# Meldahal plant



## nlcatfish (Mar 21, 2005)

I heard from a friend the was fishing up there over the weekend that the generator they were test had a bearing problem. they shut it down , now awaiting replacement from Germany. There was *NO CURRENT* at all with it shut down. Not sure if the skipjacks have move in should be easier to get them with out the fast current. I might run up there this week to see if I can get some skipjacks for the freezer.

just included a video about how bad the catfish are being removed from the river by commercial fishermen on my web page.
http://www.cincinnaticatfishing.com


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## burt (Aug 22, 2010)

I would not waste the gas, it has been dead water since the generators have not been running. I have not seen much or hardly anything caught. No shad in there or minnows are in there that I have seen.


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## nlcatfish (Mar 21, 2005)

Thanks for the update. Just did not get there today.


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## catcrazed (Jan 15, 2008)

Hey guys for what it's worth I drove by there yesterday and noticed that the gates were open and the steam was rolling off the creek and it wasn't fog........ Didn't fish or anything but that's what I saw.... They had to be generating yesterday, no way it was steaming like that and not hot


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## cadyshac (Dec 9, 2005)

Why would it be "hot"? They're not cooling anything, just running water thru a turbine.


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## Meldahl Jesus (Dec 2, 2008)

Was there last night. Hydro shut off still. Will run next month sometime the workers say.


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## nlcatfish (Mar 21, 2005)

Meldahl Jesus said:


> Was there last night. Hydro shut off still. Will run next month sometime the workers say.



ANY BAIT FISH IN THE OUT FLOW??


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## Salmonid (Apr 14, 2004)

I heard there has been bait fish activity there but waaaay too far out to cast too. we need some current down there.

Salmonid


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## Ajax (May 16, 2008)

I just got back from Meldahl. My lady and I caught 4 fish total 2 sauger and two large crappie. Fishing with lipless crankbaits and 3" twisty grubs. We only fished a couple of hours. Other people were catching crappie, catfish and sauger. No current coming from the hydro. Didn't see any baitfish either. But a great day to be outside on the water. https://goo.gl/photos/MiF2rw3S68ow9As38


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## nlcatfish (Mar 21, 2005)

Anyone Know How Deep that hole of the outflow really is ??was thinking about using a bobber rig to suspend the bait for catfish.


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## zack2345 (Dec 22, 2010)

Can you take a boat into there ?


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## burt (Aug 22, 2010)

zack2345 said:


> Can you take a boat into there ?


No we lost fishing the old buoy line also, where the face of the lock begins is pretty much as far as you can go.


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## Meldahl Jesus (Dec 2, 2008)

Saw skips busting minnows yesterday morning near the pier. Been guys catfishing lately, haven't seen anything of size caught. Hole in front of turbines is 30 ft deep, sloping up to about 12 ft through the entire channel. Guys on beach caught so.e sauger deadline today. All I got.


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## nlcatfish (Mar 21, 2005)

Boats are restricted below a good distance down river from the outflow. YOU JUST HAVE FISH FROM THE BANK! The restrictions were in place long before the plant was built.Huntington has different ruling for Meldahl compared to how


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## burt (Aug 22, 2010)

nlcatfish said:


> Boats are restricted below a good distance down river from the outflow. YOU JUST HAVE FISH FROM THE BANK! The restrictions were in place long before the plant was built.Huntington has different ruling for Meldahl compared to how


These buoys out there now are pushed farther back, a boat used to be legally to fish past the old danger sign!!!


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## catcrazed (Jan 15, 2008)

nlcatfish said:


> Boats are restricted below a good distance down river from the outflow. YOU JUST HAVE FISH FROM THE BANK! The restrictions were in place long before the plant was built.Huntington has different ruling for Meldahl compared to how


Not to burst your bubble but those buoys are waaaaaaaaay further downstream than they used to be.... Typical govt bullchit at its finest. I hadn't been to the dam since the hydro was complete... Went today in the boat and couldn't believe how far they have those buoys pushed out.... We could LEGALLY fish the rock bank on the ky side by boat... Hell its 100yds plus from that area now. They have successfully taken all the good fishing from the boaters that's for sure.... Oh well..... I left that place and put back in at bullskin and thrashed crappie.... None real big but had a lot of fun...... Meldahl produced 3 short sauger for me today, 3 darn nice hybrids, and two drum about 6lbs a piece... Saw one other boat catch a sauger but of the 5 boats along side me for 4 hours it was pretty much dead! When we used to be able to get back into the little lock this time of year it never failed us.....


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## fallen513 (Jan 5, 2010)

How big were your hybrids?


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## catcrazed (Jan 15, 2008)

fallen513 said:


> How big were your hybrids?


