Brad Durick explains the best places to find catfish in “normal” summer conditions.

Just for discussion’s sake, let’s talk normal conditions. When I say normal, I mean neither too high nor too low—just somewhere in the middle that one can get a boat in and go. One where shore anglers can easily walk the bank and have spots to fish pretty much at will. Water temperatures are hovering between 74 and 80 degrees, and the fish are off the spawn and ready to do their catfishy thing for the rest of the summer, until it is time to make some changes during fall to get ready for winter.

Normal conditions

Right after the spawn is over—usually early July—catfish spread out to find their summer haunts that they will call home for the next couple months. These areas should have some deep water, shallow water, faster current, slower current and cover for all situations.

The best areas for this are on a bend ranging from a couple hundred yards long to as much as a half-mile long. These areas will provide catfish with everything they want for comfort and food needs during summer.

Normal fishing tactics

If you have normal conditions and the fish are set up in their normal places, you should be able to move in and easily find the faster current areas near deep water. This is generally a good place to start finding out how active the fish are on any given day. If you are fishing in the morning, it is an even better bet, as catfish will feed harder at night during the summer months.

If that spot doesn’t work, before you pack up and drive miles up- or downstream, try casting or moving to areas with more cover, such as snag piles, and less current. If there was a front or change in the water conditions, catfish can move out of the current; just a little move out of the current can make all the difference in catching or not catching.

Once you establish how the fish are reacting, it will be easy to replicate the pattern throughout your trip by fishing similar areas and situations. Once you have the sit time established, you can become very efficient in staying on fish with great consistency.

Normal weather adjustments

When there is a front, fish don’t just pack up and swim miles to another spot; they tend to stay withing that general area that we described earlier. If the area has everything a catfish wants, they won’t go far. In fact, if there is a front or storm, they might be feeding aggressively ahead of the storm. Then as soon as the front passes, they’ll go to the areas of heavy cover or little to no current to sulk and let the negative conditions pass. When this happens, get your bait into those areas and plan to sit a little longer than normal.

On the opposite note, if the fish are sluggish from a post-frontal situation, they will eventually come out and feed aggressively again. I find that this usually takes three to four days after a heavy front, but if it is a small front, they may move back to feeding after just a few hours.

Watch the clock

I am a clock watcher and I preach it. Every time I set up, I literally set a timer on the spot. A cell phone, depth finder or even an old kitchen timer will work. Catfish tend to follow a set time. For reasons I cannot explain, they will bite the bait at about the same time throughout a day. I set the base time to 20 minutes to get a feel for what is going on. Some days, you can shorten the timer while other days you may need to extend it.

The main thing is to try to determine the sit times based on 20 minutes and extend or shorten five to ten minutes either way during a “normal” summer bite.

Normal night fishing

This is a great time of year to consider night fishing. Traditionally, this is how most catfishing was done, especially from shore. Find a nice bank, build a campfire, set the lines and wait for Mr. Wonderful to bite. Back before many people had boats, nighttime was the right time. This was in part because catfish tend to feed at night and will come shallow chasing baits, and part because many simply thought catfish only bit at night.

Normal expectations

When the summer pattern is normal, I expect to be fishing in the high-probability spots I described in this article. I expect to start out with a 20-minute timer set and make adjustments as needed. I expect that I will catch a fish or two from each of these spots before moving on to the next section of river to set up. At the end of an average day, I should have landed between 12 and 15 fish.

Most anglers are out to catch fish and do not have the luxury of a rotation of several well-producing spots. With that, results may vary, but the opportunity is there during normal times. Stay on the move, tweak your presentations, play with baits and you should have similar success.

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