Catfish Report.

[jesse]

well,it was awful for me anyway,i didnt see the other couple guy's that were catfishing in there boat catch much either,one of them caught 2 about 6 inche's long.

i got there was in the water at 5pm and out of the water at 12pm,i used GIANT whole shad,head's,belly strip's,back strip's,small chunk's,big chunk's.NOTHING.

the school's of gar and other's like the carp and spoonbill were so thick you couldnt hardly tell from them swimming into your line or a bite,there were maybe 3 time's i could tell it was an actuall bite.

i fished the left side,middle and right side of the flood gate's,including the swifter current.

around the island's.

down river from the boat ramp around the mudbank.

NOTHING.

im going to go ahead and blame it on my 7o hook and 6 ouce sinker's and just say there werent any big one's around and the little one's couldnt get the hook in there mouth...lol.

looked like the crappie guy's were doing pretty good though,bank was full all day and there was close to the most people i've seen there at night.

probly 7 boat's during the day average and 3-4 at night.

i had fun though,got to do some relaxing.

[ozarkgunner]

well,it was awful for me anyway,i didn't see the other couple guy's that were cat fishing in there boat catch much either,one of them caught 2 about 6 inch's long.

i got there was in the water at PM and out of the water at PM,i used GIANT whole shad,head's,belly strip's,back strip's,small chunk's,big chunk's.NOTHING.

the school's of gar and other's like the carp and spoonbill were so thick you couldn't hardly tell from them swimming into your line or a bite,there were maybe 3 time's i could tell it was an actually bite.

i fished the left side,middle and right side of the flood gate's,including the swifter current.

around the island's.

down river from the boat ramp around the mud bank.

NOTHING.

I'm going to go ahead and blame it on my 7o hook and 6 ouce sinker's and just say there werent any big one's around and the little one's couldnt get the hook in there mouth...lol.

looked like the crappie guy's were doing pretty good though,bank was full all day and there was close to the most people i've seen there at night.

probly 7 boat's during the day average and 3-4 at night.

i had fun though,got to do some relaxing.

Use as little weight as possible to get the bait down to the bottom. Also, the smaller baits catch 10X the fish (small and large) as the big baits. In fact I've seen more big cats landed on small baits than the large shad. Next time try a single small shad or a thin strip of belly meat with the shad guts. I use bait the size of a little smokie with a 1oz sinker or less. You might need to bounce the bottom to catch fish if the current is swift. Last summer we caught 90% of our cats with NO weight, just the bait and hook.

Tight lines.

[Seth]

When we were up there a few weekends ago, the smaller pieces of shad sides were catching all of the fish. We landed fish up to 7 pounds. The biggest fish we've caught up there, a 25 pound blue, came on a small piece of shad side also. I like to use sinker slides so that way you can use as heavy of a weight as you want, if you are anchored, and the fish won't know the difference when they bite. For drifting the heaviest I go is 2oz, but usually only use about 1/2oz sinker.

At least with the smaller pieces of bait, a guy will catch some smaller fish as well to help pass the time. That's how I look at it anyways.

[jesse]

Use as little weight as possible to get the bait down to the bottom. Also, the smaller baits catch 10X the fish (small and large) as the big baits. In fact I've seen more big cats landed on small baits than the large shad. Next time try a single small shad or a thin strip of belly meat with the shad guts. I use bait the size of a little smokie with a 1oz sinker or less. You might need to bounce the bottom to catch fish if the current is swift. Last summer we caught 90% of our cats with NO weight, just the bait and hook.

Tight lines.

i forgot to put that up on my post last night...i used small shad also,not for very long though, i kept large whole shad on my big pole,my big pole is an catfish ugly stick with a rhino xl baitcaster with 65 pound braid line tied with a three way swivel with a 7o hook and a 6 ounce bank sinker.

my other pole is just a normal ugly stick with a bill dance baitcater i have set up for smaller catfish,also 65 pound braid with a 2 ounce slip sinker rig with a like a 3 o hook.