# frustration to say the least



## savethetrophies (Jul 4, 2014)

Hi guys. I'm new on here but have read a lot before joining. I have been a bank fishermen of the mighty ohio for about 2 years now. And this summer has been very rough for me. I'm not sure if the ohio is getting worse due to the disrespectful pay lake thieves or I'm just in wrong place. But I fish the ohio about 4 times a week. Around 9 mile close to new Richmond and meldahl dam on ohio side. I have really been struggling. Any help would be great! I only practice catch and release. I am an avid flathead hunter and can't seem to find them this year. Most of them have been babies around 2 lb. I use bluegill live. Skippy cut. And of course good old worms. Chubs if I can find em. I am fed up with the gar ! Anyone have any advice or other locations I can access from bank. And can I fish ky side with ohio license or do I need to get one from ky too? Help me guys please....


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## barillms (Aug 28, 2013)

The water does not have to be deep. This is a myth. Right now the flatheads hopefully should be coming out of spawning.

You're obviously putting in the time... But you're not getting the results you want. So, you gotta figure out what the problem is.

First off... Location location location. I dont recommend keep going to the same location. Always switch it up... Every trip try a different spot. But... Make sure you're fishing good spots with good habitat. Don't just pick random spots, and cast. Do your homework and look for habitat on Google Earth.

Secondly... Bait. If you're not catching fish on live blugill., then you need to switch it up. Start cutting them fresh. Use large gills and cut them in half. Or start trying to net suckers or catch carp & drum and using them as cut bait. If you're not having good results with a certain bait, you gotta adapt and try other options to see what they like.

Are u missing fish?? If you're missing fish, that's not good. You may only get ONE chance per night. Gotta make each run count. Try changing to king kahle hooks if you're missing fish with circle hooks.

If you're catching NO fish at all... Chances are you're going to the wrong spots. Scratch those fishing spots off your list and start over. Fish obviously don't live there.


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## Cajunsaugeye (Apr 9, 2013)

Gotta get off the beaten path,so to speak.Any bank fishing spots on the big O are fished to death.The obvious boat spots are too.Do some research and leg work to find good looking structure and areas and then try to get permission to fish it.Better yet,if possible,buy or borrow a boat and then explore.I PROMISE,the "paylakes" don't have them all!

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## C J Hughes (Jan 24, 2006)

Fished for 5 days on the Ohio. 1 Blue 15 lbs to many little flatheads to count same for channel cats 2 saugers and lots of wipers . Enough Gar to piss off anyone fishing for cats turned everything back except for the gar .


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## Saugeye Tom (Oct 6, 2010)

Find big log jams and fish em hard!


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## slowtroller (Sep 28, 2011)

Most of this is good advice no matter what you fish for. Some very good advice for cats.


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## HatersGonnaHate (Jun 4, 2013)

What's with the gar hate? They are a neat fish and just eliminating them because you didn't want to catch it is wrong


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## savethetrophies (Jul 4, 2014)

Thank you very much guys. You guys seem to know alot more then I do. So any advice helps. I'll keep looking for some better spots. It's funny because in may we caught some biggens ! In fact 1 shovelhead my friend caught weighed 60 lbs!!!! Released him of course and that wwas in the end of may. Then June came around and they are gone ?!?! My other question was do I need to have ky license to fish bank of kentucky or does ohio license allow either bank? and is current always key? Don't they come into bank and feed certain times in slow moving current in the summer? Do u always need to be in deep channel to produce fish when it's summer?


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## Bandy (Mar 30, 2014)

HatersGonnaHate said:


> What's with the gar hate? They are a neat fish and just eliminating them because you didn't want to catch it is wrong


In full agreement with you.

If your not goin to eat them PUT THEM BACK IN ALIVE!!


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## excalman (May 24, 2013)

Gar are rough fish that needs killed. If you have ever fish the OHIO river and gar move in the cat-fishing is done., It's best to kill them or move to a new spot. I seen 30-50 gar move in to a spot. There is a reason they are considered a rough fish, and you can kill all you want.


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## savethetrophies (Jul 4, 2014)

Why do they make the cats stop feeding?


