Looking for TN River Catfishing Tips

[DayDay]

I usually fish on the Tennessee River south of I-40 and north of Hwy 412 (Perryville). I did a lot of successful bass fishing years ago but went for many years without fishing. I started back fishing towards the end of last summer.

I am not catching near as many bass as I used to. I never fished for catfish but have added this to my activities. I've had some luck fishing some structure at about 20-25 feet deep. There are pretty well defined channels throughout the area I fish that get really deep. So far, my best spot has been where it appears that there was a rock slide from a section of a cliff and there are boulders at about 25 feet shortly before dropping off into the channel.

I'm planning to give it another go next week. I'm thinking I will look around the Hwy 412 bridge structure during the day after early morning bass fishing.

The water level has been fairly stable with little current lately.

Any suggestions on what to look for regarding fishing spots and how deep, including depths at different times of the year?

 

[RUGER]

Main channel ledges, deep, right where it starts back up towards the shallows.
Preferably near the mouth of a creek.

 

[DayDay]

Thanks. I'm pulling some heavier sinkers out of my salt water tackle box...

 

[younggun308]

I'm pulling some heavier sinkers out of my salt water tackle box...

I haven't tried them myself, but it looks like lots of guys are having some success with heavy hair jigs. Both catfish and stripers.

 

[DayDay]

I haven't tried them myself, but it looks like lots of guys are having some success with heavy hair jigs. Both catfish and stripers.

Interesting. More stuff to pull out of my salt water tackle... Could be fun to play around with a jig with maybe a sliver of bait.

 

[gasman]

Fish the bridge columns with cut skip jack and or cut bream. Live bream for flatheads. Also just north of there at the mouth of mousetail landing is a huge drop off. I've caught some there. I also like to anchor upstream of the barge at Teague gravel pit. Mouth of the Beech river is also a good place.

 

[DayDay]

Thanks for all the help. I didn't make it to the bridge but did stop on some rocks in 35 to 40 feet. Had one on and snagged on bottom and ended up breaking off the line. Took a partner with me and he was having too much fun catching bream for bait. By the time we made it out for catfishing he started feeling a little ill (he has minor health issues).

I'll give it a go again next week.

There was more current than when I was there a few weeks ago.

I also had a brief problem getting my motor running at the start of the day. There is an electrical plug in front of my motor under the cowl. Evidently, when I replaced the cowl the other day, it must have lined up with the clip that keeps the plugs connected and ended up unlatching the connection and then pushing down so it unplugged the connection which ran to the fuel pump. Easy fix and now have cable tied the wires farther back and out of the way...

Oh yeah, no luck with the bass. Fished at a creek mouth and up in the creek. Water in the creek was pretty muddy; baitfish everywhere though.