# Maumee River?



## T-TownAngler (Dec 3, 2008)

Anyone fishing the GR Dam area on the Maumee? I am just curious if anyone ever fishes the Maumee this time of year... I know there isn't much in the river but are there any fish near the dam in GR?


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## Bucket Mouth (Aug 13, 2007)

There's always fish at the dam. Be careful walking around out there. There are too many trip hazards for me to be walking around and risk falling in.


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## flytyer (Jan 3, 2005)

There are also some drop offs into deeper water. I was there earlier this fall and the rocks were really slick with moss.


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## fishingfoolBG (Oct 30, 2007)

The GR dam does have some hole you have to watch out for. If the water level is down you should be able to see to the right of the stairs an island with lots of vegetation growing on it. I usually walk right next to the island and find the edge of the hole, bringing a walking stick is never a bad idea. Just wade slowly and pick your feet and you should be alright. I might give it a try sometime this week if we don&#8217;t get any rain. FFBG


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## DeathFromAbove (Oct 21, 2008)

The river is just smoked right now' high,muddy and full of ice. Way to dangerous to wade. Grand rapids is full of fish,though. I went up there one day and caught like 13 differant species of fish.


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## Bucket Mouth (Aug 13, 2007)

13 different species?


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## BornWithGills (Feb 26, 2006)

Largemouth, smallmouth, gar, white bass, bluegill, crappie, bullhead, channel cats, flatheads, carp, buffalo, sucker, pike, grass pike, shad, sauger, sheephead, and of course walleye. pretty sure ive caught every one of those in the river by the dam at some point. Oh and ive seen steelhead throwing themselves against the damn in the middle of the winter before but never landed one in the maumee.


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## T-TownAngler (Dec 3, 2008)

I appreciate the advice and look forward to giving it a try at the GR. I am looking for a new hole to fish... Thanks to everyone!


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## jshbuckeye (Feb 27, 2005)

DFA may of exagerated, being a fisherman I know how even a fish on the tape can grow by the time i get home


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## fishingfoolBG (Oct 30, 2007)

All of those fish are in the river but the chance of catching them all in one day is very slim. FFBG


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## DeathFromAbove (Oct 21, 2008)

BornWithGills lists 19 species you can catch at G.R. Dam, and the only ones on his list I didn't catch that day were bullhead,sauger,grass pike and steelhead. I even caught a 3 foot King Salmon there one day, but don't remember if it was this day in question. I did snag it with a jig,though.I have caught sauger there before, though. Jigs or small spinners will usually get you a multi-species day there. Never caught a bullhead up there. Lot of Bass( all 3)lot of cats and gar.


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## Bucket Mouth (Aug 13, 2007)

You must have had 5 different kinds of live bait on you.


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## BFG (Mar 29, 2006)

> I even caught a 3 foot King Salmon there one day,


Let's see that picture. 


BFG


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## tom tschabold (Jul 24, 2008)

BFG

If you can scan them I'll show you a pic of 3 Coho I caught down there. The funny thing was I was walking past this couple they couldn't see the fish yet and asked how I did I said just 3 small ones. They were 24" 32" and 36" the look on their faces was priceless.


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## Redhunter1012 (Feb 6, 2006)

tom tschabold said:


> BFG
> 
> If you can scan them I'll show you a pic of 3 Coho I caught down there. The funny thing was I was walking past this couple they couldn't see the fish yet and asked how I did I said just 3 small ones. They were 24" 32" and 36" the look on their faces was priceless.


First of all, if they are indeed Coho, then I call BS on the location. Second, a 36" Coho is a monster. A 36" Chinook is a monster.


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## rod bender bob (May 19, 2004)

that's a picture i'd pay to see


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## Bucket Mouth (Aug 13, 2007)

tom tschabold said:


> BFG
> 
> If you can scan them I'll show you a pic of 3 Coho I caught down there. The funny thing was I was walking past this couple they couldn't see the fish yet and asked how I did I said just 3 small ones. They were 24" 32" and 36" the look on their faces was priceless.


