Question for you big river guys.

[Seanstone]

How much does the main channel of a river affect your choices in fishing spots. We have been fishing a fairly wide portion of the Ohio river, that spans well over a half mile wide, and for the past few weeks we have been hitting the shallow side of the river with variable success. We have been hitting barge mooring stations, logjams, shallow rock points, etc.

My concern is that maybe the better option would be to hit the deeper, faster flowing, ky side of the river. We have been hesitant to venture away from the spots that we think should be holding big fish....but after 80 hours of fishing and only a 20 and a 15lber as our big fish, i think its time for a change. Just wanted to see what you guys think.

We're targeting both blues and flatties if that helps.

[Skyline1506]

as rule in general sean around this time of year flatheads will be trasitioning to deeper water to start wintering. not necessarily yet but soon. usually the ledges in between will start holding fish as they move toward deeper water. i have very little experience with the size of water you are talking about though.

[bassmassey]

wouldn't say im a " big river guy" but i've fished a few of them before. I haven't hit the ohio real hard yet but sure plan to once i get the opportunity. I would look for choke points and good current forsure, especially if there's been a low flow for a while. Holes within the main river channel would be a key spot as well, which are often found on outside bends, but sometimes are right in the middle of the river for no obvious reason. I like to look around alot especially if looking for new spots or on unfamiliar water. Fish the top of the hole with some good fresh big baits.....if nothing is going on I would move in an hour, even moving down to your furthest cast downriver can be like night and day and is a good way to cover water and learn where they're at.... I've caught and seen alot of jumbo catfish caught up under barges, but there are alot of variables to this just like all fishing........ best conditions for fishing a barge tie up: works best when the sun is bright and high in the sky, the wider and longer the tie up the better, the more days it has been there the better, and last which kinda trumps the last note, the first bunch of barges upstream from a series of tie ups is usually the best...did that make sense??........hope you try some of this and it helps.

[Seanstone]

Jordan, our stretch of river runs 25 feet on average with 38 plus feet holes. I have noticed a set of barges that have scoured out a 36 foot hole. This same set of barges has a massive log jam formed at the head of the barge tie off. I assumed that the flatties would start stacking up near that hole, but maybe its still too early to see high numbers there. So far its been dinkfest,,,,,lots of smaller flathead and blues, with an ocasional decent channel. Sound like a spot i should keep in mind?

Massey, weve been hitting the barges hard, but only finding smaller fish. I think we'll start checking the main river holes now. We have been hesitant to hit them simply because of the sheer size if them. Some holes appear to be a hundred acres or more of water, with little structure or obstrucions inside of them.

Thanks for the replies. Keep em coming....maybe i'm missing part of the big picture.

[Skyline1506]

i wouldnt rule it out sean. whats the depth infront of the logjam before the hole

[Seanstone]

Runs about 16 feet at 50 yards away, but then it starts to shallow up....almost like its filling in around the logs. It gets up to 8 feet near the bank, but as soon as you pass over the logs it drops quick into 30 feet. On the back side barges are always tied off so the 30 foot hole is a scour hole as the current swirls around the front of the empty barge containers.

On paper it looks like a perfect spot, but the fish have been reluctant to bite.

We have fished the back side as well, just never had any nibbles there so we tend to spend most of our time on the upstream side of the shallow log jam. Seems to be much more prooductive there.....just dinks so far.

[bassmassey]

dang no luck on the barges, that's one of our go to spots on bright sunny days down on the Tenn. river..... I don't know what else to tell ya other then try new spots, if they don't work try some more....lol

I look forward to more insight on the ohio as well, where's all our ohio river catfishers, share some insight!

[Seanstone]

There arent many in our stretch. I have spent the last 10 trips without seeing any other boat after dark.....except barges that is. Most guys i talk to at the boat ramps are running to tributaries, dams, islands, etc. to fish, must be scared of big water lol. I imagine those that do fish the big water have it figured out and are keeping it a secret.

[Seanstone]

Fished the kentucky side Friday and Saturday. We found two fairly deep holes, one of which runs 45 feet deep. We started at the head of the first hole and worked down. Our very first anchor, amanda lost a monster blue at the boat. It came up real easy and layed on its side right beside the boat for nearly 3 seconds but as amanda pulled it near the net it finaly came to life. It eventually threw the hook. She then caught a 12 pound blue. afterwards. The bite died and we moved down stream a few yards and lost the bite.
The rest of that day / night was pretty slow, we only caught a few smaller channels after dark.

Saturday Rylan and i fished the first hole and found a good drum bite. We ended up catching several over five pounds and one just over 8 pounds. We moved once every hour, but never found big fish. Once again the bite died around dark.

Were catching more fish and they seem to be larger on the side with the most current. Maybe in a week i'll have a little better idea of whats going on......and i may have a few good pics to share as well.

[bassmassey]

heckyeah sean, sounds like you're on to something..

you ever try fishing a big whole cut bream down there?

[Seanstone]

No, cant say we have. Never had much luck on bluegill other than live for flathead. We typically run shad and skipjack 99 percent of the time for blues and channels.....and just hope a flattie will eat cutbait. We have noticed that skipjack is the bait of choice on the ohio river. We tried using shad and we couldnt buy a bite. I then talked to Amandas uncle and he told me the only bait he'll use on the river is skipjack. We made the switch and have noticed a trenendous difference. Were starting to stock the freezers with skipjack already.

Water temps are around 70 degrees...and the deep holes arent showing much on the fish finder yet. I imagine the holes will start to heat up in a couple weeks. I heard that the blues heat up around the 55 to 60 degree mark. Supposedly thats when they start to move into predictable spots in large numbers....more than likely the head of holes.

[bobbybobber]

i like fishing the edges of the channel,or right in the middle of it,blues dont really hold to cover and when they do it to feed.what i have noticed is fish will use that channel to move.another thing to learn spots is to move around them 5 ft can make a big difference.