is cowan lake any good for catfish?

[tobeast]

im going to cowan camping and was wondering if any one has any info on where to catfish thanks

[Fish-n-Fool]

Yes and No is my answer. It used to be much, much better - especially for large cats. The lake is very small and has a good amount of pressure from limb liners (way too much IMO) - many of which do not obey the laws like name & address attached, check the lines every 24 hrs. etc.

That being said the lake has channels and flatheads. It still holds some very large fish as well - 40lbs + is possible. One of the best areas for catfish is the campground cove right there by the boat ramp/camper's beach. Without a boat it is tough to position baits in the very best areas, but you have some good spots all along through the cove. If night fishing, ease down the campground side bank back away form the lake. There is all kinds of wood in there (some you see, some you don't) & it is shallow. Fish here.

I have found large lively creek chubs to out perform all other baits at Cowan Lake. Tightline the live chubs near the timber here in the shallows and you should have a good chance at hooking up with channels over 3lbs and flatheads.

During the day fish the deeper water - right off the fishing dock off to the left50-60ft out should do fine.

Don't expect to catch a fish per hour, but you should catch a few and they should be nice - Cowan has good sized channel cats and 5lbs+ is common when using live baits for me.

Please remember there is a 6 channel cat per day limit at Cowan, and please release any flatheads you may catch as this little lake has had way too many pulled out the last handful of years by a small group of people that just don't get it.

If you have a boat - send me a pm and I will hook you up with lots of cat spots there at Cowan; I used to fish the heck out of the place before I bought my Erie rig.

[cincydeerman]

i used to catch channels on earie dearies there trolling from a sail boat when i was little

[traphunter]

I agree it used to be much better. People seem to think that you can never over fish a lake, but I think Cowan is now showing otherwise. I have had some of the best nights of my life at Cowan, but like previously mentioned, thanks to a select group of greedy fishermen, we may never see fishing like that again.