question on drifting for blue cats

Trying to learn more about targeting blue cats. Really like eating them and catching them. Fishing on Cedar Creek, drifting in some of the creek channels, deeper points, etc. Not sure if this is good or not for the summer, but got to start somewhere? Plan to turn the big ones lose IF I ever have to worry about that. Eat 10 lb and down...

Question #1 for the day: Any suggestions on what to look for on the lake maps? Where to target?

Using shad for bait, trying to catch fresh each day, but no bait tank, so they die quickly even in large 5 gallon floating bucket. Made my own with 5 gallon bucket with a bunch of little holes and foam noodle around the top. Works better than a small minnow bucket, but they still die...

Using either larger cut shad or smaller whole shad, on circle hooks. What ever shad I catch - gizzard and or threadfin. Drifting with wind, tight lining rod and reel. Enough weight to keep on bottom. Using 3 way with leaders for hook and weight.

Question number 2 for the day: When you get a bite, do you set the hook immediately, or feed them some slack line immediately and then hit them? Got a few bites yesterday, but no hook up's. Was not in the best areas, as bites were slow, and then not doing something right... Was in 18-24' of water most of the time, also tried 12' for a little while.

Thanks in advance all!

Stay safe - COVID is real, and it sucks!

Tight lines!

Ken

I’ll be very interested in the replies to this one.

Do you have a fish finder? If so you need to locate bait and fish. Otherwise you are fishing blind and that’s hard to be successful. I don’t fish cedar creek. This time of year there is usually a thermocline, make sure are aren’t drinking in it. Creek channels, humps, points, and flats all hold fish at certain times. Need to do some graphing before starting a drift. Also, invest in some drift socks. If you are drifting too fast you won’t be successful

Fresh Shad is the best. No need to try to keep the Shad alive, just put them straight on ice. Look up the Santee Cooper rig and use it with a slinky style drifting weight (2-3 oz) . Use a circle hook and wait until the fish gives a steady pull and then just start reeling while the rod is still in the rod holder. Don’t take the rod out of the holder until the fish is hooked.

Lots of generic truth in this post

If you plan on fishing the same locations, then take some range cubes with you and dump a couple of pounds out at prime locations where you plan to drift. The blues don’t like the cubes as much as channels, but the shad love the cubes. If you attract the shad, guess what likes to hang around? Chumming with cubes over time will really concentrate the fish if they are around to begin with.

There are some big ones out there.

Good morning all,

Blue Blazer, thanks for the notes. I am learning to use some new electronics, have a 9" Lowrance Ti unit, and it is smarter than I am. Will do all kinds of things. I will also look at the thermocline and Sante Cooper rig more. Again, thank you.

Mr. Kennedy, hope you are well. Fished with you back in the spring with my 13 yr old, had a GREAT trip. Will try to do that again when the COVID stuff slows down. Really enjoyed our trip, and we put fish in the freezer!

Mr. Osborn, nice fish! I will remember the range cubes, when I figure out some areas. Makes sense to lure the shad. I use the cubes around my dock now, but it is in a shallow cove, and just channel cats this time of year. The channel are fun to catch, but I would rather look for the blues. Did catch some blues from the dock last winter, when water was colder.

Thanks again to all the forum help! I am trying to put in time, but also will ask questions, to try and speed up the learning curve!

Stay safe everyone - be careful. COVID is real, and it sucks!

Ken

Good morning all.

Got a chance to go out yesterday evening for a couple of hours, with youngest son. We put 8 in the cooler between 14"-20". Turned another 5 or 6 loose that were shorter. drifting points and creek beds. 15'-18' seemed to be the zone yesterday. Was sunny and a good south breeze. Wind picked up, and we had to go for safety.

Question on drift speed: Know it probably changes season to season. What should I target for summer, fall, winter?

Thanks in advance.

Stay safe all!

Ken

I don’t do much cat fishing in the summer so no help there, but fall and winter I shoot for .5 mph and below.

What kind of boat are you in?

I drift .3-.6 mph year round. I start at .5 most days and slow it down if everything is laying on the bottom. If it’s windy I try to go a little faster so my rattle rigs make a little more noise. Drift speed and boat control makes all the difference in my opinion. I usually drift a little slower then anyone around me. I have 8 drift socks and use them all in different configurations. My favorite conditions are 15 mph with the lake barely starting to whitecap. Very manageable wind, easy to hit your targets, and the fish are usually fired up. Leave your wives at home for these conditions. I also fish around the storms with rollers and wind up to 25 mph. My best and worst fishing is usually in big wind and big waves but that kind of bluecatn is like going into battle. Leave your women and children at home for these conditions and make sure you strap on your big boy pants. You either win big and feel great or you get smoked and take a beating.

I appreciate the reply's all!

