Advice On Deep Lake Catfishing

HI everyone,

I have a lake house down in Tennessee at Norris Lake. I mostly fish for Bass here, but I’ve always loved catfishing in ponds. In fact, I’ve caught a 54 inch shovelnose out of a pond. Well let me tell you...pond fishing is so much easier than lake fishing for Cats. This lake is a damed mountain Valley, reaching depths of 200 feet in some spots, with 800 miles of shoreline. I think it’s about 80-100 feet deep out in the middle of the lake from my dock (see picture). I sure could use some advice on catching a monster.

I thought I should add something cool about this lake that a lot of members would find interesting. Due to the depth, size, and flexible climate (hot summers, fairly cold winters), this lake is home to over 60 species of fish. From Walleye to Texas Cichlids. It’s pretty crazy.

 

When I catfish I take a long line with around two hooks at different levels and put something lile Chicken liver on them. Put a nice heavy weight on it and cast and wait. If you're looking for much bigger fish try using a bigger circle hook and larger chunk of meat. This is just what works in my area. I also use a can of wet catfood as chum occasionally. Just open the lid a little and either tie a string to the cap or put it in a mesh chumbag. Fishing at night seems to help around here too

Forgot to mention something with a strong smell (like the liver) should attract some nice catfish so if you can't get liver try something similar.

 

I have baby Shad. They stink lol.

 

Haha that may work .I've never tried live fish for catfishing. Always used 3 heavy poles and a big ole hunk of meat.

 

Oh they’re not live, lol. I feel ya there. My go to for pond catfishing is a hunk of Spam.

 

We do catfishing in the river here, not too familiar with catfish in ponds or lakes. The current carries the scent of bait and they will come to it. My brother likes to use a small bluegill or other such fish, with cuts on the sides so that the scent is stronger (dead fish, not live). The cats mostly hunt at night, during the day the big ones sit in the deep holes where the river bends. Surprisingly, some of these holes are 40-50 feet deep on the St. Joseph River.

I believe there are also some big ones in the deep channel between the piers, where the river enters Lake Michigan. Hard to fish there during the day, too much boat traffic.

 

I might try bluegill. The problem is this lake is just so deep and large, I don’t know where to start.

 

I might try bluegill. The problem is this lake is just so deep and large, I don’t know where to start.

Just throw your line out there and wait. Catfish are pretty consistent biters. I like to fish after midnight. Any species in particular?

I agree about using Bluegill. With bigger baits I like to use circle hooks. Don’t treat it the same as a J hook. (Do your research.)

Frozen raw shrimp from the grocery store works well too. Oddly enough, the biggest catfish (Channel cat) I got was around 15lbs and was on mulberry bait I was using to catch Common carp.

 

Oh yeah I’m good on equipment and stuff, got my 7 foot cat pole and my gear, just used to fishing ponds. Thanks for the tips though! No sign of any catfish for me, plenty of largmouth though.

 

I striper fish lake raystown in PA. Very deep reservoir like you described Norris. Believe it or not while trolling, I’ve caught big cats in 80’ of water even though my baits (live shad, lures, etc) are usually running at 18-25’. So if you want to go on the search and cover a lot of water this could be an unorthodox approach.
There’s a smaller lake I fish walleye that’s fairly deep. Again I’m trolling or drifting crawler harnesses and lures and have gotten nice cats. Some days it works so well I have to troll just 1 rod as the cats tend to tangle my other lines.