I’ve got some buddies at work that wanna fish for channels and I don’t know much about them. I catch them all the time in the summer on seams and dams while fishing for whitetips but haven’t targeted them …
Are they biting this early in the year? and is plain cutbait a good bet right now?
Was thinking of trying P2 this weekend.
thanks
Jason
I have never targeted them this early. But I usually go by the time the trees are starting to show some green. I see the green now so have been contiplating on starting the chase.
Early in the year, I use crawlers vs. cut bait.
Channels bite all year long, albeit a bit slower in colder months, and cut bait is arguably the best bait you can use all around (proper presentation, and type of fish used are debatable and there’s a lot of articles about the internet with different opinions.) I’ve often read people say smaller sized pieces go farther in colder waters.
I generally start down stream, throw the bait out, give it 20-30 minutes, move upstream a bit (not too far, you want to make a scent trail for any that are hunting your original bait) and then toss out fresh cuts.. Repeat until you find them or they find you..
Channels hunt mostly by scent, and they’ll often come a long distance if they smell something intriguing up river.
I’m sure some of the vets here will have more to add!
We’ve caught a few in the 4-5# range so far this year which is better than the small yearlings I usually nab this early. We’ve been using cut bait. You will get a lot of fiddlers pecking at the bait. You just have to let them peck until something big enough comes along.
I should add normally this time of year I usually catch the little ones because I am using crawlers.
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