2018 Game and Fish Catfish Forecasts

When the weather heats up, so does the catfish bite. Game & Fish can help you catch more whisker fish this summer. In our state-by-state, region-by-region 2018 Catfish Forecasts, we pinpoint the best fishing spots near home, the most-effective techniques for your state, and how to catch the big one. Click on your state below for an in-depth look.

Summer is a great time to head in search of catfish, so it is good that this Alabama catfish forecast has so many locations where cats are prevalent and plentiful. In a state overflowing with rivers and lakes, Alabama anglers can find almost unlimited places to catch big catfish from the sprawling Lake Guntersville to the smallest farm ponds and park lakes. World renowned as a trophy catfish paradise, the Tennessee River produces monster blues and big flatheads, including some cats exceeding 100 pounds. On any cast anywhere in the system, an angler could hook up with the fish of a....Continue Reading

With a stiff wind howling through his upturned battery of fishing rods, Chris Fuller of Elkins prepared breakfast for the catfish of Lake Dardanelle. Friday's entree was fresh skipjack herring sliced in bite-size chunks to attract big blue catfish. For any channel cats that might wander into this continental breakfast, Fuller also had two buckets of a putrid concoction he called "dip bait." "They are cheese based, with a bunch of other ingredients," Fuller said. "It's got fibers mixed in with it to give it body so that it will stay on...Continue Reading

Many people start fishing by catching channel catfish at an early age, frequently in some park or farm pond. Easy to catch, these bottom feeders eat practically anything, and rank among the tastiest and most abundant freshwater fish in the Sunshine State. "In my area, the lower St. Johns River and the Suwannee River are the best places to catch catfish," claimed Allen Martin, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation....Continue Reading

Georgia is blessed with a wide variety of waters containing countless varieties of fish. The Georgia Department of Natural Resources Wildlife Resources Division lists 32 lakes and 19 rivers that contain 40 different species of fish. One of the most popular, found in all those waters, is catfish. Anglers can try to catch a state record cat or just go for some of the best tasting fish for the fryer. Those wanting a record, have better....Continue Reading

Diehard catfish anglers fish all year long and enjoy good success even through wintertime in some locations. But the majority of anglers wait until the warmer months to think about fishing for catfish. With summertime just around the corner, it's time catfishing fans in the Great Plains States think again about where their best fishing is going to take place. We've got some....Continue Reading 

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June in Iowa — a time when catfish focus on reproduction, and catfish anglers focus on catching as many catfish as possible during what likely is the most misunderstood time of the catfish fishing calendar. Myriad folk tales have been told about how good catfishing is, or isn't, during the time of year when the popular game....Continue Reading

When it comes to catching catfish, Illinois anglers are blessed with countless locations for good fishing action. Ranging from the state's many rivers to the seemingly endless list of reservoirs and city lakes, Illinois anglers typically need not travel far to find good catfish action. Best of all, the good fishing begins this month and continues until ice begins to form on our lakes. In fact, the best catfishing typically begins across the state as action for....Continue Reading

Now that summer is upon us, many Indiana catfish fishermen are likely to hit the water. The diehards are already there! But there's plenty of room for everyone else. The catfish are ready and waiting, too. Channel catfish, flathead catfish and blue catfish are all available in our waters, and some of them are absolutely....Continue Reading

Catfish are taking front stage in the fishing world and there is little doubt catfish have been a staple of Kentucky anglers for many years. Regardless whether fishing the mighty Mississippi in the west or Greenbo Lake in the east, the Bluegrass State has countless locations where anglers can pursue catfish, both big bragging size monsters those just the right for the....Continue Reading

According to the freshwater fisheries biologists in Mississippi and Louisiana, the catfish forecast couldn't be much brighter. Understandably, most whiskerfish anglers consider catfish and Mississippi/Louisiana to be virtually synonymous. From the Tenn-Tom Waterway on the Alabama border to the Sabine River on the Texas state line, both states boast great catfishing year 'round. And even though whiskerfish are not considered game fish in either state, catfishing remains one of the....Continue Reading

There's nothing like spending a lazy summer day sitting on a bank or in a boat fishing for catfish. A man can get lost in his thoughts while keeping a watch over his fishing poles. When the line starts moving off in a slow steady fashion you gently pick up your rod and reel and as the line tightens you set the hook. That's when the fight is on and the....Continue Reading

"There are great catfishing opportunities throughout the state," noted Richard Zweifel, the acting Inland Fisheries Program Administrator for the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR). I had called the biologist to try to get a handle on where to send Ohio Game & Fish readers who wanted to tangle with the state's largest game fish and its catfish cousins. His reply was more along the lines of "it would be easier to point out places that don't....Continue Reading

You can drift or anchor or fish from shore on our dozens of large reservoirs and catch limits of big blue cats. You can fish the creeks and rivers with rods and lines, set out trot lines, limb lines or jug lines and catch flatheads and channel cats and sometimes blues. You can even catch bullheads in small ponds and....Continue Reading

Catfishing, a summertime specialty throughout South Carolina, is widespread and popular partly because most lakes in the state provide very good catfishing. We've highlight a few that consistently produce excellent fishing during the summer along with tips and techniques for summertime success for ....Continue Reading

Like many of the rivers in Virginia, anglers can catch catfish in the entire freshwater stretch of the Rappahannock in good numbers. The great thing about fishing the Rappahannock is that in the upstream portion of the river above Fredericksburg, the pools and eddies hold good numbers of chunky channel....Continue Reading