Catfish, bass continue to bite in Cataouatche

Bruce McDonald/Herald-Guide

Aaron Champagne with a bass from the cuts along the north shoreline of Lake Cataouatche.

Last weekend, Aaron Champagne and I headed to Lake Cataouatche for a quick fishing trip. He wanted to run his Boston Whaler with a 50-HP motor, which had been sitting in the garage.

We launched out of Pier 90, which has recently reopened. We reached the lake and immediately headed for the cuts on the north shoreline.  The Davis Pond Diversion has been flowing at 4,000 cubic feet per second for the past two weeks. All of the cuts have clear water coming out of the marsh. 

We dropped the anchor 40 yards down current at the cut before the La. Cypress Canal.  Rigged with a ¾ ounce weight, Carolina style, we baited the #3 hooks with earthworms. 

We were trying to catch catfish on the bottom and Champagne agreed to only catch 12 catfish.  While there, we reeled in gaspergou, catfish, bream, stripped bass and bass in the clear flowing water.  

"This is going to be a great fishing trip,” Champagne said. “I have enough fish for a good fish fry for my family tonight."

After catching our limit of catfish in 30 minutes, we got ready to leave. But before we picked up the anchor, bass began chasing minnows on the inside of the rocks of the cut. 

We moved across the rocks and dropped the anchor. The schooling bass were everywhere.  We threw a red/white/chartreuse mini-jig under a cork and the schooling bass devoured our baits. 

They ranged between a pound and a pound and a half. We must have caught 50 but released all of them. 

"This is unbelievable,” Champagne said. “One minute we were catching catfish, bream, gaspergou and stripped bass and now we are in a school of bass. I love Lake Cataouatche.”