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## weekend angler (Dec 31, 2011)

Ohio and Kentucky have an agreement to let the other state fish the opposite bank but you must obey your state regulations and you can't fish any tributaries 

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## FISNFOOL (May 12, 2009)

What is Skippy Cut? Thanks


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## weekend angler (Dec 31, 2011)

FISNFOOL said:


> What is Skippy Cut? Thanks


Skipjack herring cut up in pieces/ cut bait

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## whodeynati (Mar 12, 2012)

excalman said:


> Gar are rough fish that needs killed. If you have ever fish the OHIO river and gar move in the cat-fishing is done., It's best to kill them or move to a new spot. I seen 30-50 gar move in to a spot. There is a reason they are considered a rough fish, and you can kill all you want.


I catfish all the time on the Ohio. I've seen gar move in and push the catfish out. That said I will not kill one just to kill one. It's to easy to move to another spot.


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## excalman (May 24, 2013)

They don't make cat fishing stop feeding . There can be to many for the cat -fish to compete with. The will get to the bait before the cat-fish. If your bank fishing it's not always easy to move to anther spot. Gar are like coyote kill them all.


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## Skip2myalou (Apr 2, 2013)

My theory is, if you are catching gar you are fishing too small of bait and too small of hooks. I fish BIG bait and 8/0-10/0 circles. Dont catch a gar. They will smoke a bait and not hook up and I bring in and rebait.

You caught them in may and they stopped because of spawn. They have came off the nest and should be feeding pretty well. Always done better with BIG shad over bluegill. Chubs are behind shad with fresh mooneye number one.


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## Doboy (Oct 13, 2008)

excalman said:


> *Gar are rough fish that needs killed. If you have ever fish the OHIO river and gar move in the cat-fishing is done., It's best to kill them or move to a new spot.* I seen 30-50 gar move in to a spot. There is a reason they are considered a rough fish, and you can kill all you want.



Hummm,,, I can't agree with that one. And in Pa, the Spotted Gar is protected. NOBODY, that I met & asked, Knew or could tell the difference!
http://www.fish.state.pa.us/pafish/fishhtms/chap7.htm


The last time that Chris & I did great on cats, (blues, flats & channels)
the gar were THICK on the surface. We had run after run on the slip bobbers while I was catching cat after cat with a slip egg w cut-bait on the bottom.
The only thing that we noticed, was when we started getting the gar hits, the sauger disappeared.


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## pppatrick (Apr 21, 2012)

jer, you put it a lot nicer than i was about to. haha. but thought about it and decided not to hit the "reply" button..


i'll never understand the logic behind killing gar just for the sake of being a gar. its not like you're gonna have any effect on their population. if they've survived the last million plus years on this planet, they'll survive fisherman killing the hand full they actually catch every year.


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## horsedrj (May 4, 2014)

I myself enjoy catching gar, I catch them on lures pretty consistently and they are a blast I hooked several on brush creek and behind Greenup dam on a rapala skitter pop, some probably pushing 20lbs and doing tail dances on the water the trick is to use braided line you don't actually hook them they wrap themselves up a blast to catch


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## horsedrj (May 4, 2014)

Gar are the most unrated sport fish in the river


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## Nightcrawler666 (Apr 17, 2014)

Not sure if anyone's tried it, but I have recently cleaned up and cooked a few gar I've taken with my bow and they're actually pretty good. Very white and tough meat in their back straps. I don't see the point in killing fish just for the sake of killing them. Especially if they're native. I used all the other rough fish I've taken with my bow for cut bait for cats and it's been working great.


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## horsedrj (May 4, 2014)

Actually I have ate some gar in Louisiana, cajun folk love gar and they are delicious


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## Bandy (Mar 30, 2014)

Nightcrawler666 said:


> Not sure if anyone's tried it, but I have recently cleaned up and cooked a few gar I've taken with my bow and they're actually pretty good. Very white and tough meat in their back straps. I don't see the point in killing fish just for the sake of killing them. Especially if they're native. I used all the other rough fish I've taken with my bow for cut bait for cats and it's been working great.
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Ohub Campfire



Aahhhh fellow bowman I see.... What do you shoot? Me its a PSE recurve with a 45lb draw. Off topic sorry ...... I love them out of my cast iron skillet. Cook up just like chicken. Add some choice seasoning(s) a light brush of Sweet Baby Rays Honey Chipotle and a pile of angel hair pasta with a cold one to wash it down....... The one I got Sunday is lookin good right now.


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## excalman (May 24, 2013)

Has anyone seen gar in a private lake or pond?


