A hot month’s tips for catfishing season

Photo and Text

By DON GASAWAY

May begins the hottest months of the year for those of us fishing for Mr. Forked Tail in the Prairie State.

Fishing for Channel Catfish is the most basic of angling pursuits available to anglers of Illinois. It can be a simple as a hooked worm on a line attached to a stick, or as sophisticated as spinning gear, a space-age composite rod and crankbaits.

It is, at once, the choice of those who spend a lot of money and those who do not. The one thing both have in common is that they must find the fish.

It seems that everything about catfish patterns relates to their search for food. They eat almost everything in their environment. By using slack water ambush points, they conserve energy until some food comes their way. They relate to brush, cutback banks, and rip rap for their spawning activity and to find food sources.