Blue Grass FWA catfish?

New here...good lookin site yall have. I live near Evansville and I'm trying to think of a place I can take my daughter for some channel cats. I do quit a bit of catfishing, but I typically go after the bigger ones and that can get quit boring for a 9yr old. I know blue grass has channels but I haven't cat fished there in years. Which pit would be our best bet to haul in some eatin sized cats? It also appears that this weekend is free fishing weekend..so I'm not sure how smart heading to blue grass would be...I'm not sure I wanna deal with the crowds.

It's probably going to be crowded there as that's normal for a Saturday afternoon.

You only get so many chances to teach a 9 years old girl how to enjoy fishing. They are more into playing with their playing with their girl friends at that age.

As for the catfish, yes there are some that are caught but not record numbers. You are more likely to catch small bluegills at Bluegrass or small bass than catfish.

I took my next door neighbor, his 10 year old daughter and one of her girlfriends up to Lynville to fish in my bass boat. We ended up at the launch ramp fishing for bluegills using small light weight line and small hooks with baloney or bacon or any type of meat like Hot dogs with cheese in them. The girls had fun and they got to meet two young boys that were also there fishing. I think they liked showing off for the boys more than fishing. Wink Wink! But they had fun and wanted to go again the very next day. So I think that catching any fish at all helps them from getting bored.

I use to fish for cat fish at a friends lake. But we would cast out the bait and let it sit for 20 minutes before going back to check on the pole. We set the poles up so that the little cat fish could not pull them into the lake and set the drag to click mode. That way we could hear the line going out and go check on the pole when a fish got on. We did other things while we let the poles sit on the bank or on the dock. We caught a lot of the small 12" long catfish. I don't remember what kind they were.

Kids have a short attention span. I can remember going bass fishing with my dad when I was only 8 years old. I'd fish for a while and would get mad when I got a backlash or mess in the line on the reel. I spent more time getting back lash messes untangled than fishing. I'd often just lay down on the bench seat and use a life jacket or seat cushion for a pillow and take a nap while dad continued to bass fish.

Just remember to have something else planned for the girls if they get bored with the fishing.

The day I went with the neighbor and his daughter my boat failed to start. I tried to use the trolling motor and it had problems as well. We finally got the boat motor started and went for a short ride and then returned to the ramp to put the boat back on the trailer. We still had fun though as I quickly went to my back up plan and got the ultra light rods out for the bluegills.

There are always lots of small bluegill right at the launch ramps. You just have to get out of the way of the boat's launching. But that's easy to do.

Take some food and treats along and enjoy the day. Lots of people will be out there on Saturdays. Bike Riders love the area as it not as traveled by automobiles and they can ride in peace. And there is a lot of wildlife to see. All kinds of Blue Herons are living in this area. You will see bobcats, deer, raccoons, hawks, mink or weasels, coyotes, and many other creatures in this area.

[QUOTE=Relic;491432]New here...good lookin site yall have. I live near Evansville and I'm trying to think of a place I can take my daughter for some channel cats. I do quit a bit of catfishing, but I typically go after the bigger ones and that can get quit boring for a 9yr old. I know blue grass has channels but I haven't cat fished there in years. Which pit would be our best bet to haul in some eatin sized cats? It also appears that this weekend is free fishing weekend..so I'm not sure how smart heading to blue grass would be...I'm not sure I wanna deal with the crowds.[/QUOTE]

Thanks for the reply! My daughter loves to fish and hunt and I like to think she has more patience than most girls her age. we typically go after bowfin since I have a spot where she can catch em until her arms wear down..but she said she wants some cats. When I catfish I'm typically out there for 8-12hrs at a time using heavy tackle and large fresh baits and consider it a good trip if I catch one good fish...she has patience but not enough to tackle the big boys, yet. I think we'll hit blue grass this afternoon and I'll take a cane pole or two and let her mess with gills while the cat baits are soaking. we'll take a variety of baits to increase our chances...I know I use to be able to net shad out of bluegrass and loon pits so hopefully we can get some of those..if not then I guess crawlers,beef and deer liver will be on the menu.

A few years ago there was this Russian Guy and his son that would catch small bluegills at the Bluegrass Pit's South Concrete launch ramp. They would use them for catfish bait. They put them into a bucket and used them to fish for Catfish at the North end of Loon Pit at night. Other than that I don't know too much about the catfishing at Bluegrass F &W area. There are about 20 something pits out there on that property. I've seen guys bringing in some big catfish at the dock at night after fishing on the main pit all day. But not many guys I have talked to are out there just for catfish. Most are bass fishermen and a few crappie guys. But the Bass guys are the majority from what I can see.

[QUOTE=Relic;491440]Thanks for the reply! My daughter loves to fish and hunt and I like to think she has more patience than most girls her age. we typically go after bowfin since I have a spot where she can catch em until her arms wear down..but she said she wants some cats. When I catfish I'm typically out there for 8-12hrs at a time using heavy tackle and large fresh baits and consider it a good trip if I catch one good fish...she has patience but not enough to tackle the big boys, yet. I think we'll hit blue grass this afternoon and I'll take a cane pole or two and let her mess with gills while the cat baits are soaking. we'll take a variety of baits to increase our chances...I know I use to be able to net shad out of bluegrass and loon pits so hopefully we can get some of those..if not then I guess crawlers,beef and deer liver will be on the menu.[/QUOTE]

My daughter ended up stayin the night with her friend, so I went with a friend of mine...we actually did pretty good! Caught a good mess of channels out of Otter pit....all on cut shad,fishin about 3' off the bottom. caught a few bass and a soft shell turtle on shad as well.