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## Duffman (Mar 29, 2014)

Gar have been around longer than cats and if cats have been present somewhere, chances are gar have too. No offense but if you think differently, then you have no concept of how ecosystems work.


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## Nightcrawler666 (Apr 17, 2014)

Bandy said:


> Aahhhh fellow bowman I see.... What do you shoot? Me its a PSE recurve with a 45lb draw. Off topic sorry ...... I love them out of my cast iron skillet. Cook up just like chicken. Add some choice seasoning(s) a light brush of Sweet Baby Rays Honey Chipotle and a pile of angel hair pasta with a cold one to wash it down....... The one I got Sunday is lookin good right now.



Haha yes I am, I like to think of it as an opportunity to have just as much (sometimes more) fun collecting bait as fishing for catfish. But I use an OLD '75 Bear Compound Alaskan. I think the draw is set at around 45#. 


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## throbak (Jul 8, 2012)

FYI Excalman ,, Catfish of all kinds are considered rough fish on the Ohio River and CF are doing just what you suggest to the cats KILL EM ALL


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## Daveo76 (Apr 14, 2004)

This gets harder to post every year. Gars were one of the first fish to survive and slowly over the years other fish came along. I don't mind seeing gars when I'm walking down the the steps at Greenup and seeing them. My grandson (6) wanted to catch one so I tied him on a blue and white 1/8 oz tube and I'll be darned if he didn't get a smallie to put us all to shame.Gar was a 3 fter probably wanting ti take the offering to the lady friend. It's just so cool to watch 5 or 6 smaller ones circle a big, fat female deciding to let the lucky male do his thing. I've done my fair share of gar abuse when I was younger, but I grew up fishing the river behind the steel plant in New Boston and that was about all we had. So Gars have made it this long and through this much garbage, leave 'em alone. They were here first.Granted, fishing with live mooneyes or shad can be a problem and that rod slow returns to that straight up position and you have shreaded meat on your hook. 
As for cats, everyone says they are catching fewer. Don't the CF's have a size limit?? Frankly, I get tired of them while fishing for wipers, I thought wipers were bull dogs but a 20 lb Blue can keep you off the rail for 2 fish just waiting after taking a walk. Biggest I've seen personally was a #42


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## throbak (Jul 8, 2012)

Dave in the Ohio bordered by KY No Closed Season NO limits NO size limits NO anything in the way of regs on Catfish on the OHIO where KY is concerned as Ex Calman said they are rough fish and the CF are doing their Da...est to kill them all


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## Daveo76 (Apr 14, 2004)

throbak said:


> Dave in the Ohio bordered by KY No Closed Season NO limits NO size limits NO anything in the way of regs on Catfish on the OHIO where KY is concerned as Ex Calman said they are rough fish and the CF are doing their Da...est to kill them all


Wow, I'd say a little enforcement would go a long way but I don't think they care much up here. I can't imagine all the dead fish with these netters. Until the Ohio River is a priority with Kentucky, not much will happen. At least they've stocked true stripers the last 3 years and some are to 5 lbs now


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## throbak (Jul 8, 2012)

Dave regulation was passed ,,,, 1 over 35 a day blue and flat and 1 over 28 per day Chanel was to take effect June 1st A ky CF filed an injunction against the regs and they were not able to enforce them a out of court settlement was made to allow the cf to go unregulated till Dec 1st in exchange the injunction was dropped but they already have 2 senators ready to revoke the new regs in the next legislative session Me a fisherman from Ohio one more from In. and one from KY were in frankfort when the deal was made so this is first hand info


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## Daveo76 (Apr 14, 2004)

throbak said:


> Dave regulation was passed ,,,, 1 over 35 a day blue and flat and 1 over 28 per day Chanel was to take effect June 1st A ky CF filed an injunction against the regs and they were not able to enforce them a out of court settlement was made to allow the cf to go unregulated till Dec 1st in exchange the injunction was dropped but they already have 2 senators ready to revoke the new regs in the next legislative session Me a fisherman from Ohio one more from In. and one from KY were in frankfort when the deal was made so this is first hand info


Thank you for your help and taking the time to put into the project..


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## savethetrophies (Jul 4, 2014)

Guys can we talk about catfish  man, I guess I am salty about the gar. .. it's just been so frudtrating, I feel like I've tried all the right baits. Anyone know any deeper holes . Maybe I'm not in good water


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