Identifying Potential Spots
Good maps can help narrow the search for streams that have potential for good catfishing. Starting at the main river, you can track streams up the drainage from the primary tributaries off a main river, then into secondary tributaries, and so on up the drainage.
Maps don’t replace on-the-ground reconnaissance or word-of-mouth from reliable sources, but they can provide clues as to which locations are accessible and likely worth a visit. U.S.G.S. topographic maps, moreover, are a great resource, showing streams and rivers, unimproved roads, dams, elevation, and more—things you might not find on a typical roadmap.
In the search for small-stream catfish, Gelwicks highlights the importance of connectivity. If there are no barriers to catfish movement and enough water, channel cats can continue up the tributaries in search of spawning sites and later for summer habitats. In some systems they may travel only as far as the lower reaches of primary tributaries; but where connectivity and habitat allow, or where a source population exists farther up in the drainage, catfish may be found well up into these systems.
Just as important as connectivity is habitat, particularly at the scale of a stream “reach”—the dominant characteristics over a longer stretch of stream. You might identify a potentially productive reach on a map, but a visit reveals poor habitat and far less chance for good catfishing. In a study of catfish populations in Iowa rivers and streams, biologist Vaughn Paragamian noted that catfish abundance was keyed to habitat quality. He found the best stream reaches for both numbers and sizes of catfish offered a variety of depths, sufficient cover, and variations in current.
In Paragamian’s study, woody cover in the form of brushpiles, fallen trees, rootwads, and logjams were most important in streams that lacked rocky substrates, but woody cover was beneficial in all catfish streams. Catfish abundance was lower in channelized reaches, which lack habitat diversity and cover. Search instead for reaches that contain a good mix of deeper pools and riffles, which provide a broad spectrum of habitats and variations in current.
Cover Water
Whether you’re floating a navigable stream or wading, plan on fishing a fairly lengthy reach to find the best spots. You might get the urge to park yourself in a lawn chair under a shady bridge where you’ll likely catch a couple of cats, but more could be had elsewhere.
Cover a mile or two of water and fish from spot to spot, as you evaluate the different kinds of habitats the stream reach provides. If it’s not panning out, you might retreat to another stream or continue fishing another mile, perhaps at another access point. Sooner or later you develop a sense of a stream’s overall potential.
Pools that contain woody cover are good spots to find stream cats in summer. Current deflects against outside bends and scours sediments, especially when flow is high in spring, creating some of the best spots to find catfish. As flows recede in summer, these pools are quiet spots that attract both resting and feeding catfish. Pools can also form below riffles or around bridge pilings, and some exist as former sandpits.
Deeper pools that hold cats in winter might not necessarily be best in summer, but they often do hold fish and are worth scouting. A productive summer pool might be of only moderate depth. In the Turkey River that Gelwicks studied, channel cats were found most frequently in 2 to 4 feet of water in summer, areas substantially shallower than wintering spots. So, in many smaller catfish streams, a good pool might be only waist-deep.
Certain types of woody cover can be better than others, as can the amount and location of wood. Snags made up of several large logs are generally preferred over a single log or treetop with a few wispy branches. Cover in the faster current near the head of a hole is typically a good place to find feeding cats, while cover in quiet water at the lower end of a hole is mostly resting territory. Cover spots located at the heads and cores of holes are often the best places to fish.
Although channel catfish can live in areas of zero current, the best pools tend to have some flow. Catfish tend to avoid more isolated and stagnant pools, which can suffer localized dissolved-oxygen deficits.
