2020 Catfishing ACTION!


MY 28 pound BLUECAT Nov.5th. 2007 and a 26 pound blue cat on the bottom of the boat !!


Here is the information of the trips of this 2020 CATFISHING season.


Be sure to support you local bait shops during these rought times as best you can. Once those folks close down there will NOT be anyone to provide that service to us.


YOU can sharpen up your catfish catching skills by reading this informative Kindle e-book. Just CLICK on the photo and it will connect you to the Amazon book store! So check it out, it cost less than a dozen night crawlers at the bait shop.

COVER OF MY E-BOOK AT AMAZON



For 2020 I wish everyone "STAY HEALTHY and TIGHT LINES!"


Since the commercial fishermen are monitoring catfishing web sites I will be editing my updates this season for the fish I catch on the river. I will only state the size of the fish and bait used. I will also be blocking out the back ground on any photos, for I do NOT want the C.F. to clean out that area!!

Here is a video of what the COMMERICAL FISHERMEN are doing to the Ohio River where I fish!!! It has impacted the number of decent fish here! So you can understand the rod & reel fishermen's frustration knowing these big catfish will never be retunred to the river.


Summary of my fall fishing from July 26th. I had a total of 16 trip on the Ohio River; and 3 at small lakes. 5 trips were in 2 friend’s boats. The 3 trips to the lakes were with my grandson for bluegills and bass. I had far too many trips that I got skunked; I only has a few taps! One trip with a friend got cancelled due to high up river wind and rain. I even had very little action when I was fishing for bluegills. I did catch a few skipjacks and netted a good amount of shad. I only caught 3 catfish and boated one catfish my friend had hooked!

I had a very bad experience with my boat on August 29th. I launched my boat and headed down river to net some shad. When I stopped the boat a large amount of water rushed to the front of the boat. I thought I lost my drain plug! I beached the boat and started bailing out the water. With water out of the boat I checked and found the plug was still there! That meant I had a leak somewhere, but I did not see it. I had to get back to the ramp: I was on the KY. side of the river and the ramp was on the Ohio side. I had to beach the boat about ever quarter mile to bail out the boat, which filled up quickly. I was getting worn out heaving the water out with a bucket I had for bait. When I was about a half a mile below the ramp it hit me I had to cross the river. Then I remember there was a bilge pump that I had never used it before, I turned on the switch and it started pumping out the water. Then I was relieved for I knew then I would make it to the Ohio side. I finally got back to the ramp and loaded the boat onto the trailer. I was completely exhausted mentally and physically. I was relieved when I got into my car to head home. When I got back home I just left the boat hitched up to the car. As I got inside my home I just slumped in a chair; I was so beat! The next morning I went and found the problem. I had 2 holes in the side of the boat, one was below the water line. I found guy that welded aluminum so I took it to him the next day. He had it fixed for me that afternoon.

That is when I realize how I got the holes in the boat. I had gone out the Saturday before to fish. I normally stay away from the river on weekends due to so many pleasure boats churning up the river. I was so desperate to catch some catfish that I went anyway. When I was trying to get the boat on the trailer the big waves jammed the side of the boat against my trailer.

Holes in my boat !!


On November 28th I winterized my motor for next season and I put my fishing gear away. I am hoping next year the fishing gods lift the curse!



Aug 21st. I left home with my boat around 07:15. I stopped to pick up my minnow trap; it had a nice load of creek chubs for this trip. Then it was off to get gas for the motor. I intended to launch from the Cincinnati Public landing, but when I tried to pay the automatic toll booth recording said the landing was CLOSED! Since it was already late I decided to go to the Schmidt Feld ramp.

I finally got my boat in the river around 08:30. I headed up river to a spot that I remember seeing some guys catch a few catfish. I got my fist line of 4 in the water at 08:45. I had live creek chubs, thaw skipjack, thawed blue gill, and cherry seasoned chicken breast for bait.

The water was very clear, slight downriver breeze, and little current, felt very pleasant. I tried 5 different spots on both sides of the Ohio river on this trip. I marked fish at 4 of the 5 spots. I was fishing in 45-50 feet deep holes in those 4 spots. I only got 2 light taps for my efforts, not even one good bite!

12:30 I stated packing all my gear away for the day. I was getting very hot and I was getting worn out, no action to get my energy up. I really did miss having my grandson along to lift up that 10 pound anchor this trip!

When I got the boat onto the trailer I had to sit in the car with air conditioner on full blast to cool off! When I got home I just left the boat and trailer hooked up for I was beat. The fishing gods still have a curse on me for I have not been able get a fish into my boat in 3 trips! It is going to back up in the 90’s again this coming week. I will not be getting the boat in the river until it cools down!



