First-Rate Fishing Below Dams

It’s no mystery why some of the best catfishing of the year often takes place in a tailwater area, beginning around April in the South and lasting well through June in the North. It’s gluttony. And it’s love. In that order. For a fat cat’s penchant for chow is hardly affected by the lusty advances of even the loveliest catfish of the opposite persuasion—at least not until the very end, when nature cannot be ignored. Even then, though, even when a bully big male cat is guarding his brood in a hole in a cutbank, food’s welcomed with a bite and a burp when it rolls close by.

Tailwaters may be large or small, turbulent or gently flowing, shallow or deep, dangerous or safe, depending on the size of the river and the subsequent size, construction, and purpose of the dam. All tailwaters are dangerous in high water. The water immediately below the turbines of large hydro stations, though, where water boils for all the world like cauldrons from hell, holds a special terror. Lowhead dams, too, are always dangerous, particularly so because many of them don’t look as if they are. But get sucked into the turbulence below and you can kiss your life goodbye, even if you’re wearing five life jackets.

Cats move upriver during high-water periods in spring. If, for example, a river’s free of ice by March, the water temperature is poking into the 50°F range by mid April and cats are on the move. Hole by hole, run by run, shallow section by shallow section, cats move until they hit barriers. A barrier may be a particularly shallow portion of river. It may be a tremendous buildup of fallen timber stretching across a river. Eventually though, it usually is a dam.

A cat consolidation of sorts is going on, the opposite of what happens by late summer. Say a river’s 50 miles long. By late summer, catfish relate to the deepest holes in the river; but those holes often are evenly spread throughout all 50 miles of river. Once late spring arrives, though, once cats have had a chance to move, most of them are somewhere in the upper third of the river.

Cats don’t all group in tailwaters. But a lot of them at least make it there and stay for a while to feed before gradually moving back downriver to spawning areas, perhaps the same areas where they’ve spawned before. At any one time, then, once plenty of water is moving during spring, the catfish population in a tailwater area is constantly being replenished by catfish arriving from downriver. And again, because of the supreme feeding conditions in most tailwaters, most cats stay at least for a while.

The amount of fishing pressure makes a difference in the number of available fish in smaller tailwaters. Once cats reach a tailwater, the consolidation continues as they are moved by current into prime feeding areas. There may be few such locations in smaller tailwaters, a dozen in larger ones. Rarely, though, are there many prime spots, and you need to recognize them. We’ll get to that.

Once the fish stationed in those areas are caught, it takes awhile for the spots to be replenished. During peak prespawn movements in spring, this may take several days. When the water's low in summer, it takes a major rain to replenish spots with catfish. Periods between good fishing may last more than a month.

Once you learn to read current, you know exactly where fish might be. Then you need to probe those spots to see what kind of structure lies below. That usually determines how many cats can be there. Once you’re anchored right, you’ll catch most of the cats feeding there, which during June is most of the cats most of the time.

Baits and Tackle

Tailrace catfish feed on both live and dead baitfish. Smaller fish species are disoriented by the turbulent waters below dams, making them easy prey. When baitfish pass through dam turbines they’re often chopped into palatable slabs that catfish feed on.