Ten million or so anglers seeking catfish. And while even the best anglers puzzle over exactly how to catch catfish some days, many of the best anglers are steps ahead of the masses who wish to become the type of anglers who usually—not just occasionally—have an honest shot at catching catfish.

All of the process that is catching catfish probably can’t be taught. At least some of the best anglers must bear a gift as Richard Petty bears his gift to drive a race car at impossible speeds around an impossible track. What he does isn’t exactly human, but almost superhuman, a gift enhanced by calculated practice. Almost all of us, though, can be taught to drive, and most of us can be taught to drive better, even to drive exceptionally, should we so wish.

The need to learn to understand that catfish pass through different periods of response as the year progresses often strikes novice catfish anglers as, at best, an odd part of the fishing process. Boring. Perhaps even silly. They want to talk secret baits, secret riggings, secret this, and secret that. But only a few real overriding secrets to catching cats exist, and one is found in the seemingly mundane subject before you here.

The In-Fisherman Calendar includes 10 periods in an annual cycle. Dividing the annual continuum into 10 periods is arbitrary; indeed, the periods sometimes overlap—and we have further regrouped the 10 periods into 7 slightly broader categories that fit catfish.

Catfishing begins after waters stabilize during spring, as catfish move into a long Prespawn Period. After spawning, they settle into holding areas for summer. At some point during fall, cool water and rain move cats downriver to large deep holes where they spend winter. Catfish in lakes and reservoirs often move deep by late fall. Winter, which may include ice cover, reduces the activity level of most catfish species, except during extended periods of warm weather.

Understanding calendar periods is one basis for learning the patterns of catfish and developing the skill to find them. The calendar periods serve as a reference and thus a means of communication. Understanding that fish progress through distinct periods of activity that vary only in their length from year to year, based on changes in weather and water conditions, allows anglers to note similarities and difference in fish behavior from one activity period to the next.

One overriding factor in discussion among anglers, therefore, is the calendar period under (or surrounding) which the discussion takes place. It does little good, for example, for catfishermen to discuss the productivity of certain baits—say dipbaits—without also noting the calendar period in question. Dipbaits, they might note, are a classic bait for channel catfish beginning in late spring and peaking during summer. Often, though, they don’t perform so well as natural baits during colder-water periods.

So astute anglers don’t just sing praises of their favorite dipbait without defining the calendar period (or periods) in question. Occasionally, of course, anglers need to get more definitive in order to be accurately understood. A particular sour cheese dip, an angler might note, is the best dip option during prespawn, while a blood dip or a combination of cheese and blood is better than sour cheese during the Postsummer Period. So such qualifications do more than just spice up conversations among catfishermen. They’re absolutely vital to being accurately understood.

Year of the Channel Catfish

Channel cats remain the most widely studied catfish species, though when compared to bass, trout, and walleyes, biologists have paid the popular channel cat relatively little attention. Most of our knowledge of the seasonal movements and behavior of catfish is based on several rivers, lakes, and reservoirs that we’ve observed closely. Fortunately, blue cats and flatheads in many waters seem to follow similar seasonal patterns.

Winter or Frozen Water Period

Water Temperature: Coldest Water for an Extended Period

General Fish Mood: Negative

This extended period can’t be defined by precise environmental markers since channel catfish are found in a variety of geographic areas. The Winter Period includes two In-Fisherman Calendar Periods: Coldwater and Frozen Water or Winter. In the southern half of the catfish range, ice-up doesn’t occur.

The Winter Period is characterized by almost constant cold temperatures. How cold depends on geographic location and the severity of the winter. In Minnesota and Manitoba, water on lakes and parts of most rivers is under 3 feet of ice. Water temperatures in winter range from about 32°F to 39°F. In southern states, water temperatures usually are in the 40°F range, 50°F in Florida and southern California.

We define this period by catfish activity, which is basically the same no matter the location. In winter, catfish face a long period of temperatures much colder than during the rest of the year. They often continue to feed though not so actively as they do in warmer water. Fish in rivers tend to hold in deep holes or pockets away from the main current flow. In small rivers, a holding hole might be 6 feet deep or less. In bigger rivers, holes may be 20 to 40 feet deep. Lake and reservoir fish hold in deep water, too.

In rivers, scuba divers report seeing catfish behind boulders that break current. Where enough boulders aren’t available, catfish appear to snug behind anything that reduces current. To reduce water resistance, other catfish then line up behind the first one, nose to tail in a chainlike formation.