I have an 18' aluminum Bass Tracker bass boat. Great on calm water, but when it starts to white cap, it is a rough ride, and quickly moves to the not safe zone. With Cedar Creek running North-South for most part on the main lake, it can get rough quickly with our normal South or North winds... seems most of the time it is either south or north... I have been looking at other - bigger boats, but right now the boat market is stupid hot. People paying well over book value for used boats. I would love a nice CC, but wife wants a pontoon. So I have been looking at Tritoons, with combo fishing play setup. This COVID and cheap interest rates has everyone wanting a boat it seems!

El Gato, love your post. Thanks for sharing the numbers, and the discussion on conditions sounds spot on. My wife is definitely a fair weather fishing partner at best. She would far rather lay out on the boat, and me not bother her. If they are biting real good, she might take part for a little while... and don't even ask her to go if it is cool and or rainy. But I want to have equipment to be safe - for sons and I.

I will be looking at some drift socks I guess.

Take care and be safe everyone. COVID sucks!

Ken

Is cedar creek lake the main lake you fish?
It is certainly a good bluecat lake l-
I see you have Red Oak listed, Lake Waxahachie and Bardwell both have some nice blues also, I’ve caught nice blues (And released them back) from both lakes.
And both lakes have quite a lot of eater size blues too.
I know both lakes are kind of finicky but actually it seems all lakes are-
I like the smaller lakes because it’s just a smaller area that they have to spread out-
To me it seems like summertime they are much more spread out than in cooler months when the bait is more concentrated, and in a smaller lake I just seem to have better luck.
The potential for the huge hogs are gonna be better in the large lakes, but sounds like you haven’t been spoiled with 30lb fish yet, if you start catching more fish on the smaller lakes you can then take what you learned and apply that at the larger lakes.
All really good input in this thread before mine from guys that have had proven success for many years-
Once you start hooking those big girls it’s pretty addictive, I wish you the best of luck!

Lake Bardwell fish-
Another Bardwell fish-

Caught this while drifting at Bardwell using cut shad-

Lake Waxahachie fish-

Steve,

NICE pictures - nice fish. I agree, those are addictive!

I had not fished much in several years, as my oldest son drag raced - as do I, and we spent most of the free time racing. Oldest off to college and youngest son did not want to race, wanted to fish. So we shifted gears some a couple of years ago.

I have fished Bardwell some with limited success. Have not been on Wax much. I bought a place at Cedar Creek last winter, and keep my boat there now. So trying to learn the lake. Enjoying it, but as with everything, there are challenges and it takes time.

Have had a lot of super people on this forum offer advice, and fishing with Mr. Kennedy was also a great teaching aid!

Take care -stay safe.

Ken

Aye My Buddy Steve-o and the Mrs. ...Great pics Ya'll!!!

Hey Serj!
Good to see ya on here buddy!
Man I bet those kiddo's have grown since I seen ya'll last,

yes sir buddy they are having families of their own now LOL which means we are now Nana and Papa LOL

If you have a Humminbird Helix7 or higher, get a Smartstrike card. It flat out works for Catfish. Its almost like cheating it makes them so easy to find. Before that, i would always drift down the side of humps, where there was a sharp drop off. And drift along the points that the wind was blowing into,that always netted me some good Blue Cats. SInce the flooding on Bridgeport, Eagle Mountain, and Lake Worth, the blues seem to be way more prevalent in Lake Worth now too.

And like others have mentioned, on Lakes without aeration, stay above the thermocline.

What does the Smartstrike card do for you, first time I’ve heard of it ?


Nevermind, looked it up. Intriguing to say the least.

It sounds hokey, and its a hit or miss with crappie and striper, but its deadly for catfish. At least it has been for me. I tagged 5 blues, and 3 channel cats in about 3 hours on Lake Worth a few weeks ago. All nice fish, smallest was a 2.5 lb Channel, largest was a 10lb Blue. I lost one Channel right at the boat, because I couldn't get to my net in time, and he was just barely hooked.....but he was a very nice fish, probably between 4 and 5 lbs.

There are variable that go into patterning blues that aren’t on Smartstrike. How long the wind has been blowing in a certain direction and weather systems approaching or leaving are major factors. I tried the Smartstrike on my buddies boat last winter and wasn’t impressed. We were looking for Big Blues on Lewisville and that thing was absolutely worthless. After scanning 5 different areas that Smartstrike had told us to look we turned it off and went and found fish. It might work on small lakes certain times of year. I’ve found that blues are in a different area of the lake almost every time I’m on the water. The only time of year I fish the same areas from trip to trip is May-July when they get out on humps and points. Out of 50 trips I’ve fished this year I bet I’ve only fished in the same area 5 times. Smartstrike might be able to help you catch a few fish but if you really want to get on em good and stay on em you need to be on the water often and well versed in side image and 2d sonar.

If I catch 8 to 10 fish in a couple hours. I consider it a successful day. Anything over that, being as I'm the one that has to drive the boat, manage all the equipment, load and unload the boat, and basically everything except actually fish, it becomes more like work than enjoyment.

Plus, I only keep 1 or2 to take home. Works perfect for me.


This is the same reason I absolutely hate Bass Fishing. Its too much like work, and far less like relaxation.