3-4lbs id say???? This was one of them... Is this a hybrid???


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## catcrazed (Jan 15, 2008)

And yes my dog likes fish!


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## fallen513 (Jan 5, 2010)

Cool dog! And nice fish too. Yes, definitely a hybrid. You can tell by the contrast of the stripes and the fact that at least 3 extend all the way to the tail. That is a 100% method of telling the difference. White bass will only have one "stripe", the lateral line…extending to the tail…and all of the stripes will be relatively faint in comparison to that fish you're holding. Nice work & thanks for sharing.


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## Trent Norman (Dec 1, 2015)

Anyone know if things are back up and running yet? Headed there tomorrow morning.


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## PT-63 (Oct 10, 2011)

You can thank the knuckleheads that wouldn't move 2yrs ago for the restrictions.
The new park has only been open a month and its already full of broken beer bottles, trash and wads of 50lb Kmart line. A concrete barricade with no fishing sign, and "no open fires" signs have been placed too. At this rate the gates will be locked by summer.


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## catcrazed (Jan 15, 2008)

I was at Meldahl in boat for sauger this morning.... It sucked.. Saw one fish caught. Pulled boat out and went crappie fishing. Glad I did, had fun.... One of the guys said bad bite yesterday to


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## Kendall0627 (Jan 25, 2012)

Correct me if I'm wrong but meldahl dam has warm water now? Thought this new project wasn't gonna produce warm water........ Be good for winter skip jacks


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## nlcatfish (Mar 21, 2005)

NO WARM WATER ,the water from the river turns the turbines . Water temp stays the same in or out of the power plant.


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## CPK (Jan 31, 2015)

If the generator is designed to be water cooled then the water passing through would receive some of that transferred heat wouldn't it? I don't know if it is but some of them are designed that way.


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## Trent Norman (Dec 1, 2015)

I went here Saturday, the water was 49.6 degrees. The fishing was slow, there were about 15 other boats out, all fishing below the locking gates. I fished from 8 to 4, we had 10 sauger between three of us. I would say most boats had between 5 and 12 sauger per boat. All of mine came on blade baits, several others were fishing minnow tipped jigs, one method did not seem to do better than the other.


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## boonecreek (Dec 28, 2006)

nlcatfish said:


> I heard from a friend the was fishing up there over the weekend that the generator they were test had a bearing problem. they shut it down , now awaiting replacement from Germany. There was *NO CURRENT* at all with it shut down. Not sure if the skipjacks have move in should be easier to get them with out the fast current. I might run up there this week to see if I can get some skipjacks for the freezer.
> 
> just included a video about how bad the catfish are being removed from the river by commercial fishermen on my web page.
> http://www.cincinnaticatfishing.com


Glad


nlcatfish said:


> I heard from a friend the was fishing up there over the weekend that the generator they were test had a bearing problem. they shut it down , now awaiting replacement from Germany. There was *NO CURRENT* at all with it shut down. Not sure if the skipjacks have move in should be easier to get them with out the fast current. I might run up there this week to see if I can get some skipjacks for the freezer.
> 
> just included a video about how bad the catfish are being removed from the river by commercial fishermen on my web page.
> http://www.cincinnaticatfishing.com


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## boonecreek (Dec 28, 2006)

boonecreek said:


> Glad


Fishing access
Do have good fish access below the turbine area.


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## Meldahl Jesus (Dec 2, 2008)

Yes on the access. Buddy went today. 2 turbines running. 3 ft of mud on bank so no one is fishing the channel. Guess turbines we were off when river came up and left all the silt with no outflow present


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## nlcatfish (Mar 21, 2005)

Meldahl Jesus said:


> Yes on the access. Buddy went today. 2 turbines running. 3 ft of mud on bank so no one is fishing the channel. Guess turbines we were off when river came up and left all the silt with no outflow present


How swift is the current when 2 turbines are running? any idea if they plan on running all 3 at the same time?
u


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## Meldahl Jesus (Dec 2, 2008)

Current is pretty swift. You can fish up close at what they call " the split " basically where current pushes toward bank then goes both directions. Room for 2 or 3 folks there. Backside of pier is next calm area and then downstream. Getting good reports of early morning then evening bites. Most fish are being caught on sandbar deadlining minnows with floating jigheads/1oz sinkers.


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## Meldahl Jesus (Dec 2, 2008)

Have friends that fish 3 or 4 days a week there and I'm around about every weekend. I will report when I hear stuff. Forgot to mention the hydro status. Talked to a guy that works there. They are working on getting turbine #3 running. Waiting on bearings from Canada. About a month wait until it's going he said. Then testing. Won't be fully operational with no shut offs until late spring/early summer. All gates off and all 3 running full time.


