Below Pickwick Dam
 

My brother and I messed around below the dam yesterday afternoon until dark trying to catch...something. Couldn't find the white bass very well, but ended up with a fairly steady bite with catfish on shiners drifted near the bottom. Brought home 11 cats (blues and channels), 5 white bass, and 1 bream. Biggest blue was 22" long, biggest channel was just shy of 21. It generally wasn't fast and furious action, but those cats sure were fun on light tackle!
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nice catches, My son (5) has been bugging me for some catfish.. he hasn't caught one yet.

How did you rig up your shiners? Maybe I can try this setup below priest

Nice catch. I had to deal with the catfish today drop shotting a Trout Magnet....I hate having to fight those things in and then cleaning up my line.....love to eat them but don't like cleaning them.


Regards

Very simply - I just hook them through the eye/nose/lips and put a single split shot about 14-16 inches above the hook. You aren't trying to "bottom fish", just pull the bait in that direction to offset the effects of current. We drifted along the wall of the dam being pushed by the wind and picked up several fish by "trolling" them. The shiners were medium-sized (no bigger than 4", which means you will catch a mixed bag. It's normal to catch cats, drum, smallmouth, largemouth, white bass, and the occasional striper with this presentation since the bait stays moving a bit. We set up a rod holder and watched the rod tip while casting jigs for white bass, so we were fishing 2 rods at a time each.

I was doing all this blind, as I have zero electronics on my boat. It would be great to find an area to target and get a bit more precise about your presentation. If fishing near the dam for cats, always look for slack water immediately adjacent to current, and start trying there.

Good luck!


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I started using an electric fillet knife on the catfish. There is a subtle difference in handling the leading edge of the knife compared to scaly fish, but it's way, way easier than skinning them out "old school".


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