Help and thoughts on catfishing

[idahopanfish]

I am hoping with this new title someone might give me ther opinion and a little help.

I am new to channel catfihing here in Idaho and have a few questions. We have been going at night and fishing till early morning on the Snake River, with no catches and only a few nibbles. We have been using various stink baits (blood,crawfish), shrimp & frozen minnows thawed (can they get old?). We are rigged with a slip sinker and treble on a leader. I have also been working a slip bobber and various baits in closer to shore, letting it drift in and then set for a while.

We noticed in the shallower areas that the carp are feeding heavily in there. Would this be a good place for cats or is it too shallow or lacking in current for the channel cats? We have been setting up by points and more out in the channel than the shallows.

Thanks for your help.
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[idahopanfish]

I have also considerewd using my pontoon and float/trolling with a dead minnow for some cats in the early morning, like sunrise till noon or so. Should I look for deeper water or try to work along the bank?

Any thoughts or opinion will be appreciated.
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[tubeN2]

Hey my Brother!

River Catfish will behave much like Trout. They will prefer the slower moving areas or even the Eddys of the river in order to expend less energy in between meals.

When necessary they will brave the faster currents or use them for downstream transportation to find another area that could be holding baitfish.

River catfish are also used to livelier baits. If you had some way to get a hold of some live minnows or even live Goldfish, that would be the prime ticket. Check your local regulations before using live bait.

I lived ID and fished the Snake as well as many of the Canals the branch out from the Snake. Minnows, Goldfish and inflated, live Nightcrawlers would always work the best for us.

Just be carefull with the Nightcrawlers. There are some enormous sized Trout that live in that river too and are likely to grab the bait as well.

I ended up with several nice Cats and 2 Cutthroats that were right in the 5lb range one night. The Trout will even hit on the live Minnows too.[cool]

What area of the Snake are you fishing?
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[idahopanfish]

Thanks for you thoughts. I was wondering if when catfishing if there seem to be more carp in that same area, like maybe when you see carp feeding that there are mostlikely cats feeding below the carp. Just wondered if the carp could be an indicator for cats.
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[tubeN2]

The Carp can be an indicator as you described. More of the fish will congregate in the lower flowing areas.

It wouldn't hurt to drop your baits right through the Carp and get to the bottom quickly.[cool]
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