# tons of baitfish and no catfish(can anyone else relate)



## ohfishcat (Feb 26, 2012)

ive fished the markland pool in the boat alot the past few years,usually always on the way home we talked about the big blues or flats we caught,,the past 4 weekends we caught nothing period.weve tryed different baits and locations
i have noticed there is tons and tons of bait fish.and alot of gar,i never noticed before but when you shine a light across the water the bait fish are jumping everywhere so i dont know if thats baby asian carp or?
and the catfish issue maybe the commercial fisherman ARE taking all the catfish,ive just noticed a big big difference.and our fun fishing trips are turning into a boring expensive waste of time and money


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## boonecreek (Dec 28, 2006)

YEA!!!!!!, there all stoked in every pay lake and privet pond from here to who knows.


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## lark101_1999 (Apr 12, 2004)

bait fish are jumping everywhere =shad .we did the same thing looks like rains hitting the water


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## throbak (Jul 8, 2012)

Saw it friday threw the net out had about 100 downsized hook used acouple of shad caught a 12 in blue the shad have a spot on them the asians dont FYI


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## bigtime (Feb 17, 2011)

I went yesterday evening and the shad were everywhere.Fished with every bait you could think of and had not one bite.I haven't fished the river very much but what's the reason for so many baitfish?


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## lark101_1999 (Apr 12, 2004)

very little rain during there spawn. there was very little muddy water to cover there eggs so you get a lot of little bait fish


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## nlcatfish (Mar 21, 2005)

The last 4 trips from the Public Landing I was not able to net any Gizzard shad at the ramp. I tried to catch some skip jacks at the mouth of the Licking at sun set 3 different times. Results NOT even 1 skip jack. I did net a load of thin-fin shad in the Mill creek but they were all very small and died very quickly. Since the river is down the mooneyes & skipjacks have not been around the back of the showboat at the Public landing. This has been a very rough fishing season so far for me as well . It has been more of a chore instead of fun to take the boat out on the river. A lot more trips of being skunked then hooking fish.


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## Salmonid (Apr 14, 2004)

Norb, you are not alone the results of the tourneys have been either decent or very low weights and between the netters and the weird weather and water conditions the rivers has not been very forthgiving of its fish ths year. Im headed down tomorrow with Dave from Catfishgear.com and we will see if we can find them. 

Salmonid


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## kprice (May 23, 2009)

I think the reason you're not catching any is because of the abundance of shad in the river. 

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## ohfishcat (Feb 26, 2012)

took the boat to portsmouth over the weekend,,,probaly covered about 20 miles of the river,,,found spots that deeper than the rest and was showing alot of fish different spots,,,but once again no catches,,,,was using nightcrawlers,,cut skipjack and bluegills,,,,same story schools and schools of shad with gar goobling them up


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## Salmonid (Apr 14, 2004)

Fished out of Tanners Creek this morning, no skippies, no shad bigger then 2" and hardly any bites, only two small blues caught, best one was about 7 lbs. Just cant seem to locate the fish lately....

Salmonid


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## ohfishcat (Feb 26, 2012)

we fish from tanners creek couple weeks ago,,,,funny how different the depth is between tanners and the portsmouth area,,,,portsmouth is really shallow compared to the cincy area most of the river in portsmouth is like 12/18 ft on avg and pretty flat,,,most of cincy is in the 40 ft plus range and various depths,,,we used to catch alot of flatheads in portsmouth and in the scioto river which is really really shallow 4/5 ft avg,,,,my wife and i always say probaly if you knew what was really swimming down therein the ohio river anywhere youd be amazed,,,like those thought to be snags might be something huge gigantic fish,,,,be really kewl if you could see a real image of the actual fish and the deep holes,,,,nice to dream anyways,lol


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## catfishinfool247 (May 18, 2004)

I'm finding the same thing in my fish pursuits thus far this year. Generally by this date I've in previous years i've caught 4 or 5 flatties in the 30 and 40 class in the Scioto river. Not the case this year. water has been extremely low, current nearly non-existent and small small small shad schools everywhere!! And the gar are just tearing the surface up chomping these lil buggers. Paint Creek same way, small shad everywhere!! I'm welcoming the cooler weather to come. I usually catch my heaviest flatties in the fall as the big boys put on the feed bag and prepare for the cold water period. My biggest to date 66# flathead (Ohio River) on 12" live shad on last Saturday of October 2000. It was cold that night but the flatty action was hot... I'm Always looking to break my record!!!


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## backupbait (Nov 4, 2010)

Put in at Riverside Mon morning with my Daughter. Was unable to get anything going in all my best spots. Decided to try a new area before we called it quits. Around 1pm we were drifting around a transition area where the water went from 34 to 42ft. My daughter caught a 20lb and 10lb blue back to back on the top end of the drop off. Now she understands why my bass rods are collecting dust.


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## spiff (Jun 3, 2004)

I too could only catch 2-3 inchers, but I put 3 or 4 on my circle hooks like a pez dispenser....It worked. Caught 2 flats, and 4 channel out of the O in about 3 hours. So, 50 little shad == 12 big ones, or at least the cats think so.


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## throbak (Jul 8, 2012)

Pick up a copy of Fishand Game Finder or go fishfinderonline.com Have a wst cn to puke in Ready ONE PAYLAKE SKY LAKE brags of 35,000 # of catfish stocked this year ther are 20 PL,s listeal bragging of THOUSANDS of pounds Stocked catfish Most stocking weekly and nothing over 10# can be kept I dont wonder any more


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## pppatrick (Apr 21, 2012)

commercial fishing in no doubt has effected the river below greenup dam. however its the same above the greenup dam as well. i equate a lot of their being such a large amount of fry and bait fish to the drought. no high river levels that would typically wash these fish out and cause large amounts to die has not happened. thus lowering the mortality rate so low there are basically shad, fry and other species of minnows everywhere. with so many smaller fish to forage on, its most definitely harder to catch fish. due to the lower than typical mortality rate, this could cause the river to improve in the years to come. i hope that is the case. i've turned my efforts to carp. hell, they always eat.


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## boonecreek (Dec 28, 2006)

boonecreek said:


> yea!!!!!!, there all stoked in every pay lake and privet pond from here to who knows.


like i said before; all the wild , free to room the whole river, survived flood and all the elements the nature of the great ohio river thows at,em. End up in ever @%#*&$#@ paaay lake and privet pond and lake from herre to to who %$#%^&*&%$ know where. It bull @$#! This happens. Born and raised in moscow, and have live with,in 20 miles most off my soon to be 48 yrs of life ( birthday sept. 15 feel free to send me fish,in gear ha,ha ) and love to fish the ohio river. It part of me and i,m freak,in sick off netter. I hope there read,in this. There a lot of catfisher men that fish just the river. U pay laker and netter stay out. Got a problem with this pm me and well mee!t up in the dark some frea,innnnn time!%


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## throbak (Jul 8, 2012)

boone You Da Man +1


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