River Fishing

[Hedman]

What do you people use to catch Cats and Walleyes off shore in Rivers without gettting snagged up. Every time I try to fish the Minnesota River im usually tying a new hook on for more than half the time because of a snag. Any Info will help.

[ChemE]

Post this question in the Catfish forum. There are many helpful people there who will be able to steer you in the right direction. In my experience, I seem to find the cats near things that cause snags so that is where I let my bait sit. However, I find that longer leaders on a slip sinker rig in heavy current tend to increase my snag chances. Also, a sinker that is too light for the current can sometimes lead to a snag. Lively bait (which is good for hungery flats) can also get itself tangled. For me, shorter leaders and 65 - 90 lb test Power Pro line are usually enough to avoid or reduce the losses caused by snags. Good luck!

[Lunker]

Well, be sure to be casting downstream first of all. When catfishing(i dont do much) you gotta have enough weight to keep it down. When I fish the rivers, I usually try to use light enough weight(jigs) to keep it just off the bottom, and moving around the current breaks, but then again I'm not usually fishing cats. Also, with the lighter jigs you generally get lighter hooks that you can straigten out with heavy enough line(10lb mono usually does it for me) so you keep your rigs after a little rebending. Those are a couple of my tricks

[Ralph Wiggum]

You have to make sure that your sinker is heavy enough that your bait sticks to the bottom, or you're going to get snagged up a lot. Snags will still happen, but not as much. It might take a 5-6 ounce no-roll sinker to hold to the bottom if the current is really ripping.