# Oshay Striper Trip



## Brahmabull71 (Jul 30, 2014)

Have to share the trip we had this morning because it's not something I do often. Once or twice a year I will target large stripers when they are really hitting in Oshay. My buddy and his wife tipped me off and said "it's on," so my other friend and I went over from 6-10am today. Initially we were trolling for crappie the first hour, but the bite was too slow. Now, he's a meat hunter, so I wasn't sure if he would mind playing around with stripers. He's never caught any large ones, so I told him we should give it a shot since they are such a blast. We set up with Flicker Shad 5 & 7's, but quickly learned the bigger fished wanted the 7's in Slum Dog and Blue Growler 42-47' back at 2.2 - 2.4 SOG. We couldn't run 4 rods and had so many sets of doubles it was crazy. Most were cookie cutter 18-20" fish. Landed 16 and lost 7-8. They destroyed 3 lures and the largest around 23.5" took out 250-300' of line before we got it slowed down...even had to chase with the Trolling motor! I use VERY soft ML 8' trolling rods with Diawa LC17's, so they have a sporting chance  We also caught 13 LARGE catfish all over 4lbs, with largest around 9lbs (which he was thrilled with). Also caught one 13" crappie and a 8.5" bluegill that made the trip to Crisco Lake. All fish except 2 were caught on a North troll in about a 40 yard area. Wish I could have stayed longer for a giant, but taking my girls to the Hartford Fair this afternoon!

Last picture is the 27" BEAST my buddy caught last night...without me...jerk!


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## acklac7 (May 31, 2004)

Thats awesome to see there's still a good number in the lake with all the high water we've had this year.

Great report, great fish


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## acklac7 (May 31, 2004)

And they're Wipers, not Stripers btw


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## kfi (Nov 11, 2013)

Nice report. I've caught a couple over there on accident but always thought it'd be fun to target them. Looks like you had things dialed in.


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## Saugeyefisher (Jul 19, 2010)

acklac7 said:


> Thats awesome to see there's still a good number in the lake with all the high water we've had this year.
> 
> Great report, great fish


I think with the amount of food and the type of structure in osheay,regardless of the rainfall it will always hold the wipers as long as they keep dumping them in! 
Brah-Great job and great report! Had to be to much fun! 
Your reports are always great,thanks...


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## ski (May 13, 2004)

Great report! I live about a mile from home rd launch and hope to get my lund out there as soon as can get it set up for trolling.
ski


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## ErieGoldSportfishing (Feb 5, 2009)

Nice job Josh! That looks like a hoot!


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## pedex (Aug 17, 2016)

so you can troll for these things just like their saltwater cousins

I had thought it was more effective to go after them around the high current areas around the dams.


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## acklac7 (May 31, 2004)

pedex said:


> I had thought it was more effective to go after them around the high current areas around the dams.


If you don't have a boat...

That said trolling depends alot on water clarity, which has been piss-poor this year. You can pick them up during most any conditions below the Spillways.


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## Brahmabull71 (Jul 30, 2014)




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## pedex (Aug 17, 2016)

Hmm wonder if chumming and drifting using cut bait or whole bait would work like it does on the saltwater variety.


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## Saugeyefisher (Jul 19, 2010)

pedex said:


> Hmm wonder if chumming and drifting using cut bait or whole bait would work like it does on the saltwater variety.


There really mean and aggressive so it could. Some guys target them at buckeye with shad/cut shad/livers/shrimp/softcrawls.. And I know a lot of guys do it that way down south in the hybrid lakes. The most impressive stringer of wipers I've seen the guys where using softcrawls for bait. And this went on for a couple weeks. They are very opurtunistic feeders!


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## pedex (Aug 17, 2016)

Saugeyefisher said:


> There really mean and aggressive so it could. Some guys target them at buckeye with shad/cut shad/livers/shrimp/softcrawls.. And I know a lot of guys do it that way down south in the hybrid lakes. The most impressive stringer of wipers I've seen the guys where using softcrawls for bait. And this went on for a couple weeks. They are very opurtunistic feeders!


Ya, one of the issues I used to have with fishing for the saltwater types was most troll for them which on the Chesapeake bay means 8-16oz of weight, a 30 foot leader with the last foot or so being 150lb test or better steel, and tipped with a lure around 12" long. This is expensive and even when you do hook one that is 30-40lbs you are fighting the tackle and the fish being dragged by the boat at 3-7 knots as much as you are the fish. Chumming and using light tackle and chunk bait is a different story. The action is a bit slower and you do hook other stuff too but when you do get one it is a direct fight with the fish. This kinda has me curious now. Might be worth a shot. Wouldn't take much rain to have enough current in these local reservoirs to make a nice chum line no problem.