Wow, everyone really needs to appreciate a good fisherman's tale. If you caught 3 Coho, one of which was 36" and the other 34", and you didn't think to get it checked for records seems peculiar to me. You had 2 near-record and possibly record-breaking fish, seeing as how the current state record is 34 3/4". And you caught both of them on the same day? In the Maumee River? Where a handful of lost salmon end up? 

http://www.dnr.state.oh.us/Home/Fis...dfish_fshohiorcrdfish/tabid/6984/Default.aspx

Im calling B.S. I'll tell ya what, get your negatives out and have another picture printed. Send me a copy (l'll give you my name and address in a p.m.). I have a scanner at my house and will gladly scan in your photo and put it on OGF, then send you your picture back via the mail.

I'm semi-inclined to think that 1 random big King Salmon could be caught down there, but catching 3 absolute freaking beast Cohos......Nah.

Same goes for a guy claiming he caught 13 different species in one day. I have fished that river so much and still haven't caught 13 species TOTAL. There ain't no way you can just mosey on down to the dam with a spinner and land half of those species.

Fisherman's stories....gotta love em. "It was THIS BIG"


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## Redhunter1012 (Feb 6, 2006)

I do have a few buddies that waterfowl hunt the Maumee and have caught several Salmon down there after seeing where they run. They said there's a shallow spot behind some Island that they frequent where you can see them dying also.


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## Bucket Mouth (Aug 13, 2007)

Gary had some pictures on his website of some guys with salmon too (same thing with steelies-people catch em). I have no doubt they are in there, I just am having a hard time believing the coho story or the 13 species in one day. Fisherman have the propensity to exaggerate (lord knows I've probably done it my fair share) and I feel that a few posts in this thread fit into the "moderate to heavy" exaggeration category.

I could be talking out of my a$$ on this one too. Everyone has an epic day of fishing once in a while, but I smell something fishy on this one. My spidey sense won't allow my to fall hook, line, and sinker for these tales.


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## BASmead (Jan 11, 2008)

One time i caught a doubler on a husky jerk at the dam, a 6 ft sturgeon on the front hook and a giant paddlefish on the back with a 9 lb laker in his gullet. Seriously. I've caught 25 species at gr in 2 hrs, went home and came back the same night n did it again in the dark. In february. All fish caught on a giant yellow n purple jitterbug. That's right, topwater in february. You haven't lived till you've seen a sheephead smash a topwater at night in the dead of winter. Just gotta finesse em. Nah, i'm fulla sh$%t. That place is remarkable though for variety of fish. I dunno bout 13 in a day, but i have had some crazy multispecies days wit nuttn but a white 3 inch grub. It's not too far fetched. That place is full of surprises. Imagine what it would be like to have a place like that to yourself, unharvested by the bucket brigades, no wads of line and jigheads to snag up on in that main scour hole. It would be an unreal fishery. I've never lucked into a salmon, steelie, or a wiper, but i've seen good sized specimens of all 3 walk by me on a stringer, so i know they're there. Or at least were. I was not aware there were grass pike. I'm not even sure what they are. Is it a different name for pickeral?


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## NorthSouthOhioFisherman (May 7, 2007)

LOL you sure had me going BASmead


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## tom tschabold (Jul 24, 2008)

Well I've gone for a couple of days and noticed a few additions. I will admidt right now I could be wrong on Coho I'm not a Salmon fisherman, but I do have pictures of three fish. The biggest has a tape measure besides it and says 36" the other two are not measured but you can tell in relation to the big one thier size. So please send me a address of someone with a scaner I will mail them to them and we can solve the mystery of what kind of Salmon they are.
Besides I'm hurt to think a fisherman wouldn't be believed on just his word.


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## tom tschabold (Jul 24, 2008)

I tried to take a pic of the pics till I could send them to someone. So please tell me what kind of Salmon these are I've alway thought they are Coho but it appears I was wrong this is the best day I ever had down there but I have caught many of these over the years. I hope the pics come out ok.


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## CoolWater (Apr 11, 2004)

Well I been watching this thread from a distance and I guess it's time to chime in. Tom, I can completely back you up in the fact that I have seen Salmon there and even a few other places off the Maumee River. Also it would make sense that if one particular fish got messed up with it's travel that possibly a school of these fish could all be similarly 'imprinted' wrong. So I guess I can buy that if one particular fish was there - maybe even more likely that it wasn't a single lone fish making a multiple fish day feasible.

