November 2008 marks Ten years that Hooked on Catfish has been on the web,
thank you all for your support during all these years, as you can see things
really change over a ten year span on how we fish for Catfish.
Lynn's 88 pound BlueCat 2005 U.S. Cats Tournament West
Point Kentucky
I just installed one of these units in 2007 on my 125
Gallon livewell on my boat and I must say that Steve Douglas has come up with an
awesome system.
317-831-0135 - 405 North Old St Rd. 67 -
Mooresville, IN 46158
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take awhile for these pages to load up if you have a dial-up, please be patient!
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information
This website is dedicated to
my Grandfather Galey, one of the greatest fishermen
who taught me, at a very young
age how to catch catfish on the rivers of Ohio.
Hi, My name is Tim Lange, Welcome to my Catfish web Site, most people
know me as "DOC".
Site constructed as a tutorial to help people who want to fish the rivers of Ohio for
the most beautiful fish out there the catfish, just ask me I'll tell you!
All cats caught on rod and reel and pictures taken and released alive to
be caught another day, Please practice catch and release, it takes years to grow these
brutes!!!
Site updated
02/23/2009
Click on the Starship to go to the latest updates to my
website.
The latest is Drift Socks for
catfishing
My Mission: To Go Where no Fisherman has ever Gone Before!!! "Mr.
Scott, warp factor 3 we have fish to catch"!!!
Equipment: I use
Abu-Garcia Lever drag 7000 reels
my wife Lynn uses 7000I reels spooled with 40 # Berkley Big Game Hi-Vis
green Line, 8/0 or 6/0 Gamakatsu circle hooks,
with #1 swivels, all knots are tied using the Palomar style knot but in
2004 I'm
also using snelled circle hooks . Depending on the current we use
4oz.to 8oz. flat bank style
sinkers when the current is cook 'in, or the egg style sinkers when
there is no current to
anchor our baits to the river bottom, I use Berkley E-Cat # 4 7'-6"
Rods, these things are built so that you can really lean on these big
brutes, Lynn
uses Ugly Sticks boating rods that are 6.5 feet in length and very fast
tips. We fish mainly the Ohio
River from the Pike Island pool to Shawneetowne in Indiana.
Our electronics Lowrance
LCX-111C HD
Humminbird Matrix 67 with GPS and mapping
Our boat is a 24 foot long 2009 SeaArk ProCat240. It is
powered with a 175 Horse Suzuki four stroke Outboard and has a 32 gallon livewell
up front and a 52 gallon livewell in the rear.
The boat has
a 50 gallon fuel tank and I have a Motorguide wireless 75# thrust 24 volt
trolling motor on the bow. This boat has a 15 degree hull which should make it
ride very comfortable on the Ohio River, it has four Tempress Captains chairs
and two fold down chairs that mount on the front and rear decks of this boat. I also have
a 30 Gallon Grayline bait tank.
Bait: We fish mainly with live Shad or dead fresh Shad and also
Skipjacks if we can find them. I prefer the live Shad but Lynn will use nothing but cut
Shad or Skipjack. We own a Grayline bait tank System to keep the Shad alive, it's a round
aerated livewell that lets them swim in a circle, it holds 30 gallons of water and I put
around two to three cups of pickling salt in the tank, pickling salt is very pure type of
salt and contains no Iodine which will make shad turn belly up in a matter of minutes, the
salt "locks" there scales down on there bodies, the water is quite salty but they
will not get red nosed which is a sign of overcrowding, or stress. I also use "Shad
Saver" when I can find the stuff.
I use a 25lb. Richter anchor to keep the boat in place, We anchor
the boat from the front with 125' of rope this allows the boat to move freely in the
current it may sway a couple of feet from side to side or more when one of the barges or
big boats go by, if it does that then I put out my trusty bucket anchor
but the current will make the boat come right back, the Richter is one
of the best anchors on the market for river anchoring, for safety I always keep a
knife by the front cleat in case you need to get out of the area in a hurry. I fish mainly
out the back of the boat. We place the rods in rod holders that are in different locations
on the boat.
Locations: When I'm fishing the Ohio I'm looking for different
things on my Lowrance, one of those things are bait fish ,mainly shad, they show as clouds
on the screen
and where there are shad the catfish are right behind them, most of the
time they are always working up the river against the current.
Drop off's are very important, they allow catfish to rest and also hide
to bust an unwary shad should he come close. One of the best place's on the Ohio is the
channel runs that the barges use to navigate the river, the sides can drop very sharply
and deep, and catfish use these as a highway for food. Look for areas that have sharp
changes in depth, not gradual changes, trees will pile up in these areas and draw shad and
catfish, seen a couple of cars in these areas in 1998 and they were a magnet for catfish.
I look for current, and in 1998 and 1999 it was tough due to the lack of
rain, but what current we have found we have caught fish. A very good place to fish is
near the mouths of the many marinas located on the Ohio, bait fish like to hang around the
chunk rock that is placed to cut erosion down around these openings and catfish love to
hang in these areas, I usually fish away from the area near the channel line, and try not
to fish in the mouth itself so that I don't bother the boat traffic that runs in and out
of the area.
Tributaries are another hot spot, where the water flows in is usually
where the catfish lie to ambush there prey. Bait fish gather in these areas and the
catfish move in eagerly to feed on them.
Hot water discharges
from the power plants concentrate baitfish and bring cats on the run
for an easy meal. Be careful when
fishing around the barge areas, they have a tendency to move on there
own, they are a
great place to catch flatheads, the barge cuts the current.
Gars can be a real pain on the Ohio, there a lot of fun to catch as when
they get near the boat they like to do tail walking and head jerking from side to side to
get rid of that hook, I always manage to catch one of these things only when I'm fishing
in a Tournament I have found if you go to deeper water they will not bother your bait as
much, they seem to like the shallow waters. Where gars are Channel cats are nearby, keep
that in mind. Here's some information on the times to fish the river.
January-March
Provides some good fishing for Blue cats and Channels that are concentrated in small
areas. Large numbers of fish are caught during these months.
April-May
Good time to catch Channels,Blues,Flatheads.
May 20- June 20
Very good time to catch big Flatheads before the spawn. Big channels are also caught during
this time.
June 20- September 10
Good Flathead and Channel cat fishing.
September 10- October 25
Provides some great fishing for big Flatheads that are schooling, Big channels are also
being caught at this time.
November-December
Best time to catch Blues and Channels in large numbers, Average 20 to 25 fish per day.
If you have questions about catfishing e-mail me.
Site created 11-18-98
Thanks to my wife Lynn, she picked all the music for our site and we put a lot of hours on
the river fishing and working on this webpage, We tournament fish all through the summer
and I have one of the best partners in the world when it comes to chasing down Flatheads
and BlueCats "
Baby you are the best" Thanks
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