# New to River Catfish'n, needing suggestions on "How To's"



## hog (May 17, 2006)

Hello All,
Im new to the Catfish lounge, but not to 2cool....

This summer, due to grand kid visits and my normal offshore waters being to rough. I started look'n into and read'n about jug line fishing. Found a few youtubes, went to the Dollar store and then to Lowes and a short time later, myself and grand kids now have 50 ish noodles and about 30 three hook noodle throw lines. We even mixed cement in big red cups for the throw line weights..

They absolutely had a blast not only making them but, the fishing in the Slow Brazos. We didnt set the world on fire, but we caught enough to eat and for them to take a couple of baggies back down to south texas near Laredo where they live.

This Brazos River catfish'n is alllll new to me. Want to know offshore how to's Im your man, but river fish'n??? Im a babe crawl'n to learn the how to's I guess you could say.

If anyones willing to help me learn by answering questions or suggesting, Im listening. Ive been trying to go back and read ole post about the how to's and suggestions..

Heres some of my questions and things I notice...

BAIT--- What I did was go down to the levee near Surfside and thru my cast net till my arms gave out to try and catch mullet. Got some finger mullet and a few that could be cut in 3 pieces. 

Question-- What is your best method of getting quite a bit of bait?
Ive been reading that some folks order "Shad Darts" and catch Shad in the river on them throwing and retrieving like a Trout rig for Specks.


For more bait, i got some larger fresh dead shrimp and either used whole or broke in half. Noticed we saw alot more less catches this way, and more baitless hooks upon checking, and on the norm, smaller fish caught. 

Went pond fishing the day before and caught a dozen or so Hand size mud cats for throw lines.

We caught some fish, just lots of hooks to bait with not enough bait as a whole.

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So, thats what we did a couple times.... all of us (even tho so very novice) are hooked on River catfishing now... I recon since we live near Freeport/Brazora that the Brazos is where we will go since its close. Hearsay was, the catfishing wasnt that good in the San Bernard... Of course all this is before the Great Floods of Sept 2017. 

We had a simple flat bottom. and nephew ran his. 

After reading, can anyone give me any pointers on what/how to catch baits that works good....

Any tips for targeting yellows, blues, channels...

What to look for in the river when a depth finder is not on the boat?

or,
if you have any threads from the past or youtubes you could share.... Any and all suggestions would be greatly appreciated

Thank you for any and all help or guidance... 

Jimmy aka Hog


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## hog (May 17, 2006)

This was me and My Grandkids first shot at River Catfish'n...... starts at the beginning then we go to do grand kid things at the science museum then back on the river about 5:55. That second day it was SCALDIN hot...


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## RAMROD1 (May 4, 2012)

Sorry no pointers from me but welcome to the addiction!


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk


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## That Robbie Guy (Aug 11, 2009)

Regardless of the fish... you are doing all kinds of good with the kids!


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## hog (May 17, 2006)

That Robbie Guy said:


> Regardless of the fish... you are doing all kinds of good with the kids!


Thank you....
Ive been a Salt water guy all my life. inshore/offshore. Was a Bass fisherman yearrrrrrrs ago. but not much on catfish other than a occasional trot line from one side of a pond to the other in a cattle tank.

Realized when I get those couple of majic weeks a year when the grand children come down, that if its to rough offshore, and sometimes inshore, we are land locked.... Butttttt that river, unless in flood stage has ALWAYS got a place to fish.. So, Im wanting to learn....

Gotta Adapt, improvise and over come if ya wanna make their visit fun and memorable  So Im learn'n to catfish, or at least try'n to learn.. :fish: Dont know to many folks tho, who run throw lines and catfish in the river out of a offshore boat... But ya do, what ya got to work with i Recon...

Brought home two Saturday, had more on the line, but, my inexperience with Throwline cord lengths, and not enough Float noodle proper size for fish bites took its toll. Rebuilding bigger and better this week.. :cheers:

notice the healed broke tail on the smaller one...


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## tpool (Aug 21, 2005)

Awesome hog!!!

T-BONE
(tpool)


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## austin2989 (May 1, 2014)

I am no expert. I recently bought a house with my wife and the Colorado River boat ramp is within a 10 mile drive. So I bought a boat off Craigslist. Just a 16 ft flat bottom aluminum nothing special and went to work. 

Look for bends in the river, a hard curve, If there is a bend then there's a deep hole there. Your flatheads will be in the deeper holes. I don't always have to fish in deep water I've caught many many fish in 6 ft of water which is about the average depth for a few mile stretch of river I usually fish. 

