Hello Everyone. I just moved from Illinois down to Texas. I put my boat on Grapevine at Scotts Landing. Looking for a little advice on catching catfish...bait, any locations for the summer, fall...etc. I am switching all of my Musky and Salmon gear to Catfish. Want to take the daughter our for a little action. Any advice would be appreciated.

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someone will give you some specifics on grapevine...I've never been but could give some advice on catfish in general if needed. Is catfishing new to you?

Never really fished for catfish. Mostly Walleye, Northern Pike and Salmon. Just looking for some guidance. Most I know about catfish is throw a hot dog on the bottom and drink beer until you get a bite...LOL. My daughter is young so I want to at least get her a bite before I explore too much.

I don�t fish that lake but I bet someone who does will chime in soon-
I do hear that lake has some nice blue�s in it though, once you hook into a nice blue it�s easy to want to chase them again-
I won�t give bait advice though, that seems to �foul� some folks up -

As to Grapevine, I can't help you. But you can get a good start if you utilize my Catfish Calendar for Yellows & Blues, as well as Gator Gars. I am running late, but about to post July calendar. Just look for the thread- Lynn's Catfish Calendar. Once you find an area you like on Grapevine, then you can crank up the volume by using the calendar.

Drift the island area about all year. Shad in the summer is a cakewalk at the water percolator outlet by the dam. Once we get a rain after this dry spell, head to the creekmouth at the west end of the lake

Thank You for the responses. Do you keep your baits off the bottom with floats or just drag them on the bottom? Any particular depth I should work.

I like to use the santee cooper rig, it keeps the bait above the grass/mud and is adjustable-
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=EEXmIYFDQXM

We catch fish every time we go to grapevine...using a homemade punch bait...we mainly fish the trees where Denton creek meets main lake....2 to 8 foot of water most of the time....use cow cake for a chum

for easy good numbers of channels;

get a cast net for shad. take shrimp, worms, etc. for bait until you figure out how to catch the shad...you can also use that stink bait **** if you like.

as mentioned use the santee cooper rig.

the lakes I fish are hitting well at 8-20ish feet right now, mostly off of steeper banks and rip rap. timber in the flats have been productive with chum (I ferment sorghum and corn for chum) in the dark hours.

I prefer size 4 circle hooks over 90% of the time.

For blues, you'll want to drift live shad...I'm not very good or consistent at finding them this way...so if you want to go that route I'd listen to someone else.

Great advice everyone. I appreciate it. I haven't gotten into the whole shad thing yet (YET). Would bass minnows from Cabelas work good for live bait? I was just thinking of anchoring up by the island or along the dam on Sunday to get my feet wet...maybe put a few in the box.

Fresh Shad is hard to beat IMO

This time of year shad is easy - even if you don't know how to throw a cast net... just go to the dam and do some semblance of a toss into the bubbles and you'll come up with more shad than you know what to do with.

Minnows don't work quite as well (but they do work) - they aren't as oily - the oil/smell from an injured shad is part of what draws in the cats.

Sent you a PM

If the aereators are working near the dam throwing bubbles up...i have been told u can catch shad there with cast net