As a young fisherman growing up in Cincinnati Ohio, I was always faced with the problem of not having anywhere to fish. If it weren't for the pay lakes I wouldn't have fished at all.

Most of the pay lakes in my area shared the same characteristics:

• Surface area between 4-12 acres
• Average depth 8'
• Deepest water 12' - 20'
• Little to no visible cover
• Stocked weekly with seasonal fish
• Main species Channel Catfish, Carp
• Small panfish, some Flathead Catfish, spring and fall Rainbow Trout, White Bass, and a few of the bigger lakes stocked Northern Pike.

I fished local pay lakes constantly. I would approach each trip determinded to catch a Monster Catfish
I would spend the evening before a fishing trip reading every article that I could find about catching big catfish. When I used the information that I had read it seldom helped.All of the magazine articles were about fishing in huge rivers or reservoirs, not little pay lakes.

I am writing this page to help all of the fishermen who have to fish local pay lakes. I won't be refering to migratory positioning, pre or post spawn behavior, or relationships to stucture since these variables seldom exist in pay lakes.

• Channel or Blue Catfish
• Flathead Catfish
• Rainbow Trout
• Northern Pike
• Carp

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