Central Ohio Catfish Club

chuck4 · Shad Joined: 18 Jan 2007 Posts: 86 Location: columbus

Hello. I was wondering what baits everyone prefers in the colder months. I have found that cut shad and shrimp seen to work for me better on the lakes I target in the winter.

Time2Fish · Site Admin Joined: 09 Jan 2007 Posts: 93

I pretty much go for shad most of the year round, fresh always seems a little better if you can get it in the winter but cast netting can be a little tricky when it's cold!!

I'd say nightcrawlers aren't too bad either depending on where you're fishing. Especially with all the warm weather we have been having and the rain I bet catfish have been feeing on worms washing in from streams. Plus nightcrawlers are always easy to get in the winter.

Since the lake temps (and air) have dropped you might find a lot of discrepancy on winter baits just from the fact you have to find the fish and get bait. most people probably use bait that is easily accessable (liver, shrimp so that might skew peoples opinions. Crawdads may work best in the winter but they are a little harder to come by, know what I mean? The fish have slowed down, still feeding but much slower than in summer so finding a good hole may be more important than the bait.

FINATIC · Shad Joined: 10 Jan 2007 Posts: 78 Location: Hilliard

Shad or live bass minnies... even through the ice. I've never had much luck with stinky stuff or even worms, when it's cold.

By the way, welcome to the board chuck4.

KillerNuts · Posted: Sun Jan 21, 2007 4:30 pm Post subject:

I don't do much cold weather fishing, usually deer hunting takes over in the winter months.

SHAD, SHAD, SHAD, SHAD!!!! You can't go wrong here. We went out on January 1st a couple of years ago, bitter cold, and shad worked great. I have also been told that shrimp works pretty good though. I beleive some of the bait stores will have some frozen shad. You may be able to go below a dam and gather some up that have washed through the dams. I haven't been down to check it out, but usually Oshay will ahve some below the dam if the water levels go back down.

Good luck!

chuck4 · Shad Joined: 18 Jan 2007 Posts: 86 Location: columbus

thanks for the info guys. I fish the ohio river during the winter for blues and channels. They bite very well thru the cold weather on skipjack herring and fresh shad. I never really tried fishing the central ohio area for them in the winter. I would suspect that the fishing is similar to the ohio on the oshay in the winter for channels. If it warms up a little I may try it out this weekend.

Time2Fish · Site Admin Joined: 09 Jan 2007 Posts: 93

So much for fishing this weekend! LOL, Oh well, took my boy sled riding and had probably more fun.

I've heard about using skipjack, do you know where to find it around here?

FINATIC · Shad Joined: 10 Jan 2007 Posts: 78 Location: Hilliard

Fisherman's Warehouse on Lockbourne Rd near Obetz sold frozen packs last year, but they were 8+ bucks / lb.

chuck4 · Shad Joined: 18 Jan 2007 Posts: 86 Location: columbus

Yes the FW has shad. A little pricey. I prefer to net and freeze my own. I have had better luck by freezing the shad while in a large tupperware style container filled with a salted water. The shad seems to stay firmer after thawing this way.

KillerNuts · Posted: Mon Jan 22, 2007 9:27 pm Post subject:

Good Tip! may have to try that. I was plannig on using some pickling salt this year in a bait tank to keep shad alive through the tourneys. i was reading on Doc Lange's site that the pickling salt really helps keep the shad alive and actually may improve the bite. Anything is worth a try once.

Baitmeister · Joined: 17 Jan 2007 Posts: 1 Location: fredericktown

Hi all, I was wanting to know if some of you ever thought of getting getting
a group of people to go down to the ohio river and load up on skipjack. Just curious been thinking about doing that that this spring, even though i dont have a boat yet, id split the cost for gas. Anyway i thought i would pitch my idea out there for you guys, thanks

Matt

KillerNuts · Posted: Thu Jan 25, 2007 7:30 pm Post subject:

I know my pontoon wouldn't handle the OHIO. how do you get skipjack? Are they typically caught by hook or net?

Tomkatt7 · Newbie Joined: 04 Feb 2007 Posts: 23 Location: Columbus

LOL
If I used my wifes tupperware to store fish bait in, I don't think I'd be married for very long......
On second thought,
Maybe I'll give it a try
_________________
A bad day fishing, is better than a good day at work.

chuck4 · Shad Joined: 18 Jan 2007 Posts: 86 Location: columbus

Skips are hard to net. The best way to catch then is with light spinning gear. I use 1/8 or even 1/16 oz jigheads with twister tails tied in tandem. The only place to find them is in the Ohio river and its tributaries close to the main river. This is a good time of year to catch them as the school up around hot water discharges with deeper water. When the river is rising they stack up in the creek mouths feeding on the fry shad. Finding them is the trick. They are in one place on hour and gone the next. Whenever I find skips I will fish for them until they quit hitting becuase they are so hard to locate consistently. Planning a trip to the Ohio for skips is an idea but it would be better to just go cattin' and try some of they areas skips are usually at feeding. Skips are great bait on the river but I have had mixed success on local lakes. They do freeze and store much better than shad. Maybe we could round up a couple of boats and head down for some cattin and baitfishing when this weather moderates. The winter Blues will be feeding like crazy when this ice and snow starts to melt and flow into the river.