COVER OF MY E-BOOK AT AMAZON



August 14th. My wife and I got some wax worms at our local mom & pop bait shop for our trip. We arrived at the lake around 17:30; I was hoping to have a lot of bluegill action. There was a fresh breeze that made the evening feel nice. The bite was very slow, as we checked out different spots.

I did finally locate an area that I got some bites; I did get 3 blue gills there. My wife was checking out the dock area. She caught a small crappie, which I had been told were in the lake. The breeze just stopped and it got very muggy. We moved back to our original spots before we called it a night. I went back to the place that provided some action. I did catch 2 more blue gills. My wife did catch a bluegill before we called it a night.

We packed up our gear and headed home around 19:30. I had hope for more action but at least we got out of the house for a few hours.



Aug 2nd. I awoke at 04:40 to start going to a catfish tournament, and meeting a new partner. I loaded up the car and left to check for the creek chubs on the way. The trap held a good 26 decent size chubs this time. Then it was off to the ramp I was to meet him at 06:00. It was dark when I arrived at the parkinglot; I did see a number of boats were already there. I drove around the parking lot twice trying to spot my partner’s boat. I did not see it so I parked up by the guy running the event. I asked if my partner had signed in already, the answer was “NO”. As the boats were starting to head down to the ramp to be launched I finally spotted my partner’s boat.

I drove right down to him. It was 06:20 and the event stared at 06:30. He then informed he was afraid of fighting the whitecaps due to strong up river wind and steady misty rain. He informed me his motor not working well lately. So we decided better to be safe than sorry. He went up and told the guy we would not be fishing after all.

We talked for about 30 minutes about catfishing and if he intended to fish the next tournament. He said no for he only goes to tournaments right in the Cincinnati area. We both headed home around 07:00, so once again I had bad luck trying to get experience of fish a small local tournament. I will have to wait till next year to try again if my health is still good at 77 years.



April 3rd. I picked up my grandson around 10:00 to head to a small lake. We got our lines in the water around 11:05. The sun was out and slight breeze on the clear water. I had expected a decent amount of action, since my grandson had fished here about two weeks ago and caught 7 bluegills. We have had much warmer days since then so the fish should have been more active.
We both covered a lot of the whole lake to locate where the fish were. My grandson even checked out a smaller lake; he reported no thing was biting there. In the meantime I had only 1 bite and missed the fish! A few other guys showed up but they did not do very well either.
At 15:00 we packed it in and headed back up the long trail to my car. Once again my grandson had all the honors. He caught 10 bluegills and a 7 inch l.m.bass. I am still cursed by the fishing gods for I was skunked again! We did have a nice day out doors and sharing time together. WE will try it again to another place next time, maybe I will get some fish!







Here is the video clip I made of RIGS I use to catch SKIPJACKS for catfish bait from YOUTUBE.




June 11th. I picked up my grandson around 07:00, and headed to get gas for the boat motor. Then we were off to the boat ramp at the Cincinnati public Landing. We had to clear a mess of logs that city did not clean up at all. I tried to net some shad there, but had no luck. We got the boat in the river around 07:45, and headed to the nearby bridge piers that marked fish. We fished for around 25 minutes, no bites and the upriver wind was blowing fairly strong.

We headed for the Licking River to get out of the wind and look for some shad. As it turned out it was a very long boat ride to get the shad, but I did net around a dozen of them for bait. We started heading back down the Licking. I marked some fish around 0945, so we stopped to fish. My Grandson put one of the fresh shad on his line and he got a bite. I thought we were going to get some action. No other action at all, so we decided to head all way back to the Ohio River at 10:50.

We went up to my favorite spot and go set up just where I wanted. We had 5 rods out, 4 with Shad and one with chicken breast. I was very disappointed that we did not even get a tap there. Pulled up our anchor and headed up to a deep hole on the Ohio side. Normally we mark fish there, but not today. So we headed back down river again to another spot, same story. We then did mark some fish by the bridge pier above the breakers so we stopped. No bites, my grandson got caught up o a snag. He had to break off his line.

So finally we headed to our last stop down by the Covington Landing area, where I did mark fish. Once again we were not rewarded with any bites. 12:50 we called it a day and headed back to the ramp. The temperature was perfect for me to be out, just frustrated once again with being skunked! Seems the fishing gods still have curse on me. It was good to spend time with my grandson and being outdoors for a change. We are saying it once again “at least we tried”.


June 1st. I finally got my boat out to the lake for my shakedown trip. I picked up my grandson around 09:45. We got to the lake and my grandson caught a small crappie as I was backing the boat down the ramp at 10:40 that was a good sign.

We got the motor stared and on the lake around 10:50, headed over to a cove to try for some bluegills. We were trying to get a few of them for live bait to feed the catfish. As we moved around I did not mark any fish at all with my fish finder. Then we left for the main body of the lake. The lake has a no wake rule so it took some time to get to where I wanted to fish.

