Good time for channel cat fishing

Hot days and warm nights make ideal conditions for channel cat fishing, and while all of our local lakes have fair to good populations of these whiskered bottom feeders, Charles Mill Lake is indisputed king. Anglers are making good catches there using traditional hook and line methods, but you can do even better using non-traditional tactics, and have some exciting moments doing so. One truly fun activity at Charles Mill is trotline fishing. The sport is legal north of SR 430, and anglers can either make their own lines or purchase them at some area sporting goods stores. Most of those purchased with have 25 hooks, but the Division of Wildlife allows up to 50 hooks per line and up to three trotlines per angler. Check your fishing regulations for other requirements. I've used trotlines since I was a kid along the Big Scioto River, and I've used them in Charles Mill Lake a number of times with excellent success. Each time I got a campsite on the east side of Eagle Point campground above SR 430, paddled my little canoe further up lake, then tied the trotline to a tree onshore. Next step was to attach about 3 gallon plastic jugs to the line for floats and visibility, attach several bricks to lines end with a float directly above, then run the line baiting the hooks with either fresh shrimp or cutbait in the form of gizzard shad. Usually, I'd set my line around 6 or 7 p.m., run it just before dark removing any cats and rebaiting, then fish at my campground site until I tired and run the line again at dawn. That was always a great moment with anticipation little different from Christmas morning. Each time the floats would be bouncing, and I'd work the line netting and removing channel cats of up to 8 pounds. I never failed to make a good haul, and rarely failed to fillet at least one on the spot for fried channel cat fillets, scrambled eggs, and potatoes washed down with hot coffee. It's a different brand of fishing, but once again, fun and exciting. Setting bank lines is legal too, above Ohio 430, though again you must check regulations on the sport in your Ohio Fishing Regulations. Usually, when I set a trotline, I'd have along a few bank lines to place around fallen timber and stumps. Most were baited with shrimp or cutbait too, but if you plan to try this sport here, it's always a good idea to bait a few with lip hooked big chubs, suckers, or golden shiners. Why? Because this lake, like most MWCD lakes, also has whopper flathead (shovelhead) catfish. The big cats might reach 40 pounds, even more, and while some are occasionally taken on dead bait, they prefer their dinner alive and swimming. Like channel cats they like to investigate drowned wood for a meal, and a bank line at such spots can bring you a real reward. A final sport that can be great fun north of Ohio 430 is floatline or jug fishing, again following DOW regulations. I've done this too, and enjoyed every minute of it. I waited for a west wind to jug fish, and made my floats from gallon plastic jugs with about 3 1/2 feet of trotline cord tied to the handle, and a 1- and 2-ounce sinker below followed by a No.-2 hook on lines end and shrimp or cutbait. It's lazy fishing. Just toss the jugs out in all directions, let them wind drift across the lake, then pick them up and take them back across again for another drift. On my first trip to Charles Mill, I threw out the jugs, laid back and relaxed in my small canoe, and watched the floats bob along. In about 15 minutes one started to bounce, then raced off. I ran it down and removed about a 3 pound cat. Half an hour and another one went active. A two pounder. Eventually, I harvested five nice channels and went home happy. Again, there's nothing wrong with hook and line fishing, but if you want excitement try these other brands of catfishing. Different, and very often more productive, good ways to build a catch with little effort. Dick Martin, a freelance writer from Shelby, is a retired biology teacher who has been writing outdoor columns for more than 30 years. Reach him at richmart@neo.com. You also can visit his blog at outdoorswithmartin.com.