Benefits to Catfishing islands

hey what's up everybody Chris our Slugger came out doors back with you again this afternoon and man am I glad to be back for some tackle talk Tuesday it's been a long month but it's been a great month I want to kind of first start off by saying I want to thank everybody that said prayers kept us in our thoughts and everything else why my wife's surgery went on and while we had to kind of take a little break for everybody that had been asking for an update she is doing great better than expected God has you know done us better than we ever deserved so I want to give you no glory to him and and thank everybody for sitting by and waiting for us to come back and waiting for us to be able to do this again and hey we were back it is it's the first like it's first show been off for about a month but we want to just kind of jump right back into it I give you know start off where we left off last time and today I ask you guys a question I ask everybody on Facebook kind of what they wanted us to talk about tonight and the two things we you know so I had had two people kind of asking questions on on the channel one was kind of like my favorite flathead rigs and one was fishing islands and both of those are good good things to talk about and we bring up great conversation so I asked a question you guys answered we're talking about fishing Islands tonight some of the advantages if there can be any disadvantages and just you know benefits to what islands bring to you as a fisherman and to a river in my opinion so without further ado we're going to it's been a while so make sure give me that thumbs up if you guys can hear me see me and everything sounds good also if you guys are new to the channel thank you for joining us I just got off the messenger with a young man that you know first time watching the show and I greatly appreciate everybody that has shared and commented and and all that good stuff to help us grow to where we are now I'm very grateful for that so if you guys are new to the channel make sure you hit that like button subscribe hit that notification bell we do new videos our trauma trying to do new videos each and every week I've got some videos saving back to kind of get us through this slow period of fishing but I've got some good good videos coming up one of them has a little teaser a 56 pounds lat head in it my personal best flathead absolutely stoked about that fish and be able to bring it to you guys to show you guys that before a couple things the topic on today's conversation will come to you from Kenny Templeton he asked on the YouTube channel information about fishing you know around islands in a river so Kenny I want to thank you for that make sure that if you have questions leave them in the comments as always that's where we get our information to do these shows and also got a young gentleman that is you know he watches the show on regular basis he's from right here on Ohio so you know hi where I'm from his name is Gavin Davis I just want to say hi to that young man stay true to yourself young man keep doing what you're doing you love to fish the passion that your father shares with me that you have for fishing makes me feel great that you know I'm able to teach somebody as young as you stick with it you're doing great and I want to see you succeed so Gavin thanks for watching hope you're watching the show tonight and hope you enjoy now as everybody loves to see we got drawings tonight I'm gonna close this my help might be a glare yeah that's a little better I thank you let me know if that's that's better if you guys can see that better all right everything sounds good let's see if I got any questions here real quick before we get started now remember if you have questions specific to tonight's show or specific that you want me to answer tonight put at Chris outers it'll highlight it on my laptop and I'll be able to see it you know quicker as we go through tonight all right PC Smitty he asked when is the spawn going to end buddy I hope soon it should be soon you know we're getting into the to the middle of July or almost the middle of July well second week of July I guess but it they should be starting to come off I've been seeing a few small tournaments with fish being scored up that's kind of the show that they're starting to starting to work their way off but hopefully within the next couple of weeks we'll be able to go out and do some night fishing and and catch some good flat heads okay so let's talk about Islands right there in the middle of the river okay now Island you know when we talk about islands an island is something that we can that gives us benefits it's something that can slow current down it's something that can create current you know an island is something that's structure it is contour it is you know some of it can be rocked some of it can be saying mud or all the above and that is why fishing islands is so unique that you can go in a small area and try so many different things rather if you have a low current situation and you need more current and all this stuff will kind of make more sense as we go through it if you have a lot of current and you're looking for something that you know need to slow it down an island can can actually you know help with all this at the same time so let's talk about islands and and and the picture of the island that that is on on here is actually a screenshot from Google Earth of an island that is in northern on the northern a High River towards like Parkersburg Marietta area and you know it's in a curve and I kind of I tried to do the best good with mimicking my artistic skills of that island I know I'm not the best at drawing but but we'll make it through it okay so you know you can