PUBLISHER
Dan Dannenmueller
EDITOR
Keith “Catfish” Sutton
SR. WRITER
Ron Presley
ART/ CREATIVE DIRECTOR
Matt Mullikin
WRITERS
Alan Clemons
Brad Durick
Brent Frazee
Michael Giles
Anietra Hamper
Terry Madewell
Ron Presley
Richard Simms
Keith Sutton
Brad Wiegmann
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Cover Photo Credit
Eddie Tarpy shows off a respectable blue catfish caught on the Tennessee River in downtown Chattanooga, Tennessee, literally in the shadow of the city’s scenic Hunter Art Museum. In addition to great bottom structure in this section of the Tennessee River, the many bridge crossings and pilings you can see downstream provide excellent catfish hangouts. (Richard Simms photo)
Fall Brings Fine Fishing
Wow, fall is upon us!!! I just don’t know where this year has gone.
Interestingly, we are already seeing the temperatures change, and we are finally getting some very much needed rain. This signals to every living thing that it must change with the weather, and that means the catfish bite is going to be improving!
With all the heat this summer, many fish and animals have been lethargic at best. Couple this with low rainfall and low water flow in many areas and it leads to low oxygen levels. It is no wonder the fish were not moving much.
To help put their plight in human terms, when you travel up a mountain to higher altitudes—perhaps to find cooler temperatures—the oxygen content in the air becomes lower and we must breathe harder to get enough oxygen into our lungs and eventually to our organs. We feel stressed, tired and don’t feel like moving much or fast. We also eat less.
As soon as we travel to lower altitudes, however, we breathe better, slower and feel like eating much more.
For fish, as surface water temperatures rise, they must go deeper to find optimal cooler water. But with less rain and low current, the oxygen levels in deeper water plummet and, in some cases, can even become nonexistent. Such as situation actually led to a die-off of walleye in Tennessee’s Dale Hollow Lake this summer.
Other fish may not die, but they react negatively in low oxygen conditions, slowing down to conserve energy. This inactivity often includes not eating while consuming fat stored in their bodies.
When they feel the change in temperatures as we do, it is time to find the food and eat as much as they can to restore the fat and protein stores. For fisher people, this is the time to go fishing. Fall is that trigger, especially when temperature drops occur and rainfall returns.
I love to fish for catfish and crappie this season. The fish are hungry, ambitious and willing to chase bait, so many different techniques can be used to catch limits of catfish. It certainly doesn’t hurt that many outdoorsmen and women choose to go hunting this time of year, hence you can have quiet times on the water surrounded by the colors of fall while bringing home limits of fish for future catfish meals.
I encourage you to get out this fall and catch some big limits and have the time of your life.
God Bless,
Dan Dannenmueller, Publisher