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## MDBuckeye (Sep 29, 2009)

Pedex, I did that for 8 or so years on the Chesapeake. They really weren't as fun to catch trolling because it was like reeling in a 5 gallon bucket with a broomstick. The fish were monsters at times though, mainly Spring and late Fall when they would migrate into the Chesapeake to either spawn or feed for winter. My best was near 50lbs. My avatar pick shows a good one but not the biggest.

Like you said, chumming them up and catching them with a circle hook was a blast and often more challenging than the trolling gig. I think there's enough current even without additional rain because of the rivers natural flow.

Good luck if you get out there. I'm boatless for a while so my only option to target them would be by yak or bank.


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## steven kovach (Sep 24, 2014)

Brahmabull71 said:


> Have to share the trip we had this morning because it's not something I do often. Once or twice a year I will target large stripers when they are really hitting in Oshay. My buddy and his wife tipped me off and said "it's on," so my other friend and I went over from 6-10am today. Initially we were trolling for crappie the first hour at but the bite was too slow. Now, he's a meat hunter, so I wasn't sure if he would mind playing around with stripers. He's never caught any large ones, so I told him we should give it a shot since they are such a blast. We set up with Flicker Shad 5 & 7's, but quickly learned the bigger fished wanted the 7's in Slum Dog and Blue Growler 42-47' back at 2.2 - 2.4 SOG. We couldn't run 4 rods and had so many sets of doubles it was crazy. Most were cookie cutter 18-20" fish. Landed 16 and lost 7-8. They destroyed 3 lures and the largest around 23.5" took out 250-300' of line before we got it slowed down...even had to chase with the Trolling motor! I use VERY soft ML 8' trolling rods with Diawa LC17's, so they have a sporting chance  We also caught 13 LARGE catfish all over 4lbs, with largest around 9lbs (which he was thrilled with). Also caught one 13" crappie and a 8.5" bluegill that made the trip to Crisco Lake. All fish except 2 were caught on a North troll in about a 40 yard area. Wish I could have stayed longer for a giant, but taking my girls to the Hartford Fair this afternoon!
> 
> Last picture is the 27" BEAST my buddy caught last night...without me...jerk!
> 
> ...


Best fighting fish out there by far nice day


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## fishintechnician (Jul 20, 2007)

Any specific structure or depth to target? Flats, points, break lines? I'd like to give this a shot


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## loves2fishinohio (Apr 14, 2011)

Pretty good eating too, just gotta get that bloodline out of them.


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## Saugeyefisher (Jul 19, 2010)

MDBuckeye said:


> Pedex, I did that for 8 or so years on the Chesapeake. They really weren't as fun to catch trolling because it was like reeling in a 5 gallon bucket with a broomstick. The fish were monsters at times though, mainly Spring and late Fall when they would migrate into the Chesapeake to either spawn or feed for winter. My best was near 50lbs. My avatar pick shows a good one but not the biggest.
> 
> Like you said, chumming them up and catching them with a circle hook was a blast and often more challenging than the trolling gig. I think there's enough current even without additional rain because of the rivers natural flow.
> 
> Good luck if you get out there. I'm boatless for a while so my only option to target them would be by yak or bank.


And in a lake like osheay,the catfish will keep you really busy doing this! But I wouldn't rule out trolling for these guys either. It can be pretty fun


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## Brahmabull71 (Jul 30, 2014)

fishintechnician said:


> Any specific structure or depth to target? Flats, points, break lines? I'd like to give this a shot


They were on a flat near deep water. They usually come in a little earlier and it is the ONLY place I or my friend ever catch them with regularity from year to year.


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## ski (May 13, 2004)

Were you trolling with church or offshore boards? With the way these fish take off, I was wondering if the boards were a problem when reeling in.
ski


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## percidaeben (Jan 15, 2010)

loves2fishinohio said:


> Pretty good eating too, just gotta get that bloodline out of them.


Was wondering about this. Have only caught smaller 14-18", but was thinking if I ever get lucky enough to run into something 25" or plus, try it on the grill.


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## Jordy24 (Mar 29, 2017)

We used to throw them back when we were Saugeye fishing all the time... Looking back it was a mistake. Wipers are a really great tasting fish. As loves2fishinohio said, you have to cut the mud line out of them. After trimming mine, i soak them in salt water for 12 to 24 hours. I had some for dinner last night and its on the menu again tonight.


