# ODNR Fish Report 8/9/06



## Big Daddy

Wildlife News 
Ohio Department of Natural Resources
Division of Wildlife

The Fish Ohio Report

August 9, 2006

CENTRAL OHIO
Delaware Lake (Delaware County)  Use small spinners, crank baits, and soft-plastic baits during the early morning on drop-offs, tree stumps or channels for largemouth bass. Bass measuring up to 20 inches are available. These same locations provide some of the highest quality crappie fishing in central Ohio. Fishing with cut baits and soft craws is especially productive in the upper half of the lake for channel catfish. Most of these fish measure 12 to 16 inches. The flats south of Cap Cole Bay are great for saugeyes.

Indian Lake (Logan County)  Areas with slow moving current are good places to fish when seeking channel catfish. Use chicken livers, night crawlers and prepared baits along the lake bottom for best results. Shoreline areas that have brush piles and other submerged cover are good places to fish for bluegills. Use redworms, mealworms, and larval baits at depths of three to eight feet. The riprap areas are good bass fishing spots. Irregularities like corners or underwater projections are good areas to target. Areas around the bridges are also good spots to take white bass using shad or minnows. The Old Indian Lake area remains among the top spots to fish for saugeyes.

NORTHWEST OHIO
Harrison Lake (Fulton County)  Catfish are being taken on the bottom by fishing raw shrimp under a bobber.

Wauseon Reservoir (Fulton County)  Catfish are being taken on the bottom by fishing raw shrimp under a bobber.

Archbold Reservoir (Fulton County) - Catfish are being taken on the bottom by fishing raw shrimp under a bobber.

Clear Fork Reservoir (Richland County)  The water temperature is 80 degrees. Crappie are being taken in good numbers. Minnows fished under a slip bobber is working great. Set the minnow at about 24 inches under the bobber. Fish the deeper water areas around brush or structure. 

Charles Mill (Richland County)  Good catches of channel catfish are being taken. Liver, shrimp or stink baits are best. The best time is after a rain when the water is coming up. 

NORTHEAST OHIO
Portage Lakes (Summit County) - Crappie reaching Fish Ohio! lengths are being taken in eight to ten feet of water from Nimisila and Long lakes. A pinmin tipped with live bait is good for catching these 13+inch keepers, but even if a Fish Ohio! crappie doesnt send your bobber under water, many eight to 12 inch fish are nearby, hungry for a bite. Anglers should focus on the weed edges in the back bays and coves. East Reservoir- At the south end of Miller Lake in East Reservoir, panfishing is picking up in the mornings and late evenings. Bluegills, pumpkinseeds, warmouths, and redear sunfish (averaging six to eight inches) are biting on maggots, wax worms, and night crawlers.
Spencer Lake (Medina County) - Anglers are encouraged to fish structure near the shoreline for channel catfish in late evenings. Despite the heat, however, fish are biting throughout early afternoon as well. Best access for this 50-acre lake is the shoreline near the dock as well as by boat. Chicken livers, scented bait, shrimp, or night crawlers are recommended baits. Wheelchair accessible shoreline facilities are available and electric motors only.

SOUTHWEST OHIO
Seven Mile Creek (Preble County)  Smallmouth bass are being caught by anglers using 1/16 ounce lead headed jigs colored pumpkinseed, black swirly-tailed jigs, soft craws, or artificial soft craws. Cast the bait upstream and into the riffles then allow the bait to float downstream and into the deeper pools. 

East Fork (Clermont County)  Crappies are being caught by anglers using small to medium sized minnows, wax worms, or grubs (jig a tube). Fish the bait in shallow water one to four feet deep or in water 20 feet deep. Fish from the main lake points where old road beds went across the lake and into the old creek channels entering the lake. Channel catfish are being caught by anglers at night time using night crawlers, Nitro worms, or chicken liver as bait. Use a #8, 1/0, or 2/0 long shanked hook. Keep the bait along the bottom and near any rock wall and at least 18 feet deep and near the beaches. Look for good fishing near the old road beds that go down and into the lake, near boat ramps, and also where the creeks enter the lake. Bluegills are hitting on meal worms, wax worms, or redworms. Keep the bait under a bobber and about two to five feet deep. Cast anywhere around the docks, standing wood, or downed trees. Hybrid striped bass are being caught by anglers trolling near the main beach, campground beach, and the flat near the Army Corp ramp. Pop-Rs or chicken liver are proving successful for catching good sized hybrid striped bass. Early morning or late evening hours are the most productive times.

SOUTHEAST OHIO

Hocking River (Athens County)  Fishing for channel catfish has been successful near Hockingport using cut baits and chicken livers. The river at Whites Mill has been a recent hotspot  parking for fishing access is on West Union Street. Fishing below the island on the west bank has been excellent. Try live baits fished under a bobber. Channel catfish were caught in this location up to 16 inches, white bass in the eight to nine inch range, and several good sized bluegills.

