# Below Meldahl Saturday



## BaitBucket (Nov 13, 2005)

First post.. sooo, Hi y'all.

We had the boat in below Medahl on Saturday. Tons of people on OH bank and in boats. A lot of shad breaking surface near banks. We cast netted a few for the bait well. Also netted a few tiny walleye. This was our first time fishing near the dam and drew a blank, and we only had an hour or so before the sun went down, but we had a great time! ..will have to go back.

Did catch a few small striper down near New Richmond before we went upstream. They were in the mouth of a creek about 10' deep.

Any Meldahl pointers would be welcome!


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## mrfishohio (Apr 5, 2004)

I know it's restricted to take a boat up below the dam at Meldahl, there's bouys that mark it, but sometimes they get washed out during the flood season. You can run from the end of the lock wall on about 30-45° angle towards the bank ( about 200 yards below the dam). Any closer than that can land you a $100.00 ticket or more.
I used to fish it from the bank mostly, but I have noticed many boaters anchored near the bouy closest to the bank. It's very seasonal for species specific. Now the saugers ought to be starting. I'm sure the white bass & some stripes are caught now too, but they(stripes) have an abundance of food too. Jigs off the bottom for sauger would be my best bet, it's going to turn cold tonight, so that will drive the shad down.


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## LittleMiamiJeff (Oct 1, 2005)

Welcome to the board!
I've heard alot about the mess of boats and bank fisher's up at Meldahl (wondered if I spelled that right! )
Have fun with those Sauger!
Jeff


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## BaitBucket (Nov 13, 2005)

Thanks a lot guys! Appreciate the welcome and tips!

I think we qualified for that $100 ticket!?!? While doing the cast netting, we were along the shore upstream of the wall's end by about 75 yards. It seemed ok at the time cause there were about 6 other boats tied to the moorings on the wall. I need to read some regs about all of this river stuff, cause most of my time in a boat has been on lakes.

Fishing Sauger...
That'll be a new one for us. We usually do crappie and bass. If I remember what I've read lately, jigging for sauger is slow on bottom with a jump off the bottom occasionally.... right?
Any particular colors? I'm guessing pumpkin seed in a tanish or greenish, like the crawls ought to be?

Mark


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## Salmonid (Apr 14, 2004)

Baitbucket, saugers are just like small walleyes, so any walleye tactic will work, I have always got plenty of the little guys on 1/8 oz chartreuse twister tails, small Vibee's, cicadas, jigging spoons and even on spinners. They like the bottom and so be prepared to loose a lot of stuff, the vertical jigging can be good if your in a boat. And remember that saugers are much smaller then there hybridized brothern, the Saugeye, ( sterile, so it expends more energy on growing then spawning) so youll take many in the 8-12" range and only a few better then that, if you get one better then 15", its a really nice fish and be sure to check, it may actually be a walleye since there is a spawning population of walleyes within the river, I took a 4+ lber one time from below Greenup!

Im sure others can give you more specifics but that has been my experience with them in the past. I always enjoy catching them , as there native to the river.

Salmonid


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## BaitBucket (Nov 13, 2005)

Hi Salmonid,
Thanks for the tips! I'm learning a ton of new stuff. Your post just caused a bunch of websearching and learning <grin>. That's cool!

The guide service looks cool... Mad River Outfitters looks cool (I've heard of them about a zillion times), but I went to the website this time.

Copied some good ID Pics of these three fish... If anyone needs to see, I'll post the good one with all three fish (side by side comparison). Guess I will anyway, but people here probably know all of this.

One thing I've heard of and don't know about... Vibees! I can't find a picture or a jig or a lure or anything on the web... other than a bunch of verbage about it being used a lot. A bunch of different bait/lure online retail sites don't show it in a search. What the heck is a Vibee?  

Thanks,
Mark


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## Salmonid (Apr 14, 2004)

Bait Bucket, , I did a search on here because I knew this has been discussed before and found this, try this link for more info. 

http://www.ohiogamefishing.com/forums/showthread.php?t=36976&highlight=vibe

I hope this helps and Ill see if I can find a good picture for you.

Salmonid


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## Salmonid (Apr 14, 2004)

Here is a link to the pics and products commonly called Vibe-e

http://www.vibelure.com/lures.htm

Salmonid


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## BaitBucket (Nov 13, 2005)

Thanks Salmonid!

There was a link in the thread that had some great pics:
http://www.vibelure.com/lures.htm

I remember seeing these in my Dad's tackle box... probably 40 something years ago, didn't I? Old tin or steel lures with a weighted tip. I was a kid at the time and he died when I was pretty young, but his tackle box remained for a few years. At any rate I have seen these.... thanks for the tips and the reference! I'll have to try'em.

Mark


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## BaitBucket (Nov 13, 2005)

Wow, you're typing faster than I am <grin>.


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## BaitBucket (Nov 13, 2005)

What are the extra holes for?


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## BaitBucket (Nov 13, 2005)

guess I should clearify.... what's the top hole for? The tail hole has to be the hook


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## truck (Apr 12, 2004)

Welcome to the site BB  Can't help ya with vibees,fishing at Meldahl can be great


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## BaitBucket (Nov 13, 2005)

Thanks Truck!

The OR is looking more and more interesting all the time. Good thing.. I was loosing heart with a few of the lakes around here.

Your pics are great <grin>. Those were some great ...fish? There were fish, right?


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## BaitBucket (Nov 13, 2005)

The Holes!!!

I just saw this.... I'm really getting slower than usual


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## truck (Apr 12, 2004)

?there were fish,right??? BTW thanks about the pics


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## creekwalker (May 23, 2004)

BaitBucket said:


> guess I should clearify.... what's the top hole for? The tail hole has to be the hook


Uhhh...where you tie the lure on  Some of the lures like these have more than one hole on the top so when you retrieve the lure comes in at different angles and should dive differently. Since these lures don't have a lip, I'm not sure how much effect the multiple holes would have, but I think if you tie to the single hole the lure retrieves at about a 45 degree angle.

Of course, I have only read about these lures haven't really used them, so I might have no idea what I am talking about  I have used Rat-L Traps which are similar in form factor and the location where you tie on the lure.


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## BaitBucket (Nov 13, 2005)

creekwalker,

Ya know, now that you mention multiple holes for tie-on, I think I've see those before... somewhere!?!? That makes sense! Thanks!


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## kmb411 (Feb 24, 2005)

Most blade baits have mutliple holes, for different retreive and action. I'm not sure about the Vibee, have not use one yet!


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## FISHONAJ (Oct 25, 2005)

1st post on OR page - I've not only used vib-e's, i've caught fish on them. Not in the river tho, more a verticle jig thing either icefishing or in lakes. As for the ones with mulitiple holes, i always used the middle one. My best TIP, attach the vib-e with a snap. NEVER directly tie to it. The other thing i do to prevent line twist is run a foot of florocarbon line from the snap to a swivel. Fished correctly they are one of my favorite "go to" baits. Good luck and good fishing.

AJ Johnson III


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