Catfishing draws continued attention during turkey season

While turkey hunters were in the woods looking for a big tom and crappie fishermen were after spawning crappie, Bill Stevens, Sedalia, was after catfish at the Lake of the Ozarks.

Stevens started fishing for catfish while still in grade school. "I caught my first catfish in a small lake near home back in 1939. It was a nice yellow catfish and then I caught lots of bullheads from the same pond.

"Ever since then, I have been hooked on catfishing from channel cats to flatheads and blue cats. I like to hunt turkeys and catch crappie when they are spawning, but when a friend called and told me he was catching catfish at the lake, I had to go," he said.

One of the most widely distributed catfish in the state is the channel cat. It is common in most of the streams and lakes in the state and stocking programs has widened its distribution in nearly all man-made lakes and farm ponds.

"Dyed-in-the-wool" catfishermen enjoy the beauty of a stream, but they aren't fooled by the tendency of the river to hold catfish. The experience of anglers like Stevens over the years has shown that catfish aren't evenly dispersed over the stream bottom; rather they are concentrated in certain areas, and the success in putting fish on the stringer depends on their ability to search out and fins the reaches that hold fish.

In fact, some of the more knowledgeable catfishermen feel that 90 percent of the fish are concentrated into 10 percent of the habitat.

One of the best ways to improve your catch of catfish is by closely observing the characteristics of locations that produce fish-or likewise do not produce fish. Stream habitats that concentrate fish are riffle areas just above pools, cut banks, snags, rocks and other submerged structure.

Lakes also produce good channel catfish, and the opportunity to catch fish in lakes and ponds has increased over the years by a successful stocking program. These stocked fish grow fast and in fact, the largest channel catfish caught in the state each year are usually caught from lakes and ponds. Fish caught in man-made lakes in excess of 10 pounds are common. Jacomo has been a hot spot for channel cat anglers for many years and many big fish have been taken including a state record.

Stevens said catfish can be caught year around. "I had one of my best fishing trips just before Christmas when I was fishing with cut shad on John Redmond in Kansas," he said. "We couldn't keep the fish off our line."

He went on to say, "Using the right bait is probably the most confusing part of catfishing, and there are nearly as many concoctions as there are fishermen." Bait selection ranges from nightcrawlers, chicken livers, crawfish, minnows, cut bait and a multitude of "stink" baits.

Stevens said, "If the water temperature is above 70 degrees, use prepared cheese baits, but if you are fishing in the winter months, use cut bait, I have found that live bait is best for the larger fish and cheese baits catch more 10- to16-ounce fish. I think light tackle may help catch more fish, but you need heavy tackle when fishing near snags and structure as well as for larger fish."

On the opening day of the spring turkey season, Stevens would normally by in the woods, but when Dale Davis called to tell him the catfish were hitting, both men headed for the lake and by days end they had caught 14 catfish with the largest a 16-pound channel. "I'll go turkey hunting next week," Stevens said.

Speaking of catfishing, Paul Wrabec, Sugar Creek, offered a tribute to his uncle, Jake Wrabec, who passed away at the age of 83. Paul said if it weren't for his uncle, he wouldn't know how to hunt and fish.

Uncle Jake was a crusty old bachelor that never married or had children, but he was the best hunter and fisherman Paul had ever met. He caught the biggest catfish and had the sharpest knife on the lake of the Ozarks and was always ready to help someone learn from his experience.

Paul said, "If I had one word to describe him it would be teacher. My father, due to his health, was not able to take me to the woods or the lake, my uncle stepped up when my father couldn't and started me fishing at age 4 and deer hunting when I was 10.

"This past deer season, my sons and I were at the Lake of the Ozarks deer hunting, but because of the acorn shortage, we had a shortage of deer where we were hunting so we went duck hunting. One day, we limited out on ducks and were getting ready to head for the cabin when I notice a persimmon tree.

"The fruit was ripe and sweet and my uncle had always told me that when the persimmons were ripe they were ready for catfish bait. He meant big catfish, the ones he called hogs. We picked enough to set out a 30-hook trot line.

"The next day, the temperature at 19 degrees, we ran the line and found a fighting catfish on it. It turned out to be a 48-pound flathead and there was still another fish on the line. It was a monster that weighed 53 pounds. Both fish proved what uncle Jake said, when the persimmons get sweet and ripe those big hogs will bite."

A week before his uncle died, Paul was able to show him the photos of the big catfish. He said, "I told you that when the persimmons were ripe and sweet to eat the big catfish bite." " I was happy that I listened to him to learn one more of his catfishing techniques," Paul said.

Meanwhile, Missouri turkey hunters took more than 10,000 the second week of the three-week spring season bringing the total statewide to 32,107 which was down by seven percent from last spring when hunters took 35,006 bearded birds the first two weeks of the season.