Do Catfish feed during the day or at night?

Catfish pursuit has become one of the leading fisheries in North America, due to the proliferation of catfish in North American waters, and because of the generally larger than average size that many cats can grow to, with Flatheads and Blues topping fifty and sixty pounds or more, with regularity. These factors, combined with the fact that most regulatory agencies do not classify catfish as “game” or “sport” fish, means that there are fewer regulations regarding fishing for them. This has spawned a huge array of techniques and methodologies for bagging cats, which, interestingly, are also considered one of the very best eating fish by many people, game fish, or not.

Catfish are known for their tendency to live in dark, murky spots, where they can hide and wait for prey or other organic material to float by. For this reason, cats are best adapted to low-light conditions, and use their barbels (whiskers) and sense of smell to “see” in the dark. As a result, daytime strikes by cats, while not unheard of, are rare, in comparison to night time catches, with the only exceptions being very deep water, where the daylight doesn’t really factor into the equation anymore. Otherwise, daylight is a deterrent to catfish. At night, though, cats are especially active, and in the case of Flatheads, they will come up into water which is otherwise far too shallow for them, normally, to feed on small baitfish at night. Generally, the best times for nailing catfish fall between about an hour before sunset, until maybe three or four in the morning, by which time the fish become lazy again, and tend to slow down in their pursuit of food.

Many catfish anglers set trotlines, limblines or other setlines in the evening, and then check them every two hours or so over the night, and pull in any fish they find on the line. Rod fishermen can sit quietly in a boat, or cast from the shore, and leave a slipweight or tightline rig set in place, which, while requiring constant vigilance over the night, will give you a great wakeup call, when a big cat strikes your bait.

Tags: catfish fishing trips, catfish fishing ponds, catfish fishing houston, fishing for channel catfish, drift fishing for catfish