Central OH Fishing

107313 Views 425 Replies 79 Participants Last post by dculberson, 43 m ago

sixtyminutes

Discussion Starter · Dec 24, 2019 (Edited by Moderator)

I want to begin a new thread about what is working here in our area. No need to give away your hot spots. Just identify the body of water and the general description of the situation that day and explain how you caught fish. Any species. I will start by telling about my recent trip to Alum Creek lake. It is 12-24-19. The last few days, the air temps were in the 40s with almost no wind. I had to see if I could catch a few. I did. I will attempt to post the pics. I usually don't take fish pics, but I hope this might stimulate some participation in the thread. Photos are from 12-22-19. Searching with the Hummers revealed that the best concentrations of fish were all in 30 -35 feet of water. I found a couple of spots that were in what I call drains. That is the mouth of a cove. Where does the fish have to go if the water drains out of it? They were also close to natural sharp breaks into deep water, with shallows close by. Maybe to feed at night? I tried blade baits. Jigging Raps worked best. Orange and Gold was my best colour. The best action was snapping it up a couple of feet and letting it hit bottom. Then, holding it still really close to the bottom. Maybe even letting it lay on the bottom. The fish would grab it while it was barely moving most time. Water temps on the surface were 37 to 39 degrees. Ice was covering a couple of spots I would have liked to fish. The main lake was open. A portion of the middle section north of Cheshire was still covered with ice about a 1/4" thick. It was an absolute pleasure in the afternoon. Moths were hatching somewhere. Tiny moths were on the surface as it got towards evening. The gulls were all over them. I did not fish unless I saw fish and bait nearby. I caught Saugeyes and Smallmouth with a few crappies and white bass mixed in. I think the baitfish in the area I did best in were White Bass. I caught five inches on a chrome sonar. There must be other ways to see them when facing those conditions.
What is working for you?

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361 - 380 of 426 Posts

streamstalker

· #361 · 2 mo ago

Glad to hear you are stocking the freezer, MM. Good work on the crappie.

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Dovans

· #362 · 2 mo ago

Snyd said:
Yip - They have been on fire for me over 3 weeks now. Caught these nice Whites yesterday along with several others.

Now these you caught out of your Personal lake you built behind your house? Right?

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CHOPIQ

· #363 · 2 mo ago

Fished alum today. 8-1. Caught around 25-30 nice crappies. All on plastics and in wood. Water temps around 58. Started fishing in middle pool but decided it was too muddy and went south. Hit the sailboat bay and only one bass and no crappies. Hit a couple other bays and did good on submerged trees. Lot of crappies were 12” or over. Also caught 5 lm bass. Mostly white crappies.

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Aidan Kirkpatrick

· #364 · 1 mo ago

I went and fished the Scioto river between Griggs and Oshaughnessey for catfish on Saturday using cut creek chubs and got 1 6-7 pounder and also got my new pb channel weighing 11 pounds 1 ounce. Then today I fished a different stretch with my ultralight and got a smallie and blue gill. Can’t wait for the smallmouth spawn!

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Morrowtucky Mike

· #365 · 1 mo ago

Food Vertebrate Ingredient Seafood Cuisine

Glasses Sunglasses Beard Fawn Eyewear

Still getting the crappie in central Ohio. All on plastics with a mix of dipping brush with long rods and casting. Great company with FlyTyer1 as usual.

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codger

· #366 · 1 mo ago

MM, it was good talking to you again the other day and meeting FT1. Thanks again to you both for the assist with my canoe. Got my trailer finished finally. Now I just need to get it weighed and registered and I'll be good to go. Fished Wednesday in the area you texted me about. It was already on my list of areas to try before the weather warms up and all the big boats make it iffy in a canoe, but your text made me decide the time was right. When I got there, there were already a couple of boats on what looked to be the better spots, but I managed to find enough fish to give me severe bass or rather crappie thumbs. Maybe I'll remember to put on my gloves next time

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BrandonMiller526

· #367 · 1 mo ago

Past two days were such a struggle yet so much fun. Thursday after work only managed 4-5 perch and a couple short eyes, but got my biggest non Erie perch. Friday switched it up and tried to stay more mobile. Got a limit of eyes that included my biggest saugeye and crappie of the year 10 minutes apart. Let the big eye go but the crappie choked it and she went home with the others.

Plant People in nature Fish Tree Sky

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dculberson

· #368 · 1 mo ago (Edited)

I fished for three hours on the Scioto without a bite. It was still a beautiful day in the water and worth it. Then on the way home I decided to try out a spot I’d heard was a good saugeye spot. Just a quick ten minutes in and out. I saw a silver flash in the water shortly after arriving figuring it was a carp I kept casting my rooster tail. Sometimes they’ll take rooster tails so why not. About a dozen casts in and it was ON. Hooked something that put up a really good fight on my ultralight setup. Bam - first ever saugeye. 19.5” and a good fighter. Sorry he's on the ground but I honestly didn't expect to catch anything so I didn't have the net.

Plant Organism Fish Adaptation Scaled reptile

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CHOPIQ

· #369 · 1 mo ago

Three of us fished alum today. Started in the south pool where I got the crappies last week. Was a little slow I believe because of the cool weather. Fished couple bays in the south pool and kept around 10 keepers. Decided to make a run to the middle pool. Water was a little more stained and almost went back to the south pool but tried a bay I always do good in the spring. We ended up staying in a 50 yard area and caught crappies the rest of the day. Nice size crappies all 10-13”. Was only fishing about 1.5’. Some were near banks with no cover and others were around wood. Colors didn’t seem to matter. We caught them on monkey milk, purple, white and chartreuse. They were still biting when we left. Water temps were 54-58.

