Ohio River adventure this morning...

[riverrat12]

riverrat,

We fished the mouth of the upper river sand pit for about twenty minutes tops because there was a small tug in and out of there and I felt like I was in his way. He never told me to move, actually waved at me but it was a little close for my taste. I was on the Cinn. side of the mouth in **** near 40ft of water anchored down. Thought I had a bite there, the pole was bent over pretty good and quickly bounced back up like he let it go. I'm using circle hooks and am very new to them, I simply know not to set the hook and to just start reeling. Went on down to the second pit but decided to turn it around as we were fixing to go home.

I've never seen a debris field like the one yesterday morning and it doesn't make any sense because it's not like it rained for three days straight. It was cleared up by 1pm though. I did hit a small branch that killed my motor, only thing that saved me was the fact I was going so slow. Had to pull the branch completely off the prop and restart motor.

I'm thinking the blue cats are in deep water right now and flatheads are where?? I would guess they're in shallow water under logs up against the banks? Boy I've got a lot of learning to do. Channel cats really don't interest me, I can catch them all day at other places.

Last week I was finding both blues and flats in water 20 to 25ft. You will really increase your chances with fresh bait like mooneye,skip,and shad,goldfish can be good but with the water clarity right now you need scent.I don't use circle hooks I'm still old school and like jerkin lips.Steve Douglas uses them and has lots of videos you might check out.I use extremely big bait sometimes and just can't bring myself to use them.I'm headed out tomorrow and will let you know what I find....I know the bighead and silver are all over the place bad Chuck

[Tyme2fish]

Water on the lower is still too high for me. Monday looks to be a lot better.

[redearhoosier]

I had all of my rigs hooked up with the J hooks and after watching at least 15 or more Steve Douglas videos I switched all of my rigs over to circle hooks. I can't stand the thought of me gut hooking a thirty pounder and killing it so circle hooks for me. I do LOVE to set the hook though and it takes some of the fun out of it for me too but after reading and listening to various catmen, the thought of me floating a big ole hog catfish is sickening.

[Nanna]

I agree, I too have started using circle and barb less hooks. Sure, I miss a few, but if I am not keeping them, I see no need to kill them. CPR is just fine with me!

Nanna

[SKIPJACK]

I'm with Chuck on this one. I use 10/0 King Kahle hooks on all of my river rods. Big baits, big fish! I love to set the hook on a big catfish! Reaction time is half the fun!..Cross their eyes!.. I can't even remember the last time that i gut hooked a catfish unless I fell asleep in the boat.

[Tyme2fish]

Well fellow fishermen, I'm in the circle hook family. I'm lazy. Let the fish hook themselves!! Knute (The Heaven) has been converted to circle hooks my me but it defeats the purpose when he still yanks the hook set.

[riverrat12]

I'm with Chuck on this one. I use 10/0 King Kahle hooks on all of my river rods. Big baits, big fish! I love to set the hook on a big catfish! Reaction time is half the fun!..Cross their eyes!.. I can't even remember the last time that i gut hooked a catfish unless I fell asleep in the boat.

I just don't know how I d hook a circle threw this...And the end results...10\0 Mustad ...Sucker is all I got today...bad day for bait...44# blue biggest.Chuck

[riverrat12]

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I'm with Chuck on this one. I use 10/0 King Kahle hooks on all of my river rods. Big baits, big fish! I love to set the hook on a big catfish! Reaction time is half the fun!..Cross their eyes!.. I can't even remember the last time that i gut hooked a catfish unless I fell asleep in the boat.

YES sir Big bait Big fish...Been a long time since I gut hooked a fish....You catch'n some fish Dave? Chuck

[SKIPJACK]

Not recently.My boat is down. I'm getting the seats recovered and I'm having some starter issues.

[redearhoosier]

That's a bruiser blue, Riverrat, GREAT fish! I guess I'll experiment around with the traditional hooks and circle hooks, I'd rather use the traditional hooks because of the hooksetting involved. Something about simply picking up my pole and reeling in a fish takes a lot of the fun out of the equation for me. I just went to circle hooks so I don't kill fish, that would **** if I started floating fish due to a hook style. Hell, I haven't even caught a blue catfish yet, it's to be determined.