Brackish water Blue Cats

[Surffishwant2B]

I live in Clear Lake area of Houston and have caught Blue Cats
in Clear Creek in Webster, TX. Two years ago I caught one that
was 23 lbs on cut mullett. I understand that Blue Cats can stand
brackish water, I was told in the deep water of Clear Lake with
a boat you can get into some good cats, and sometimes the
shrimpers get them in there nets from the bay!

So, I want to find out from the catfish forum, have any of
you guys caught cats out of brackish water? and Info about
how to. I do know when the rain is coming down the cats are
on the move.

[Catfish]

I am no expert , however I know there are a few guys on this forum that fish Brackish almost exclusively ..

[Hawkeye]

I fish in brackish water for Blue Catfish a lot of the time. In additional to being brackish, it's tidal water too. We fish for blues in many different ways, and it's hard to tell all in a few words. Fishing from the bank is done the same way as in fresh water with the exception that it takes a lot of weight to hold bait when the tide is ripping. From a boat, we usually anchor in a creek mouth and fish incoming tide on the mud flats. In the deeper parts of the river, we anchor on the up tide side of a hole and feed bait (usually cut shad) into the hole and allow mr. whiskers to come to us. There are a lot of different techniques for catching about any species alive, but anchoring upstream or uptide from where you think the fish will come from and putting out plenty of baits is what seems to work best for us on The James... probably a whole lot like fishing for catfish on any river anywhere in the world... no secrets that I am aware of.. Big baits generally keep the dinks off... that's about it.
Tom

[NightTrain]

Surfishwant2be-
Most all of the rivers in Va.(Potomac,Rappahanock,York,James)and N.C.(Roanoke,Neuse,Cape Fear,etc.)are tidal to a point.The salinity levels will fluctuate with the amount of fresh water flowing out.Low water flow will allow the saltwater to push upstream to mix and become"brackish".I wonder how far inland the salinity will push,with all the downpours ya'll have endured in Texas,lately.During one dry spell,last year,I remember folks talkin' 'bout catchin' spot & croakers as far inland as the"fall line" in downtown Richmond...which if'n ya know your geography is"a fer piece"to the coast.I also know that you can catch lg.mouths,cats,and bluegills in the same water as flounder and croakers(the mouth of any river that enters bay/sound waters).Good luck to ya,podna...give us a report.

[gatorbait]

I fish upper Trinity Bay which is usually brackish(except right now!LOL) and I have come home more than once with specks and blue cats in the box. I have found one of the best baits for blue cats in these brackish water are mud minnows. Keep em alive and then cut them into thirds right before you put it on the hook. You can usually catch 4 or 5 fish on one piece before they finally crush it. Only major problem we have with fishing for cats in brackish water is the crabs. They are a problem, that is why I usually only catfish in the winter time since the crabs migrate out when the water gets cold. Also, tidal flow is a must. If the tide isnt moving for us then we arent catching. Always fun to be catfishing and pull up a 3-4 ft shark. Never know whats gonna happen in these waters.
Just be careful with Clear Lake and do some homework, I do believe there are fish advisories from there. Might want to check that out. Catfish, being scaleless, tend to be more suceptable to the bacteria warnings we get in the Galveston system. Only two species are specifically mentioned in the ship channel advisories and they are crabs and catfish. Just a heads up.


Zac