A little help

[jjohnson268]

Hello-

I am new to the forum and I am in need of a little help.

I have been fishing at my small Company lake for a few weekends now, and I am not having much luck. I have used liver, worms, stink Bait, hot dogs, minnows, shad sides (dried up crap from Wal-mart) and out of all of that caught one 4lb channel on stink bait. I live in Kansas and the weather hasn't been real great yet. We have been hitting highs of around 65-70.

Now, they just stocked the lake last Friday. They told me 900lbs which equaled out to around 500 channels. So I am assuming most of what's in there is on the small side.

They are putting on a tournament this coming Saturday,and I am wanting suggestions as to what kind of bait to try. I have been reading several post on here in regards to what kind of bait,and I don't want to seem redundant but I have nearly exhausted every suggestion I have read. I was planning on trying leeches, and fresh fish of some sort. I would assume that the deepest spot in the lake is 30-40 feet. They have around 40 docks with an island coming across the middle. I think I have covered everything. I will try to respond quickly if there is something I have forgotten.

Thank in advance for any help or suggestions.
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[lunkerhunter2]

Have you tried the forage fish of the lake? ie: bluegills, crappie, threadfin, etc? Usually whatever the lake has in it naturally is a good choice. If it is legal of course to use those species. How about shrimp or beef liver? Those both work great here in UT. Our best bait by far here is fresh chubs, carp, or sucker strips or entrails. Hope that helps a little.[cool]
Welcome to BFT and let us know how it turns out.
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[daymere]

what line and setup are you useing?bank,or boat fishing? what has givein you any results? what size are you targeting.describe the lake and natural prey in lake.float or bottom fishing, how deep,fishing any channels,drop offs? little more info and i can get you to the fish also any underwater structure.
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[Tarpon4me]

You know, catfish can be a difficult fish to target, asside from what many people seem to think. There could be many factors associated with the lack of bites.

1. The fish are not responding to the lake's environment very well, and it's taking them longer to adjust to the conditions. (during this process, they won't each much; kinda like when you get a new fish tank at the house and the fish you put in there don't each for a few days)

2. Some fish go through a dormant period after their "spawning" stage. This may or may not be a factor, just throwing that out there.

3. Like previously mentioned, the lakes natural forage may be more effective. However, i'd say if the majority of the fish that are in there were stocked, even the lakes natural bait fish will seem out of the ordinary to them for a while.

I'm sure there are other instances that could be effecting the fish, but those are the three I can think of right now. For channel cats, i've found no finer a bait than fresh chicken livers or some fat Night crawlers. Channel cats dig structure and they dig deep holes. The combo of the two should produce fish. If you want to find the fish, simply stick a nice chunk of chicken liver on your hook and start a drift. Eventually you'll run into something.
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