I usually target big blues,but I also love punchbait fishing. I've done really well fishing under cormorants in the past. You can catch really nice blues under them also Ive caught a couple over 20. I usually use a slipcork set right off the bottom and sureshot. My home lake is down pretty low exposing a lot of new timber and starting to see a lot more cormorants showing up. Just seeing if anybody has any suggestions or different techniques on how they like to fish this way.

Try Chicken-Gizzards. Butterfly,theym. Hook thru the membrane. About 12", under a cork.
Stay back, from the trees. About 20'. Flip the rig, right under the limbs. If the; C-Cats; are there.
You will know. FAST.

Jared,

There was an article of the ACATS magazine (if not mistaken) about this some years back. I still have it, but would have to comb deep & far to find them all. But I kept them all. It explained that chicken gizzards make close to the same SPLAT sound when cast in comparison to commorant poop. And definitely the channels are waiting under the surface to strike as soon as they hear that sound. While many may say EW! Their poop is said to contain a lot of nutrients for the fish. Earthworms eat dirt but extract the nutrients from it. So you have to look at it from that angle.

Heard this tip from a guide for flatheads years ago. He said the "plop" sound is the trick. He actually said to just get a big blob of stink bait.

What lakes close to DFW have a good concentration of commies this year?

i have heard that bacon also works well as it looks a lot like the poop going down.
and also that its an early morning kind of fishing when they are still on roost.
my buddy claims to have great success at Benbrook doing it over in the trees at rocky creek where they like to hang out

Always used bacon when fishin Cormorants. Works great & stays on the hook so re baitin is not necessary between catches. Speeds up fishin at each tree as you usually only catch a few per tree.

You guys do this in the winter??

Cormorants show up around October and will be in this part of the State until early Spring. Winter is best as the large numbers (1000's)have made the migration and will roost in the same places until they leave. If your lake has heavy timber like ours (Richland Chambers), you'll catch all sizes of Blues from Eaters to Slot Fish, and some really nice Channels on Punch Bait fished on a #4 treble hook right off the bottom. We normally fish the shallower water (4'-10') in Fall and move to the deeper water (15'-25')as the water gets colder. Most days we're fishing right off the bottom and tightlining, but some folks do the cork and shallow depth technique described above. We often never leave the first tree we tie onto as we'll continually throw out range cubes and maize and keep the fish concentrated.

So far this Fall, we've had a dozen or so Slot fish in the 30lb.to 40lb. range, and I got lucky and caught the new Lake Record Channel @ 11.5 lbs. ( Check it out at www.gonefishin.biz ) Every fish we've caught has come on DK's Blood Punch Bait. Did a lot of experimenting over the past couple of years with Chicken, Livers, Gizzards, Shrimp, etc. and DK's has outfished all of them 10 to 1.

Give us a call anytime this Winter and we'll fill the box with filets!

Good Luck and Good Catchin'!

all of them soon
once the shad go to dying they show up in droves

I had a trotline set out at Livingston . Caught 3 cormorants on it

Minnows under a slip cork, pegged at about 12 inches, with a small splitshot. When you flip it under the roost limbs, it has to make a "Plop!" sound with a minimum disturbance on the surface. That bobber won't stay on the surface very long, if there is a catfish anywhere near! Do it on the Elm Fork, from a kayak or my small boat, where the cormies roost by the dozens, if not hundreds. Trees have long whitish streaks, looks like they are dying, those the ones you target