you can see the current I've got the current running down through there so this is upriver this is downriver this would be you know a nice bend in that River you can these little squares are representing the barges that were that are in that screenshot this is representing the island okay so that's just a breakdown of you know as we talk so you guys can understand more about it and for everybody that was asking for the fitted flex fit slender cat hats we'd now have those in stock so hit me up if you are somebody that was wanting one of the slender cat flexpa hats they are super comfortable super comfortable so let's talk about let's break this down and we're gonna break down in a couple different ways let's talk about structure on an island first okay you know an island is no more than a piece of ground that was there prior to them flooding that River okay now I'm talking about islands that you can see okay now we're talking we're not talked about underwater Islands talk about water islands that you can see okay so over the years the reason these are so good and they have so much good structure is over the years through the floods you know the main I guess I need to back up a little bit so the main channel is something you need to figure out on that River was it on the outside of that of that island or was it on the inside and that is something you can get by going back and doing some history work on what that what the river and how they're ever ran prior to them damming it up putting the man-made dams a lot of our electronics will have that on there something for people that you know something I get a lot as you know I don't have an expensive sonar I fished from the bank how do I get that information you can go to Army Corps of Engineers on Google and Google in you know River charts and you can do you can get paper maps which I still carry I still have and it's going to show you the old river channel what the river looks like now you know Google Earth that kind of thing sometimes will show you can backdate it and you can show old river channels Creek channels things like that so so this island remember was nothing more than a heel or a piece of ground before they flooded this river so everything that was naturally there you know from erosion it can be stacked up somewhere or just fell off that Bank okay so as we're looking at the current one thing we want to do about reading current is we want to read that current as it comes down and hits into this island and that's going to cause the more or the better of the erosion okay as you can see on this island it's thinner on an upriver side and more thicker on the downriver side meaning that that River as it floods and over the years it's going to erode this up here okay more naturally now as we read that somewhere down through here that erosion is going to force holes contours and force areas for the trees that were naturally on that piece of land before it was flooded to go down and get stuck in there now whenever that gets stuck that's naturally going to create another anchor or another something else for another tree to get stuck one as it comes down through there and just cause a domino effect of a nice big log jam now those can get washed away but over the years they'll build back up okay so that's kind of how the structural part of this works and why they make good areas to look for structure especially if you're only like a time crunch and you need to find something to fish a lot of times these islands will have a lot of structure around them now something else as far as structure goes on islands man-made structure a lot of times you know armored Corps of Engineers will make will come out and build small wing dikes on these out of big riprap or put riprap on the banks which is you know cover structure and contours for those fish to get on and bait to hide and attract bigger fish okay so now now how how do we create current you know start talking about the current you know we talked about how the current will come down and hit any road and make contours and make places for structure to get into but why do I have you know current running behind and in front of you know when we think about about this how you know how do we how much current do we got okay so if we got let's say two miles an hour you know running from up here as it comes down it's got a split you know split this this island in some way shape or form okay so now that's funny by my own phone so anyway let's talk about this for saying we got to mount our current coming up here okay and now if we're looking for less current there's a couple things we can do one we want to as this current comes down into here it's gonna hit kind of where those barges are at you can kind of see that Bend right there and it's going to shoot off off the main you know center of that main end of that current or that that Island down here okay so it's gonna some come like here and then the current from the backside is going to come down and it's going to come off off this main part and come out okay now if we're looking for lesser of a current this area right here and down this seam line will be like a little triangle okay that area right there is gonna be your lesser of current as it comes off as it comes off this bin right here and down that's gonna create a little pocket of lesser current now another place that we can look at for the lesser current in this same situation is as the current comes down the river here over against the curve it's always going to want to push towards the curve this area right here is gonna be a lesser current area as well now a couple things to remember lessor current allows those that structure those trees that debris to fall and collect so those are good areas also