# So my daughter wants to catch a huge catfish...



## Dana.Birrell (Apr 23, 2012)

Brought my daughter to Antrim tonight thinking it was friday and had to duck out early when my phone told me it was, in fact Thursday and my daughter had be at school in the morning. Woops, terrible dad!

The night was, for the most part, a bust. We got some really nice hits, and my daughter almost caught one, but she's still learning how to set the hook in fish's mouth. Had fun, but Antrim is getting old.

Does anyone have any ideas for a place to bring my daughter to possibly land a nice sized catfish? She's interested in catching one, bringing it home and eating it as she seems to be going through seeing where her food actually comes from (she's 10). Has anyone had any luck at Griggs? Specific places at Hoover? Better yet, best places near the north side of Columbus?

Thanks for your help OGF!


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## Rawhid (Mar 27, 2012)

Lieb's Island Buckeye Lake. While crappie fishing, I caught a 26" channel cat in March. My buddy hooked a catfish that was 12 to14" across the head.My fiberglass pole lasted 30 sec. and the 20lb. test lasted 15 sec. more.


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## Dana.Birrell (Apr 23, 2012)

Rawhid said:


> Lieb's Island Buckeye Lake. While crappie fishing, I caught a 26" channel cat in March. My buddy hooked a catfish that was 12 to14" across the head.My fiberglass pole lasted 30 sec. and the 20lb. test lasted 15 sec. more.


I'll have to note that, not really a trip I want to take my daughter on, as she gets antsy really easy and if I'm going that far I'm staying for the day (I live in Dublin)


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## dfry16 (Mar 23, 2011)

I think an easy place to catch cats is the north end of hoover at the mouth, or on up in the creek in galena. I don't fish for them much anymore but I have caught cats everytime I fished for them in there and several nice ones, one channel over 10#. I've caught some really big cats on the lake from my boat but for bank fishing I'd suggest fishing the mouth of it. Night crawlers or chicken liver worked good for me


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## Dana.Birrell (Apr 23, 2012)

dfry16 said:


> I think an easy place to catch cats is the north end of hoover at the mouth, or on up in the creek in galena. I don't fish for them much anymore but I have caught cats everytime I fished for them in there and several nice ones, one channel over 10#. I've caught some really big cats on the lake from my boat but for bank fishing I'd suggest fishing the mouth of it. Night crawlers or chicken liver worked good for me


What are the fish foraging on over in Hoover?


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## dfry16 (Mar 23, 2011)

probably shad mostly, I had great success using live bluegill and creek chubs for the bigger cats, but the few biggest ones i caught was on chicken liver.


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## Dana.Birrell (Apr 23, 2012)

dfry16 said:


> probably shad mostly, I had great success using live bluegill and creek chubs for the bigger cats, but the few biggest ones i caught was on chicken liver.


Hrmph, I know a guy in Hilliard that carries live shad (Or he used to, I hope he still does).

Wonder how much luck I'd have on live shad.


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## dfry16 (Mar 23, 2011)

You never know. I never had any luck keeping them alive but they work good dead too for channels, there are several good spots for cats on that lake I used to wear them out before i started bass fishing hard. The summer of 2010 I caught 4 fish ohio channels in 10 days


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## Dana.Birrell (Apr 23, 2012)

dfry16 said:


> You never know. I never had any luck keeping them alive but they work good dead too for channels, there are several good spots for cats on that lake I used to wear them out before i started bass fishing hard. The summer of 2010 I caught 4 fish ohio channels in 10 days


What size hook would you recommend? As well, are you using the shad whole?


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## dfry16 (Mar 23, 2011)

depends how big of shad your using, I use 6/0 circle for everything unless its a big bluegill or something then I use an 8/0 circle. I have only tried shad a handful of times tho, honestly I'd just use chicken liver if I was you.. Im not expert tho I'm sure some of the other guys on here will be able to help better than me


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## Dana.Birrell (Apr 23, 2012)

dfry16 said:


> depends how big of shad your using, I use 6/0 circle for everything unless its a big bluegill or something then I use an 8/0 circle. I have only tried shad a handful of times tho, honestly I'd just use chicken liver if I was you.. Im not expert tho I'm sure some of the other guys on here will be able to help better than me


My only quarrel with liver is it's lack of durability.


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## Duck391 (Oct 2, 2011)

Don't look past oshay it's a lot closer for you than Hoover. I caught a lot of very nice cats out of there last season a little south of home rd. If you use liver you can get into some hybrids there along with the cats.


