Fish activity and feeding really heats up along reservoir shorelines in the spring. The sun warms the shallow areas of water first, and fish naturally move into this water to bask and feed. The resulting activity attracts anglers and fishery biologists, both with the same goal: to catch a lot of fish.

Fall is a transitional time for a biologist. It’s also one of my favorite times of year. The season begins amid a frenzy of fieldwork and ends with days behind the desk. The transition between these two modes of work is anything but gradual and naturally anything but boring.

To most biologists, summer means fieldwork, and lots of it. It also means plans that can change rapidly from one week to the next based on weather patterns and the movement of fish.

When the ice thaws in the spring, a whole winter’s worth of shad carcasses are released. Wind and wave action push the shad to shore, and that’s where you can find catfish doing their “spring cleaning.”

Did I choose catfish or did they choose me? It seems like wherever life takes me, I find catfish. At age 8, my very first fish was a two-pound channel catfish. I landed it on a Snoopy fishing pole at a pond on my grandfather’s farm in Missouri.

You can catch catfish throughout the year, but they are a popular summertime fish. They thrive in warm water and will bite on even the hottest days. Surprisingly, catfishing is also great just after ice-out on many of Utah’s lakes. This is when catfish swim along the windblown shores, gorging on the carcasses of…