# Jan 3, only fish worthy of a pic



## Salmonid (Apr 14, 2004)

Fished all day at Tanners creeek with a guy from the BOC and managed 1 small hit, weather was lousy, falling temps, winds did a 180 on us, rained like hell for a while, typical winter day of fishing on the Ohio as far as I am concerned.  
Anyways while it was still pretty dark in the morning, right in front of the ramp while throwing the cast net for shad, I got this cool little guy!!










Turns out we should have packed up and left right after that and I at least could have gotten something worthwhile done that day. ha ha We stuck it out until 4 pm and had problems with all sorts of duck hunters, ( saving rant for another thread) 

There is always next time and the spoonie was pretty cool and pretty much made my day, 1st one I ever caught ( Cast net) I hope you enjoy the pic. He was put in the livewell for a minute while we got the cameras ready and quickly released after photos. 

Salmonid


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## Doctor (Apr 5, 2004)

Mark,
I cast netted one a few years ago in Wilson Creek that laid right in the palm of my hand cute little dude.

In 2008 in Mount Vernon we saw all kinds of those things breaching in the water, it was down right scary as they were too close to the boat they would be clear out of the water thrashing around we saw a couple of good 40 lb fish do that. Never knew they did that till we saw them last year and many other boaters saw the same thing, they are a pretty fish.


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## yetihw (Mar 3, 2008)

Wow I'm completely ignorant. What the heck is that? A suager/gar or something?


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## bkr43050 (Apr 5, 2004)

yetihw said:


> Wow I'm completely ignorant. What the heck is that? A suager/gar or something?


That is a paddlefish. Here is the link to the ODNR info on Paddlefish.

That is a cool picture! I have never seen one in person but then again I very rarely fish anywhere that they live.


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## tcba1987 (Jun 22, 2004)

NEAT LOOKING FISH !! Thanks for sharing !!


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## Salmonid (Apr 14, 2004)

Yup, a Paddlefish, they are really unique fish and I always wanted to catch one ( IE accidently snag one) and while you say you dont live where they are, well, inland in Ohio, in the tailwaters of Deer Creek is probably the best place to get one and years ago ( like 20) I saw one on a stringer below Ceasers Creek, guy ran away with it when I threatened to call the game officer on him, he swore up and down it "hammered his jig" which didnt explain the blood running down its side when he proudly showed it to me...
I also have heard of 2 maybe from the lower Little Miami so they are around in small numbers. I know on the Ohio River at Meldahl dam, Ky has a 2 week snagging season on them, sometime in the spring I imagine. 

Salmonid


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## hunterm (Apr 22, 2004)

A couple of years ago we got one below Meldahl one night catfishing. We were bottom fishing with shad from a boat and it tangled in the line. As Doc mentioned they also breech, pretty cool to see. I've seen it fairly often in spring down near Cincinnati.

So what was the issue with the duck hunters?


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## UFM82 (Apr 6, 2004)

It ran into my saugeye line and was snagged in the stomach. #6 hook on 10 lb line and what a struggle that was. The signs below the dam at Deer Creek used to say $500 fine for doing anything to the fish within 1000' of the dam. I landed this beast, shot two quick pictures and turned her loose. The warden wandered over a few minutes later and asked me a couple questions about the fish. I pled guilty on the spot to taking pictures as he had obviously seen me do and told him it was the largest freshwater fish I had ever landed. I also told him that while I had seen the signs and knew it was wrong to have handled the fish, I did it with extreme care and the fish had swam away strongly. He gave me the stern lecture but did not write me the ticket. (Thank Goodness.) He did say that the fish was the largest he had seen caught below the dam and that he probably would have had to take a picture as well. LOL 

They are a neat fish- smooth-skinned like a cat but not slimey. The bill was stiff but soft to the touch- tiny little eyes and a monstrous mouth. This fish jumped when it first felt the hook and the entire fish cleared the water. That shook up a number of the other guys fishing nearby me. 

A friend of mine caught a 10 lb albino spoony a couple years ago while crappie fishing up Laughery Creek. He had no idea what it was and was afraid to touch it!  They netted it and cut the line. 

UFM82


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## Salmonid (Apr 14, 2004)

Cool stuff guys, Lets see a few of those pictures from the past!

