Pre-Spawn
As the water begins the warm up in the spring catfish become
more active. They will begin leaving the
deeper areas and head to shallower, warmer areas of the lake or river usually
following the baitfish they prey on.
Catfish begin to eat a lot after not eating as much over the winter months. They also eat more in preparation for
spawning.
Catfish Spawn
Catfish begin preparing to spawn once the water reaches the
60 degree mark. They begin eating more
as they move, sometimes miles, upstream.
If you find a good spot and take out several large catfish there is a
good chance there will be more there in a day or so since they are constantly
on the move. Dams are great places to
find springtime catfish because many prespawn catfish get stuck trying to make
their upstream journeys.
Once the water temperature reaches around 70 degrees the
catfish will begin to spawn. In rivers
they will swim to shallower areas upstream and sometimes into feeder streams
and creeks and other tributaries. They
will get territorial and will find holes to nest in. This can be in weeds, muddy caves, cavernous
rocks, pockets under sunken logs and branches, cans and old tires, and pretty
much anything else that they can turn into a cave-like hole. The female will lay eggs in the nest and the
male will fertilize them and guard them until about a week after they
hatch. Once the eggs hatch the catfish
fry will stay in a group inside the nest until they are 7-10 days old. During this period the male fiercely guards
the hole and rarely eats anything. The
females begin swimming back downstream.
Post Spawn
Catfish are generally exhausted after spawning. They usually begin to head back downstream,
almost drifting from lack of energy, back to their summer holes near
bait fish. They usually take longer to
get back downstream than they took to make the upstream journey because they
are usually hungrier and worn out from spawning.
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