Best Time of Day to Catch Catfish (Blues, Flathead, Channel)

Leave a comment after this article and let’s talk more about fishing. I’d love to read your feedback.

Let’s discuss when the best time of day to catch big catfish is. Catfish will bite all day and night long but there are certain times of the day when most anglers have the best success. These “prime times” will also vary by season and by weather conditions.

What is the best time of day to catch catfish? The best time of day to catch 3-seasons catfish is from an hour before sunset until 2 hours after sunrise and during the winter, from late morning until just before sunset. These are not hard and fast rules, but you will find the most active and hungry catfish consistently biting in these windows.

Let’s take a deeper look into each of these time slots and how you can fish them to catch more and larger catfish. I’ll also briefly touch on the bait you should select and where you need to fish on a given body of water for the best results.

Check out this link here to view my complete catfish fishing gear recommendation list, including rods, reels, baits, gear, etc. I have field tested a lot of catfish gear and these are my recommendations.

Best Time of Day

I have found that fishing for catfish most of the year is best during the nighttime. I like to begin fishing about an hour before sunset and you will see the bite remain pretty good all night long until about an hour or so after sunrise. Catfish emerge from the depths near sunset and follow shad and bluegill into shallow bays and flats.

This puts them within casting range of bank fishermen. The key to catching these fish is to present them with live or dead bait if possible.

Find out what natural forage is in the lake. It could be bluegill, carp, shad, perch, or clams. Whatever it is that big catfish naturally eat is what will work best. To learn what the best baits for big catfish are, check out this article.

Forget using stink baits. To learn what alternatives work a lot better than stink baits, check out my article on the topic. It is also important you let your baits soak longer at night. Because catfish will be out hunting, they will eventually find your bait.

Give your bait at least 45 minutes before casting elsewhere. I’ve found nighttime catfish are a lot more forgiving with poor bait placement than they are during the day.

For a complete breakdown of the best gear, baits, hooks, rods, and electronics to catch more and bigger catfish, check out my recommended catfish gear list.

Best Time: Seasonal Consideration

Spring

The springtime, like the fall, depends on the time of the season you’re fishing. For catfish in the early spring right after ice melt or the final freezing night, catfish will still behave similarly to their winter customs.

You will probably catch more catfish during the middle to the latter part of the day than you will at night and in the morning.

Catfish will become more active as the water temps rise. Later in the spring as summer nears, fish at night. Sunset until sunrise tends to be the hottest time for me.

These fish will come and find your bait more aggressively and you can do well fishing from shore. You can catch cats during the middle of the day but I find they tend to be in much deeper water.

Summer

During the summer, the best time to catch catfish actively out hunting seems to be at night. About an hour before sunset throughout the night until about 2 hours after sunset seems to be the perfect time window.

Catfish will emerge from those deeper holes they spend their days in and come up into the shallow bays and flats chasing bluegill, perch, and shad. I do a lot of fishing from the bank so the nighttime offers be the best access to hungry catfish.

Just remember to let your bait soak longer at night before moving because catfish will be out and about hunting so give them some extra time to find your hook.

If you have a boat and are able to find deep drop-offs with laydown timber, you can make a killing on daytime catfish all bunched up close together. To learn how to catch catfish during the summer and warm weather in general, check out this article.

Fall

During the fall, the shad bite really turns on for catfish. Shad start schooling up and catfish go on hunt mode. I have found that earlier in the fall, from sunset until sunrise is awesome because cats are out searching for your food and they’ll find your bait.

Later in the fall as water temperature plummet and start to look more like winter, go with more fishing towards the middle to the latter portion of the day.

Use live or cut bait for these fish. I like using living small bluegills for big flatheads and cut shad for blue and channel cats. The early fall is one of the best times to hook into good cats.

Winter

During the winter, catfish will be trying to stay as warm as possible. This means they will once again be nestled up “belly-to-the-mud” on the bottom of the deepest holes near the fingers of reservoirs and the mouths of streams. In these locations, look for the deepest holes.

If you catch catfish during the winter and their bellies have some mud on them, you now know why. The best time of day to catch winter catfish is probably late morning through near-sunset. Fishing at night for catfish during the winter won’t yield very good results. It will be too cold out.

By far my favorite time to catch wintertime catfish though is anytime you have a snow or rain event that causes air temperatures to rise some. Big catfish, especially flatheads will come alive and start biting. For a complete breakdown of fishing for catfish in winter, check out my article I wrote.