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## RushCreekAngler (Jan 19, 2011)

Dana.Birrell said:


> My only quarrel with liver is it's lack of durability.


Last year I tried tying the liver in mesh bags (I used one from onions) - cut the bag up into squares,placed some liver in the center, and tied it up with some fishing line. Worked great - no problem with it staying on the hook.


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## Dana.Birrell (Apr 23, 2012)

Duck391 said:


> Don't look past oshay it's a lot closer for you than Hoover. I caught a lot of very nice cats out of there last season a little south of home rd. If you use liver you can get into some hybrids there along with the cats.


I've never fished on the O'Shay, are there any tips you can give me for shore fishing there?



RushCreekAngler said:


> Last year I tried tying the liver in mesh bags (I used one from onions) - cut the bag up into squares,placed some liver in the center, and tied it up with some fishing line. Worked great - no problem with it staying on the hook.


Tried panty hose one year, we had more luck with the pany hose getting caught in the hooke and needing to perform surgery on the hook to get the hose off, but mesh from onion bags sounds a lot better.


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## HookUpFishOn (Apr 29, 2005)

I, as well use the onion bag trick when fishing with livers, but I bunch the bag up and put a small rubberband on it, then hook. However, I prefer cut shad. I'm from the SW, so I don't know the waters around your area, but on a side note: Use circle hooks! They help avoid gut hooked fish and basically hook themselves. You don't need a strong hook set with them. Just lift and reel. Should make life a lot easier for your daughter! Good luck!


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## todd61 (Nov 22, 2009)

I would suggest the north end of O'shay up to around Bellpoint. You can use cut shad or creek chubs for channel cats. Get some 4/0-6/0 circle hooks. It will make setting the hook easier for your daughter. They pretty much set themselves.


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## Dana.Birrell (Apr 23, 2012)

Is there a way down on the 42 bridge at the north end by the fork?


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## TerryMayberry (Dec 23, 2009)

I don't fish for cats often, but when I do Hoover has always been kind to me. I tend to use raw shrimp because they are easy to keep in my freezer. I've fished many of the shoreline parking areas off of Sunbury Rd and have had more success N of Smothers Rd/Co Line Rd bridge.

Good luck


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## TerryMayberry (Dec 23, 2009)

todd61 said:


> Get some 4/0-6/0 circle hooks. It will make setting the hook easier for your daughter. They pretty much set themselves.


Great advice.


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## jpearson311 (Mar 21, 2012)

Anywhere along the shore of the scioto. Last year on a nice summer Sunday, I sat on a small boat dock around riverside and fishinger and landed 3 nice catfish. Just rig up a crawler with a sinker, cast out in the middle, and wait. You'll catch plenty.

Jesse


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## fishintechnician (Jul 20, 2007)

Dana.Birrell said:


> Is there a way down on the 42 bridge at the north end by the fork?


if youa re talking about fishing close to the 42 bridge at oshay then yes there is a way, go east over the bridge (towards plaincity) just after the bridge is an intersection. Turn right and go about half a mile, you will cross a small bridge and immediatly turn right again. Follow the gravel rd back and fish. Oshay has alot of nice cats, shad and liver will do the trick. Try the purdue livers from wallmart they seem to have a bit more meat to them. Dont over look alum or del either plenty of nice fish to be caught there too. And this is just personal preference but the cats under 10 lbs are better table fare than those over 10. the bigger they are the more gamey they are. good luck and have fun


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## Dana.Birrell (Apr 23, 2012)

fishintechnician said:


> if youa re talking about fishing close to the 42 bridge at oshay then yes there is a way, go east over the bridge (towards plaincity) just after the bridge is an intersection. Turn right and go about half a mile, you will cross a small bridge and immediatly turn right again. Follow the gravel rd back and fish. Oshay has alot of nice cats, shad and liver will do the trick. Try the purdue livers from wallmart they seem to have a bit more meat to them. Dont over look alum or del either plenty of nice fish to be caught there too. And this is just personal preference but the cats under 10 lbs are better table fare than those over 10. the bigger they are the more gamey they are. good luck and have fun


I love gamy flavors. I just wish I could eat the Canadian geese that run around my neighborhood. Geese are delicious!

Before I pick up the wife from work, I'm going to run into Hilliard and hope I can get some shad. I'll grab the livers too, but hopefully my daughter will have a chance to get pulled in tonight! 


(Also, the taste of your meat does have a lot to do with how you clean catfish)


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## DelawareAngler (Mar 19, 2009)

Be careful if you do catch one and you bring it home to eat. Im not sure what level a 10 year old can handle, being that im not a parent. But i can see a kid getting traumatized by watching someone clean a fish.

