You have permission to publish this article in its entirety either, electronically or in print, free of charge. As long as the 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 the other week by a local professional catfish guide. This guide
works the Ohio River about 15 miles above and below Cincinnati. His information relates to
catfishing on bigger rivers such as the Ohio.
The fishing spot he takes his clients fishing depends on the amount of current in the
river. The pool stage for the Ohio at Cincinnati is 26.6 feet. According to him when the
river is in pool than catfishing is very poor. He prefers the river to be in the 27 to 28
feet range with some current for the best fishing action. Once the river gets above 30 feet
then the current is too strong for good fishing.
When there is some current he prefers to bait with fresh cut bait. The current allows the
scent trail to spread all over to the catfish. In low or no current conditions he uses live
bait. The vibrations of the live bait will be pickup by the catfish in quite waters. Skipjacks are the bait fish he prefers for they have a very oily body that produces a
excellent scent trail. The big problem is locating the skipjacks to use as bait. Normally
you just have to fish for the 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 the catfish will be found in 30 feet or deeper holes, the 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 the water temperature is in the 68-70 degree range. The
day time temperatures are much higher in the summer around here. During the 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 the 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 the Ohio River he already knows nearly all the
honey holes. He does suggest only checking out the area of the 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 the storm sewers that flow into the river.
That stuff washing into the river sets off a dinner bell response to catfish, and they put
on the feed bag.
Hopefully, these nuggets of information from a professional catfish guide will put more and
bigger catfish at the 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 the 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 the other week by a local professional catfish guide. This guide
works the Ohio River about 15 miles above and below Cincinnati. His information relates to
catfishing on bigger rivers such as the Ohio.
The fishing spot he takes his clients fishing depends on the amount of current in the
river. The pool stage for the Ohio at Cincinnati is 26.6 feet. According to him when the
river is in pool than catfishing is very poor. He prefers the river to be in the 27 to 28
feet range with some current for the best fishing action. Once the river gets above 30 feet
then the current is too strong for good fishing.
When there is some current he prefers to bait with fresh cut bait. The current allows the
scent trail to spread all over to the catfish. In low or no current conditions he uses live
bait. The vibrations of the live bait will be pickup by the catfish in quite waters. Skipjacks are the bait fish he prefers for they have a very oily body that produces a
excellent scent trail. The big problem is locating the skipjacks to use as bait. Normally
you just have to fish for the 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 the catfish will be found in 30 feet or deeper holes, the 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 the water temperature is in the 68-70 degree range. The
day time temperatures are much higher in the summer around here. During the 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 the 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 the Ohio River he already knows nearly all the
honey holes. He does suggest only checking out the area of the 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 the storm sewers that flow into the river.
That stuff washing into the river sets off a dinner bell response to catfish, and they put
on the feed bag.
Hopefully, these nuggets of information from a professional catfish guide will put more and
bigger catfish at the 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
Links 4 Fishing Information And Supplies www.cincinnaticatfishing.com/links4fishing.html
About the author: Have been catfishing around the Downtown Cincinnati area of the Ohio River for over 40 years. Gone catfishing at Lockport 5 times over the past 10 years. It is the greastest place to catch lots of huge CHANNEL catsfish in North America!!