Hey guys, I'm new here and this is my first post. I'm interested in fishing for some buffalo but I am unsure if they are deep or shallow right now and what the best bait would be to use. I've only caught a couple before fishing for white bass using minows if I remember correctly. So if anyone can shed some light on where and what to target them with I would appreciate it. I'll be fishing some small creeks and potentially a couple of lakes out of my kayak. Thanks for the help in advance!!

I've had luck fishing shallow after the recent warm weather. Sweet corn is a good starting place as far as bait. I'd take a look through the FAQ thread at the top of the this section as well, more than enough info there to get you off to a good start. Lastly, I'd ditch the kayak. I have a kayak too and love fishing out of it, but it'd be tricky targeting buffalo. They're known for being finicky/light biters and you'd likely miss quite a few bobbing around in the kayak. From my personal experience watching the line move is sometimes the only way to identify a bite.

I may be confusing buffalo with a freshwater drum, assuming they are not one in the same in reference to what I caught on minows. Based on your reply buffalo would be pretty similar to the grass carp which are common in my area. After reading that article I'm not even sure if there are buffalo in my area, Lake Brownwood.

Fresh water drum are silver. I usually catch them on the river in current fishing on the bottom with night crawler. Some times after not getting a bite just moving the worm a couple feet will get a hit during or right after the move. I have only caught one buffalo and that was on a trout line in shallow water on a piece of hotdog. Nice 6-8 pounder I really wanted for cut bait but came off the hook before I grabbed the net.

I think I'll give the corn a shot and see how I come out, I know there are plenty of common carp in the lakes and creeks around here so hopefully I can have some luck either way, Thank you for the advice.

Good luck and let us know how you do!

If you're fishing for bait please just be considerate; don't take more than you need and release the trophies.

Well said.

There are some huge buffalo in Lake Brownwood, and tons of common, I can't get them to leave my punch bait alone when chumming for channels, very difficult to catch though, they will pull until there is a pretty good bend in my rod and I still can't catch them, will bite anything, punch bait, minnows.