# Cats



## CrappieKiller (Mar 14, 2008)

Headed to river tomorrow to do some catfishing. We are planning on putting in around 275 bridge. Total rookie on river so any advice or tips would be greatly appreciated. Also, any tips on where to net some shad. Thanks guys.


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## wildman (Sep 3, 2008)

If anybody has any advice I would like to hear it to. Will not be on the river for a while but I plan on it this month. I am a green to the river.


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## Salmonid (Apr 14, 2004)

well, I just got back from fishing that stretch today. Man it was nice out!! Flows are low and hardly any current so be prepared for that, the bite was slightly better then POOR this morning until about 10 am, then we went without a hit for almost 5 hrs, then my buddy had a good takedown on a chunk of skipjack and landed a 23 lb blue, I suppose our persistance paid off but its been really rough lately, the Blues are just now starting to come off the spawn and are few and far between, the flatties are spawning now and they are hard to find and for some reason the channels are not near the banks so you have to try to find them in deeper water. Good luck , youll need it, Id suggest fishing really late, or really early.

As far as Shad goes, we castnetted in 3 spots and managed 1- 5" shad...where they have been, they are no longer there or Fishdealer04 has cast netted them all which may be a possibility...

Sorry, not much help 
Salmonid


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## fishdealer04 (Aug 27, 2006)

I might be out in the morning for a little bit. I was out on Weds with my buddy. We went to get shad and managed a decent amount. We had 3 rods with us and decided to fish for about 45 minutes. We landed 3 fish 15 pound blue, 7 pound blue, 10 pound channel, had 1 break off, and missed 3 other hits. Not bad for 3 rods and 45 minutes. I am assuming you are going to put in at Schmidt? If I am out I will be in a silver ford escape and a blue and white Crestliner with the full windshield so swing by and say hey if you see me and I might be able to help you out. As for shad check the marinas and creeks. They have not been balled up latley but you can usually get them.


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## CrappieKiller (Mar 14, 2008)

Thanks guys for your help. Gold F150 and a white center console and black top. good luck.


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## I Fish (Sep 24, 2008)

I love catching those Blues. Can you tell us what types of areas you're getting them in, i.e. backwaters, creek mouths, drop offs, etc.? Thanks.......


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## fishdealer04 (Aug 27, 2006)

I Fish said:


> I love catching those Blues. Can you tell us what types of areas you're getting them in, i.e. backwaters, creek mouths, drop offs, etc.? Thanks.......


Just drifting. Find structure or deeper water and just drift haha


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## Salmonid (Apr 14, 2004)

I agree, the best part of drifting is covering a lot of water looking fr an aggressive fish to come up and take the bait. We drifted about 4-5 miles yesterday i bet for 1 decent fish. slow but worth it in the end. 

We made a point to drift some 20-25-30-35-40-45-50 and 55 foot water looking for the fish. Channels were in the 25-35 range and the blue was in some deeper water

Salmonid


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## I Fish (Sep 24, 2008)

Drifting, huh? How do you avoid snags, or do you just deal with them?


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## Salmonid (Apr 14, 2004)

well, he snags can really be a problem, but if you watch your fish finder real close and keep all your rods from about 2 feet off the bottom to about 10 feet off the bottom, youll do just fine, just have to give rods a crank or 2 when you see the bottom coming up real fast before they get snagged, when you get 4-5 rods snagged at the same time, it gets ugly trying to get them out/break them off/untangle and retie your rigs. Oh yeah, circle hooks are the way to go in this case. It takes some practice but basically by covering a lot more water, your looking for the aggressive feeding fish to come up, grab the bait and turn to go back down to the bottom and basically hook themselves. Like I said, takes some practice and frustrating at first, but youll get better at it. It is good only when the river is really low with not too much current. I like the drifting sped to be about .8-1.5 MPH, some like to use a trolling motor and go even faster, just depends. If the fish are not actice, I think slowing down and getting closer to the bottom helps but then you get more snags. 

Salmonid


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## CrappieKiller (Mar 14, 2008)

Hey guys thank you for your help. We had a great day for our first day on the river. We fished from about 10 to just after dark and ended up with 12 channels, 3 flats, and a blue. Nothing big but learned a lot. Tried cut shad, skip jack, and a variety of live bait. Cut chubs are what we caught all the fish on.


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## CrappieKiller (Mar 14, 2008)

Forgot to mention all fish came from 40 - 45 ft of water


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## fishdealer04 (Aug 27, 2006)

CrappieKiller said:


> Forgot to mention all fish came from 40 - 45 ft of water


Nice job guys! I was not able to get out but will be heading out in a couple hours here to hopefully catch some blues. I recognize the spot where you guys caught some of the fish...thats a good spot, have always caught a lot of fish there but nothing ever bigger than 15 pounds or so.


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