Cincinnati catfishing Bait Some of the baits I have used for used for CATFISHing here on the Ohio River are, chicken liver, minnows, shrimp, Spam, French Fries and more. Fresh chicken liver works better than frozen liver that has thawed out. It does get bites however, cats peck at it so by the time you pick up the rod they have cleaned the bait off the hook. My experience is the fish swallows the bait more often than getting hooked. The biggest drawback is keeping the bait on the hook when casting from the bank. Trying to get a long cast with chicken liver is very difficult. It seems like half the time the liver will just fly off the hook with any forceful cast. This is no problem if you are fishing from a boat, just flip it out and feed it line so the current can take it away from the boat for you.

Fly Line Weight 3 – 4 weight: Also for fishing small flies and making delicate presentations. These are very common for stream fishermen and also very effective. Not overkill for small stream trout, able to handle larger trout and ideal for some of the smaller warm-water species. Casting range = 30 – 60 feet. 5 – 6 weight: The most common and practical weight. Will easily handle most trout and pan fish flies up to size 6. This is the rod most popular with Western fly fishermen and can be used in just about any trout fishing situation. Considered by many to be the one rod weight to have if you were to only have one rod. Casting range = 50 – 80 feet.

The Mayfly Adult After drying their wings the mayflies fly to a nearby shrub, tree or bush. Not being very good fliers, their two or three tails, are thought to aid in stabilizing them, though to our eyes they appear like a lot for them to maneuver and carry. Here the duns molt into a second adult phase called spinners. Their second pair of wings now fully developed, they are also sexually mature. After a few hours or up to a day, they usually , though not always, return to over the water, where they mate. The males will swarm, and the females fly into the swarm and choose their mate. After mating the females lay their eggs, and both male and female die. Trout also key on this stage as the ‘spent wing' spinners give the mayfly one last chance to ‘offer' itself to the awaiting trout. From our point of view it is hard to deny that the mayfly's life is nothing but a gift to the wild trout. And the recognition of this fact centuries ago was a gift of one careful observer to the generations of fly fisher's that have followed.

Deep Jigging
One of my favorite ways to fish is with a jig - a big jig - in deep water. We call it deep jigging. In water from 100 to 200....

FISHING TOURNAMENT TRAIL (Kansas City Star)
The Fishing Tournament Trail will be published each Tuesday of the fishing season. To report results, call (816) 234-4319 on Monday morning and leave name, location and date of the tournament and name, spellings and hometowns of the to.


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