to look for you know some sort of structure that's you guys see a question or two timba clang doctor thanks for watching buddy I appreciate it yeah islands in the storm islands in the storm that's a good song that is a good song all right so now now the next one is let's talk about how how these islands are gonna be able to create current we talked about how they can slow the current down or decrease the current or give you places with lesser crime now how are we going to use these islands in low current situations a lot of times on the river on the high river you know in rivers throughout the country that are dammed naturally by TVA's or by Army Corps of Engineers flood control areas in the summer times in the heat of the heat of the year water levels go down to normal pool we don't get much current now for most guys that fish River fish rivers they kind of understand that you know once the current slows the fishing slows or for me it does you know I like to have a little bit of current to be able to drift or bump or or anchor fish you know more so than drag you know I like for those fish to be that current will make them relate to some sort of structure okay rather than just to let them roam free in that River so a little bit of current helps out a lot boat control ability to do certain things makes it a lot easier with current so in these flood control rivers in the summer time when that current load goes down we need to look for areas that we can find more current and what we want to think about is bottlenecks now you know we got to think about a lot of things so it would find a shallower part of the river we got the same amount of water that has to go through that as we do a deep part of the river so naturally that's going to be faster bottlenecks where the river comes down you got if you got a mild wide section River it bottles down bottlenecks down to a half mile across then that same amount of water has to through that okay and that is going to enable us to create current in those situations and we want to look at the same thing with this so whenever we have less current or no current or or lower current you know what do we do around islands if you're the type of person like me I want to find that current around that island and we're going to kind of fish the exact opposite of what we would if we didn't want current okay but where this island comes around Bend and there's less room here that means there's going to be more current on that outside Bend okay enabling you to do a little bit more stuff over here if you're an anchor fisherman that's going to enable you to throughout your drift socks stay tight on your rope and you know fish naturally if you're a drifter that's going to enable you to be able to use your boat and drift naturally more so than pull your boat down the river with the with the trolling motor okay now something else another place to look at for current or you know in low current situations is right where that current would have kicked off naturally this water still gonna flow in the same way it's still gonna kick off the same way it may be less then it's gone then it would be if you had a lot of current and the seam may move a little bit but it's still going to be in that general area okay so where this is thinner or narrower here right on this outside edge is gonna have more current and then right on where the water would come down and hit that island and kick off that is gonna be your more current in low current situations and in high current situations too okay now all this information is given the fact that it's not completely blowed out okay if a river is completely blow down that changes the aspects of a lot of things you know if it is completely blowed out completely like our rivers have been a lot this year then this could all change it could be washed up I mean you know nothing nothing - you know even look at now now you know as we talk let's sit here southern Ohio catfishing he asked what is back bumping back bumping is where you can you put the nose of your boat into the current and you will use a light almost like a use a light rod kind of like a heavy bass rod a jigging stick a flipping stick for bass fisherman basically and you'll put like a light weight on you'll have a you have a drop down weight about foot or two then you have a leader length of you know could be a 2 foot 3 foot something like that on a 3-way where whenever you can lift it up and set it down as you're moving slowly drifting down the river you want to go slower than the current and you can use like an ounce 2 ounces 3 ounces depending on how much weight you need to keep yourself on bottom and you're slowly working that bait up and down you'll pick it up set it down you only want to pick it up just a few inches pick it up set it down pick it up set it down and you'll just bump back bump down that river and what you're doing is you're setting it up and you'll feel it come up a Ledge you might have to take some line in and it's going to go back down that ledge or down that that you know hole over top of that structure over top that rock you know really get pinpoint into those fit into the face of those fish and can be very fun I mean those fish will absolutely rip that rod out of your hand for anybody for anybody that has back bounced on if you're watching the channel tonight and you have back bounce in the comments you know leave a leave a description of what it feels like to absolutely get a thumb burner if you know what a thumb burr is describe it in the comments below it is it will peel the skin right off your thumb it's a blast when that happens when that happens you know you know things were good so alright so now if you have any questions about what we've been covering