I’ve participated in the Southwest Outdoors Report with Barry Stokes often over the years appearing on the show with him filming catfish tactics and techniques. We’ve been working together on different shows of his for over ten years now.
In mid November Barry contacted me and asked me to guest host one of his shows for him and cover some techniques for catching blue catfish in the winter. We scheduled a date a few weeks out to host the show and meet his camera man on one of the local lakes.
A few days prior to filming the show I had a photographer in town shooting some photos for another project I’m working on.
Wednesday was picture perfect weather, one of those late fall days in Texas where the weather was amazing. I was fishing in shorts and flip flops and couldn’t ask for more perfect weather.
Thursday was day one with the photographer. I pulled out of the marina that morning to fog so think I couldn’t see the nose of the boat from the console. It lingered until well after lunch. I was driving by GPS only and even with that was getting turned around in the fog. No wind, dead calm and fog so thick you couldn’t take pictures. The only positive is the fish were biting (even though we couldn’t see them).
The fog cleared and the sun came out for about an hour and the fish kept biting. We managed to get a few pictures and a dark line of thunderheads rolled in and I saw lightning flashing in the distance. Up and out, we headed back to the boat ramp and the skies broke lose within minutes of loading the boat on the trailer. I backed my boat into my barn in lightning, high winds, hail, sideways rain, just nasty weather all the way around.
By the time I reached the house ten minutes later temperatures had dropped to the forties.
Day two with the photographer I woke up to 34 degree weather, it was 79 when the previous afternoon. It was pouring down rain and it rained non-stop all day long and through the night.
I had the TV shoot scheduled for Saturday morning and was dreading it. Post front fishing, freezing cold and a major shift in temperature combined with a strong north wind was going to mean tough fishing.
Saturday morning I woke up to more rain and watched the radar all morning waiting for a break in rain. When it looked like we’d have a chance we deployed and met at the lake so I could take the camera man to film the show. After three days of dodging bullets I thought we were in the clear but boy was a wrong.
Some day I’ll share the rest of the story but what happened between pulling the boat off the trailer and getting out to fish is the stuff movies are made of.
Drift Fishing For Catfish Show
The full episode of Southwest Outdoors Report is below. I hosted the show in it’s entirety. We caught a nice fish and filmed this quickly because we were racing against mother nature. There’s not fast and furious action in the video start to finish but I cover some good tips for catching blue catfish in the winter and drift fishing for catfish that apply any time of year.
Check it out and post a comment below. I’d love feedback on the show. It’s a learning process for me and you just never know when or where I could turn up next!
If you’re looking for more in depth information on the techniques used in this show check out Drift Fishing Catfish and Catching Shad books. These walk you step by step through everything you need to know to locate and catch shad and the techniques used to locate and catch catfish while drift fishing.
There’s also a free ebook I released following the show called Seven Winter Catfishing Tips that will help you in your quest to catch more catfish during the colder months.
Great job on the show , Chad
Thanks Eddie. I appreciate it.
I want to wish 1 and all a marry Christmas that was 1 cold day.
Thanks Thomas. You also!
Hi Chad, You did a really good job hosting the show. I’ve been watching Barry since we both were very young on The Outdoor Trails Show. I have a question. I live near Navarro Mills Lake. This lake is basically a shallow lake no more that 20 ft deep except in front of the flood gates which you cannot get to. I do not own a boat: I fish off of the fishing pier. Water is about 19 ft deep there. This lake is full of blue, channel and flathead cats, but for some reason I have yet to catch any catfish other than a few small channels. I’ve used every bait you can think of. Any suggestions would be much appreciated. Thanks for all you do to help the novice fisherman.
Gene Grissom
Frost, TX
Thomas, I have never fished there but now many that do.
Are you limited to fishing from the pier or are other areas of the lake accessible?
Hi gene. I live near a very similar lake that only goes to 14 feet. It only has channels in it but i have caught them up to 16 pounds. How i find them is to look for any structure, and i mean any i caught a 8 pounder from floatin a shrimp around a swamp cooler someone didnt want anymore. So i would try and find structure in that lake like a transitsion from pepples to sand or a feeder creek or even a submerged creek channel. I understand your shore bound so i doubt you have a sonar, but that is just a minor setback. You can usually find these type of spots by just paying attetion to the ground your standing on, i have found that the features you find above the waterline extend below it as well. So with a bit if leg work i am sure you will find some good spots that hold better cats.