Capital Fishing

Summer nights can be ideal for catching catfish

Industrial noises emanating through the darkness, the occasional banging of railroad yard workers hooking up boxcars and infrequent distant car horns punctuated the silence on a
warm summer evening. 

Despite the Alabama River running through a metropolitan area with about 400,000 people, we heard no boat motors. Only the splashing of creatures grabbing their evening meal rolled over the dark waters. Then, we heard the sound we came to hear, a fishing reel screeching with a big catfish grabbing
our bait.

One of the best trophy catfish waters in the state, the entire Alabama River system can provide exceptional whiskerfish action. About 50 miles downriver, Rick Conner caught an 80-pound flathead near Selma to establish the state record. Some people catch small channel cats, but giant catfish remain largely ignored on the Alabama River system.

“Even with Montgomery right there, catfish don’t get much pressure on this river, especially at night,” says Mike Haney, a professional catfish angler. “In daylight, many people fish the river, but mostly for bass or crappie. At night, we can target big catfish practically anywhere we want and don’t need to compete with many other anglers or worry about people blowing by in a boat and running us up against the bank.”

Frequent boat traffic forces fish to hunker down in deeper water during daylight hours. They move very little and feed less. At night, though, even on this normally heavily-travelled stream, the biggest river monsters lose a bit of their wariness and feed more aggressively. In addition, catfish also seek relief in deeper waters during hot summer days and don’t move as often. Flatheads always become more active at night all year long.

“The Alabama River has deep water, shallow water and plenty of structure,” Haney says. “When looking for catfish, we scan an area with our electronics. Catfish suspend around structure. Most of the fish we catch on the Alabama River are in 20 to 27 feet of water around some structure, like a fallen tree.”

Any snags, holes or other objects and contours could hold big fish. We anchored within casting distance of a downed tree. During the day, anglers make longer casts, but can’t see well in the darkness. At night, anglers can move a little closer to prime cover without spooking fish.

“In the darkness, we try to get a little tighter to structure than in the daytime,” says Rodney Crimm, a professional catfish angler. “At night, we look for some woody structure or a steep drop-off. We want to catch fish coming up out of a deep hole where they spent the day.”

Place baits just upstream from catfish lairs. Let juices and scent from succulent baits flow downstream in a catfish’s amazing sensory organs. Giant catfish mostly eat fish. Blues will take cut bait, but flatheads prefer live prey. Voracious predators, flatheads typically eat threadfin or gizzard shad, skipjack, sunfish and other catfish, but might devour anything they can swallow. Many anglers rig several rods, each baited with a different enticement, to see what whiskerfish want at that time.

“We tend to do better with blue cats when fishing some type of cut bait like skipjack, shad or bluegills,” Crimm says. “In the day, we sometimes use live bait, especially when specifically targeting flatheads.”

Some of the best fishing during summer nights occurs between midnight and an hour after dawn with a peak around 3 a.m. That’s when even the most popular public waters like the Alabama River see the least amount of human activity. 

Obviously, night fishermen need good lighting. In the old days, fishermen used hand-held flashlights or lit gasoline lanterns. Today, many LED, or light-emitting diodes, give off excellent brightness in smaller packages. They give off less heat than other forms of illumination and drain considerably less power. In addition, LED lights don’t seem to attract as many insects as other lights, a major plus when fishing on a hot summer evening in Alabama.

“Anyone who plans to do a lot of fishing at night needs to get some good lights,” Crimm recommended. “Putting LED light strips along the back of the boat where the rod holders go gives anglers a big help.”

Bring some bug spray, snacks, water and refreshments. Enjoy an evening in more comfortable temperatures than a summer afternoon with little competition. The only disturbance might come when a river monster grabs the bait and the reel starts squealing! 

John N. Felsher is a professional freelance writer who lives in Semmes, Ala. He also hosts an outdoors tips show for WAVH FM Talk 106.5 radio station in Mobile, Ala. Contact him at [email protected] or through Facebook.