Scioto River (Ross and Pike counties)  Channel catfish have been hitting cut bait, live creek chubs and chicken livers fished from shore along the bottom. Try casting into rapid drop-off points and near rip-rap or rocky structure. Water levels in the Scioto are slightly high and somewhat cloudy.

Jackson Lake (Jackson County)  Fish for bluegill and other sunfish any where along the shoreline access areas with wax worms suspended under a bobber. Late evening and early morning fishing is most successful for catfish anglers with the typical cut baits, night crawlers or chicken livers fished tight line. Fish caught range from 12 to 16 inches, although a 47 pound catfish was caught last week around the old boat ramp area at 11:30pm.

LAKE ERIE 
**The walleye daily bag limit is six fish. A 15-inch minimum size limit for walleye remains in effect for the entire season. The Lake Erie daily bag limit for yellow perch is 40 fish. The daily bag limit for black bass on Lake Erie is five. The minimum size limit for black bass on Lake Erie is 14-inches. The steelhead trout bag limit is five. The minimum size limit for steelhead is 12 inches.**

Western Basin

Walleye fishing continues to be excellent with many limits being caught. The best fishing has been around the Niagara Reef green buoy, A can of the firing range, West Sister Island, from Ballast Island to Middle Island, and southwest of Kelleys Island around American Eagle Shoal. Drifters are using mayfly rigs or weight forward spinners, while most trollers are using worm harnesses or spoons with jet or dipsy divers. The best spoon colors have been patterns that include gold and purple or red.

The best yellow perch fishing in the western basin has been southeast of Kelleys Island, west of the Kelleys Island stone docks, around the Toledo water intake and northeast of Ballast Island. Perch spreaders with shiners fished near the bottom produce the most fish.

Central Basin 

Walleye fishing in the central basin has been good. Fish have been caught on Ruggles Reef, west of Huron off of Sawmill Creek and Point Retreat in 26 to 34 feet of water, one mile north of the Rocky River in 28 feet of water, 10 miles north of Wildwood State Park (Euclid) in 70 feet of water, 10 to 14 miles north-northeast of Geneva in 70 to 74 feet of water, and 10 to 14 miles north-northwest of Ashtabula in 70 to 74 feet of water. Fish have been caught on worm harnesses or wonderbread, bloody nose, watermelon, killer bee and copper/back spoons trolled with dipsy divers or trolled with jet divers off planer boards. Some anglers are also drifting worm harnesses. Fish are suspended and anglers are fishing down 30 to 50 feet.

The best yellow perch fishing in the central basin has been one to two miles north of Lakewood in 42 to 46 feet of water, four miles north of Edgewater State Park around the Cleveland Crib in 45 to 48 feet of water, four miles north of Eastlake in 40 to 42 feet of water, three to five miles north of Geneva in 45 to 55 feet of water, and three to five miles north of Fairport in 45 to 55 feet of water. Fish have ranged from 7 to 11 inches. Perch spreaders with shiners fished near the bottom produce the most fish. 

Smallmouth bass fishing has been excellent on Ruggles Reef between Huron and Vermilion, and along the shoreline from Fairport Harbor to Conneaut in 15 to 25 feet of water. Fish have been caught on goby color tube jigs, goby color drop shot rigs, jigs tipped with minnows or leeches, or by trolling crankbaits. 

The best white bass fishing has been 1/2 mile north of Eastlake CEI power plant. Anglers are using agitators with white, yellow and green twister tails. Shore anglers are also reporting catching white bass at the Eastlake CEI, Mentor Headlands lighthouse, Wildwood State Park, Rocky River, Avon Lake and Lorain piers, using agitators with white, yellow and green twister tails and small spoons.

Lake Erie surface temperatures range from 77 to 78 degrees.

To view the predicted weather forecast for Lake Erie visit: http://weather.noaa.gov/cgi-bin/fmtbltn.pl?file=forecasts/marine/great_lakes/le/lez160.txt 

OHIO RIVER

Lawrence County  Water temperatures are running around 84 degrees Fahrenheit. Channel catfish are being caught using night crawlers, shad, and minnows. Freshwater drum have also been hitting. Night angling has been the most popular time period for catfish anglers due to the high daytime temperatures.

Scioto County - Channel catfish and flathead are being caught below the Greenup Locks and Dam tail-waters using shad and skipjack herring fished tight on the bottom. Fishing during the night seems to be the best time to fish for channel catfish and flathead catfish. The confluence of the Scioto River and the Ohio River has been producing catches of flathead catfish, hybrid striped bass and white bass as well. Flathead catfish are generally caught using live bait such as shad and skipjack herring. Water temperatures are in the mid-80 degree range.

Gallia County  Fish for catfish in deep, slow pools using cut bait or chicken livers. Hybrid striped bass have been caught at the K.H. Butler Ramp in the early mornings using any minnow-type diving lures or live baits fished along the bottom.


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## freyedknot

i wonder why d'arcy never puts any more pics of the big ones caught . he always had a paragraph about the tropyies that were recently caught.


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