bit larger, then only larger fish will get the bait in their mouth. If you make the bait smaller you may catch more fish, but they may be smaller in size.
Baiting a hole to bring in the fish in the winter may be easier than other months. Soured maize or some kind of chum can concentrate the fish more readily in the winter. Cut shad and other prepared baits will work. Patience is critical for all fishing, especially catfishing. Jug lining or trot lining with live or cut bait is an effective way to catch fish over a larger area and you can come back later to check your lines.
If the cold water is not your thing, fish a power plant lake in the winter. Comanche Creek reservoir in our county has an abundance of channel catfish and with the warmer water the action is excellent.
HOOD COUNTY FISHING REPORT
Granbury water temperatures have been back on the rise with the warm spell we just had. The water temperatures will fall as the colder weather returns. Striped bass fishing on the lower ends continues to be fair to good with fish to 7 pounds possible. Striped bass are good on live shad and jigs fished near channel breaks. Crappie fishing continues to be good to excellent on small jigs fished near submerged structure. Largemouth bass are good in numbers and are being caught near main lake points and near deeper docks on soft plastics. Best sand bass action has been reported near Indian Harbor on slabs. Blue catfish to 30 pounds are possible on cut shad fished on the upper ends near Hunter Park.
Comanche Creek Reservoir action continues to be excellent for numbers of largemouth bass and channel catfish. The catfish are good on prepared baits and cut shad. Largemouth bass are being caught on most every presentation. Tilapia are also being taken mainly with cast nets (invasive species).
On other reservoirs, Lake Whitney striped bass limits are common most days. Look for the birds. Whitney crappie action in the river near Kimball Bend are also good.
michael.acosta@att.net | 254-396-4855