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Morrowtucky Mike

· #370 · 1 mo ago

Got into a few today for the grease. All on plastics, mix of casting and dipping brush. Got a kitty cat that’s destined for the grill. Was fun on a 10’ ACC rod in the tree tops.

Ingredient Wood Trunk Mushroom Cuisine

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dbortolani

· #371 · 1 mo ago

Went up North of Alum to the feeder river north of the Osprey nests where I have always had luck for Crappie when spawning. Not a single bite on jig/plastic in some downed trees. Maybe a bit too early or maybe they did not move up that far?

Morrowtucky Mike

· #372 · 1 mo ago

dbortolani said:
Went up North of Alum to the feeder river north of the Osprey nests where I have always had luck for Crappie when spawning. Not a single bite on jig/plastic in some downed trees. Maybe a bit too early or maybe they did not move up that far?

You passed a ton of fish on your way up there!

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dculberson

· #373 · 1 mo ago

I got off work a bit early and spent about a half hour near freezing to death down at the pedestrian overpass near the confluence. Landed one nice white bass, almost 12” long. For some reason I can’t post pics on mobile.

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dculberson

· #374 · 1 mo ago

Scaled reptile Reptile Fish Tail Electric blue

There we go! He was hanging out in some slack water between a concrete wall remnant of an old bridge and a downed maple tree. I saw some really promising spots on the other side of the maple tree but couldn't find a safe way there in yesterday's cold rain. Looks like he's been beating himself against the rocks in the river for a while.

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dculberson

· #375 · 1 mo ago

Swordfish Plant Grass Fish Terrestrial plant

My 8 year old was chomping at the bit to try out that saugeye fishing spot. After school today I took her there and FIRST CAST she lands a ~17” smallmouth. Biggest one she’s ever caught and biggest I’ve seen out of the Olentangy. It fought her like a bastard but she kept at it and got it in. Hell of a fish for anyone much less an 8 year old. Caught it on a small silver spoon. Literally 30 seconds after getting there.

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Morrowtucky Mike

· #376 · 1 mo ago

dculberson said:
View attachment 510289
My 8 year old was chomping at the bit to try out that saugeye fishing spot. After school today I took her there and FIRST CAST she lands a ~17” smallmouth. Biggest one she’s ever caught and biggest I’ve seen out of the Olentangy. It fought her like a bastard but she kept at it and got it in. Hell of a fish for anyone much less an 8 year old. Caught it on a small silver spoon. Literally 30 seconds after getting there.

Saugeye spot on the olentangy?

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dculberson

· #377 · 1 mo ago

Morrowtucky Mike said:
Saugeye spot on the olentangy?

Heard about in rumblings here, that were followed up with a "shhhh." Keeping in mind I've caught exactly one Saugeye but it was in that area after 10 minutes of fishing so seems solid so far. I'm happy to share privately, don't want to spoil it publicly I guess

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Morrowtucky Mike

· #378 · 30 d ago (Edited)

Fished from 1-4 this afternoon. Fast 2 man limit, all over 10” with maybe 5 or 6 throwbacks. Casting plastics in the shallows. Black tuxedo seemed to be the preferred color today. Picture of my buddy with a few of the bigger ones

Plant Wood Terrestrial plant Trunk Road surface

Vertebrate Fisherman Fish Grass Recreation

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Snyd

· #379 · 29 d ago

Mike - Awesome catch - I did pretty much the same on Saturday especially after I figured out the pattern. The minnow was just ok but when I switched to a small white road runner it was like candy to them. Fun times when its like that and they are all nice slabs.
Enjoy the fish Fry

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dculberson

· #380 · 28 d ago

Yesterday after work I set the minnow trap in the creek behind our house. The 8 year old came home about 1.5 hours later and we checked it and had a nice dozen or so perfect crappie bait sized chubs. I asked her if she wanted to go fishing in the morning and she said 'YES!!' This morning at 6am I asked her if she still wanted to go fishing and she about shot out of the bed. We walked down to the local lake and targeted crappie with a chub under a float while she was casting a rooster tail. She's getting really good at casting the spinning rod! The chub float started going under and like an idiot I grabbed it. I lost whatever it was, but she finished her rooster tail cast and took over and sent the chub back out. Fish took it again but lost it again. Cast the chub out again, and a few seconds later it was on! She landed a nice ~11-12" rainbow trout.

Fishing bait Bait Fish hook Fish Fisherman

Now, we'd decided on catch and release this morning, but one look at that rainbow and she said "I know we were going to let them go but he looks so delicious!" Who can say no to that. I filled a bucket and we kept it. I landed a nice 11" crappie and decided since we're keeping one fish might as well keep more. We went back and forth on landing fish, and her third fish was a beautiful Fish Ohio rock bass, just over 9".

Wood Textile Wood stain Wrist Pattern

She also landed a nice 10.5" crappie.

Wood Gesture Finger Fish Ray-finned fish

I let one dink crappie (well, just over 9") go and we let the rock bass go so all told we went home with three crappie and the trout. I did the cleaning, making me a little late to the office this morning, but dinner (today or tomorrow) should make it worth it.

Nothing hit on the rooster tails we were tossing. We got a few follows and one nibble by a crappie but otherwise everything was on the chubs. Overall it was a great spring fishing morning!!

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