In the middle and southern regions of the country, catfish don’t completely stop moving and feeding during winter. A radio tagging study on the Missouri River showed catfish almost completely dormant during a bitterly cold winter. But during a mild winter, they moved short distances. An extended period of warm weather in January or February may stimulate catfish activity near deeper river holes that are easy to locate because the water’s usually low. Since fish are highly concentrated in predictable locations, good catches are possible.

During midwinter when cats mostly are inactive, it’s often possible to catch them by vertical jigging. It’s also possible to snag them, though, which is illegal in most areas.

Spring Coldwater Period

Water Temperature: Rising

General Fish Mood: Neutral to Positive

When ice leaves or early spring weather arrives, walleyes, pike, and sauger move quickly through the Prespawn Period and into the Spawn Period. It’s a time of rapid transition. Not so with channel catfish that probably won’t spawn for months, even in far northern waters where the prespawn-spawn transition is compressed.

In rivers, early spring usually means continued cold and turbid water. Northern areas experience snow melt and cold spring rains. Southern areas receive cold spring rains. As the water begins to warm gradually, catfish activity increases.

In early spring, catfish might still spend most of their time in deep holes. Eventually, rising water temperatures stimulate catfish metabolism. No distinct temperature marks this point. In southern regions, where water temperatures have been in the 50s, catfish might start feeding when water temperatures reach the low 60°F range. In northern regions, 45°F usually means cats will prowl, but temperatures in the upper 50°F range are better.

Mostly, we sense when the first good run of cats will begin aggressively feeding. Spring weather will have whipsawed from nasty to nice, when suddenly the weather’s nice for several days in a row. A spring thundershower scents the air, and as you walk across your lawn, it bounces with a give in the soil. The ground is about to come alive at night with the first nightcrawlers. Trees are budding; frogs are beginning their evening chorus; and ducks, geese, grouse, and most of the rest of the animal world are active.

Catfish are moving, but still avoiding direct current. And current is stronger now than during any other time of year. Fish are concentrated in areas of reduced current—the core of a hole, the deepest spot, but more likely shoreline holding areas.

This is the season for livebaits or sourbaits. Cats can find plenty of fish that have died over winter and are beginning to decompose as water temperatures rise.

Prespawn Period

Water Conditions: Rising Temperatures and Stabilizing River Flows

General Fish Mood: Positive

What river walleyes do in fall, channel catfish do in spring. They move, usually upstream, sometimes into smaller feeder rivers, searching first for food and second for spawning habitat.

No sharp demarcation is present between the preceding period and this one. They blend naturally as water temperatures continue to rise into the 60°F range and river flows stabilize. The main difference is catfish behavior. Their metabolic rate is much higher, so they need more food and are better able to search for it. Higher water also offers a variety of areas.

The earliest upriver movements are motivated more by the need to feed than by a spawning urge. Because more areas are available than earlier in the year, cats no longer must accept the limited forage in holes where they spent the winter.

Barriers such as big dams and low-head dams temporarily concentrate cats. This period compares somewhat to the prespawn movement of steelhead in rivers, with fish constantly moving, stopping to hold in spots offering food and protection from current, then moving again to better feeding opportunities.

Catch a fish or two from a small spot and return in a day or two and catch three more. The spot is restocked by the restless movement of the fish.

In high water without impassable barriers, catfish may move 75 miles or more—channel cats have moved as far as 111 miles in 36 days. So long as the water’s high and fish are finding food, they keep moving. At times, however, they move only a few miles.

The area where catfish spawn is determined by their location when spawning time nears. Apparently, cats don’t always return to the same spawning locations, although this hasn’t been verified. They do return to general areas, however. Many catfish in the lower portion of the Red River in Manitoba, for example, return to the same slough off the main river each year, despite varying water levels. Catfish move upstream, looking for food and future spawning sites.

Prespawn movement often continues until cats reach an impassable barrier like a dam. They search the area for possible spawning locations like holes in riprap or rocky outcroppings near the dam. If the area below the dam is too silty, they drift downstream to look for spawning sites. Spawners may spread over a long stretch of river.

The Prespawn Period offers potential for the year’s best fishing. Fish are moving—searching and actively feeding.

Spawn Period

Water Temperatures: 75°F or Higher

General Fish Mood: Positive-Negative

Catfish spawning may span a month or more, so the spawn doesn’t negatively affect angling as it would if all cats spawned at the same time. Also, channel cats bite almost anything near a spawning hole, so find a spawning area and you may find good fishing.

The spawn is triggered by the length of daylight (photoperiod), which cats sense in the brain, probably in the pineal gland. Linking spawning in part to length of daylight is one guarantee against eggs hatching too early or too late, which could happen if spawning time were based solely on water temperature. In addition, an internal biological clock causes eggs to mature even with external stimuli absent.

