# Just returned from AEP



## leebo28 (Apr 7, 2005)

Just got back from AEP late last night. We stayed down there for two nights (Sunday, Monday). The weather was unbelievable beautiful and warm. A lot of the good campsites were closed and won't open until May. Nonetheless it was an awesome time.

It had been a couple of years since I had been down there and forgot how clean the water was. The bass were in there pretty thick, but weren't real active. With that water being so deep, it probably will take some time to heat up. Even the Blue Gill and Red Ear were deeper than usual. I only ran accross one bass that looked as if it was preparing to spawn. It was a donkey too. About 27 inches. Didn't try and catch. I'm not a big fan of lifting fish.

We did have some luck though. We primarily fished at campground C and the surrounnding ponds (hiked probably a total of 8 miles) and had a blast. I finished with 25+ Bass in two days and some lunker Blue's and Red's that were quite tasty. None of the Bass were that big, but there were stretches where every cast I was catching one. There's nothing quite like fishing a pond filled with fish all by yourself at daybreak.

I primarily used a small Yozuri crankbait and Yamamato flat worms a with a paddle tail. The crank bait was silver with a purple and gold back and I reeled as if I was about to fall asleep, real slowly. The Yamamato worm was lethal. It took me a while to find it inmy tackle , but once I did, it was on. Used a dark green with gold specks in it and rigged it with two small split shots about 9 inches above it. I highly recomend this bait when fishing in weedy conditions as well. 

If I wouldv'e taken the same route as my fellow campers I probably would have had a few more fish. They were using big shiner and chubs to fish with. I decided to fish the whole trip with artificial bait. O.k. I switched over to chubs at oine point and had some luck, but the rest was all artificial.

If you are prepared to hike and fish in some uncomfortable spots it could be endless fun. If you fish the ponds that have already been heavily fished, the fish are pretty spooky and very tough to catch. It's still a little early down there, but it was the best fishing I've had in awhile.

PS: contrary to popular belief the mosquitos are out there. As I type this post, I'm destroying my calfs. I've got about 12 bites onm each leg.

Tight lines to all. And thanks to everyone who posted info. (directions, bait selection, etc.). It was a blast!


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## atrkyhntr (May 31, 2004)

glad you had a blast... you going back soon?


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## got_a_buzz_on (Mar 17, 2005)

leebo28 said:


> About 27 inches.


are you sure it wasnt a carp @ 27". i mean your talking state record there bass wise. but its your story you tell it how you want.

GABO


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## twistertail (Apr 10, 2004)

Sounds great! I love it over there. Were you bank fishing or in a float tube?


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## leebo28 (Apr 7, 2005)

I guarentee this Bass was at least 27". I was in one of the bays on the main lake in C. Huge. Easily it was the biggest Bass I've ever seen. 

One other quick note. Don't be afraid to hook up a baby Blue and use that as bait. I saw a couple big fish get caught that way this weekend.

I wish I could go back soon. But as the mosquitos pick up down there, I stay away. It gets way to uncomfortable. I enjoy camping, but I don't like coming home swollen from mosquito bites. 

We had as john boat down there with us, but didn't use it much. It was to heavy to carry, and the ponds we did have access to weren't that good. A lot of the good spots were closed to automobile's.


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## got_a_buzz_on (Mar 17, 2005)

just think if you would have caught that fish you would have been 2" over the old record and i bet that it would have out weighed it too being so big. dont tell me that the fish was 27" until you have it on a tape.

Check this place out before you go telling us about your other fish you saw, but didnt fish for.

http://www.ohiodnr.com/wildlife/fishing/recordfish_fshohio/rcrdfish.htm

GABO


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## twistertail (Apr 10, 2004)

A belly boat is the way to go over there. I pack mine in with a backpack and then blow it up by the lake I'm going to fish. I too have seen some HUGE bass over there, I think the state record could be swiming around over there or at least a few 10 pounders. I got one that was about 6.5 one year and have seen some much much bigger. Get ya a bug jacket to take care of them skeeters. You can get one for about 10 bucks at Wal Mart and they work great. No bug spray at all just put the jacket on and they cant get ya at all. Also if you use a float tube once you get a few feet away from the bank you dont get bothered at all by the bugs.


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## twistertail (Apr 10, 2004)

No doubt that there are 27" bass over there I have seen some HUGE ones. I know they look bigger in the water but there are some real hawgs over there. 
You cant just go by the length and weight of the state record fish, my father in law has one on the wall that is 28" and weighed 10lbs 8oz so it was longer than the state record but didnt weigh as much. I once heard that the record bass was caught from a private pond and the guy stocked trout in there and that is why it was so big.


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## got_a_buzz_on (Mar 17, 2005)

yes big bass are in there........27"....................SHOW ME THE MONEY

GABO


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## twistertail (Apr 10, 2004)

Hopefully I can! 
I can say that there are bass in there bigger than the 22.5" one that I caught a few years ago. I cant say that there are ones 27" or bigger but I say there is a good chance. Some of those ponds never get fished at all and are loaded with gills and golden shiners. Your right, until one of us catches one and gets a pic we cant prove anything but 25 years of fishing and seeing fish I would guess that some of the ones I have seen would sure be close to 27". Its not like you see them all the time but I know I have seen 2 bass over there that were way bigger than the biggest one that I have caught.