I swear to you as childish and promitive as it sounds good old night crawlers are very good bait still. You don't have to be 8 years old with a bobber to use them. I also started using Punch bait. Any Punch bait will do and I would use it with a treble hook with a spring wrapped around it. And then there's your cut and live bait. Live perch is the very best bait you can use in the river for big flatheads channels or blues. I say perch meaning any of those, bluegill, sun perch red ears anything in that family I just call perch. Live carp are also excellent. Cut bait whether it be cut carp or cut perch or mullet can be good but I seem to have a hard time catching anything but gar on cut bait. They sniff that out and grab it before any catfish do. 

I don't have a depth finder I just do it the old fashioned way. Get out there and try it's always fun. Circle hooks! Circle hooks are a must in my opinion. A 1 ounce weight with about an 8 inch leader and a #3 circle hook and you should be good to go


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## hog (May 17, 2006)

austin2989 said:


> I am no expert. I recently bought a house with my wife and the Colorado River boat ramp is within a 10 mile drive. So I bought a boat off Craigslist. Just a 16 ft flat bottom aluminum nothing special and went to work.
> 
> Look for bends in the river, a hard curve, If there is a bend then there's a deep hole there. Your flatheads will be in the deeper holes. I don't always have to fish in deep water I've caught many many fish in 6 ft of water which is about the average depth for a few mile stretch of river I usually fish.
> 
> ...


Thank you Austin...

Well, I have to admit, I had my Depth finder on.. I know the flood currents did a number on the banks and the bottom.. you can tell EASILY where the banks eroded. on water Depths. I kid you not, I ran across 40-50' holes BIG turns exactly as you said.... Lots of 25'rs.... and I wish I would have taken a picture of the depth finder to show. But on one 90 degree turn just up from the 2004 bridge, on one side of the turn the water was 50' where it crested to go over the bank.. then, where the water couldnt go around very fast, the sand pushed up to where the water is only 6' deep all the way across the river... Heck, the water just out front of the little boat ramp cut close to the bridge is now 45'

Sure marked alot of fish marks on the bottom slopes in some of those deep holes

Thanks so much for the reply Austin...


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## Haute Pursuit (Jun 26, 2006)

I don't know anything about the Brazos, but up the Colorado from Sellkirk, those cats would eat live crawfish better than almost anything. They are hard to knock off the hook and very hardy. We had to use a lot more weight than dixie cups on our jugs though. Barge traffic. I wouldn't limit myself to the deep holes, those fish will come up into the shallow banks at night. Spread the lines out and you will find them. Good luck!


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## hog (May 17, 2006)

Haute Pursuit said:


> I don't know anything about the Brazos, but up the Colorado from Sellkirk, those cats would eat live crawfish better than almost anything. They are hard to knock off the hook and very hardy. We had to use a lot more weight than dixie cups on our jugs though. Barge traffic. I wouldn't limit myself to the deep holes, those fish will come up into the shallow banks at night. Spread the lines out and you will find them. Good luck!


Thank you..


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## Garzas23 (Aug 11, 2010)

Hog, how deep did you set the lines on your jugs for the brazos? I don’t have a fish finder and was curious the average depth of the river between brazoria and West Columbia area.. any info will help.. thanks..


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## Hayniedude24 (Jun 15, 2016)

Hog. You need catfishdrinkinbeer here on 2cool to see this or pm him. Heâ€™s got river cat fishing down to a tee with lines and rod and reel.


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## Postman (Oct 11, 2015)

I like to river fish on the Guadalupe in the Spring of the year. Fishing seems best then and it's not so darn hot in the river bottom. We usually start around the first of Feb. and fish pretty hard till mid May or so. It's a lot of fun. Like all fishing, catfishing is sometimes just fishing and not catching. The fun is going, being in the river bottom especially with grandchildren. I agree fishing is great but catching is better. And eating is even better. When you take the grandkids, take what you'll need to cook your catch right on the river bank. Guaranteed the best catfish meal you will ever eat. They will have memories that they'll keep the rest of their lives, and so will you.


I'm no expert either, but we have good luck on cut shad mostly. Live bait is good if you can get it. Might want to try a perch trap if you have access to a farm pond. I don't think they are legal in the river. A minnow trap is legal I think..not sure what the difference is. Also be sure to have "gear tag" on jug lines so TPW doesn't spoil you fun.


Good luck and good fishin too ya.


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