Most of my catfishing is on Santee Cooper (Lakes Marion and Moultrie), Lake Wateree, the Wateree River, and Lake Wylie. As a rule of thumb, the spawn normally starts around the middle of May and continues until about mid-June in my area. This annual ritual should be taken into consideration when fishing for catfish.
The first thing I want to mention is structure. That includes rocks, laydowns, and other cover. Since May is generally when we start seeing our blues start spawning and they seem to get very tight to structure during that time I want to fish very tight to structure.
My second piece of advice is never to rule out shallow water in the backs of creeks. This is especially true after rain has caused some runoff. That runoff from the rain creates more current than normal and draws the blues into the creek.
Finally, if I’m fishing one particular area and get the feeling that the fish are spawning I will go check another area. If I can find some water that maybe doesn’t warm up as quickly as others I will try that. This is because I believe the fish spawn in different areas at different times and one area may be further ahead than another.”
