Although he lives closer to some of North Carolina’s mountain reservoirs, veteran catfish tournament angler Steve Tindall said for catfishing during the fall, it’s hard to beat one of the impounded reservoirs within the confines of South Carolina’s Upstate area. In order of preference, he listed Clarks Hill, Monticello, Greenwood and Hartwell as his favorites.
Tindall said when fishing any of these reservoirs during the fall and often most other times of the year, it’s hard to beat drift fishing for them. With primarily blue and trophy-sized channel catfish as his target, especially in a tournament, he said he never heads to the lake with a preset location in mind and spends a lot of time during pre-fish days graphing the entire lake.
“You have to start somewhere so I guess I could suggest water that’s at least 25-35 feet deep and not far from the main lake channel this time of year,” Tindall said. “The pattern is always different and there are a lot of variables that dictate where catfish will be in the fall.”
Tindall described some of these variables as water levels, weather patterns, current flow and/or release schedules in the lake, and water temperature.
Along with looking for fish, obviously, Tindall said he makes note of potential catfish-holding structure, but he doesn’t pay a lot of attention to bait during his scouting forays.
“My focus is what’s near the bottom or on the bottom of the lake when graphing,” he said. “While catfish do suspend off the bottom in a reservoir, I’ve found if the fish are suspended, they’re usually not catfish.”
Another pre-fishing activity for Tindall is to spend as much time as necessary to catch fresh bait. There’s a commitment to time for graphing/scouting and making sure the bait he has to offer the catfish is quality.
“Like a lot of catfish guys, my favorite is white perch first and gizzard shad second,” he said. “Sometimes I will catch bait on the way to a tournament or a couple days before. There are a couple of small water district lakes in the Upstate that I’d prefer not to name that are loaded with white perch and they are not that hard to catch and readily available almost year-round,” he said. “I find it’s worth the effort to have good bait.”
Once on the water, Tindall said he uses one of two main strategies to catch catfish. He will drift fish, deploying medium heavy baitcasting rods paired with 7000 series Ambassador reels and 40-pound braided line. The most common rig used is a standard Carolina rig, weighted with 2-to- 3-ounce egg weights unless there is some noticeable current is in the lake at the time, then he may go a little heavier. A 5/0 or 6/0 Owner circle hook rounds out the rig. On Greenwood, which is predominately channel catfish, he will downsize the rig accordingly.
“Drifting is what I do 90% of the time,” Tindall said. “If I mark catfish in an area, I’ll motor upwind and drift as far as I need to or as long as I’m still marking fish, whether that’s 100 yards or a mile.”
To control the drift of the boat, it’s pretty common for him to bump around with the trolling motor while drifting, particularly if catfish are relating to a channel break or edge.
In catfishing circles, the style of drift fishing that Tindall prefers is known as dead sticking or down rodding. The idea is to drift with the rig just off the bottom of the lake floor.
As a backup strategy, he will, on occasion, anchor and fish. Tindall said he rarely anchors unless it’s in the river portion at one extreme end or the other of the lake. He will look for a likely piece of structure in the river and anchor the boat from the front. The rods, tackle and bait are generally the same as drift fishing.
If I’m anchored, things usually aren’t going well and I’m in the river trying to catch a flathead,” he said, “but on occasion, it has paid off for me.”
Phillip Gentry, who lives in Waterloo, is a freelance outdoor writer who has been writing a wide variety of outdoor articles across the Southeast since 2004