Catfish are motivated to spawn by water temperatures of 75°F or above. According to some studies, temperatures approaching 80°F are ideal. Catfish kept in water too cool for spawning will spawn when water temperatures quickly rise to 75°F, if time of year is appropriate. Spawning, then, is regulated by the interplay of an internal clock, length of daylight, and water temperature.

Spawning can take place as early as May in the South and as late as August in the North. In Missouri, dates range from late May to early July. The most common spawning month across the channel cat’s geographic range is June.

To begin the spawn, a male channel cat seeks a hole or pocket in a bank. Catfish in ponds with no suitable spawning locations don’t spawn. If artificial spawning structures are added, they may spawn.

The spawning hole should be secure, preferably with only one entrance big enough to admit the male and female. A small entrance not much larger than a fish’s body is ideal. Big fish spawn in big holes, small fish in small holes. If the hole’s entrance isn’t much bigger than the male, he lies with his head toward the entrance, nearly filling it, to effectively guard eggs and fry.

In small rivers, crevices near rocky riffles offer possible spots for spawning holes. Undercut banks, muskrat holes, and objects in the water—hollow logs, car bodies, tires, buckets—are possible spawning sites.

First, the male sweeps the hole to clean and enlarge it. Eventually he lures a female into the hole. The female ejects a gelatinous clump of from 2,000 to over 70,000 eggs, depending on the size of the fish, and the male fertilizes them. Then the female leaves or is driven from the hole by the male. She produces one clutch of eggs a year. Males, however, may spawn more than once if the spawning season is extended. The supply of available males often exceeds the number of sexually mature females.

The male is a good guardian. As mentioned, his massive head usually fills the entrance to the nest. He’s aggressive in defense of the eggs. Anything brought near him will be hit or bit. Holes with two or more entrances probably suffer egg loss because the male can’t guard them as well. The male also aerates and keeps silt off the eggs by fanning them with his fins.

Little is known about what happens next in the wild, because observations are based on catfish in clear hatchery ponds where they may behave differently. But we do know that eggs hatch in about a week. Then fry spend about a week in the nest being protected by the male before they enter the river to begin life among predators.

Some observers say the young slip into the river and are immediately on their own. Others, who observed cats in small ponds, report that males protect fry for several days after they leave the nest. Survival of the young is probably better in turbid water than in clear water, because reduced visibility in turbid water conceals the young from many predators.

Settling Period (Includes Postspawn and Presummer Periods)

Water Temperature Range: Upper 70°F to Mid 80°F

General Fish Mood: Neutral to Positive

This period, important in fishing for some fish, isn’t vital to catfishermen because the catfish spawning period is so extended. Even in ponds where water temperatures and length of daylight are identical for all fish, not all catfish spawn at the same time.

Catfish probably go through a type of recuperative period after spawning, but to an angler, it doesn’t matter if a few fish are recuperating because at any given time, some fish are feeding.

This period probably occurs in late June to July in much of the catfish range. Catfish are on the move again, often moving downstream from spawning sites, looking for deep cover-laden holes that offer security and food. Downstream movement isn’t automatic. If the spawning area offers good summer habitat, they may linger.

If water levels are high and rising, channel cats move either upstream or downstream during this settling period. More typically, though, water levels are dropping, so they move downstream, often leaving small tributaries to enter bigger rivers. These movements are more pronounced in small creeks than in big rivers.

Summer Period (Includes Summer Peak, Summer, and Postsummer Periods)

Water Temperatures: Annual Maximum, 80°F and Above

General Fish Mood: Positive

The Summer Period includes much of July, August, and September in most of the channel cat’s range. Summer offers prime fishing. Fish are in predictable locations. They feed aggressively, although not all the time. Plenty of food is available, at least during the beginning of summer, so they add much of their year’s growth during this period that doesn’t end until water begins to cool in fall. Find the best holes with the biggest catfish and fish them with the right baits at the right time.

Cooling Period

(Includes the Turnover and Fall Coldwater Periods)

Water Temperatures: Cooling from 80°F

General Fish Attitude: Positive to Neutral to Negative

As late summer slips into fall, longer cooler nights and cool rains lower river temperatures. In early fall, catfish location depends mostly on river level. During stable levels, catfish continue holding in holes where they spent the summer. Heavy rain during September or October may pull catfish upriver. Generally, though, especially when water temperatures begin to cool into the 60°F range, cats move downstream toward bigger, deeper water and deep wintering holes.

Eventually, the biggest, deepest holes concentrate large groups of catfish. As water temperatures continue to fall, catfish activity is confined to the immediate vicinity of the wintering hole. Catfish location can mean good fishing now. Obviously though, fishing the right holes is important.