Catching cats during the day.

[Bigroach3]

Hi guys, I caught my first Catfish during the day in May. I have had 5 blanks in succession fishing on bright sunny days. It’s a big lake mostly over 10ft deep & gin clear. I am unable to fish at night. Is it rare to catch in bright sunlight?
regards, Joe

 

[mikench]

I would be content with a blank rather than a catfish. Horrible things.

 

[@Clive]

The fish could be in spawning mode at this time of year. Then the males will be nest guarding and disinterested in baits for some weeks. If you are looking for a bit of sport try the last two hours of daylight otherwise the best locatjons in bright westher are under tree canopies or in the deepest water. Those under the trees may move about through the day as the sun travels across the sky. They will rest in shade wherever possible.

 

[Keith M]

Some idiot(s) ilegally stocked catfish into the reservoir upstream of our lake and they spread downstream into our lake. Both the reserviour and ourselves are trying to eradicate them and every catfish caught gets put into an enclosure and is then dealt with.

I’ve caught several cats in the high twenties during the day; and several have been caught to over 40lbs by others.

Recently we have started to have a series of 48 hour catfish matches and every catfish caught will be removed from the lake. The reservoir upstream of us is also seriously trying to get rid of them by netting and by removal after catching.

Prior to the catfish problem we had a very healthy fish population but since the cats arrived the only fish that seem to have survived are the Carp and the bream (even the catfish don’t seem to like our Bream ) We can then restock with the Tench, Crucians Roach, Rudd that the Catfish have decimated and try to restore the lake to its former glory.

The only plus thing that the cats appear to have done was get rid of our foreign crayfish problem.

The catfish below was the last 20lb-plus one that I caught during the day while after Carp.



Keith

 

[Alan Whitty]

They are notoriously sporadic feeders,fasting for a few days then feeding hard,depending on their natural food availability(as they eat anything and everything),but if you watch YouTube the beggars catch pigeons(and I suppose other birds)that come down to drink,so daylight is imperative for this type of prey...

 

[Philip]

Its not rare for them to take in the day but your chances improve at night. Try different depths they are not just bottom feeders and dont neglect the margins. Stay as late as you can.

A big livebait is unlikly to be ignored for too long if there is enough of them about.

 

[Alan Whitty]

Philip,I'm curious on the deep pit I've rejoined this season I've hooked quite a few cats fishing for other species,but never in the margins,in fact never in a depth less than 10ft plus,most margins are 5ft or more...

 

[markcw]

Philip,I'm curious on the deep pit I've rejoined this season I've hooked quite a few cats fishing for other species,but never in the margins,in fact never in a depth less than 10ft plus,most margins are 5ft or more...

Try and go along the margins with a landing net handle, probing at an angle to the bank . Once you feel the handle go in instead of hitting the bottom of the bank , Put a bait there as close to the bank as you can.
Catfish undercut the banks to some extent they are unsafe to sit or walk on .
A good bait is a chunk of spam soaked in "Predator Plus"

 

[Alan Whitty]

On the water in question,there are Norfolk reeds all round,apart from the fishable swims,the big girls build nests in the reeds and guard them until the fry are old enough to vamoose...

 

[Philip]

Philip,I'm curious on the deep pit I've rejoined this season I've hooked quite a few cats fishing for other species,but never in the margins,in fact never in a depth less than 10ft plus,most margins are 5ft or more...

Obviously I don’t know your lake Alan but I catch more than my share of Catfish (unfortunately!) & in my experience they can come right close in & it doesn’t have to be deep either. Shady areas right under marginal snags or trees can be a good spot. I have also watched them by torch & street lights quartering margin shallows after dark, really interesting to see them hunt. You mentioned about the Pigeon eating catfish video on Youtube …you cant get more in the margins than that !

I do get the feeling they are happier to move about more under the cover of darkness & I think they feed in the upper layers a lot more than people think as well which probably goes some way to explaining why clonks work.

You mentioned Norfolk reeds all round the margins of your lake, if they are very thick then perahaps they just find it harder to find prey there so they are hunting further out in the open water. I seem to recall they are very good at sensing vibrations and reeds probably dampen any vibrations making it harder for them to sense prey ? Obviously I am guessing & every venue will have its own peculiarities.

At the end of the day they are scavengers as well as predators and will go where the food is.

 

[Alan Whitty]

Yes,I think that food isn't an issue,the lake is full of roach,rudd and perch,there are quite a few double figure carp(which a 70lb plus cat might have a go at),tench,bream and skimmers,plus lots of pike,mainly jack's 2-8lbs,but to at least upper doubles,the roach population spends most of its time in warmer months up to 8ft down,with the general depths being 10-20ft,around 30ft in two areas,so cats are obviously coming up slowly from below and drawing several roach at once in big gulps,that's without anglers baits,a friend of mine had 4 one night this week including a big forty and a low fifty....