11:25 I finally stopped, for I marked fish and we dropped the front anchor to fish. A short time passed when the wind picked up so I had to drop the back anchor to hold the boat stead. I baited up with dead bluegill head and a piece of chicken breast for the catfish. My grandson was still going after bluegills. No bites so we move to another spot at 12:05

My grandson caught a small channel cat at 12:10 on a piece of red worm. 12:14 he hooked a small bluegill, which I took for catfish bait. He caught 2 more small channel cats and 2 more bluegills at that spot. We move a little ways to a new spot , but he had bites but no hook ups

. 14:00 We headed back to the lake and the first cove we fished, there were some folks fishing the area we wanted to hit so tried a different spot. My grandson hooked a bluegill as soon as the worm hit the water! So it looked like he was going have some fun. As it turned out he did get only a few taps no more bites that was the last of the action for the day.

14:50 We headed for the dock, as usual, there was a guy having problem backing his pontoon boat down the ramp. There was a bass boat tied up at the end of the dock so I knew it was be awhile before we could us the dock. We took the time to start packing our gear away and braking down my rods

. We finally got the boat on the trailer and headed home around 15:10. The boat checked out O.K. for the river. Once again my grandson had the honors; He caught 3 small channel cats and 4 small bluegills. I did take a couple photos of him and the fish. We had perfect temperatures to be out on the water. We had a good time being together, and that was the important thing.



March 12th. It was a nice sunny morning with temperatures to go up to the mid 60’s. I decided to go fishing at a local park that had bluegills. I stopped off at my local bait store and a drive thru to get some lunch
It seemed that as soon as I had the lines in the water the clouds moved in and blocked the sun. Then a stiff breeze started up making watching my small bobber more difficult to watch. I called it a day and headed home.
I had hoped for more action just 3 small bluegills but at least not skunked. I am sure had the sun stayed out the action would have been better. At least I did get out and wetted a line at last.



March 2nd. My wife and I got our fishing license from our local Mom & pop bait shop. So hopefully we can go wet a line together this season.


March 2nd. My wife and I got our fishing license from our local Mom & pop bait shop. So hopefully we can go wet a line together this season.



January 12th. My wife and I attended the Tri-State outdoor show. I got there just in time to hear my friend Mark Blauvelt’s presentation. He is a catfishing pro that has been in fishing tournaments for the past 15 years. He talked about how important it is for returning any decent size catfish back in to the river in this part of the Ohio River. Since the commercial fishermen have removed so many of the decent to large size catfish from the Markland Pool. He did say West Virginia is the section of the Ohio that has larger catfish, especially the Blue cats. He stated that some of those catfish are slowly moving down river each year.
He showed 3 different rigs that he uses to catch fish in the tournaments. The one that caught my interest was the 3 hook rig. This is for vertical fishing right off the side of a boat. He had a 10 ounce sinker at bottom of his leader. Then a snelled hook 6 inches above the sinker, then 2 snelled hooks tied a foot above the first hook. He uses 7/0 red circle hooks on his rigs, but one can use what you want. He did suggest do NOT buy cheap HOOKS for they will not hold up if you are after big catfish. I have to study up on how to tie such a rig for use this coming season on the river.
The second rig was leader with a 3 inch peg bobber, the rattle then a 7/0 circle hook to a swivel. This is his standard rig for lakes or river. He stressed that some folks use demon dragon, etc instead of the bobber. If you are going that route just buy the blank; the rattle is the main point and the blanks are cheaper.
The finally rig was for bumping which requires you to hold the rod at all times. He had his rattle then a heavy sinker to keep lifting of the bottom, then let out line. This covers a lot of water if the is a decent current in the river. He did admit your arms, and wrest do get very sore after doing it for any length of time. I am far too old to wear out my arms doing that, so I will not be using that trick.
After his talk my wife and I walked around to all the booths. I did pick up some items I needed and wanted for this coming season. I got some 1 oz. flat and round sinkers for lake fishing. I found some micro bobbers for crappie fishing. Finally I got a bag of elastic webbing to hold a ball of chicken liver for my catfishing. I had been trying to find that since last summer.
I stopped by Mark’s booth and he cut off that 3 hook set up and gave it to me. Now I will be able to study how he snelled those hooks. It was a nice to spend some time at the show one thing for sure; it got my fishing fever up!
By the way Mark Blauvelt will be speaking at the Cincinnati fishing show at the Sharonville Center some time Feb 28th-March 1st. I am not sure what date or time. I am certain it is worth your time to hear what he has to say.


UPDATED 12-09-2020


Catfishing Basic Equipment.