here I've got a another little thing I want to talk about what we're doing it but if you have any questions about something I haven't covered yet make sure you're leaving in the comments put at Chris outer so I can see it so now we noticed that on Google Earth I noticed that on the would be the inside of the island okay they had barges parked there and the reason that's kind of the reason I picked this this particular Island on this river was to give you guys as much information to look at while you're looking at good worth okay if you if you don't know what I mean by looking at Google Earth you go back and check out some of the live stuff that I've done on tournament preparation where to fish how to pick a place out the fish and how to do your pre fishing at home before you get there they'll give you guys a lot of information so make sure you go back to those those videos that I've got on my channel and you can learn more about that if you want to okay so why did I pick out an island with barges on it okay if you see something if you see where barges are barges are at there's a couple of things to remember one is there's gonna be a minimum depth okay those Barger's have to be it has to be a minimum depth for them to get them barges there and you know it has to be a minimum depth for them to you know work be able to work those markers okay so that's something to keep in mind another thing to keep in mind is if it is an area with barges and you know them small tugs come in and they work it back and forth they will you know be working during floods low water times you know all times of the year and they're going to do what they call washout holes okay and it's where they're sitting here and they're trying to pull the front of the barge over and they're pushing a lot of water you know right there by the bank and it's washing out hoes you know stirring up stuff and it's constantly changing the contour of that Bank okay so that is the reason those are the reasons that I'm I chose this island okay where if you remember when we was talking about in the beginning the front of it eroded quicker than the bottom right because of the way the current has hit it over the years if you notice the barges even in the picture or more up towards the head of that and hugs will naturally are going to push you know water and stir that up and cause more erosion naturally as well let's see here we've got a living Davis he asked when dragging when do you know fish are with the no fish are biting okay so whenever we're talking on let's talk about dragging a little bit and then we can get we can hop right back into that whenever you know al I get this a lot is how do I know that a fish you know is it a bite or what is it because if you're dragging and you're dragging kind of out one sec properly but if you're dragging and everything's going right for me my rod tips are kind of down Singh you are bouncing you know you'll drag across something and it will it'll pop or bounce you know nine times out of ten your rod tips are constantly moving a little bit and if I got somebody new one a boat with me you know they're kind of jumpy they kind of think that that's a bite if you are dragging and you get a bite you will know it that rod tip will you know kind of be moving smooth and then all of a sudden you know that that Fisher just come come up and just whack you know it's it and it's a good fish it's gonna just take it and go now is that the only way they bite dragging no I've had fish that you know smaller fish that I didn't even know we're on the you know hooked that I'd drug for who knows how long before I realized that you know hey I got a fish on here so but mostly you know if you're dragging you just want to watch them Rob tips and they'll be bounced and then all sudden you know you'll get one to pull it down or it'll just tap it you know more more erratic than just smooth okay so that's something to watch for okay so now we was talking about you know about these these areas now something else to keep in mind and this is during low low current situations is that barges will actually create current as well so if a barge is working out here and he's stirring up a lot of said mussels or you know just whatever would be on the bottom of that River say crawdads worms you know whatever is in the mud mussels bait fish around the Barba's you know and it it really shoves the fuel to it it pushes a bunch of water out behind here crop causes a quick current that can be a quick bite as well so if you're not getting a bite and you're drifting down through there and you notice hey here comes a barge and he's gonna come up here and you think he's gonna be working an area don't go up here and get in his way but you know give them plenty of room but maybe go up and you know get on the downriver side of him and as he pushes that fuel to it you know he's gonna cause those fish to have to move and then those fish you know as they're swimming around they smell your bait they see your bait they grab you're right okay all right right Hammond yes what about an island on the inside of the High River that's on the straight stretch on the river okay that's a good question Brian so let's let's talk about that for a minute Brian asks what about an island that is on say we got a straight stretch on the river current okay I know you guys love my drawing for the million bucks I know it is alright so Brian and make sure that you're that I'm talking about the same thing if I am make sure that you let me know okay Navis I'll get to that the other part of that question here in just a second okay so Brian was talking about a straight stretch in the river with an island okay now if you notice I got some blue back here just to kind of highlight that