John K. Flores: Catfish add excitement to late spring fishing

For those who regularly read my Outdoor Life column, you know that I probably fish more with my spouse than anyone else. Why? Because, quite honestly, I enjoy fishing with her more than anyone else.

She’s fun to be around. She’s a good conversationalist. And has some hilarious sayings like, “You can always count on a catfish,” or, “Come on — don’t play with it — bite it,” when a fish is acting finicky.

She’s also a dang good angler who baits her own hook. Born and raised in Berwick, the daughter of a marsh man and shrimper, Christine is comfortable being on the water. Moreover, prefers to be in a boat fishing rather than shopping, unless it’s to pick up something for one of the grandkids.

Don’t get me wrong. She can be girly too. She wears her pearls and heels from time to time but is someone who prefers not to stay up too late on Friday night, so we can catch the early bite when it’s cooler Saturday morning.

This past week was one of those times when she said, “Take me fishing!” I told her how I had been seeing several boats in the river fishing beneath the bridges and heard the catfish were biting.

Most of the boats were anchored from the railroad bridge to the Mr. Charlie Rig Museum; a spot that typically produces good catches of both channel and blue catfish when they’re running.

Instead of launching at Jesse Fontenot Memorial Boat Ramp in Berwick and fishing the river for catfish, I told her we’d go try the bream in Flat Lake first and launch at Joe C. Russo Memorial Boat Landing across from Lake End Park in Morgan City. I had a plan A and B in mind depending on what was biting.

We probed around Flat Lake and Bear Bayou a bit trying to get a chinquapin or bluegill bite. Unfortunately, the water was murky and what few bream we did catch were so little, they weren’t worth cleaning.

At every stop I also kept getting snagged. Not once. Not twice. No. I got snagged over 10 times. I spent more time re-rigging my line that it became quite frustrating.

Meanwhile, Christine found this little spot and the catfish bite was on. Her pole bent in the shape of a horseshoe, where she mustered all of her wrist and forearm strength to fight the big channel cat.

I told her, “Loosen your drag and let it have some line.”

Christine, holding her pole with both hands, said, “I can’t let go to adjust it.”

I reached over her hands and loosened the drag on her reel and the fish zipped a few yards of line out.

That’s when she raised her voice in excitement and said, “Get the net! I don’t want to lose this fish.”

I dug around in the compartment on my front deck, while Christine continued to fight the fish and at the same time saying, “hurry up,” to me. Of course, the net was under everything. Life vests. Paddle. Crab nets. You name it.

Suddenly, I emerged from the compartment with the net and stood next to Christine watching the show.
When the big cat finally showed signs of tiring, I put the net in the water, while Christine worked to steer it towards me, so I could grab it.

In one smooth swoop, I dipped the catfish up. It didn’t weigh double digits, but when you’re fishing bream with light tackle and you catch something large it might as well be a whale.

Christine went on to catch nine more channel cats while I continued to get snagged. The one catfish I did catch was a little scrawny thing not hardly worth peeling the skin off.

Some days are like that, which is another reason I like fishing with Christine. She doesn’t get into any of the teasing banter my male friends normally do.

Speaking of catfishing, the bite has been on in the Atchafalaya River the past several weeks. Channel catfish spawn once a year during the late spring on into the early summer when the water temperature reaches 70 degrees. Channel catfish prefer to spawn in darker, secluded areas like submerged logs, stumps, roots, and similar structure. Something that our Atchafalaya Basin has plenty of.

Several of the catfish I cleaned were full of eggs indicating the spawn is imminent. Channel catfish prefer skinny, slower moving water. In the basin, look for them in narrow bayous and canals with drains pouring into them.

Christine and I typically catch them ancillary to fishing bream using a number 10 Aberdeen hook, split shot, and Thill Premium Balsa float. However, when we target catfish, we usually use a coastal gulf drop rig with number 1/0 O’Shaughnessy hook.

Though worms will catch anything that swims, for channel catfish there’s nothing like river shrimp when the bite is on, but you don’t have to take my word for it.

Just ask Christine.

John Flores is the Morgan City Review’s outdoor writer. He can be contacted at gowiththeflo@cox.net.