Nuggets From A Cincinnati Catfish Guide

I attended a seminar other week by a local professional catfish guide. This guide

works Ohio River about 15 miles above and below Cincinnati. His information relates to

catfishing on bigger rivers such as Ohio.

The fishing spot he takes his clients fishing depends on amount of current in

river. The pool stage for Ohio at Cincinnati is 26.6 feet. According to him when

river is in pool than catfishing is very poor. He prefers river to be in 27 to 28

feet range with some current for best fishing action. Once river gets above 30 feet

then current is too strong for good fishing.

When there is some current he prefers to bait with fresh cut bait. The current allows

scent trail to spread all over to catfish. In low or no current conditions he uses live

bait. The vibrations of live bait will be pickup by catfish in quite waters. Skipjacks are bait fish he prefers for they have a very oily body that produces a

excellent scent trail. The big problem is locating skipjacks to use as bait. Normally

you just have to fish for skipjacks and load up a small cooler. Then get home and bag

them for a freezer. Shad are much easier to locate and to catch for a fishing trip. Once a

school is spotted just throw out your casting net. He normally makes a couple casts and

has his large live well loaded for his client’s trip.

He uses a simple rig of, main line 30 pound mono, 2-4 ounces of sinker, tied to a mono

leader of 50 pound test. He prefers a 6/0 to 8/0 octopus circle style hooks. He has FLAT

sinker which are great, however they are hard to come by around here.

According to him catfish will be found in 30 feet or deeper holes, Garr and other

fish usually do not stay in water that deep. Flatheads are home bodies; hang tight to

structure such as sunken barges, boulders, and sunken trees. Blue cats like cooler water,

stronger current and will suspend.

The action for cats picks up when water temperature is in 68-70 degree range. The

day time temperatures are much higher in summer around here. During summer months,

the local pleasure boats forces you to fish at night or early morning around downtown

Cincinnati.

He does watch his depth finder for any big changes on river bottom. To him any sudden

change in depth is what he will check out. He really does not depend on marking fish. Since

he has spent so many hours on this section of Ohio River he already knows nearly all

honey holes. He does suggest only checking out area of river between New Richmond

and North Bend Ohio. Along that stretch of river pay special attention to outside bends of

the river. If there is a local heavy rain, check storm sewers that flow into river.

That stuff washing into river sets off a dinner bell response to catfish, and they put

on feed bag.

Hopefully, these nuggets of information from a professional catfish guide will put more and

bigger catfish at other end of your line this season. Tight lines to all.

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Hopefully, you will be able to gain enough insight into how best to resolve your particular problems. The clinician is there to help you. The last thing in world you should want at a clinic is for your horse to go perfectly or for you to ride perfectly. You are paying for help, so if you are ever going to make mistakes, this is time to do it. That way you can really get your money’s worth. If clinician never sees problem, there isn’t much they can do to help you take care of it. Don’t be timid about asking questions. I know that when I am teaching a clinic I want questions. That shows me that they are paying attention and have a sincere interest. You may not have chance to work with that individual again so be sure you learn as much as possible. If something is mentioned to either you or another rider and you don’t quite understand it, go ahead and ask. I never want a student to go away from any of my clinics without understanding what was discussed.

In summery let me say that one of aims of an instructor is to impart as much knowledge as they can, in a given period of time, in such a way that each and every rider can improve and continue to grow in their riding and training abilities. As a participant in a clinic you should watch and listen to everything being said. It may not be something that you need right now, but you never know what you might encounter later with your current horse or next one. If you have opportunity to attend a clinic, don’t hesitate. There are many very capable clinicians available today in all riding disciplines. Take advantage of opportunity to work with someone different and if you make it a real learning experience, you just may gain some valuable information that can help you now and well into future.

You have permission to copy and reuse this article provided there are no changes made to article and credit is given to author and link to his website remains in place. Please notify him by email if you are going to use this article. You may contact Bill Dunigan through his website: http://www.BarrelRacingClinic.com