You have permission to publish this article in its entirety either, electronically or in print, free of charge. As long as bylines are included. A courtesy copy of your publication would be greatly appreciated! Thank You.
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.
nlcatfish@fuse.net webmaster for Cincinnati Catfishing www.cincinnaticatfishing.com AND SHOP WITHOUT DROPPING www.cincinnaticatfishing.com/Shop1.html Over700Bargings4YOU www.bargins4tightbudgets.com XXXXXXXXX
You have permission to publish this article in its entirety either, electronically or in print, free of charge. As long as bylines are included. A courtesy copy of your publication would be greatly appreciated! Thank You.