# Water Level @ Racine ???



## GOLDFISH (Mar 10, 2006)

Was planning on fishing around Racine tomorrrow nite and it's been a few years what is the site that tells the water levels don't want to make a wasted trip with the amount of rain we got here today. Thanks,


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## FishNerd (Apr 22, 2013)

http://water.weather.gov/ahps2/hydrograph.php?wfo=rlx&gage=racw2

If the walkway is under you could always fish from the washout in the rocks about 100 yards to the right of the stairway, around the bend.


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## bowtechbuck22 (May 10, 2013)

Did you see anybody catching skippies?


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## I Fish (Sep 24, 2008)

The water wasn't up yet as of Sunday before noon. They had 2 dam gates open, and the outside hydro running. Racine has been pretty much dead again this year. There's been a few days the Skipjack were in, but, besides a couple small white bass and fewer small sauger, nothing much has been happening there. Nobody seems to understand what's going on there. Are there really next to no fish there, or, has something changed, and they are staying too far out?:S


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## FishNerd (Apr 22, 2013)

I was up there a few weeks ago and caught 10 fish (sauger and hybrids). Granted, they were all small, but they were holding within 10 feet of the walkway.

It seems like the set up for Racine keeps the fish out farther, I've noticed that if you fish around the bend from the walkway (to the right and over the embankment as you're standing in the parking lot), you get the current seam which seems to draw in the skippies/shad, and, by proxy, the bigger fishes.

bowtech, if you're looking for skippies, go to R C Byrd. They've been crazy down there the last few weeks. I was there Friday night and the water was literally boiling with them. Unfortunately, they weren't what I was after, although I tried to catch them on a small white grub. Hooked a few but they got away. They were tearing through baitfish schools so hard they were mostly ignoring my lures.


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## Daveo76 (Apr 14, 2004)

Just use small marabou crappie jigs, 2 1/2 finesse minnows or Zoom tiny flukes, just so it resembles the shiners they are chasing down


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## I Fish (Sep 24, 2008)

FishNerd said:


> you get the current seam which seems to draw in the skippies/shad, and, by proxy, the bigger fishes.


A couple of my buddies were there last night and again this morning. The water came up 18" in about a half hour. Still no fish. They started at the wall, fished all the way down the walkway, across the big rocks, almost all the way to the sandbar. They're regulars there, and know just about every trick. They tried spoons, launchers, cutbait, crankbaits, you name it. They caught 1 skipjack, 1 white bass, 1-18 inch shovelhead, and 2 drum. All of that in a total of 20 hours, well, 40 hours considering there were 2 of them. They only saw one other guy catch anything, and that was a handfull of white bass. Nobody is catching anything there. Pathetic, really.

They're going back this afternoon/evening. We keep thinking they've got to eat sometime, but are starting to wonder if there is anything there. Racine has gone downhill more each year for the last 4 or 5 years. I'll let you know if they do any good.


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## I Fish (Sep 24, 2008)

I Fish said:


> I'll let you know if they do any good.


They didn't do any good. They fished from about 2:30 until 7. Not a fish. WTH?


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## GOLDFISH (Mar 10, 2006)

Ok I checked the website for the water level and by last saturday water was only going up a foot and half so we headed to racine. Now I have access to river bank from a private home above the dam on BuckTown rd and Three places below the dam. We fished at one one the places in Syrcause off 124 
The Current was rolling But the Live Gills did their job brought three to the dock one that pushed 20# A Neighbor guy there with nightcrawlers caught one well over 36" and fat said it was his biggest and was not planning for something like that. 

When I fish the Dam if it's not crowded I like to Float a Big Slip Bobber down thru there Caught some big cats doing that Good Luck to All !


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## OHfishfinder (Jan 26, 2012)

Early summer the hybrids and whites were biting hard. A few 50+ fish days. However after those two days and seeing people walk out with stringers PaCKED full of fish it seems its getting fished out. Literally a couple hundred fish. Still decent fishing just not as good as past years.









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## I Fish (Sep 24, 2008)

OHfishfinder said:


> Early summer the hybrids and whites were biting hard. A few 50+ fish days.


When was this?


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## thecatman (Apr 6, 2011)

The fishing has been declining in the R.C. Byrd pool for years and not just at the dam at Racine but the pool as a whole. Now I know that some ppl especially younger guys are going to disagree with me on this but I grew up fishing this pool, I'm 42 and I can remember a time years ago as a kid when you could walk down to the river bank anywhere with night crawlers or shiners (if you could catch em) and tear the fish up. It was harder to catch bait than to catch fish! We used to catch cats (channel and flats), white bass, drum, carp, sauger all kinds if stuff. You usually couldn't fish with 2 rods because you couldn't keep two at a time in the water. As a matter of fact I clearly remember fishing at times when I was able to catch a trap full of shiners.. You didn't even have time to set your rod down! A fish would have it before the sinker touched the bottom and it was this way on every cast until we ran out if bait! Its not that way anymore! Nowadays you can go sit at the river all night and not get a single bite! Now having said that many folks, myself included, still catch a good number of larger cats in the pool every year but the overall numbers of fish in general have got to be a mere fraction of what use to be here and I can't help but think that there were surely far greater numbers of large fish at that time too. We just didn't fish for them as kids.


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## OHfishfinder (Jan 26, 2012)

The catman- this is really unfortunate. I wonder what is causin the decline? Fishin it out or just not pumping them through. I've been fishing down there for about 13 years and it seems this year and last year have been the worst.

I fish- the big days were two days in late April during storms. I was the only one there about 5am- 2pm rain the entire time and one other guy later in the evening. Almost the same story 2 days later. Couldn't cast without catching a wiper. Then just disappeared.any recent reports?


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## I Fish (Sep 24, 2008)

OHfishfinder said:


> any recent reports?


Since Racine has been sucking so bad, we've been fishing mostly other places this year. Talked to a buddy last night that went yesterday morning from 5am to about 1pm. He did catch 4 hybrids, but they were only about 15", and 2 10# bluecats. Pretty sad for 8 hours.


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