Does anyone know how to catch catfish at Fairfield Lake? I fish there all the time but never catch any. If you do know, then what bait do you have to use and where is a good spot?

Me too was there Mon caught 1- 6 or 7#er

catfishing at fairfield is not what it used to be. the redfish have really killed what used to be a great catfishery! however, you can still get into them in the shallows around the state park with frozen whole shrimp and live crawfish. just beware, if they are biting pretty well and then all the sudden stop, hang onto your poles as this means that a school of reds is moving in and they like shrimp and crawfish too! i have also caught several nice flatheads at the rocky bank east of the north boat ramp! hope this helps a little!

surly you jest, the reds have been in the lake for over 20 years, and until a couple of years ago it was a great channel cat lake. How big a red do you think it would take to eat a 6-8# channel cat?
The park rangers, and I, believe it has more to do with guides taking 100-200 fish a day, out of a very small 2,100 acre lake.
James Cantrell of Wooded Acres tried to inform some guides that the lake would not take the continued pressure and harvesting that was going on. The guides scoffed at the idea and continued to take several thousand 4-6# channel cat a month out of it. That combined with very low water conditions is believed by many to have caused the demise of the channel cat population.
I do not now nor have I ever been a channel cat guide, but know how many I have caught and released fishing for reds, over the years.

Thanks Jackie I knew it couldn't be my fishin abilities figured there weren't any in it anymore, hope your doin well

i can see your points mr. kennedy, however, i have been fishing fairfield all my life, even before there was a power plant, and i can tell you that it has gone through several makeovers along the way. before the plant fired, it was a great crappie lake, then they declined and the channels and flathead got real good. in 1984, they introduced the talapia and the catfishing got even better as well as the hybrid.in 1987, they made the first redfish stocking and since that time, there has been a suttle but steady decline in the catfish population! maybe just coincidence.

When I first fished the lake it had no boat ramp and you put in on the south end on a dirt road.
The first transformation was the stocking of flathead catfish to get rid of the bullheads or pollys. For a period it was very over populated with them, hey stocked it for two years straight and that took care of them. TPWD has never stocked Tilapia in the lake, or they will not admit to it. The West Nile perch on the stocking report are a different fish. Thankfully that didn't work. In my opinion:The prime channel cat fishing was from around 1980-2007. I did catch a 16# channel fishing with Billy Tyus in '99 or '00, we caught about 40-50 that day filling a 120 qt. cooler.
The hybrids never reached the full potential, biggest I've ever seen or caught was about 8#, plenty of em just no real big ones.
I have fished and thrown a cast net for a long time in the lake, I use to catch a lot of small channels, but haven't for the past couple of years.
I do feel the reds take a toll on many small fish in the lake, just as the bass, bream, and what few blue&channel catfish are left do. Some people still catch a good mess of crappie, but they are all nice big ones. I haven't caught a small(or any other size)crappie in the cast net in many years.
We do agree that over harvesting of the channel cat was/is the problem. You choose to blame the reds and I blame the guides. Notice there are no channel cat guides working the lake!
Dr. Rick Ott one of the TPWD biologist for the lake fishes with me a couple of times a year and he has enlightened me some on the management of the water body.
I do not claim to be an expert or authority on the lake, just many years of first hand experience and ideas of which some may be wrong.

agreed, the guide pressure on that little lake was overwhelming at times! i just remember the good old days, spending all night on one of the piers catching channel cat like crazy! i wonder how the talapia got in there? did tugco stock them? it is a grand little lake and i hope it makes a come back soon!