A friend who runs a vet's charity here in Western North Carolina called me yesterday and is hosting a catfishing tournament. It will be next friday on Lake Hickory. I told him he could count me in as veterans charity work is exactly what I do. I have been on a few guided catfishing trips but other than that I have no clue what I am doing for catfish and it will be my first ever catfish tournament. I have the gear and I have the boat to do it but my knowledge is lacking. Anybody got any good tips to find them? I'm going to need all the help I can get! LOL Here's a pic of the biggest catfish I ever landed on a guided trip on Lake Wateree down in SC. 28 pounds even.

Have fun. I enjoy dragging chicken for Blues. I'd give you advice but I want you to catch them.😂 I'm a amateur at best.

I do catfish on a regular basis on the Catawba chain. The basics are a Santee rig with a 3 oz dragging weight and a 4/0 circle hook and float on the leader. I make my leaders 2-3 ft long. 90% of the time I use plain chicken breast for bait. I don’t know why it works, it just works. Small chicken nugget-sized pieces. Drag around .5 mph around channel breaks and bends and flats off of same. Breaks with sand to rock/gravel should be good this time of year as they start feeding on mussels. If you tell me where you’re launching on Hickory I’ll look at a topo and tell you where I’d go.

12 hours ago, VolFan said:

I do catfish on a regular basis on the Catawba chain. The basics are a Santee rig with a 3 oz dragging weight and a 4/0 circle hook and float on the leader. I make my leaders 2-3 ft long. 90% of the time I use plain chicken breast for bait. I don’t know why it works, it just works. Small chicken nugget-sized pieces. Drag around .5 mph around channel breaks and bends and flats off of same. Breaks with sand to rock/gravel should be good this time of year as they start feeding on mussels. If you tell me where you’re launching on Hickory I’ll look at a topo and tell you where I’d go.

Love Lady Landing gonna be a 7pm to 7am tourney.

From there I’d probably start in the deep creek cut just east of there in the south side. Drag up the creek or get midway and anchor and let the fish come to you as they feed. Night’s a little different animal. Definitely fish around any dock that have fish lights or cleaning stations.

6 hours ago, VolFan said:

From there I’d probably start in the deep creek cut just east of there in the south side. Drag up the creek or get midway and anchor and let the fish come to you as they feed. Night’s a little different animal. Definitely fish around any dock that have fish lights or cleaning stations.

Thanks. I watched a bunch of youtube videos on drift fishing and I think I get it. I feel fairly confident that I can wing it and at least find a few. Appreciate the help.