Ohio River Catfishing

In my opinion, the Ohio River offers the catfisherman the best opportunity in the state of Ohio to catch a trophy-sized flathead or channel cat, as well as catching them in great numbers. The Ohio River offers unlimited opportunities for the fisherman with a boat. The stretches between dams are sometimes over ninety miles long, which insures the dedicated "catman" will find his fish. For the shore bound angler, the opportunities are more limited. However, there is good fishing to be found in the tail water areas of the many dams on the river. These dams include Pike Island, Hannibal, Racine, Gallipolis, Greenup, and Meldhal. Tackle for the bank fisherman usually consists of surf rods of at least ten feet in length, and reels with large line capacities of at least 200 yards of 20# test monofilament. Such tackle is needed to make the long casts necessary to hit the best fishing waters. Tackle for boat fishing will consist of shorter rods such as Berkley Ecat and Quantum Bigcat. You can also step up to heavier line; up to 50# test in some cases, because there is no need for extremely long casts. The best bait for the big river is usually shad or skipjack herring. Live bluegills will also work at times. You should stay away from the store-bought baits, such as dip baits, because they usually catch only smaller channel cats, and definitely will not work on flatheads. The diet of a mature flathead is FISH, and a live bait fish or a piece of cut shad or skipjack is the ticket for these predators.