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## Brahmabull71 (Jul 30, 2014)

ski said:


> Were you trolling with church or offshore boards? With the way these fish take off, I was wondering if the boards were a problem when reeling in.
> ski


I use the Offshore Mini Crappie boards. I have one set of new style and one set of the original (without the "float" on top). I also have 8 Offshore Walleye boards with tattle flags I run even for Crappie if it's choppy. You can set the flags so you can see the smallest of Crappie. The mini boards do not do well when it's windy in general. For these fish, they would shoot any size boards back like a steelhead at Lake Erie.

I rig the OR10 (yellow clip) on my Mini boards to pop off and the OR16 (red with pin) stays attached to the line so it can't come off. This allows you to fight the fish and not the board. A GENTLE pop of the rod (much like a Jet or Dipsy diver) allows the line to release (note: You can also make a few twists/twirls in the line before you stick in yellow clip to accomplish the line popping out easier). Hard to explain, easy to execute. PM me if you need further instructions.


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## acklac7 (May 31, 2004)

Jordy24 said:


> We used to throw them back when we were Saugeye fishing all the time... Looking back it was a mistake. Wipers are a really great tasting fish. As loves2fishinohio said, you have to cut the mud line out of them. After trimming mine, i soak them in salt water for 12 to 24 hours. I had some for dinner last night and its on the menu again tonight.


The Scioto is doing pretty damn good from a species-perspective. But eating multiple meals out of there on a weekly basis? Man, I'd eat one meal a week, tops, for Saugeye and Wipers. Note the EPA recommends River Saugeye over 18" be consumed *once a month **- *no info available for the Wipers, yet. But i'd have to think they would fall under similar guidelines, at least the bigger 18"+ fish.

Especially if you have kids, man I cringe when I see people stringing up Catfish after Catfish while fishing with their kids. Kids should not be eating fish out of the River, especially Catfish.

http://epa.ohio.gov/portals/35/fishadvisory/fishadvisory_pamphlet.pdf

EPA calls for one meal a week for all other fish not listed, except Panfish. Honestly, for the River, I eat a meal every two weeks, just to be safe.


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## Jordy24 (Mar 29, 2017)

acklac7 said:


> The Scioto is doing pretty damn good from a species-perspective. But eating multiple meals out of there on a weekly basis? Man, I'd eat one meal a week, tops, for Saugeye and Wipers. Note the EPA recommends River Saugeye over 18" be consumed *once a month **- *no info available for the Wipers, yet. But i'd have to think they would fall under similar guidelines, at least the bigger 18"+ fish.
> 
> Especially if you have kids, man I cringe when I see people stringing up Catfish after Catfish while fishing with their kids. Kids should not be eating fish out of the River, especially Catfish.
> 
> ...


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## Jordy24 (Mar 29, 2017)

the wipers I am eating are out of the Muskingdum which may not help my case... I do eat saugeye out of the Scioto at least twice a month. I understand the warings/risk but I'm willing to bet most of the other store bought meats/fish we eat are just as harmful if not more harmful. Unless someone is a vegan, then I digress haha. I do appreciate the info that was provided, I don't keep up on it as much as I should.


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## acklac7 (May 31, 2004)

Jordy24 said:


> the wipers I am eating are out of the Muskingdum which may not help my case... I do eat saugeye out of the Scioto at least twice a month. I understand the warings/risk but I'm willing to bet most of the other store bought meats/fish we eat are just as harmful if not more harmful. Unless someone is a vegan, then I digress haha. I do appreciate the info that was provided, I don't keep up on it as much as I should.


Yea, some, if not most of the store-bought Seafood out there is just as bad, if not worse.

I honestly didn't mean to single you out, just wanted to make everyone aware that consumption of these fish should be limited. Some bad chit happened to the River back in the early-mid 1900's, some of it still lingers around today.

For example the EPA had to permanently re-route the River up in Marion county back in 2002 due to streambed contamination: https://cumulis.epa.gov/supercpad/cursites/csitinfo.cfm?id=0509950


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## Brahmabull71 (Jul 30, 2014)

Well, tonight sucked out loud. Not sure if it was the full moon, north wind and pressure change or what. Lots of good marks and bait. Only caught 6 with biggest 21.5" and had 5 catfish. Of the 6, we did manage a triple! Fish moved a little further North. Didn't see very many fish caught at all. Most boats I've EVER had to fish around at Oshay. Lots of current tonight so not sure if they were letting water out or what?