there is water going behind that Island okay so we got a straight stretch in the river current running down river up river down river island here okay if you guys notice I kind of put a point up here at the top of it you know no matter most times the matter of the at the island is you know inside outside at some point in time it's going to be affected by floods we we're going to get floods that that the banks of you know just can't hold a lot of lot of water a lot of you know just a lot of force and you know that's where that's why I got that up there okay so now with that you know during we're gonna go right back to it high current situations okay these areas are good for high current situations coming off of the tail end now use purples for that okay right here kind of you make a make a triangle right down there that area coming off that will create a seam line will create some kind of slacker or lesser or current you know to let those fish kind of get in and relax something else too is in high current situations you want to go back and take a look at the inside of these of these of these islands okay that can cause and the reason I say that is a lot of times you will have a sandbar on the upper end of one of these okay if it is not if that sandbar is directing water down the main part of this island then that means that there is less current on the inside and in high current situations we want to look at you know that those lesser current areas now this may be shallow but in lesser current during the flood that is fine okay now if this is not like a sandbar type thing where it is allowing water to come in behind you know you're gonna have current back there and that can be strong at times or you know less at times it's depending you know just like we was talking about before now the point okay this up here a lot of times will be a little bit deeper right there okay sometimes there would be just a small hole maybe one to three feet but that can be good at the head of those dane to head of that a lot of times islands like this will collect wood and debris right at the head end of them right there where that little bit of a hole is as that's coming down its gonna let it fall into those that little bit of a depression and you know create structure for those fish to get into just like just like before we got to remember this was here prior to the river being flooded like it is so odds are during heavy floods this right here erodes and we want to keep in mind that's a roading where did it end up do we want to look just right here to island know on these straight shot Islands you want to go farther than the island okay a lot of times the structure will get washed down and get down here to this lesser a recurrent and then settle on down here lower in the river okay but but once again this whole outer section will be good contour can have good lay downs good trees that get you know get washed off get fall down and just get hung up right there okay so that is kind of a brief overview I guess of explaining you know an island in a straight stretch of a river and I hope that hoping that answered your question let's see here's it cut back up and Brian if that if that did or didn't answer your question make sure you go back let me know so the debt and we want to make sure we kind of get into that a little bit more a little more in-depth Davis we was talking about dragging there a minute ago and Davis said he dragged for an hour one fish should I have turned around that's a that's a hard one to answer Davis because you know this time of year one you know where was you at you know in the United States so you know what was the conditions that kind of thing a lot of that plays in the a lot of that will play into rather you know you should have turned around kept going you know what you should have done but you know if you only I will say this if you only dragged for one hour if you're going to drag a lot of times you want to you know drag longer than that you know kind of kind of you know to find them figure out what they're doing things like that let's see here all right well I think that's probably gonna do it for us tonight make sure as always if you guys have any questions after the show go back and leave in the comments I think we had a lot of back-and-forth on rather to do the flat head rigs relative to the island so we will probably do the rigs next time but a little bit of a teaser I'm not sure I'm gonna be able to make it happen or not be at ICAST this week in Orlando be coming home a couple days of work and then be going to Massachusetts to do some do some work up there with with some guys with some tuna boats and and things like that so next Tuesday I can't promise nothing but I'm hoping to be able to do something a little bit special for you guys make sure you're keeping an eye out on that for social media and on the community part of my youtube channel if I'm able to make that happen I'm going to make sure give everybody a you know good notice that way you can if it's able to make it happen so like I said a little teaser can't get too much into it but if I make if I maybe we make it happen it's gonna be great if not it'll be okay we'll still have a good show anyway but anyway as always I want to thank everybody for watching make sure you hit that subscribe button share the video if you get a chance I greatly appreciate that leave that thumbs up leave your comments and your questions your questions in the comments and as always god bless take care we'll catch you on the water thanks for watching

Channel: Chris Souders

Views: 4,216

Rating: 4.9454546 out of 5

Keywords: warrior, cat, rods, monster, rod, holders

Id: tbffZTfK4TE

Length: 38min 0sec (2280 seconds)

Published: Tue Jul 09 2019