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## Hoss5355 (Apr 9, 2004)

I fished there on Saturday at the same lake plus about 5 other ones. Just by chance was the fish in the second cove on the right? If it is I don't think it was that big. It was a pretty big bass though. She stayed there all day on Saturday. That was the biggest bass that I had seen the entire weekend, but 27 inches is a big fish. Remember that it's hard to estimate when they were in the water too. It makes em look bigger than they really are....

Kevin


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## FishJunky (May 20, 2004)

Was campsite C open?? What ponds did you end up fishing? I'm going down last weekend of April and want to camp at C so I hope it's open.


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## Hoss5355 (Apr 9, 2004)

No, campground C is closed until May 1st, atleast that's what the sign said. We parked outside and walked down to the lake and had a fish fry. There were prolly about 10 different cars there at one point all fishing the lake. We did alright on that lake, but you could tell that the fish were more pressured. I've never camped there, but we were looking for a nice place for a cookout and that fit the mold. Also looked like a nice place to camp, but it wasn't open for that.

Kevin


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## leebo28 (Apr 7, 2005)

I'm going to go out on a limb and say you're overly pessimistic! Hoss is right, it's very hard to estimate the length of a fish when it's in water, but the water there is so clear it's like you're looking through glass. It was in the second cove on the right. Very hard to access or at least fish over there. I managed to get close before I realized that I was about to fall in. We were there on Sunday, Monday, so we were the only ones on the lake. It was busy (camp wise) when we rolled in on Sunday mornin' but cleared out quickly. It seemed as if we had the whole place to ourselves. When I initially walked up to the cove, there were four huge bass in there and she was the biggest of them all. They were heavily preasured and for the most part deep.

We had most of our luck on the ponds a couple miles away from C. The sign did say it would be closed until May 1st. That's a bummer, but you can still get back there if you hike it.

I have a quick question for the folks that have fished back there regularly. I didn't see, catch or here of anyone catching any ctafish down there. I read the ODNR's report about the outlook being excellent for the AEP. Which ponds are the best for them? How deep are they usually (Those ponds were extremely deep)?

Tight lines to all!


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## got_a_buzz_on (Mar 17, 2005)

if pessimistic = realistic then i am guilty as charged. no doubt in my mind it was a big fish. i just dont go on how big they are until a verification........pics with a tape do the best for me. A lot of ppl dont know what they are talking about. 

GABO


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## Hoss5355 (Apr 9, 2004)

GABO,

lol, you remind me of a buddy I went to college with at Muskingum. If I didn't know any better, I would have thought you were him. We'll have to get together and do some fishin and b.s.ing. Was down at the spot last sunday and hooked into one toothy critter and then caught 2 eyes both over 20". Then I decided I was sun burnt enough for one weekend and hung em up.

Kevin


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## atrkyhntr (May 31, 2004)

I know where to catfish down there but man I don't want to give away anything just yet... I may get to go down after all next week... I am hopeful anyway...
I can tell you this much I have caught them on shiners down there bass fishing and there are some very nice cats down there and not too many target them at all or with the right bait when they do...


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## oufisherman (Apr 10, 2004)

My mouth is watering just reading this post of big bass down there. I can't wait to get down there and do some fishing!


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## shroomhunter (Aug 6, 2004)

Be there fishing all day tomorrow


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## twistertail (Apr 10, 2004)

Good luck! I'm sure you will be looking around for some shrooms also.


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## shroomhunter (Aug 6, 2004)

Never found a one there


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## 2talltim (May 27, 2004)

Were goin down the 30th of april i wonder if they will open the camp grounds a day early for the weekend???


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## Basskisser1 (May 15, 2004)

Going to AEP on Saturday. I caught a big one last year. We've been fishing there for years, but never really caught a big. Until last year. Caught him on a finesse worm.


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## got_a_buzz_on (Mar 17, 2005)

Hoss5355 said:


> GABO,
> 
> lol, you remind me of a buddy I went to college with at Muskingum. If I didn't know any better, I would have thought you were him. We'll have to get together and do some fishin and b.s.ing. Was down at the spot last sunday and hooked into one toothy critter and then caught 2 eyes both over 20". Then I decided I was sun burnt enough for one weekend and hung em up.
> 
> Kevin


i didnt get over but my buddy had a limit yesterday and the day before. 14-22" said the mean ones were being taken out and eaten by the handfuls. i hate that. seems some of those guys need to meet ME with one going out of there. oh and BTW OSU grad all my friends went to muskingum but i didnt bc i wouldnt play ball for thompson. A hole.

GABO


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## Hoss5355 (Apr 9, 2004)

Yeah, I played ball for almost 2 years till I blew the shoulder out and decided that dealing with all of that stuff was for the birds. He was my buddies B-Ball coach, but I got to deal with him on the Football field a little now and then, and that was enough for me.

Ha, you should check out the Daily Jeff. yesterday. There were pics of 5 of them, and I would bet my bottom dollar all of em come from down there. That one tool fishes down there constantly, and gets lucky every once in awhile. Maybe if he had a job, he wouldn't need to eat em......

Kevin


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## got_a_buzz_on (Mar 17, 2005)

like i said he better not run into me. i throw the fucker right back in the water. 

GABO


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