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## nlcatfish (Mar 21, 2005)

Meldahl Jesus said:


> Have friends that fish 3 or 4 days a week there and I'm around about every weekend. I will report when I hear stuff. Forgot to mention the hydro status. Talked to a guy that works there. They are working on getting turbine #3 running. Waiting on bearings from Canada. About a month wait until it's going he said. Then testing. Won't be fully operational with no shut offs until late spring/early summer. All gates off and all 3 running full time.


 did they ever clear off the MUD from the walk way from when the river up up last week?


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## Meldahl Jesus (Dec 2, 2008)

Yes. Mud is clear. Plant workers drove a dingo down there to scoop it up. Then used a 4 inch water hose and sprayed it all back in river. 8 guys from plant doing it. I made sure to thank them for spending time and taking care of the place


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## nlcatfish (Mar 21, 2005)

Glad to hear that ! Extend my and all the folks that will be going there THANKS fort their efforts.


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## Doboy (Oct 13, 2008)

nlcatfish said:


> Glad to hear that ! Extend my and all the folks that will be going there THANKS fort their efforts.



x3 On that comment! 

MJ,, wouldn't it be just GRAND if you could get 'those plant workers' signed up on OGF?!
I/WE, up here, would just LOVE to have more channels of communication open up, with the New Cumberland Dam employees! (Placing that occasional phone call sucks.!)

Maybe, someday,,, we'll get a power plant installed on the WV side,,,, with a NICE LONG fishing pier & walkway! HINT
You guys are very-very lucky. (envy)


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## Meldahl Jesus (Dec 2, 2008)

Until it gets running properly, not sure how lucky we are yet Doboy. Was really a good place to fish before they put the plant in. Let's hope it ends up that way this summer. Looks like they are at least considering a plant where you are. Found a pdf online with a proposal from back in Feb of 2012 for one.


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## boonecreek (Dec 28, 2006)

Meldahl Jesus said:


> Until it gets running properly, not sure how lucky we are yet Doboy. Was really a good place to fish before they put the plant in. Let's hope it ends up that way this summer. Looks like they are at least considering a plant where you are. Found a pdf online with a proposal from back in Feb of 2012 for one.


Would some one put. Some picture of fishing access there. Can it be seen on goggle earth yet.


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## nlcatfish (Mar 21, 2005)

there are some photos in an posting about Meldahal fro October that shows the out flow fishing area. the new set up prevent me from up loading my photos off my computer.


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## Ajax (May 16, 2008)

Here is a panorama 180 of the waterline.


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## Meldahl Jesus (Dec 2, 2008)

Fishing update: before cold snap, keeper sauger and some good size saugeye being caught on the beach. Deadline minnows floating jighead. 1 oz. Weight will get you there. Mainly morning and evening bites. Something to do if guys are looking for meat. Me personally, fish for the bites, but it's something


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## Meldahl Jesus (Dec 2, 2008)

I found a video of the new hydro setup that someone put to music. Slide show has every single thing about the place in it, from the pier to the urinal.


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## Doboy (Oct 13, 2008)

Wow,,, nice. That video is the best description ever!
Thanks
How could it have been made any better???
It looks like they placed concrete slabs around the shore-line for a walk-way, all the way up to the dam?
& No railing there,,,, like very slippery & dangerous when wet!

I would have 'choked' in those huge boulders with #4's and then poured 6" of concrete on top,,,, & leave it very rough for traction,,,,, kinda like what they did at Mosquito causeway.

 When I'm President,,,, EVERY dam in the USA will have hydroelectric power plants installed, and BOTH sides will have a recreational area like this one,,,, for 'us' outdoor enthusiasts!


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## boonecreek (Dec 28, 2006)

Doboy said:


> Wow,,, nice. That video is the best description ever!
> Thanks
> How could it have been made any better???
> It looks like they placed concrete slabs around the shore-line for a walk-way, all the way up to the dam?
> ...


Thanks MJ .look great going to be nice to fish there again. Thanks again for the time.


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## Meldahl Jesus (Dec 2, 2008)

They leveled out the rocks and poured concrete to make paths to fish all different water levels. Brushed it for traction. Access is great... Fishing not so yet, but still in test phases. They are shutting hydro off periodically so no set pattern. Will have sauger beach report this evening.

P.S. if you live close to Gallipolis, your setup will be similar when done.


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## boonecreek (Dec 28, 2006)

Meldahl Jesus said:


> They leveled out the rocks and poured concrete to make paths to fish all different water levels. Brushed it for traction. Access is great... Fishing not so yet, but still in test phases. They are shutting hydro off periodically so no set pattern. Will have sauger beach report this evening.
> 
> P.S. if you live close to Gallipolis, your setup will be similar when done.


Hope for a good . I mean a record breaking report.


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