Well here goes, this is my first year trying to catch blues in fall and into the winter months on Lake Graham & lake eddelman but so far i have had no luck. Im using fresh thread fin shad and tried water depths from 3' to 18'. wonder if i need to fish the wooded end of the lake or stay in the main lake. Has anyone fished these lakes? any help would be greatly appreciated, thanks in advance.

I'm not familiar with those lakes but I know that on my Lake they are in around 32 to 35 foot of water following the schools of shad. Also I'm drifting right now and catching them. Just follow the bait and they should be there right under them feeding. Hope this helps!!

Thanks for the reply i will definitely try drifting... thought i read somewhere that if blues where in deep water they are not feeding have you heard this before or am i dreaming this up

If you have any juglines it would sure help you fish multiple areas at once to learn the lake and learn what you are seeing on sonar while you rod and reel fish an area if you want. Just an idea...

The journey begins! You can catch blues out in 80ft of water if there is enough dissolved oxygen down there. Some guys fish deep and some fish shallow. Depends on your style of fishing. You can catch em in 2ft of water under a bird roost on the north end of lake or you can catch em out in 50 ft of water in the channel on the south end. You can also catch them any and everywhere inbetween!! Lol . You can drift, you can anchor, you can spot lock, or bump your trolling motor...best thing you can do is hire a knowledgeable catfish guide to show you the ropes. A guide will teach you more in a day then you will learn in 5 yrs of trial and error. Will save you a lot of time and heartache of not catching fish. There are a million ways to skin a cat!

xs 2 get a guide learn fast save lots of money on the trial and error program

Thanks for the comments guys i appreciate it. going to try the deeper water this coming weekend and see what turns up.

Well put EL GATO!!!.. I REMEMBER ME AND MY BROTHER-IN-LAW GOING HALF ON a BLUE CAT TRIP WITH BOBBY KUBIN(I don't think he does it anymore) BACK IN 2006 AND FROM THEN ON MY WHOLE CATFISHING GAME CHANGED FOR THE BETTER!!!! I couldn't catch a cold before that LOL!!!!

Also Rshifflett I've been drifting for blues for a few years and have always caught them around this deep this time of year..I don't know what electronics you have but if you are able to see busted up bait scattered everywhere it's definitely a good sign. I made a video explaining it a little bit.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2RCz7-Z7xY

Thanks serj5150 i will take a look

Rshifflett,

If you are going for Blues, I also might suggest my Catfish Calendar. There are 4 main codes (see the KEY in the thread). Simply put, they are YC = YellowCat; BC = BlueCat; BFT = Buffet (a variety, for me- I usually catch a lot of Channels); ZIP = Not very good or sometimes ZIP. See the thread, as well as the tips on the KEY. There is also another I have added, referred to as my PYC (Personal YellowCat Days), according to the pattern I started to realize & found back in 1980/1981 (akin close to 7 off, 2 on, 7 off, 20 on, 7 off, 3 on & repeat). Also Blues bite good on YC days (noted in the KEY). I researched YellowCats, but bumped into BlueCats as well. I did not research patterns of ChannelCats, WhiteCats, or MudCats (Bullheads- Black, Brown, and Yellow). But I did discover that over the years, the Channels really hit during the BFT days.

See the current yearly thread- "Lynn's Catfish Calendar (LCC) 2017" in the Catfish section. Plus has links up front to the previous yearly threads here on TFF back to mid 2010. The Calendar's YC days coincide with the GG pattern (Gator Gars) too. The Catfish Calendar is used all over Texas & into Oklahoma as well, but should work across the US, Canada & Central America.

Bass Fishermen who also like catching YellowCats on R-n-R, use the calendar. One stated they do not waste their time trying for Yellows, but target them only according to my Calendar, and get continuous results. Another noted that is the only reason they come over to the Catfish section, just for the Calendar & YellowCat tips. I am mainly a line fisherman, such as trotline, throwline, jugline, set hook, and such. Many of those who fish that way use it. And many who R-n-R, also use it.

About the simplest way to put it, is that 66% to 75% of Yellows & Blues run this specific roam-feed pattern. In other words, it is comparable (a comparative analogy) to 3 variations of human work days (as to hours). There is the standard day shift, which most use. Then the night shift. And finally the graveyard shift. By using the Catfish Calendar, you are upping your odds by targeting the specific kind of Catfish according to the biggest group, or what I refer to as the "norm" (Normal or average or majority). I refer to the other two groups as running "rogue", meaning other than the standard pattern that the majority use.

Hope it helps!

Thanks Lynn very useful

I remember first trying to catch big blues on my lake, it was very rough and aggravating not catching anything worth mentioning the first couple of trips. Then I started to figure out the main things for my specific lake.
1st Know where the fresh shad are. My preference is Gizzard shad which I will spend some time trying to catch deep at our aerator unit by the damn.
2nd Spend some time using your side imaging. It pays off a lot if you have it dialed in and can read it accurately. I spent 2 days just cruising the lake look for bait and for signs of big cats. This was done mainly in the deeper parts of the lake as it is a little more difficult to do this in the shallows unless you are confident in what you are seeing on the graph.
3rd Drift fishing can pay off big. Make sure you are drifting around 2mph is my preference. Use multiple rod holders to fish everything from the bottom to 10ft off the bottom.
Lastly keep moving!

Well said Waco Crappie!!

This isn't the best picture, but there were blues actively feeding and had the bait busted up and moving. I wish I would have taken a couple better pics. These fish were right on the edge of a creek channel and had the bait pushed up to this little ledge between the channel and a shallow ridge that was only about 2' deep. We anchored right on top of this spot and managed a few eaters, a 24, and one over 40 that escaped on the last tree before the boat. Then the bait moved and the fish followed them.