Son wants to catch a big catfish on Allegheny (near Rt 28) - suggestions on plan?

Hi all, 
 
My son has decided he wants to catch a big (say, 10lb+) catfish this year.  I've been doing some research, have a rough game plan and wanted to put out my plan for inputs/suggestions/comments.  It's fun to watch him jump up from bluegills to bass, and now 'bigger' fish.  
 
We live near the Sharpsburg area of the Allegheny.  So anywhere from Sharpsburg to Point-State, or north towards Tarentum is the easiest for us to reach and spend more time on the water.  Any tips around that area would be most helpful. 
 
We have a canoe, equipped with a (brand new) fish-finder. I'm comfortable taking a kayak/canoe on the Allegheny with him.  I'm still new to using a fish-finder.  He has  a larger catfish rod he just bought, and we'll get anything else we need.
 
Here's the plan.  
 
Day 1:  We can pick up suckers at Lock 3 Bait & Tackle, and keep them in a minnow bucket.  We will put in at the Sharpsburg marina and row up to just below Lock 2.  On the Rt 28 side of the bridge, use the finder and look for any pods of fish or baitfish likely in deeper water.  Drop a sucker hooked through the nostrils, with a 3oz slip sinker to the bottom.  Take 2-4 rods and work over an area at a time. Probably chicken livers on the 2nd rod.   
 
Plan 2:  Put in farther north and work the islands below the Lock 3.  It seems the current would make it harder to use  a canoe to get near the Lock 3 dam, so go further below.  Same bait & tackle. 
 
Option 3:  Nighttime fish in the deepest part of the river.  Use the finder looking for deep fish, while staying aware of boating traffic at night.  
 
Couple of questions:  
 
1.  Any suggestions/comments on more specific locations or tactics for cats?
2.  Is it worth it to use suckers, or catch bluegills before fishing?  I can net/catch them from a local creek/lake, but would prefer to simply buy some livers or cut bait in order to save time, and spend more time on the river.  What's the recommendation?
3.  Any suggestions on how to best use a fish finder to target catfish, specifically larger ones?  
 
Thanks for any tips or suggestions.  
 
 

We have caught decent sized cats on the cut baits, liver, etc.... but for biggest cats you want live bait and we have had our best luck with either suckers or bluegills (back hooked).  Catching the bluegills can become a fun evening trip in itself, and with a large cooler and a good bubbler you can catch them 2 or 3 days ahead of the planned trip.
We use 5 or 6/0 circle hooks since we are back hooking the bluegill and the wider gap is needed to provide enough length to get a good hook set on the fish.  Most of the gills we use are 5"-8" long.
I would suggest using the live bait on your heaviest pole/reel set up and the other baits on the rest.  Daytime we usually target the top end of deeper holes or bridge pillars,  at night we target the top end of the holes or between the top on longer holes and shallow water, prefer near/below creek inflows if there are any near by.
 

THanks for the quick replies, and good info.  Also, Fishinguy, I appreciate the PM.  
 
Fisherlady2, thanks for the tip.  When you say 'top' of the hole - do you mean the upstream side?  Or just where the hole tops out and the bottom returns to level?   Also - for nighttime, I assume I'm targeting the fish that go from deep holes to shore looking to feed?  
 
Snag, thanks for the advice, believe me, we will be careful about our approach to the dam.  When I say 'below', I mean "below but at a safe distance" from the dam.  Great detailed advice - thanks!  The 40th street bridge is easy for us to get to.  When you say 'the hole', does this run the length of the bridge or is it a certain distance/number of pilings from the Millvale side of the shore?  Also - I assume the flathead bite is driven by water temp - if so, what is the ideal water temp for the flathead bite to turn on?
 
To anyone else who can help - any suggestions on how to use the fish finder to figure out where the catfish are, in this stretch of the Allegheny? 
 
Appreciate any help. 
 
 

Dear Pork, 
 
Perhaps my initial post was unclear.  I am inexperienced at catfishing the Allegheny.  However, this does not mean I am inexperienced at operating a wide variety of unpowered watercraft in a fairly extensive range of ocean, river, and lake conditions.  
 
So while I thank you for your concern, my thanks would be somewhat more.... enthusiastic...if you were to offer any useful advice on the particulars of catfishing in the Allegheny. 
 
Best regards.

If memory serves, I caught an impressive flathead (the only flathead I've ever caught actually) near the point at Clemente Park near the river rescue docks.  Live lining shiners in the evening during summertime.  If you get tired of boating you might consider the point.

Thanks so much for the replies!   This is some really helpful, and I had a couple of fantastically helpful PM's as well, (even one with a map!).  
 
I'm working out our plan and hope to get out this weekend. I'll come back and let everyone know how it goes - and most likely, with some more questions.  At least that's the way these things usually work..
 
In the meantime, thanks for the tips and sincere concern about canoe fishing for bigger fish.  I will be suitably cautious, and am aware that one needs to be very cautious on big, navigable rivers when targeting larger fish.   
 
I hope it goes well, I'll let you know.  
 
G. 
 
P.S.  
 
Finally, a related video (funny once the situation was over) - a kayaker holding a big fish when it gets snatched out of his hand by a shark! At least that's not a risk in the Allegheny..
 
Link didn't attach, but google : Shark Attack - Shark Rips Fish from Kayaker's Hand
 
youtube.com/watch?v=EpbNMk7Y3ic
 

just go with cut bait...its a helluva lot easier to deal with and if 10lbs is all your looking to get youll have no problems...ive got 20lbs plus on cut shad

A 40 pound flathead in a canoe, in a river, in the dark, with a kid?  This has to be that fake weed I've read about....