But then again, im pretty sure i would have been like "COOL!" haha.

Good luck! If you dont land any this time I have a few good spots. Alum creek is a great place, not too far from dublin, and there are TONS of cats as well as cats in Delaware lake


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## rr1607 (Apr 3, 2012)

Delaware lake is great if you are looking to catch some channels. I caught 14 in about 3 hours on cut shad last week and a few over 20" . Good luck! 

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## fishintechnician (Jul 20, 2007)

I was just trying to give you a heads up on the gamieness for her sake and you are right cleaning makes a big difference as well as preperation. good luck


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## Dana.Birrell (Apr 23, 2012)

DelawareAngler said:


> Be careful if you do catch one and you bring it home to eat. Im not sure what level a 10 year old can handle, being that im not a parent. But i can see a kid getting traumatized by watching someone clean a fish.
> 
> But then again, im pretty sure i would have been like "COOL!" haha.
> 
> Good luck! If you dont land any this time I have a few good spots. Alum creek is a great place, not too far from dublin, and there are TONS of cats as well as cats in Delaware lake


She's been diving into the deep end lately regarding her food and where it comes from, so we'll see.



fishintechnician said:


> I was just trying to give you a heads up on the gamieness for her sake and you are right cleaning makes a big difference as well as preperation. good luck


Oh yeah, and I do appreciate it


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## blozier (Sep 28, 2008)

Dana.Birrell said:


> My only quarrel with liver is it's lack of durability.


If you do happen to use chicken liver, an old buddy mine once told me to take a pair of panty hose and cut them up. make about 6-8 sacks with them and drop the liver inside and use your hook to close the top of the hose. but before you do that, rig it up leave a lead on the hook hang it over the liver tub and let it sit in the sun for a day or so. This way you don't have to deal with the smell on your hands.Since I'm not much for catfishing i have no idea how this works. but its worth a shot


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## leupy (Feb 12, 2007)

google fishandtales they give a weekly report on fishing Hoover, it will tell you baits used, areas for all kinds of fish in Hoover. Really good people. with the water this high you can fish the boardwalk in Galena. I prefer the big walnut creek out of Galena but the bugs can carry you away. You could also come to my pond but it would be hard to keep the bass and bluegills off your bait, you can keep the bass but bluegills are C&R, too many bass, cats cannot be released. Pm me if you would like to fish here. I am in Johnstown.


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## Dana.Birrell (Apr 23, 2012)

leupy said:


> google fishandtales they give a weekly report on fishing Hoover, it will tell you baits used, areas for all kinds of fish in Hoover. Really good people. with the water this high you can fish the boardwalk in Galena. I prefer the big walnut creek out of Galena but the bugs can carry you away. You could also come to my pond but it would be hard to keep the bass and bluegills off your bait, you can keep the bass but bluegills are C&R, too many bass, cats cannot be released. Pm me if you would like to fish here. I am in Johnstown.


Wow, thank you! Sent you a PM so we can talk more. If you're interested in having a nice dinner cooked for you, my fishing buddy and I were culinary school buddies, so we would be glad to return the favor by cooking you a nice dinner sometime!


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## Dana.Birrell (Apr 23, 2012)

Kind of a bust with my daughter and I, thought it was cold and she wanted to go home. Going out with my fishing buddy in about an hour and we'll see what we bring home!


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## Filet_O_Fish (Apr 30, 2012)

On the west side of O'Shay is Twin Lakes, a great spot for cats, it's just north of Shawnee Hills, cut the head, pull skin from head to tail with pliers, it's better if you fillet and remove the mud vein that runs right down the center of the meat for a much better flavor.


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## Dana.Birrell (Apr 23, 2012)

Filet_O_Fish said:


> On the west side of O'Shay is Twin Lakes, a great spot for cats, it's just north of Shawnee Hills, cut the head, pull skin from head to tail with pliers, it's better if you fillet and remove the mud vein that runs right down the center of the meat for a much better flavor.


Is that the place off of Mansfield and Middle Urbana?

Fishing buddy and I hit the north part of O'Shay at the first pull off on 257S. We made a great fire, but no action.


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## TexasPete (Apr 26, 2005)

I grew up in Dublin and could show you and your daughter a nice hole out near where you live where I would catch dozens of catfish nearly every time I went out. 

Send a PM if you're interested.

Thanks,

Pete


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## Dana.Birrell (Apr 23, 2012)

Has anyone had any experience over at Griggs?


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