Why is it the cats will be hitting bait within five minutes of hitting the water (three poles hooked up at one time for an hour straight) and then just stop completely for an hour. Then the trend starts all over again, usually this happens when I night fish. Are they moving out to deeper water temporarily? Should I move for an hour and then come back? I fish DK plug bait in about 3 to 6 feet of water in a river channel tied to a lake. Anyone got an answer or guess?

My guess is that they are just moving back and forth hunting for food.

Good call, CC!! Amen to that, but what would be the fun if they just took it everytime? Guess that's why it's called, "fishing," and not, "catching!"

If I could answer that,I would know as much as Cliff Hill

they don't bite intermittently like that ...they just move on and if you sit there long enough another pod of fish will move through ... that's the way most catfishermen think though, I believe ... they think the fish are always there and they just need to figure out what they're biting on and that's never the situation ... the nature of the way bluecat hunt for food is they'll hunt in groups of anywhere from 5 to 50 or more fish all moving together and as they move through where you're at you'll catch them and if you sit there long enough there will be another group move through or maybe the same group moved back through. I figured this out many years ago and figured out several fish location methods that will keep me on fish all day long but that's all they're doin is just moving through where you're at. channelcat don't move like that though as they're a lot more solitary and don't school up much. they will school up some in the winter months but not very often ... you'll see that in lakes that have channelcat only but if there's bluecat in the lake the channelcat seem to thin out and you see more of a spotty type action when channelcat fishing or just targetting channelcat in bluecat waters. you'll find solitary fish if you stay on the move but won't ever find a lot of them together like you would bluecat. but that's the main trick is to learn how to locate the fish if you want to stay on them continuously and once you figure all this stuff out you can go to any lake in the country and be able to catch quite a few fish even though you don't know the lake very well. but this will kinda get ya to thinkin when you know how they hunt for food. meaning bluecat ... that's my main target species so when I say they I mean blues. but if you can picture it you can imagine about 30 or 40 fish swimming together on the prowl and they don't school like other fish (shoulder to shoulder) they're moving along just in close proximity to one another ... say anywhere from 10 ft to 10 to 20 yds apart but once you find a group, group is a better word for it rather than "school" because it's not really a school of fish ... I think of a school of fish all swimming together closely packed together swimming in unison and bluecat don't do like that ... they're just within sensing range I guess you could call it but sometimes when I'm out there and watching the gulls working I can kind of stay up with the bluecat by watching the birds working and there's been several times that I'll wheel the boat around and go away from them and make a big circle around the fish and get in front of them and it's on bit time then once they reach where I've anchored the boat and sometimes can put 20 to 25 fish in the boat from that one group of fish.
the reason the gulls can kind of give you an idea of where the fish are is because the shad that the blues are after get disrupted in their swimming patterns and will dart sideways and get addled sometimes and what not making them more vulnerable to the birds because they can see the shad easier when fish are after them. the fish bust through the packs of shad and scatter them sending them in all different directions just like a covey of quail when ya step in a big covey and they just go everywhere ... when the shad aren't being harassed by fish they'll be in tight formation and sometimes just solid on your graph from top to bottom ... when they're thick like that and not busted up that means that there are no fish harassing them and it's useless to fish there because of no predators chasing them. when the fish are busting them up ... the birds gather pretty quickly when lots of shad are being harassed by the bluecats or any other fish for that matter ... sandies and striper also do this but normally you can figure out which fish species is harassing the shad when the birds are after them just by the conditions. won't get into that cause that's too much to cover but just fishing under the birds will tell you what kind of fish are there ... fish a few freeline shad and one will pick it up pretty quickly ... that is if it's just not a whole bunch of shad in the area ... birds will also congregate over massive amounts of shad even if there's no fish after them so if you go through there slowly and see shad really thick from top to bottom on your fish finder then there's just a bunch of shad there and no fish so don't bother fishing when the shad are just super thick cause the birds can see them really easy when they're like that and it'll make ya think there's some fish in the area but when you get over the shad and see them thick then you'll know. if the shad are all busted up on the other hand then it's time to stop and throw out a bunch of lines. freelining shad on light spinning gear is best to use when testing to see what kind of activity is there ... if it's sandies or whatever they'll pick up a freelined shad pretty quick cause it'll be swimming around like it's been addled by another fish that hit it and they'll pick those up before they'll go after healthy shad. same with blues or any other fish ... sometimes if you put your hook through the tail end of the shad for freelining them it produces much more erratic action and will get bit quicker than if you hooked them through the nose and they're swimming more normally. freelining is just a small hook tied on the end of the lite line of a spinning reel and hook the shad through the nostrils or tail and throw it out as far as you can and let it swim around ... if there's lots of birds in the area then might use a little splitshot to get the shad down quicker cause ya don't want to hook a gull. anyhow ... that's about all I can think of on the subject and I hope it helps ya some.

Giving away trade secrets now!

Tiny,
That has got to be one of the most detailed, readable and simply best posts I have ever seen on any forum. Ive read it a couple of times now and understand a lot more. Thank you for taking the time to write it up.

Neil

Neil,
Tiny is always answering questions here in great detail . I wish there was some kind of award we could give him for his help. You need to check out his websites tips section for answers to a whole lot of questions. Sometimes my two brain cells just can't absorb it all.
http://www.catfishing.tv/Main/tips-section/TipsSection.html

I dunno Tiny, I feel like there is something you arent telling us...dont hold back

I have got to get up there to Ok. and book a trip with Tiny,that guy is a walking book on catfish.Thanks Tiny.

Wow, thanks everyone and especially Tiny. Thats impressive information. I felt like I was under the water with the fish while reading that. I went last night and fished a hole, caught one in fifteen minutes, baited it with horse and mule and moved to the honey hole. After spanking the honey hole for awhile, the action slowed, so I moved back to the first spot and had two in five minutes. Stayed there for four hours and took about 25 more 20 channel, 4 blues, 1 yellow. Pre-baiting and moving is my new tactic.

Thanks for helping me understand to move when it slows. I was not sure if I should fish deeper or not...just move. Tiny if I am up your way you will be taking me after the blues with your guide service.

most welcome everyone. that'd be nice whiskerray but booking with me is a little more involved than just calling me a week before or even a month before and expecting a day to be open cause I stay booked up two to three months in advance ... quite a bit of sept, oct and nov are already booking up and some of 2009 has already been taken. but thanks again for the kind words everyone.

Maybe because they don't like you. Everytime I go catfishing, they love me and stay until I leave. Just kidding, unless you have a baited hole, they have to find your bait.