HunterM, check out my other post on this same forum: I just posted it.
http://www.ohiogamefishing.com/community/showthread.php?p=745672#post745672
Salmonid


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## LittleMiamiJeff (Oct 1, 2005)

That's a cool pic, Mark.
I snagged one below Meldahl a couple years ago, 23lbs, remains my PB fish period! 
I thought I had the Mother of all Wipers or Stripers, it was snagged in the flesh just ahead of the tail, and took a lot of drag, 4-5 good runs, coolest fish I ever caught too.
Of course, the season was up, and there are also guidelines during the short season of being 1000ft below the dam or something.
My question would be, if you snag one, how do you NOT land it in order to safely release it? Do they expect you to cut the line w/line and hook still in the protected species as soon as you ID it as such?
I've heard scary stories about duck hunters on fishing honey holes, I'm looking forward to this one, Mark!
LMJ


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## fishdealer04 (Aug 27, 2006)

Cute little guy, they are a really cool fish, they have that prehistoric look to them still. Good to see they are reproducing. The one and only one that I ever got came from Deer Creek in the tailwaters- fun little time on 8 lb line.


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## Salmonid (Apr 14, 2004)

Nice Brian, I knew you had a picture of 1, its the size of the one Ill get next time. Hopefully not in a cast net..... 
Do you have a weight of that one??

Salmonid


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## Doctor (Apr 5, 2004)

Here's one from my website that Josh got in 2007 with Larry below Meldhal dam 29#


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## Fishinfreak (Oct 12, 2004)

Heres one i caught one summer nite on the river.Even had a eel hanging from its belly.


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## TeamPlaker (Jul 5, 2006)

Very cool pics! I saw one breech on the lower LMR once... I just happened to be looking in the spot he came up. Some guy down at Meldahl was telling me a place to go snag them, I don't really have an interest in that... but I guess it's legal in Kentucky???


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## Mean Morone (Apr 12, 2004)

I saw a guy land one below Deer creek once. There was a crowd gathered around the fish as it lay on the grass. Out of nowhere came a game warder and told the guy to release it immediately. That place is being watched at all times I do believe. I've seen them come out of the water below Meldahl as well. My buddy snagged one on a crankbait once that had obviously been snagged before. It had a big hole in its stomach and its insides were hanging out. I couldn't believe it was still kickin.

This is probably for another post, but has anyone ever caught a sturgeon out of the Ohio River? My buddy got one a couple of years ago below Meldahl. Snagged it by accident while jigging the bottom for sauger. He was only about 15 inches long, but was neat to see.


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## Tall cool one (Jul 13, 2006)

Fishinfreak,that's a lamprey, a parasitic fish that is not even closely related to eels even though it looks like one. Eels are bony fish and lampreys have a "skeleton" of cartilage(like sharks,to which it is more closly related) and no jaws,just a cluster of spines on it's "mouth"(no true jaws) that it uses to abrade a hole in the fishes skin to suck out blood etc from the fish for sustenance. What river system did you get that one out of?
Meanmorone,that one w/ the hole may have been where a lamprey had been. 
Lamprey predation evidence is common in the grt lks,esp on various salmonid and soft rayed fish species,less common on spiny-rayed fish like walleyes and SMB. I've landed steelhead w/ their guts hanging out from lamprey wounds more'n once,esp outta lks huron and superior tribs. The ones in the grt lks are formerly sea-going that were introduced when the Welland canal was opened to allow ship passage from lk Ontario to the rest of the grt lks.
There are also lampreys in the Mad river and you can see them gathered at the mouths and up tribs of the MR in the spring when they gather to spawn but those are not parasitic,they are silver and creek lampreys,TC1


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## fishdealer04 (Aug 27, 2006)

Yeah the lamprey is a nasty little guy. I know a lot of DNR's in states will actually go into the streams in the spring when they are spawning and try to kill as many as they can. I read an article about it last year, I will try and find the link to it.

TeamPlanker- it is actually legal in a lot of states to snag the Paddlefish as that is the only way to catch them. They are an endangered species in Ohio. I know in Kentucky you are allowed to snag them as well as bowfish for them, they are suppsed to taste great and a lot of people like the caviar from them. I just think they are such a cool fish and would never want to kill one.


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## LittleMiamiJeff (Oct 1, 2005)

23.5 lb, healthy and a great fighter!


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