Because outside bends bear the brunt of current in high water, they’re also zones of high erosion, often leading to sloughing, where banks aren’t stabilized by terrestrial vegetation. Erosion is more prominent around areas with bank disturbance, such as where livestock can access streams or where banks have been cleared. Holes in these areas tend to be less defined with more unstable sediments. Although logjams can accumulate along these bends, they typically don’t hold as many catfish as logjams found on an outside bend with a healthy bank.
Root systems of trees, brush, and other forms of vegetation help bind soils on stream banks and can lead to the formation of undercut areas. Water scours soil underneath root systems, carving out secluded habitats with overhead cover. Cutbanks that house log complexes can be some of the best catfish spots of all.
Rigging Up
Small-water catfishing is a simple operation, requiring minimal tackle and just a few supplies. Most stream cat duty can be accomplished with a 6- to 7-foot light- to medium-action spinning rod and a medium spinning reel spooled with 8- to 12-pound-test monofilament. When wading, a small shoulder bag is helpful for carrying supplies: extra hooks, floats, weights, pliers, sunscreen, a bait knife, bug repellent, bait, a stringer, and maybe lunch. Because of briars, ticks, and poison ivy, long pants are a good idea for trailblazing on stream banks.
A splitshot rig, with one or two shot pinched onto the line about a foot above the hook, is great for slowly drifting baits along and under snags and cutbanks. A sliprig with a slightly larger bell sinker holds baits on bottom—a good choice when you want to keep your bait pinned to likely catfish locations.
Streams are dandy places to fish float rigs, too, where you can slowly drift baits off bottom along logjams, cutbanks, through runs and mid-channel pools. For baits, you usually can’t go wrong with small chunks of cutbait or small, freshly killed baitfish. The same goes for a gob of worms. Crickets, grasshoppers, and frogs are other good options, particularly when they’re seasonally abundant.
In the end, there’s something therapeutic about getting up close and personal with small rivers and streams. Most times you’re fortunate to have the solitude—watching, listening, and feeling these waters as they roll by, sand and gravel shifting underfoot, all the while figuring out the intricacies of flow. A twig floats along, ever so often twisting in a micro-eddy then gliding on its way, turning again before it lands. Could be a catfish there.