D-Nymph, I've fished Lake Arthur but never for catfish.  Any particular area you recommend, or put-in point?
 
Thanks.

((((((((((Try fishing the rt.28 side of the 40 street bridge. Anchor upstream of the pilling closest to shore and try to get your baits within 5 to 10 feet from the tip of the concrete footing. If you have a depth finder, drift past the pilling on the shore side before setting up...you'll know what im talking about as soon as you do. It goes from about 12 feet to around 25-28 feet very quickly right next to the most upstream part of the bridges concrete footer. that's where you want to drop bait}}}}}}}}}  Hope you don'
t plan fishing that spot any time soon there SNAG, That place will be packed with bozo on the net   Have fun with that LOL

crappiefisher
  The lake has been stocked with more Cats than any other waterway in the state in the past 40 some yrs. Purdy hard not to get into 'em if usin' meat or fish for bait.
 
crappy

This is a much safer option for a canoe.  I would avoid Wenesday evenings, with the bass tournaments.  The hour long wake fest for the weigh in period is annoying in any boat, on my kayak it feels like deep sea fishing.  There are some nice size channels, but not going to get any flatheads (unless illegally stocked).  Typically, when someone on this board says "big catfish" they are talking about flatheads.  A 24" channel is going to give your "bass" equipment a workout and a big fish, but a completely different fish than some of the monsters living in the rivers.  They are in the lake pretty thick too (channels), I get them targetting other species a bit more often than I'd like.  Fun to catch, but require me to retie my leader after they snot it up.  I can only imagine those that know how to target them would have a field day.  From what I hear, if taken from colder water (from Arthur or other local lakes), they are great table fare too.  Not something you hear often about the rivers.
 
If looking to target the big catfish (flatheads), it seems like they are caught in just as much regularity by the shore fishermen as boat fishermen.  Those with boats that target them on a regular basis have the advantage of more spots to select from.  That said, I see more advantages as a novice from shore than from boat.  Most of the serious shore fishermen are using equipment that will get their baits 1/3 the way across the river, so have pretty good range being stuck to shore, as compared to tossing 1/8 oz. lures for other fish.  There are many good wading areas (if the water isn't high) that will get you to some additional spots.  I've flathead fished less than 10 times, but was successful most outings.  Most were from shore, a few times from my boat when I had it in a marina at the back channel (Ohio River).  I have a good selection of surf gear, which is what you want from shore.  The surf gear is too combersome from a boat.  I used some medium/heavy gear from my boat, which would have been undermatched for a real pig.  The biggest cat from my boat was under 10lbs though.  I got one in the 20lb range from shore that gave my 10' surf rod a little workout.  One of these days I'll give it another shot, and definitely won't be from my boat.  Which is a boat that was used on Erie 90% of the time by the previous owner, so a safe river vessel.  Too many close calls at night with barges, and pleasure boats during the day, that I moved from the river based marina.
 
If this is Jim Hulupka, congrats for baiting me into the conversation.  If it isn't, I really hope your son is a teenager and good swimmer.  I would really hate to read about someone burying their kid over a catfish outing.  There seems to be a river accident every year that could be easily avoided.  Read the similar Pymie topic about "when is it safe".  I'd say the rivers are 10 times more dangerous to boat than Pymie in a small craft.

GPM
D-Nymph, I've fished Lake Arthur but never for catfish.  Any particular area you recommend, or put-in point?
 
Thanks.

No,  I've never fished cats there, but have heard it's got a ton of big channels, I bet someone here will pm you about it.  I figured it'd be safer/easier than the river for a canoe (no real river current).  And with a depth finder, you should be able to find them easily.  Also, you should be able to get a few big ones, and kids like the action. 
 
Trying to haul a big flathead out of the river, at night, into a canoe is asking for trouble, I've caught plenty from shore, it's a wrestling match every time.

FishinGuy
"""its soo simple...if someone asks for directions to a place like HPD or anywhere else that may be at risk for high traffic, PRIVATE MESSAGE THEM with the directions...don't post it for all the turds on this site to see just because you wanna be the "know-it-all" guy. These are the same guys that will be complaining a few years from now about "how the fishing isn't the same" and "god **** spotburners" and "too many people not enough room" blah blah blah...""" another quote from snag...

This gets my nomination for post of the month.

As soon as I saw that hotspot info I jumped in my boat and raced there!  Oh, wait... actually I went to work.  Just like everyone else who read that.  And honestly, anyone who is likely to fish the river for catfish near 40th street from a boat ALREADY KNOWS there are fish holding on the structure.  Spot burning isn't a thing, get over that nonsense.  
 
Proktown - we eat the channels from Arthur all summer.  They are a welcome addition to the panfish we are out looking for.  Also not a big fan of them eating the fathead minnows on our light gear which gets all frazzled after a long fight with a cat.  I'd much prefer they only hit the catfish rigs we put out.  As you said they are thick enough in arthur you will be fairly certain to tie into one in a full day of fishing no matter what you are targeting.  They aren't lure shy and I'm not aware of any common bait they don't eat.  

Next plate sized channel I catch at Arthur is coming home with me. Ive heard of soo many people eating them out of there its about time I give it a try. Any cooking suggestions ZelieSam or do you just fry em up like any other fish?