Also, fishing during and after rain and flooding can yield big catfish. If you want to learn what are the best fighting fish to catch to include saltwater and freshwater, please check out this helpful article I wrote.

Morning vs. Evening Bite

As with a lot of fish like bass, pike, panfish, and trout, catfish seem to bite really well in the reduced hours of early morning and late afternoon due to the cooler water temperatures and prey availability.

I find the best times for consistently good catfish action is an hour before sunset all the way until 2 hours after sunrise.

But is the evening better than the morning? From my experience, the late afternoon bite has always been better. I don’t know if catfish are fuller by morning time from feeding all night or what, but I prefer to fish for hungry cats just after sunset.

Daytime vs. Nighttime

moon for fishing — I prefer no moon over full moon for night cats.

From my experience, catfish behave differently at night than they do during the day.

During the day, especially during the warmer months, catfish will be seeking out cooler, more comfortable water. They will be in deeper holes especially if those holes have lay-down trees or boulders.

Shad and bluegill will be nestled amongst the deeper structure. Big catfish will be down there too both to keep cool and to feed on their favorite food. The catfish will be packed in tighter but won’t be actively moving about.

You can catch a lot of catfish in a very small lake area if you find the deep catfish holes during the middle of the day because they will be so tightly packed.

Contrast this to what catfish seem to do at night. From my experience, catfish emerge from their deep holes and move into shallower flats near the deep holes about an hour before sunset and remain there until morning.

They are out there hunting for shad and bluegill who also rise from the depths at night. Catching catfish at night is a lot easier because fish will come to you and find your bait. A study by Robinson et al. (1995) confirmed that catfish are indeed more active feeding at night than during the day.

But during the day, you can catch a lot more catfish from the same location because catfish will be so tightly packed together. The hardest part is locating exactly where they are.

Best Time for Bank Fishing

If you are solely fishing from shore, I recommend fishing around sunset through midnight assuming your lake has fairly gradual slopes.

Observe the bank (land) around your lake. If you have steep banks or prominent hills and mountains on one side of the lake, this indicates deep holes very close to shore.

If you find these scenarios, you may find catfish down deep against the walls of these holes within easy casting range of shore. These fish will also be stacked in tight so you can make a killing if you get your spot right.

If your lake has flatter land around it, then go nighttime all the way. Catfish will move into the shallower flats an hour before sunset and stay there all night long feeding.

During the day on these lakes, the catfish will likely be way too far from shore to fish. Interestingly, a study by Stickley and colleagues (1995) found that young channel catfish are vulnerable to diurnal birds such as blue heron that will make meals of the fish so it stands to reason venturing close to shore during the day is dangerous for young catfish.

Slowest Time of Day for Catfish

The slowest time of day I have found for catfish fishing in the middle of the day during the spring, summer, and fall, and during the night during the winter.

Catfish will feed all day and night long during warmer months but they tend to really hunker down in deeper water during the middle of the day.

During this time, they may still feed but they won’t be out actively hunting. When fishing for cats during the middle of the day, you will want to move around a lot to locate them.

Let your bait soak for about 30 minutes but if you get no bites, move somewhere else because the spot you chose doesn’t hold catfish.

Look for deeper pools along steep banks, preferable with sunken timber or lay-downs. Shad, bluegill, and catfish will all be in these deeper structure features.

This is where you will have your best luck finding daytime catfish. Move around until you start getting bites.

Do Moon Phases Affect Catfish?

From my own experience, I would say moon phases do affect catfish angling somewhat but much differently than a lot of other species of fish.

Fish like pike and bass that rely on their vision to hunt, seem to bite best on nights with a full moon where they can better locate food in the upper few feet of the water column.

Whereas on complete darkness nights, they don’t seem to bite at all because they can’t see your lure. Well with catfish, I have found that full moon nights tend to be a lot slower than darker nights.

Catfish will still bite on any given night but I definitely get much better results fishing on darker nights as opposed to moonlit nights.

To learn the best barometric pressure for catfish, check out this article.

Concluding Thoughts

I hope you found value in this article. I’m not an expert on catfish but I have fished off and on for them since I was a kid and I’ve learned a lot from catfish anglers more seasoned and frankly better than I am.

The best times for catfish for me have always been in the late evening throughout the whole night during warmer months.

In colder months, catfish seek out the warmest water and conditions they can find. The night bite grinds to a halt and that daytime bite can be quite good during the winter.

With catfish, as long as you use natural bait, locating catfish is the most important part of fishing. It is all about being in the right place at the right time of day. Fishing becomes easy once you get that first part right.