Right now at Cannelton Dam on the Ohio River the latest observed stage below the dam (7-23-09) was 12.64′ and steady. They are running 9 out 12 gates but the lock master said as of 12 noon today(7-23) they are going to start shutting back. Newburgh dam was at 15.3 as of 12 noon (7-23) but also is expected to fall and will be at 14.4 Sat July 26th. J.T. Myers is at 16′ and running 25′ of water on the dam which is all 10 gates. They are also expected to start shutting back gates and will be down to 14.7′ by Sat 26th.

Last weekend I had the privilege to take out contributors of Relay for Life. They won the trip by entering in a raffle at the 2009 Auction. The experience level was minimal so channel cats were the target and they also could take
some home for table fare. 30 channels were caught with the biggest around 7 lbs. Check out the picture of these happy catfish anglers.

Channel Catfish have been biting well on G&S cheese bait near brush piles. Drifting with chicken liver, shad guts and small pieces of cut bait also have been working well.

Blue Cats have been hitting large cut shad seemingly better than skipjack this year, I think mainly due to the large successful spawn this spring.

Drifting near channel ledges, bumping deep timber and trolling with live bait have produced well lately for good numbers. Large fish have been tough to catch during daylight hours but soon they will start showing up. With rising water temps they will be piling up in deep water.

The skipjack herring minnows are not quite large enough and plentiful yet to fire up the action for Stripers. The same goes for White Bass on the river due to late spawned shad being so small. They are either really small or too big for them to chase and corral up and “bust” (feed on).

This Ohio River fishing report has been provided by Captain Paul Willett of Camo Fish Guide Service. Check out http://camofishguideservice.com to learn more about chartering an Ohio River guided fishing trip.