Thread: Catfish on Wiley

was wanting to take my girls to wiley for some catfishing, never been on that lake before but here its good for catfish, where and what bait should i fish with to put them on some good catfish? When i say where i dont mean your favorite fishing spot, i mean what depth, what part of the lake, shoreline, middle of channels, head of creeks or what? i'll be putting in down near the damn, any help is greatly appreciated...my girls are 7 and 11 and i just wanna put em on some good cats..........thanks guys

are you going soon, i mean cold water?

Get ready for some good tips. There are some good kitty catchers here.

Originally Posted by osbcpreacher

was wanting to take my girls to wiley for some catfishing, never been on that lake before but here its good for catfish, where and what bait should i fish with to put them on some good catfish? When i say where i dont mean your favorite fishing spot, i mean what depth, what part of the lake, shoreline, middle of channels, head of creeks or what? i'll be putting in down near the damn, any help is greatly appreciated...my girls are 7 and 11 and i just wanna put em on some good cats..........thanks guys

i assume you are talking about the fort mill dam, if so i would say look for some deeper water near some ledges in nivens creek or put in at allison and fish near the hot water discharge . saturday i caught around 10 in 2 hours fishing 42' water next to a flatt were the water was only 18' the fish were at all depths. i was using cut bait crappie and perch, cut it into pieces about the size of your thumb and you should catch fish but if you have the rods for it put out a couple bigger pieces about as big as half your hand, you never know when that fish of a lifetime is swimming around. if i was wanting to catch fish i would wait till this water gets a little better, you can catch them now but they are a little harder to figure out and this weather can skunk even the best catmen.

forgot to metion, fish the mouths of the major creeks near the channell,

Bowlerman, you said the fish were at all depths. Were you fishing the deep water and the flats fishing on bottom, or were you using floats?

i'm sorry i should have been clearer i had my lines spread over all the depths and there was no real pattern they were scattered and kind of slow at taking the bait. i missed way more than i caught because they would just play with it and not take it.

Right now things are not like they normally are with the catfish bite. All this water and the rising and falling of the lake has them pretty hard to catch at times. A few weeks ago between me, bowlerman and wyliecat we caught well over 75 if a few hours fishing in the main channel. The next day they were gone.

Wht time of year are you looking to go??? Its not going to be as fun for them now with the cold, and slow bite. If you wait and let the lake stabilize for a few days/weeks things will get alot better.

As for where to fish, all of the main lake humps and steep channel ledges are good places to start. If things warm up alittle look on some of the main lake flats with deep water near by. As said before cut bait is the perfered method, but small pieces this time of year. Drifting at less that .5mph is what I like to do. You can cover more water that way. The fish might be covered in mud letting you know they arent moving much and you have to take your bait to them. Anchoring can produce well to, but you have to be willing to move alot. Stay in a place for 30 minutes and move 100yards or so and try again. Anchor in areas where you see pods of bait. Just cause you dont see any arches under them doesnt mean there arent any cats hanging around.

If you want to get some more info look at www.carolinacatfishclub.com

and come to the next meeting. It will be Monday the 15th and ask as many questions to the guys as you want. There is a few of us that regulary fish Wylie. Meetings are open to the public and anyone is welcome to come. This one will be at Lancasters BBQ off of Beaties Ford Road.