Catfish on topwaters, who would've thought?

Now I don't normally fish the falls of the Ohio but wife was having the girls over so I went down there and fished from 8:00pm till about 10:30. I walked out onto the rocks and was about to give up when a seemingly small fish struck at my 5 inch topwater stick bait. I tossed it out there again with thoughts of chatching a white bass and hooked a fish that got into the current and I couldn't turn around! Got another one just up to my feet befor it got off. The third one I landed and it was a darn Catfish, a good 24 inches of catfish. 4 fish later I had lost my all my topwater lures heavy enough to heave across the channel and it was time to head home. What a great time fhishing.

Anybody else ever get into this kind of action before. I had always thought catfish lay on the bottom and eat worms and grubs. Not come up to the surface for a big stick bait treat!

Steve, Louisville

That had to be fun in the current....We have caught several channel cats on buzzbaits in may and june on a local lake. I think it's because they are up shallow in greater numbers because of the spawn. They can tear up a buzzbait!
Don

It was a blast. They are not very good at taking a topwater plug. I would get several misses before one wold hook up. They would only strike the bait if it was floating in the current with just enough action from me to make it shake and rattle a little bit. Start retrieving and they'd have nothin to do with it.

Those rocks are slippery as snot, got a good soaking on the way back when I got a little careless. Be carefull in anyone goes.

Steve

I have caught a few on surface although rare. One thing I have experienced at the falls many times in the past kind of similar is seeing them so shallow in the "current trails" and catching them on small spinners. Around dark the catfish get so shallow you can see them moving, cast at them keeping the spinner just below the surface, and when they strike it is like a surface strike. I haven't done this in some time but I used to pattern them this way and would regularly catch 8 or 10 of them on light spinning tackle which was an absolute blast. 3 to 8 pound channels was the norm and occasionally you would catch stripes. Those channels come up in the current trails after baitfish just like the morones (white, hybrids, stripers). Sounds like you found this trick. Late summer is the time frame and we are there.

kc

It is wild. The first time I fished the falls was a few weeks ago and I took my father in law in my boat one morning. We caught roughly 50 Channels and Blues 1-10lbs and small cranks and spinners including a blue over 50 lbs on a rebel crankbait and 10lb test. Had a blast.

I'm pretty much convinced that regardless of the technique or bait used, there's no telling what you might catch in the falls area...

I've got the opposite story. I was catfishing yesterday and the first 2 fish I caught on the bottom in 15 feet of water on catfish bait were bass.