July 5th. I woke up at 06:00 ate some breakfast before I headed to meet Mike. Picked him up at 07:00 and headed to get gas for the boat. We launched the boat at Cincinnati Public Landing ramp around 07:40. Headed down river to the Mill Creek area. Got down there to discover another boat was fishing in the spot we planned to fish.

SO, we moved down from them about 200 yards to get our lines in the river around 08:00. 0900 we moved to the middle of the 1st barge since we had no action at the first spot. Marked fish so we had our hopes up for some action. Once again, our hopes were dashed for not even a tap! Gave up on that area and headed upriver.

Next spot was at the shadow of a bridge that cool us off from the heat. Tried there but no action again. 11:00 move upriver to the front of Hooters for around 20minutes before we gave up, frustrated once again and it was getting too hot for us. Got the boat on trailer around 11:30 and headed home. At least we tried, as it turned out the was the hottest day so far this summer! Not sure when we will try again since the cats are not active at this time. When I read, they are biting again then we will try again, but at a different part of the river.

June 10th. I woke at 3:45 to head for a catfish tournament at Lawrenceburg In. It was still dark at 05:00 when I got to the parking lot, to find my friend Curtis and his boat. There were several bass boats there as well for their tournament. Curtis got the boat in the water about 05 12 to try to net some fresh Shad for bait supply for the day. We tried for about 45 minutes and only got 4 SHAD! I did have some thawed skipjacks and pieces of cheery seasoned chicken breast.

We headed to the river at 05:55 for the tournament started at 06:00, Curtis fired up the motor and headed upriver. 06:34 we reached our first stop it was a place where he had caught catfish in the past. There was very little current, river was clear as the sun was coming up. I had my first of 3 open face spinning reels and rods rigs in the water around 06:45. I had the skipjacks and chicken breast on my rigs. Curtis had pieces of the fresh Shad cut up for his lines. Curtis broke the ice at 07:20 hooking into a nice catfish. The blue cat weighed just over 8 pounds; I forgot the length of the fish. I took 2 photos, then Curtis placed it in the live well. The action stopped so we decided to move down river about of a mile.

At 09:30 Curtis hooked his 2nd fish of the day; this one was a small flathead. The fish weighed around 2 pounds. Once again, I took a couple photos, and the fish was put in the live well. Both cats were caught with the shad from the morning. We ran out of the Shad. Had to run upriver to a creek that we hoped held Shad. Curtis tried many times with casting net, only got 1 SHAD! 11:20 our 3rd spot was back down river closer to the barge this time.

13:30 we called it a day and started our run back to the ramp. As we expected the ramp area was vey crowed with catfish and bass boats. This made it harder to get the boat out of the water and onto the trailer.

While Curtis was straiting out the boat, I took his 2 fish to get weighed. They checked out at 9.9 pounds, then they were returned to the water at the ramp. It was getting on the hot side after a very long day on the river. I thought I had all my stuff out of Curtis s boat when I left at 14:00 t0 head home. When I got home that is when I noticed I had left my camera in the boat. I sent him a message later that evening to check and I should get it when we fish again.

June 7th. The weatherman called for rain in the morning, so I decided to go fishing about noon time. When I woke no rain so called Mike to change when we would go to 10:00. I forgot my logbook, so my time of the events are not as accurate as usual. Hitched up the boat and got the bait thawed out for the trip. I picked up Mike just before 10:00, headed to get gas for car and the motor. We headed for the Cincinnati Public Landing ramp which is short distance from the gas station.

The boat was in the river around 10:15 and we headed down river. Around 10:35 we dropped our anchor I baited up my first rod. I experience a first-time event for me; I was just lowering my 1st rod over the side of the boat when it got hit by a fish. It took me a moment to realize I had hooked a decent size fish. I had to fight the fish for several minutes before I got it in the net. My first fish of 2023 turn out to be a SUCKER! I forgot the length, but it weighed 6.75 pounds. I knew for sure it was going to be a good day at last! About 11:15 my rod with cherry chicken breast got hit this time. I had a hooked a small channel cat. It was around 18 inches and weighed just over 2 pounds. I kept on getting bites but, the thawed-out skipjacks were very soft. The fish were knocking of the baits off before I could try setting the hook. I caught one more channel before the anchor came lose from a barge s wake That channel was around 18 inches but was 2.5 pounds.

The boat got resettled when the anchor finally held. I was marking fish and they were still biting. The last fish of the day was 20 inches; 4 pounds channel cat. A small tow boat came over to work on the moored barges, so we had to move. We left the area and head back upriver around 12:30, I spotted a 50-foot hole that held some fish. I put out my 3 rods, fished for about 25 minutes, no action at all. I was snagged on my one rod; had to break off my line. sun was starting to warm up, so we decided to check out the Breakers above the ramp around 13:30. Maid a sweep of the area with the fish finder nothing much showed so we called it a day. Had the boat on the trailer and headed home a little after 14:00. I finally got the skunk off the boat for 2023. Hopefully Mike and I will get more trips on the river soon; for the river is in great shape right now. Tight lines to all.

