Can someone give me a general seasonal movement pattern for channels, blues, and flatheads?

I know that everyone is saying shallow, shallow, shallow right now, but I don't have enough experience to know what happens next as we move into summer and fall.

the hotter it gets tha deeper they go, this time of year people are saying shallow because they're spawning, so there up close, just my findings. they spawn for quite some time too

i don know a lot about their seasonal movements, but i know in the hotter months it is better to fish shallower rather than deeper. and when its cold its better to find deeper water structures especially river channels. i don fish a lot in the winter time because of deer season, but i can generally catch fish year round in the 10-20ft depth range. even most of the fish i catch in july and august come outa 10-15ft of water, about the same as i fish in the spring. i would focus more on the structures your fishing and whether or not you see fish on your sonar rather than specifically looking for water depth. Texas has pretty mild winters for the most part, so they affect the fish some, but not like they do in states where it really gets cold.

Ok, Buerich. When you are fishing 10-15 depths in July and August, what structure are you looking for that would typically hold fish?

DryCreek, the only movement I can offer to this discussion is: The re-movement of 3# fork tails from the lake and into my ice chest.

I don't fish much deeper than 10' all year round. But you can find a little nicer fish where there is a dropoff about 2 or 6 foot, or a rise of 2 to 6 foot. Sand bars and creek chanels are good to look for, and make sure you see shad whereever you fish. If you don't see shad there probably won't be many fish in the area. I fish at night during the hot months and use a spotlight to see if shad swim through the beam of light. When i see shad i don't fish deeper that 10' down even if the water depth is 35 foot.

I agree 100 percent on that one, MikeC........and then a little more movement into the deep fryer, a little corn meal, a little garlic powder, a little ........

Starting in late feb-march shallow means 2-5'. I've found that a good general rule is to find submerged timber (brush that is still green is great in this depth). I'll fish htis extreme shallow untill the weather cools- but on slow days or often if there's no wind you may start here and gradually move out to 8-10' till you find your bite. Cold weather means big blues deep.

sorry its taken me a while to reply, been doin some fishin and some hog hunting. my favorite structures to find is creek and river channels. anywhere you can find a smaller creek coming into a larger one, or along-side bends in the channel of the main channel. those are good spots. you want to fish tight to the depth changes. like if you found a spot where a main river channel that was 25ft deep climbed up on top of a flat that was 15ft deep, you'd wanna fish right there on the depth change if possible. same with where creeks/rivers meet/cross. you want to fish the edges of the depth change right where the channels hit. or possibly right in the mouth depending on how deep. in the summer open flats are great for blues. find open level flat areas with stumps, humps, holes, etc, doesn't always have to be much to hold fish, lotta times just the open water will work fine. on lakes with lotsa timber get a lake map and lotta times there are old agricultural fields that were flooded when the lake was impounded, these have no trees in them usually and are great for jugging, or the timberlines along the edges of the fields can be hot as well. long rocky points can be good as well as other stuff, main thing is check your sonar and make sure there's fish there. i've fished lotta spots that seemed so perfect but never turned a fish. even spots that wouldnt seem as likely, if there's fish showin up, give it a try. usually a good spot is a good spot for most things. some of my best catfish holes also turn a lotta big bass, gar, & crappies as well. go with your gut, if you feel like its a good spot, fish it and see if it is. sonar can give you an idea of whats there, but you don know til you put hooks in the water. there's a little theory to it, but mostly its trial and error. once you find a type of structure on a lake that works well, try and find the same structure in other areas.

catfish do move around during the year though, once you find a spot thats holding good fish, take note of the time of year and the stage the fish are in. if you have a spot thats holding cats in july, they'll probly be there til it starts gettin cold, then look for structure in deeper water where you found them earlier, and they'll likely be near by. also cats spawn in spring and summer, find shallower rocky spots near where you were catchin fish in the winter, and they'll likely be near by as well.

Good solid concrete info. Thanks a lot!