Unusual Catfish Bites

I had a few strange catfish hits yesterday. We were fishing the outlet of a creek into the Trinity River a few miles north of the Bridge in Riverside above Lake Livingston. This place is a regular producer but these fish were acting strange. Normally they are grab and run type bites. Yesterday on three ocassions the tip of the rod would very slightly juggle a few times and then stop. After a bit I would pull the rod out of the holder to check my bait. When I lifted the rod it would feel like I was hung or had a stick fish and then bam the "stick" would take off.

I've had bass do this but not catfish. Two were channel cats about 16 inches long and the other was bigger and about 24" long. Since I was fishing for eaters with a spinning reel and 10 lb line they were nice catches. In none of the cases did they move at all until I picked up the rod and started pulling them towards me. The water was HOT about 95 on the surface. I would have figured that this kind of thing would be more to be seen in really cold water.

Hot water and low oxygen has their energy level down, I believe

I to have noticed on hot spell days that the bit can be very like last weekend thy would not even take a pencil bomber down it would wust start moving odd I noticed they will do this when water has or is being let out of a dame or like tom sad hot what with low oxygen like on days there is not a lot of wind my cork are so like and sextile i can detect the slitest bump and i will try to set the hook on those days you well get a few fouled hooked were they are just bumping the bait a few times before they take it cold be wrong on the hot water like tom mentioned but i have noticed this a lot more this year alway check the dam reports before i go fishing or book a trip if the opend up the gates and let water out i wont take customers there its just not with the time. I offer to take them to an other lake even though its further i discount it for them for the hassles

The fish I caught this morning were biting real soft. The biggest about 4 lb blue barely pulled the thill float under after bumping it a couple of times. All of the blues bit real lite and kinda of just moved off with the line almost like a carp bite. The channels were a little harder but nothing was slamming the bait.

I think y'all are probably right. There wasn't a breath of wind and with the water that hot there was probably very little oxygen available. I was there primarily for a night fishing and didn't go out until about 6pm. When it got dark I moved to the deepest nastiest hole for miles around and tried for a bigger fish. 3 hours without a bite and we moved to another place and tried drifting and dragging on a shallow mud flat for a couple of hours with not hits.

The sky was beautiful and the last of the Perseid Meteors were flicking so it was a very worthwhile night even if the fish weren't cooperating.

Thanks for y'alls info. I don't deal with heat as well as I used to so seldom catfish much this time of year except for a few night trips.

Just the other day I was fishing the Kansas River using 10 inch live shad. And I would be getting bites that obviously bit like catfish because after letting them run with it on and off and chew on it for over 45 minutes I would go to set the look when they made a really good run and I would feel a fish but it didn't get hooked and when i inspected the bank there were no puncture marks or holes from Gar and Also no skin missing from turtles or any meat missing. The only thing different about the bank was impretion ad was completely scaled as if a catfish was just chewing on it and playing with it has anybody else ever had this happen and if so would it be a catfish or is it something else....I just am baffled..cuz 45 min is a long time...

I was fishing fast flowing water 2 weeks ago. Let the rods sit for an hour before getting ready to go home. Has 3 fish on 4 rods and didn't even know. 1-3 lbs. Been a light bite for me most of the summer