Many people like to fish low water for catfish, so Dave Mull has a few little nuggets of info that can be used throughout the season to help you catch more low-water fish.

Keep in mind that low water in one place is not all that low in others. For example, the Red River is low when there are 1- to 3-foot-deep areas that you have to cross with your boat. Meanwhile, on the Yellowstone River in Montana, low is when you are running through 3 to 5 inches of water with a jet boat.

When pre-spawn kicks into high gear in spring, you can never go wrong fishing around dams for hungry and feeding catfish. They naturally migrate and feed upstream, and with dams exposed from a low-water spring, the fish simply cannot go any further past the dam.

During low-water times, the spawn gets tricky, as there is little to no current in most cases, so the catfish just need to find a hole, snag or some other cavernous area to lay a nest. With lack of current, they don’t have to be all that picky in choosing this spot. At this time, you just have to move a lot and try a lot of different stuff. Look at every area that has some sort of structure. Find cut banks with any sort of structure on them. Look at deeper holes with little to no current, or anything even as small as a log on the bottom. In other words, try everything you can think of.

Low water makes post spawn and summer patterns fairly predictable, but a lot of work. The fish spread out into the most traditional catfish areas. The fish tend to avoid long straight sections of river and make their homes in areas of bends that provide deep water, shallow water, cover and access to some current.

When you find a bend in the river that offers all of the above elements of structure, you will find the fish. With a little understanding of how catfish feed and adjust to the weather—or some simple trial and error—you will be able to catch fish with consistency.

One thing to pay attention to during this time of year is that the fish don’t recycle like they do during higher-water conditions, so spots must be rotated and protected for a few days. This allows the fish to recuperate and new fish to maybe cycle in.

When the water is low, water temperatures can get to over 80. A great trick to catching fish in these warm-water conditions is to use frozen cutbait. I believe that when the water is that hot, blood and scent washes out very quickly and does not fully allow for a fish to find it. A frozen piece of bait takes a little extra time to thaw, putting more scent into the water and giving catfish a much better chance to get on the trail and find the bait.

One thing to watch for when the water is low for an extended period of time is oxygen levels in the water. This can be found on some newer river gauges operated by the USGS. Oxygen levels in lower and stagnant water can become an issue with prolonged periods of no rain or flow to increase it. When the oxygen levels get too low, catfish can become very sluggish. You know they are there, but they are just not biting. This is due to their desire to conserve energy and avoid suffocation.

To catch fish in such conditions, you have to either find hard, visible current where fish are finding oxygen, or sit on the non-aggressive fish for nearly double the 15 to 20 minutes it normally takes to get them to finally try to eat.

It appears that low water is here and in our catfishing futures. While it is not exactly what many of us wanted to start the 2021 season, it is one of those trends that show up from time to time and we as anglers must deal with it.

If you watch for the more traditional areas that hold catfish, rotate your spots and be patient while you are fishing in these conditions, you will have a great season.

For more useful tips from the pros who know, check out the summer issues of MidWest Outdoors, available now at the newsstand or by subscribing on our website.