My Official 2020 Catfish Kickoff

Today was my first "official" catfishing trip of 2020. I say official because technically I went fishing last weekend but it was an exploratory trip on the upper end of a creek. Today I was out on the main lake doing my thing.

I started on the southern end of the islands and worked my way back north. There was almost no wind so I drifted mainly unless I saw something I wanted to stick on. The day started with a 27 in Blue followed by another 27 incher. Couple of small ones mixed in here and there but of the 10ish fish most were over 20 in.

The weather was overcast and misting on and off. Around 70 for temp and pressure was slightly above normal but coming down ahead of an approaching front. This was not a strong front but the wind was set to shift north and looking out the window this evening that is indeed what it has done.

Technique was business as usual. 3 rods, 2 with smaller double action circle hooks, 4 and 5/0 with the 3rd pole featuring a larger hook, 8/0 double action I believe. Small hooks had small cut shad on them. Nothing more than and maybe 1.5 in by 1.5 in. Big hook had large bait, cut Tilapia.

Oddly enough it was the small hooks and small baits catching the big fish. I got a few take downs on the large hook but no hook ups. Water temps were in the 60s, 64 if I remember correctly. Could possibly be that the fish were looking for smaller baits today and may get more active as it warms up.

I need to figure out a way to fish the big hooks when drifting in shallow water. Today I had several big take downs on the big hook and even saw the fish surface but it never hooked up. My concern is there that there is barely 4ft of line out and the fish simply does not have enough line to take the bait and move off with it. I have two thoughts here. First, when drifting I can use a large bobber (on the upwind side of the drift) and let 10-15 ft of line out. I will still be fishing at the same depth but the fish will have some rope to hang himself with. Second I can take my bank rods with me and use the baitrunner drags set very loosely fishing straight down as normal. The fish can take the bait and move off and I can flip the baitrunner off when I think he's got it.

Great day though. Lots of action although there we several long dry spells but by continually moving I limited my time in unproductive spots.