Now for my observations that lead me not to believe the story. Your fish don't look all that fresh yet the foilage on the trees look like it is barely into fall, if fall at all. The few times I have seen the fish in NW Ohio, never has it been that early in the year. If you did get them that early I would expect them to look a lot fresher.

Ultimately, it is your story and experience. No one can take that away from you, whether they believe you or not (put me in the not group, sorry man).

On a final note... some fishing stories that seem outlandish do prove to be true. Ask OGF member babysturgeon about his Maumee River catch:

http://www.coolwaterfish.com/special.html

I do have The Blade article saved regarding that catch and it was far less probable then a couple displaced Salmon.


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## tom tschabold (Jul 24, 2008)

Coolwater I'm sorry my explanation and pics wasn't enough. No hard feelings. That was my first second and third post I guess I can understand some skepticism. First let me say I use my real name because I have nothing to hide. I posted because I had first hand knowledge of a fishery I've spent close to 40 years enjoying. The time of year was during duck season that is when I start to see them though it's been several years or more since I've fished for them down there. I've told you I wasn't a Salmon fisherman and could be wrong on the type. I've been Salmon fishing 4 times in my life other than in the river once in Alaska and 3 times in Michigan. The Kings in Alaska seemed bigger and yes I do have pictures. The Steelhead I caught in Michigan seemed to jump alot and was alot smaller. I've told you where I caught them and when .I've taken a few friends down there and we've caught these kind Salmon together. I really wasn't looking for approval just trying to be helpfull. The people that know me (which you don't I understand) know what my word means and the value I place on it. If someone could tell me what kind of Salmon these are I would appreciate it.

Thank You


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## tom tschabold (Jul 24, 2008)

Coolwater I'm sorry my explanation and pics wasn't enough. No hard feelings. That was my first second and third post I guess I can understand some skepticism. First let me say I use my real name because I have nothing to hide. I posted because I had first hand knowledge of a fishery I've spent close to 40 years enjoying. The time of year was during duck season that is when I start to see them though it's been several years or more since I've fished for them down there. I've told you I wasn't a Salmon fisherman and could be wrong on the type. I've been Salmon fishing 4 times in my life other than in the river once in Alaska and 3 times in Michigan. The Kings in Alaska seemed bigger and yes I do have pictures. The Steelhead I caught in Michigan seemed to jump alot and was alot smaller. I've told you where I caught them and when .I've taken a few friends down there and we've caught these kind Salmon together. I really wasn't looking for approval just trying to be helpfull. The people that know me (which you don't I understand) know what my word means and the value I place on it. If someone could tell me what kind of Salmon these are I would appreciate it.

Thank You


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## CoolWater (Apr 11, 2004)

I actually think my response was pretty nice compared to others. No worries if you didn't convince me, once again no one can take away your experience or tarnish a memory that is personal to you.

As for what type of salmon, the quality of the pics makes it hard to tell. Chinook have larger black dots scattered on them where the Coho have smaller dots. The lower jaw of a Chinook is all black, Coho have the black mouth but the gums are white at the base of the teeth. If I were you I'd just do some googling until I felt comfortable with the ID. Having seen the fish alive and even referencing better quality pics that you have - i'm sure you can nail it down.


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## Redhunter1012 (Feb 6, 2006)

Those are definitely Kings (Chinook). We catch them on the St Joe River in Michigan all the time. Tom, I only called BS on the Coho part, because those would be as rare as hens teeth in the Maumee. Like I said, I do have buddies that Duckhunt the Maumee that know where they run and have caught several in a day as well. When I was a kid my Dad and I were at the carryout down the Street when a local pulled up and asked my Dad what kind of fish were in the back of his truck. Theye were both small King Salmon. He caught them in Box Traps he set for Muskrats. He gave them to us for the smoker. I know a creek in Wood county that gets a few of these Kings every year.


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## roger23 (Mar 7, 2007)

during duck season on the Maumee by Waterville ,,our Lab would go nuts chasing them...I have a creek behind my house that the get a couple every year...also a Steelhead every once in a while ,,,,depending on the water level


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