Catching Catfish Around Cormorant Roosts, Cormorant Catfishing, Splat Fishing, Catfishing Water Turkey Roosts or whatever you want to call this technique for catching catfish is a fun and effective way to catch fish. Cole in Wichita Falls Texas has a question about using this technique at Lake Arrowhead Texas.
Message:
I live in Wichita Falls and fish Lake Arrowhead most of the time. I have never fished under water turkeys but have heard it can be great fishing. I was wanting to give it a try. The folks around here usually don’t want give up to much info. Any tips or tricks on fishing the birds would be great. Also do you catch many blues under them? Thanks, Cole
Cole,
This fishing technique is called a number of different things, but most commonly cormorant catfishing, fishing the water turkey roosts or splat fishing.
This is a very effective technique for catching blue and channel catfish. It is also a lot of fun.
Generally the majority of cormorants begin to leave for the Summer around this time of year and this type of fishing comes to a close for a while, unless you are near a lake that has a resident population of birds. The only lakes that I hear of having resident birds in any decent numbers are usually in deep South Texas.
I am working on getting some information together on catching catfish around cormorant roosts and letting loose on some tips and tricks and techniques for fishing this way but things are still in the works.
Punch bait can be excellent for fishing around the cormorant roosts so I would read up on our articles we have recently posted as they will probably be helpful. There are a number of different baits that are used around cormorant roosts but punch baits are a “go to” for many anglers for this fishing technique.
Punch Bait Hooks – Talks about hooks selection.
Choosing a Rod and Reel For Punch Bait and Dip Bait – Talks about what to look for when choosing a rod and reel for fishing with punch baits or dip bait
Punch Baits Care and Feeding - Talks about what to do if it is too thick or too thin.
How To Load A Hook With Catfish Punch Baits – Gives you some tips and tricks for how to load a hook
Video and Article Explaining what punch baits are.
Because it is so late in the season and probably will not do you a lot of good this year, I am going to work on getting some stuff together and posted before the weather starts to cool off again. I hope that works for you.
If this is something you plan on doing this year and you still have birds on your lake. Shoot me another email and I will try to give you some brief pointers on catching catfish around cormorant roosts to tide you over until I get my post together with a lot of the information. This is one of those things I could literally write volumes on.
You might also check out these links as they have some good basic information:
http://www.catfishbait.net/catfish-bait-articles.htm
http://www.whiskerkitty.com/basspro_texas_catfish_seminar.html
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I would like to have information on this too. A lot of the birds stay on Arrowhead year round. Anything you can provide will be greatly appreciated. Thanks much.
Howdy
One technique i heard of for fishing cormorant roosts was to use unweighted hooks baited with chicken gizzards. The gizzards make a splat when they hit the water and the drift down slowly. I was told that the gizzard rarely makes it to the bottom . I will be trying this method in Sept. I hope this is helpful. Jack