One month of the author’s daily log book. From this one can see good
and bad days, trends, successes and failures. This data will be calculated
into averages to see how the season compares to years past. It’s also a
great reference if needed in the future.
Planning for Next Year’s Catfish Season
Story and photos by Brad Durick
As one catfish season ends, the next one should already be taking shape. The transition doesn’t happen simply because one season ends and another begins on the calendar. The off-season is when the planning, reviewing and preparation for the next season should begin.
As an avid angler and guide, I’m usually thinking about the next season by the time I’m halfway through the current one. Ironically, some of my best ideas and plans seem to come toward the end of the season, when there’s little I can do with them. Then I have to spend the long North Dakota winter thinking them over and figuring out how to put those ideas into action when the water opens up again.
What Worked and What Didn’t
Every fishing trip, regardless of the species you’re pursuing, teaches you something. Some things work, some don’t, and some work only under certain conditions. The key is to make note of those experiences while they’re fresh.
Maybe you hit the weather just right—or just wrong. Maybe the bait was perfect, or maybe you were using the wrong bait for the conditions. You may have found the right pattern, or spent hours fishing in the wrong place. Keeping track of those details can help you recognize patterns over time, avoid repeating mistakes and recreate the things that produced success.
I keep a calendar book and make notes in it every day. If something stands out as particularly successful—or particularly bad—I write it down along with my other daily notes. At the end of the season, I go back through the book and calculate my average catch rate in fish per hour. That tells me how I performed over the course of the season and whether I reached my goal of averaging 1.5 fish per hour.
When I have a stretch of exceptional fishing or a period when the bite is especially poor, I dig a little deeper. I’ll go back online and pull weather and water data, then compare those conditions with my catch records. Over the years, this has helped me identify trends and better understand why the fishing was so good—or so bad—at certain times.
I can often see the reasons after several years of keeping these records. But even when I can’t find a clear explanation, the notes give me something to watch for the next time I encounter similar conditions. That information can be just as valuable when planning the next season.
How Will I Improve or Catch More Fish?
You now have the notes. It’s time to put them to work. In many cases, it can be as simple as looking back at a specific stat, such as water level or temperature, and reminding yourself what worked and what didn’t.
Some patterns are harder to figure out than others. Sometimes you find yourself in a situation where things are going wrong in a way that feels familiar. You know you’ve seen it before, but you can’t quite remember what the solution was. That’s when you start trying different things. Sometimes you get it right and have that “aha” moment.
That actually happened to me in 2012. I was shooting a TV show, and nothing was going right. At the end of the day, I made notes about the conditions and what I had been doing.
The following year, I was having a horrible day with clients when I finally figured out the bite and turned the day around. The whole situation felt familiar, just like that TV shoot in 2012. When I got home, I found my book and looked up the conditions from that day.
Sure enough, the conditions matched. The difference was that this time, I made the right adjustments.
That’s the value of keeping good records. When you run into the same situation again, you have something to look back on. You may not always figure it out the first time, but if you make the right notes and learn from them, you can keep the same mistake from happening again.
Things I Can’t Control
There are some things you simply can’t predict or control when preparing for a new season. You have to make your plans with an open mind, then be ready to adjust when conditions change.
The biggest question where I live is when the river will open up and whether it will flood. I’ve been held up by flooding for many years, but the trend lately has been little to no flooding. That means we have to be prepared to start early and deal with low water levels.
This is where all those notes about what worked and what didn’t come back into play. The information you gathered during previous seasons gives you a starting point. You know what conditions to watch for and have an idea of how you want to fish them. Then you adjust from there.
Here’s a good example. Around 2010, we had annual spring floods. By the time the floodwater receded and the river warmed up, the best fishing of the year was usually in early to mid-June. People remembered that, and over time June became known as the best month to fish.
But look at the past three years. From 2024 through 2026, we’ve had little to no flooding, and the river was ready to rock in very early May. The calendar said June was the month to fish, but the conditions said otherwise.
The conditions were similar from the high-water years to these recent low-water years. The difference was when those conditions occurred.
Follow the conditions, not the calendar.
What Gear Changes or Upgrades do I Need?
As anglers, most of us love shopping for rods, reels and other tackle. Sometimes we find a great deal, and sometimes we find something we simply can’t live without. But as serious catfish anglers, we should also keep a running list of what we actually need—and what we want—so we’re prepared for the next season.
I keep a page in my to-do notebook just for this. Being a guide, I go through much more gear than most anglers, so having it written down helps keep me on track.
As I write this, I already know I’ll be starting with new rods and reels in 2027. I’ve already purchased them, so they’re off the list. Right now, my list includes more hooks, swivels, tubing for sinker bumpers and some small replacement parts to keep my reels rolling without delays.
Late in the season, I also discovered a new low-water pattern that will require some different equipment if I run into those conditions again. I’ll need two lighter rods and some braided line to make that pattern work.
This is also where you should keep your maintenance list for your boat and other equipment. The obvious items include oil and filter changes and replacing the gear-case lubricant, but don’t overlook the smaller maintenance jobs that can cause problems when the season starts. Write them down so they don’t get forgotten.
For me, this is actually the last thing I do before the boat goes into storage rather than something I wait to do in the spring when everyone else is trying to get the same work done. I change the oil and filter before storage and drain and replace the gear-case oil. If there are other things I can’t do myself, I make an appointment with my mechanic, usually for the first part of November.
In the North Country, that’s a good time to get it done. Mechanics are between boat season and snowmobile season, so they have more time to get the work finished before winter really gets going.
Preparing for the next season keeps your interest up, keeps you learning about the fish we all love and keeps your gear in stock and ready to go. When the new season arrives, you don’t want to be wondering what you need to buy, fix or replace. You want to be ready to fish.
(Capt. Brad Durick is a nationally recognized catfish guide on the Red River of the North, seminar speaker and author of the books “Cracking the Channel Catfish Code” and “Advanced Catfishing Made Easy.” For more information go to redrivercatfish.com.)