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## RiparianRanger (Nov 18, 2015)

acklac7 said:


> Yea, some, if not most of the store-bought Seafood out there is just as bad, if not worse.
> 
> I honestly didn't mean to single you out, just wanted to make everyone aware that consumption of these fish should be limited. Some bad chit happened to the River back in the early-mid 1900's, some of it still lingers around today.
> 
> For example the EPA had to permanently re-route the River up in Marion county back in 2002 due to streambed contamination: https://cumulis.epa.gov/supercpad/cursites/csitinfo.cfm?id=0509950


Heard the zoo was hosing down the animal pens there for a while and using the storm drains as virtual sewers. I'm sure you can all guess where those storm drains empty into. Bon appetit


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## ReadHeaded Hunter (Apr 17, 2007)

Brahmabull71 said:


> Well, tonight sucked out loud. Not sure if it was the full moon, north wind and pressure change or what. Lots of good marks and bait. Only caught 6 with biggest 21.5" and had 5 catfish. Of the 6, we did manage a triple! Fish moved a little further North. Didn't see very many fish caught at all. Most boats I've EVER had to fish around at Oshay. Lots of current tonight so not sure if they were letting water out or what?


Saw the group out there today. I was very surprised with the group of boats all fishing the same area. Don't see that much around here. I did see you guys and another boat pull one as I cruised by. I won't say which boat I was in, but I bet you would recognize it


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## acklac7 (May 31, 2004)

RiparianRanger said:


> Heard the zoo was hosing down the animal pens there for a while and using the storm drains as virtual sewers. I'm sure you can all guess where those storm drains empty into. Bon appetit


Dump all the fecal matter into the River you want. I don't care.

It doesn't hold a candle to what was dumped into the River in the early-mid 1900's.

Guys, bad things happened to our Rivers, bad things. Yes they are making a HUGE comeback, but some of the contaminants?

I'll leave it with this: The EPA Warnings for the Scioto up in Marion County.

Not just "All species: Do Not Eat".

Rather:* Do not make contact with the water.*

Thats a pretty dire warning. There's not many *Superfund sites* (google it) in the entire US that share the same definitive terminology...


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## acklac7 (May 31, 2004)

And there's nothing wrong with taking a meal or two home for the freezer. Especially pan fish. I do it on a quarterly basis.

But filling the freezer with River fish? Especially bigger river fish? Man, I'd think twice.


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## acklac7 (May 31, 2004)

Brahmabull71 said:


> Well, tonight sucked out loud. Not sure if it was the full moon, north wind and pressure change or what. Lots of good marks and bait. Only caught 6 with biggest 21.5" and had 5 catfish. Of the 6, we did manage a triple! Fish moved a little further North. Didn't see very many fish caught at all. Most boats I've EVER had to fish around at Oshay. Lots of current tonight so not sure if they were letting water out or what?


Good fish.

Oshay never releases water, like ever. Maybe the wind caused the current?

Crowd was probably due to the Griggs/Oshay Tuesday night tourny (They alternate every week).


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## odell daniel (Nov 5, 2015)

acklac7 said:


> Dump all the fecal matter into the River you want. I don't care.
> 
> It doesn't hold a candle to what was dumped into the River in the early-mid 1900's.
> 
> ...


there is a small river that runs along the west side of Marion through the old city dump, it is supposed to be one of the most polluted rivers in the state. It runs approx. 2 to 3 miles before dumping into the sciota, I have lived here my whole life and would never eat anything out of it. I wade south of prospect quite a bit and I can say the Sciota has never looked better or fished better in my lifetime but with that being said their are some big newer houses built along that stretch on the east side of the river and I still can smell raw sewer down there, has to be coming from a 300,000 property. other than that the smallmouth fishing has been excellent for the 10 years, waded it sunday for a couple hrs caught 9 smallies and 1 largemouth. strike king mini buzz.


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## acklac7 (May 31, 2004)

odell daniel said:


> there is a small river that runs along the west side of Marion through the old city dump, it is supposed to be one of the most polluted rivers in the state. It runs approx. 2 to 3 miles before dumping into the sciota, I have lived here my whole life and would never eat anything out of it. I wade south of prospect quite a bit and I can say the Sciota has never looked better or fished better in my lifetime but with that being said their are some big newer houses built along that stretch on the east side of the river and I still can smell raw sewer down there, has to be coming from a 300,000 property. other than that the smallmouth fishing has been excellent for the 10 years, waded it sunday for a couple hrs caught 9 smallies and 1 largemouth. strike king mini buzz.


The Scioto is fishing downright excellent. No doubt about it. Hats off to the *DOW / ODNR.*

That said, it's furthermost reaches are home to a _*Superfund site*_ and are heavily contaminated. The little Scioto *is* one of the most contaminated Rivers in the State.

Sorry to hijack your thread Brahmbull, you caught some awesome fish. But I felt people needed to be aware of several concerns when it comes to keeping fish from the River.


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