May 25th Shakedown trip for 2023!
I meet Mike and we headed off to the Schmidit boat ramp on the Ohio River. Around 08:45 we got the boat in the river. River level was 27.8 feet. At that time, we had a down river breeze with a .8 mph current. We got to our first spot a marina about a .5 mile upriver from the ramp. Our4 lines were in the water about 09:00. The river was clear; and the level was 27.8 feet. The weather was on the cool side, but sunny. It was a perfect day to be on the river.

10:25 the 2nd spot was a 53-foot hole that I marked some fish! We dropped our anchor and casted back into the hole. Fished for about 35 minutes no action at all! 10:45 we pull up our anchor and moved upriver. I broke my line on a snag as we tried to free it from the river. We moved upriver and more towards the channel, marked fish. I started to retie my line after we put out my other lines. I was busy looking at the line when Mike told me I had a bite. I spotted the rod, and it was being tapped then bent over. I raced to grab the rod, but the fish was gone! I wound in the line and the soft skipjack was cleaned off. Not sue what kind of fish hit that rod!

About the same time, we encountered the wind shifted to a strong upriver wind with white caps. We both decided to head back to the ramp around 12:45. Most the morning we observed the various police and water rescue boats getting practice in for the upcoming holiday weekend. When we got back to the ramp notice the Cincinnati divers were finishing up their drills. Got the boat up on the trailer and drove it to the top of the ramp. There we but the stapes and other things to secure the boat. I broke down my rods and put life jackets, and lunch bag in my car. Mike got in his car to follow me from the ramp. The shakedown of the boat checked out fine, but NO fish in the boat YET!

May 10th my grandson called and said he pick me up to go fishing at a nearby lake. We left for the lake at 16:00 but got hung up in a traffic jam. We got our lines in the lake about 16:45. My grandson spotted the large l.m.Bass he saw the last time he was there. We walked around the lake trying to pick up bluegills. He was also trying to catch some bass as we moved around the lake. I finally settled in one corner of the lake.

I tried casting all around that section of the lake. NOT even a bluegill nick! In the meantime, my grandson went back over to catch the big bass. I did see a female mallard trying to take her 10 chicks for a swim around the lake. Our trip was cut short for my grandson was notified he had a doctor s appointment, so we had to at 18:15. My grandson did manage to catch one small bass. I did not get one tap.

May 18th. I went out to the same lake to fish with Mike at 14:00. Mike was already fishing at a shallow part of the lake. He caught a same channel cat, and he got taps on his bluegill rod. I got my bluegill rig in the water and fished all around Mike but could NOT get a tap. Then Mike caught a 12-inch trout on a large worm. He was still having taps on the blue gill rig. We finally move over to the deep part of the lake. As we left I had a difficult time climbing up the steep bank, Mike had to help me from falling back wards for may balance is bad on steep slopes.

I tried the deep spot with my catfish rig and beef chunk for bait. Mike went down to where I fished on the 10th, he caught another small channel cat there. I did notice the mother had only 1 chick left with her. The big bass and turtles got the other chicks. So once again the fishing gods curse is still there for I cannot even catch any fish. It was getting hot so we called it a day around 15:45 and headed home.

May 16th I finally got my Home Page set up as I had been working since February. There were many frustrating hours, especially trying to deal with my hosting comany. IT IS DONE!!

May 5th. This morning I got a message from another friend ask me to go catfishing with him in his boat. I will meet him in the morning. He has a much larger boat that can handle the fast current. I woke up at 05:30, met Curtis at 07:00 at RIVER SIDE ramp. Curtis went to check if the ramp was in the river. IT was NOT so there was no way to launch his boat in that fast current! This forced us to head to Tanners Creek to launch the boat. We finally got the boat in the water at 08:00
Then we move around Tanners Creek to net some fresh shad for bait. By 09:00 we had enough shad and headed for the Ohio River. The river was muddy with a current of 2.7 mph with a lot of drift flowing in the current.
09:17 our first spot was down river by a grain barge. We had a total of 5 rods out, I had 2 and Curtis had 3. Curtis had fresh shad on his rods. I had as a chunk of thawed skipjack on one line; the one was a chunk of chicken breast. The anchor did not hold, so we had fire up the motor about .5 of a mile down river and the anchor held! Fished there for about 45 minutes then crossed over to the KY. side to fish.
At 11:07 Curtis was pulling in his planner board line when he noticed he had a fish on. It was 10lb.5 pound Bluecat; that put up a fight once he was getting near the boat. At least we got the skunk of the boat. We checked that side of the river with the trolling motor and fish finder, marked no fish at all.
Headed back to the Indiana side and moved up river to a small creek mouth. Fished there for about 1 hour 25 minutes no action at all! 14:00 we called it a day and headed back to the ramp. We did have a nice warm day so it was good to outdoors. Hopefully next time we go the river will be in better shape to fish.