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For many years now the winter has been the time to catch big blue catfish on Lake Wylie, but that doesn’t mean the catfish are always where anglers think they should be – or in the same place from week to week.  At his last report Captain Rodger Taylor (803-517-7828) told us that drifting in both the main channel and the creeks was off, but that he was able to catch fish by anchoring in the main channel.  With up and down air and in turn water temperatures it’s no surprise that things have changed, and that pattern is no longer working.

On recent trips Rodger has not found action in the main channel, but by heading into the creeks and drifting he has been able to catch fish.  Bites have not come in the deepest area of the channel, and instead fish have been on the channel ledges where the depth drops off in 18-28 feet of water.  Fish have also not been found on the flats beside the channel, or in the shallows, but instead where the depth changes.  Drop offs in general have been good, and the sides of underwater humps have also been productive.  It’s unclear why these areas have been the best, and birds have not been giving away fish locations.

It isn’t a great time to catch numbers of fish, and on his last trip Rodger’s boat only caught about 15 fish including some channels to go with the blues.  However, the bigger fish have definitely been feeding and blues up to about 40 pounds have been landed.  Drifting cut gizzard shad has been the ticket.

Lake Wylie is slightly up to 97.8% of full pool.