(l-r) Capt. Todd Arganti and Capt. Denny Sharrone are walleye-fishing guides on Lake Erie, so obviously they are not afraid of a little cold weather. They occasionally find their way south to fish the Tennessee River, landing this respectable blue catfish double on January 22.
Get the Wintertime Blues
by Capt. Richard Simms
For a lot of us, it’s shaping up to be a long, cold winter. Duck hunters, of course, love the cold weather. But most fishermen, not so much. That’s why some catfish guides across the country actually close up shop in the winter and move on to other pursuits until warmer days arrive. But even those guides know that the hardcore catfishermen who don’t quit fishing, can reap huge rewards.
Capt. Aaron Massey, a catfish guide on the Tennessee River near Chattanooga, Tennessee never quits. He is always willing to guide clients on a trophy catfish hunt 365 days a year.
“The catch rate won’t be as high in the winter,” said Capt. Massey. “But it’s a good time to catch big ones. You will usually see the fattest catfish of the year in the winter. Maybe they feed up in the fall preparing for winter. I’m not 100 percent sure why. I just know it’s true.”
Capt. Ty Konkle agrees with Capt. Massey.
“During the wintertime, they take advantage of all the shad dying and stuff like that,” said Capt. Konkle. “They just pack it on during the wintertime. They’ll get real good and fat.”
Mike Jolley is a fisheries biologist for the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency (TWRA). He says because so few people catfish in the winter, they really don’t have good scientific data on winter catch rates. Jolley said, however, he has seen what might be waiting on the bottom for winter catfish anglers. And what he has seen mirrors what Capt. Massey and Capt. Konkle say.
Jolley says from their netting studies, they find that big cats set up in deeper holes on the main river channels—places they can wait on food to drift by without expending a lot of effort. He specifically remembers a February gill-netting research project.
“We were actually sampling for paddlefish,” said Jolley. “But when we pulled nets, I saw a half dozen of the biggest catfish I’ve ever netted in my entire career. They weren’t what we were looking for, so we didn’t weigh them. But they were the biggest (catfish) I’ve ever seen, and they all came out of one deep hole.”
Capt. Jason Schneiderhahn with STL Catfishing in St. Louis is one of those guides who lays low in the winter. But he said he knows if you are willing to hit the winter water, “You can catch catfish year-round.”
In the summer, he prefers drift fishing so he can cover lots of water. But he says in the winter, “The cats just get pretty lethargic when water temperatures drop below 60 degrees,” Schneiderhahn said. “It just requires patience, looking for deep water and just sitting on them. But, yeah, they still have to eat.”
On the Tennessee River, Capt. Massey said he will start most of his winter catfishing excursions concentrating on creek mouths emptying into the main Tennessee River channel. These aren’t the kinds of creek mouths you can see on the surface. But underwater mapping displays where those major creeks, now flooded, hit the main river channel.
He said he feels especially confident in those areas, or nearby ledges, when he marks schools of bait hanging in the area.
“The best day I ever had catfishing was on Lake Sinclair in Georgia,” said Massey. “On that day, we spotted birds feeding toward the back of a creek. We found that catfish had followed the bait up shallow. Following a rain, it got really muddy. We probably caught 40 catfish that day, and a bunch of them were good ones.”
Capt. Chris Jones is a catfish guide on Missouri’s Lake of the Ozarks. Like Schneiderhahn, he admits he doesn’t do a lot of business in the winter.
“Most people just aren’t willing to brave the cold,” he said. “But people who think you can’t catch fish in the winter are missing out. Winter is one of the best times of the year to catch big blue cats.
“They’ll school together. If you can find them, you can catch more than one big fish at the same spot.”
He does say that big fish bites often look different in the winter than they do in the summer.
“A lot of times in the winter, they just won’t pull the rod down,” he said. “They’ll just peck at it, and you’ll think it’s a small fish. They’re cold, and they’re not real aggressive. You actually have to set the hook on some of those fish that are just pecking. They turn out to be some of our biggest fish.”
Adam Berry fishes Norris Reservoir in Upper East Tennessee and started the Norris Lake Reservoir Catfish Anglers Association. He agrees with Capt. Jones.
“In the winter, catfish usually just bend the tip a little,” he said. “It’s almost like they are just tapping the bait, whereas, in the summer, they take the rod fully down.”
Perhaps the biggest thing about winter catfishing is that you won’t have a lot of competition. Most folks just are not willing to brave the cold.
To stay warm on the water, Capt. Massey says he is a big believer in insulated Carhartt bibs.
“Also, always wear 100% polyester socks underneath your heavy socks,” he added. “That wicks away moisture from your feet. The same is true on your base layers of clothing. Never wear cotton base layers.”
Jolley points out that he and his crews are almost always wearing rubber bib overalls and rain gear, whether they expect rain or not.
“Of course, we’re often getting wet when we’re pulling nets and other gear,” said Jolley. “But even if you’re not, good rain gear holds heat in and cuts the wind.”
So, learn to dress right, keep a supply of patience pills handy, and trophy winter catfish are out there waiting.
(Capt. Richard Simms is the editor of our sister publication, CrappieNOW magazine, as well as owner of Scenic City Fishing Charters. Formerly, he was a game warden for the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency before becoming a photographer and PR guy for TWRA. That led to a 30-year career as a broadcast journalist and freelance outdoor writer. Follow Capt. Simms’s other writings on his “Richard’s Ramblings” Facebook page.)
