Does anybody fish for skipjack?  I use them for catfish bait when I can find them from baitshops but they are hard to find here and are questionable quality.  I know they catch them in the Ohio river but don't really know where or when.

We use them as live bait for striper fishing . They are tons of fun to catch using a sibiki rig.

The issue for bait is catching the smaller 4" - 6" variety. If you want to target the bigger fish

there is nothing better than a LC Pointer in MS American Shad.

 

 

 

I catch them below a dam on the Mississippi river. Not on purpose though .

I catch them below a dam on the Mississippi river. Not on purpose though .

what time of year?  do you ever keep them?  They make good blue cat bait early in the year.

what time of year?  do you ever keep them?  They make good blue cat bait early in the year.

Summer time on jigs. I dont keep them but there are catmen who buy them .

Summer time on jigs. I dont keep them but there are catmen who buy them .

I think i know one of those catmen... does he look like this? :

 

 

I think i know one of those catmen... does he look like this? :

 

 

 

Nope, they look like this guy. My buddy Rick with his Missouri River monster from a couple years ago.

Nope, they look like this guy. My buddy Rick with his Missouri River monster from a couple years ago.

dang, long and skinny!  How much did that weigh?  my pb was a 55 last spring, but not caught on skipjack.

It was either 70 or 75, and yes it was a long, streamlined fish, still very young most likely. Once it grows into that length though! He caught her on a foot long live drum.

 

Not sure what my PB weighed, but she bottomed out my 50lb scale. She was caught on cut asian carp like almost all the big fish around here are anymore.

Nice fish, looks about like mine, but it is hard to tell.  I don't have a picture of mine to post but caught her in a slough last spring, i think on a cut regular carp.  I don't think they care too much what they eat when they come into those slough's in the spring.  I have caught them on drum, shad, carp, skipjack, crappie, ect.  Whatever i catch in my throw net at the pumps.