Typically catfish thrive in food rich and fertile waters such as in eutrophic lakes that are not in their final stages of eutrophication. You can use the following lake aging process as a guideline to find productive channel catfish, blue catfish,and flathead catfish waters to go bait fishing in.
Oligotrophic Lakes : (stable young, infertile coldwater)
During the early stages of eutrophication there are no catfish present.During the midstage of eutrophication there are no catfish present. During the late stage of eutrophication there are no catfish present.
Mesotrophic Lakes : (mid-stage water changing from cold to warmer)
During the early stages of eutrophication there are no catfish present.During the midstage of eutrophication there could be some stocked channel catfish present.During the late stage of eutrophication channel catfish, blue catfish, and flathead catfish start to thrive.
Eutrophic Lakes : (Late stage lakes have changed to warm water )
During the early stages of eutrophication ideal for channel catfish, blue catfish, and flathead catfish to thrive. During the midstage of eutrophication channel catfish, blue catfish, and flathead catfish are still thriving. During the late stage of eutrophication channel catfish, blue catfish, and flathead catfish could still thrive under certain conditions.
From the chart above you can eliminate a lot of of fishing waters if you are targeting just channel catfish, blue catfish, and flathead catfish. Catfish will thrive in mesotrophic lakes in their final stages of their aging process and eutrophic lakes in all stages of aging. The main reason catfish thrive in mesotrophic, and eutrophic lakes is because of the much warmer water temperatures. All catfish need water temperatures of 75 degrees to spawn and the water in oligotrophic lakes all aging stages, and mesotrophic lakes in the early stages of the aging process have water temperatures way below what is needed for catfish to thrive and reproduce.
Also there is a abundance of bait fish and vegetation in mesotrophic, and eutrophic lakes both needed to fuel the metabolism of channel catfish, blue catfish, and flathead catfish. You can use this information to your advantage when you are going to go bait fishing for catfish. Once you have identified what type of lakes are going to be productive for catfish you can concentrate on there locations and what catfish bait types to use at during the different seasons of the year.
Well that concludes my article about eutrophic lakes. Have a great day!
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