# hocking river 11-5-11-6



## WISH IT WAS YOU (Jul 25, 2006)

the last two day i went down to the river around hockings campus for a couple hours both days sat i caught 2 14-15 inch smallies fish a long strech only could find fish in slack water breaking off from heavy current. really colorfull fish though today caught one 16inch smalli and lost 3 others all on 1/16th oz marabou jigs white and green


----------



## WISH IT WAS YOU (Jul 25, 2006)

this is my first year fishing the hocking due to me going to school here now but my ? is how far up the river doo people catch saugeye and sauger


----------



## fishing_marshall (Jun 12, 2004)

Sauger and eyes don't make it above whites mill in athens. There may be a stray saugeye here and there above that that came in from Logan.


----------



## RiverWader (Apr 1, 2006)

Up to the Mill


----------



## WISH IT WAS YOU (Jul 25, 2006)

ohh really where do them eyes come from down below the mill


----------



## TheCream (Mar 19, 2009)

My guess is they are coming in from the Ohio. Fish ID is one of my major pet peeves, almost all of the fish you'll catch in the Hocking will be sauger, not saugeyes. I guess "eyes" is easier/cooler to say then "ers."  There can be a stray saugeye every now and then, but very few. Saugeye are much more common in lakes around SE Ohio, they have been stocked as a put-and-take fishery. Snowden has some (caught a pig on the fly a few springs back), Lake Logan (this is how some could get into the Hocking), and I think Burr Oak has had them stocked. I've actually caught walleyes in the Hocking, but they were all small. Telling a walleye from a sauger is easy, sauger from saugeye is a little tougher and most folks confuse them.


----------



## RiverWader (Apr 1, 2006)

TheCream said:


> My guess is they are coming in from the Ohio. Fish ID is one of my major pet peeves, almost all of the fish you'll catch in the Hocking will be sauger, not saugeyes. I guess "eyes" is easier/cooler to say then "ers."  There can be a stray saugeye every now and then, but very few. Saugeye are much more common in lakes around SE Ohio, they have been stocked as a put-and-take fishery. Snowden has some (caught a pig on the fly a few springs back), Lake Logan (this is how some could get into the Hocking), and I think Burr Oak has had them stocked. I've actually caught walleyes in the Hocking, but they were all small. Telling a walleye from a sauger is easy, sauger from saugeye is a little tougher and most folks confuse them.


All of this is correct, Thats why I say Eyes! LOL


----------



## OU-Pilot (Oct 14, 2011)

I have caught many 'a saugeye in the hocking. And while I would agree that there are far more sauger than any of the "eye" species, you can guarantee that if there are walleye and sauger, there will be saugeye (especially in such a concentrated area like whites mill). I caught this one and a few others this summer. It has the white belly and tail tip of a walleye, but the darker color splotches on its side like a sauger. It also had (and you cant tell from the picture) spots on its dorsal fin (a trademark of sauger, thus saugeye).


----------



## TheCream (Mar 19, 2009)

Yep, not saying there aren't _any_ in there, just that if you catch 10, odds are 1 (or none) will be a saugeye and the rest would be sauger. Heck a buddy of mine even caught a northern pike out of the river near the mill a few years back, now that was a shocker. 

Riverwader, you are a frequent violator of the fish ID rules.


----------



## RiverWader (Apr 1, 2006)

TheCream said:


> Riverwader, you are a frequent violator of the fish ID rules.



Yep I am!! LOL Instead of EYES, I'll start calling them fish with Big sharp teeth


----------



## WISH IT WAS YOU (Jul 25, 2006)

TheCream said:


> My guess is they are coming in from the Ohio. Fish ID is one of my major pet peeves, almost all of the fish you'll catch in the Hocking will be sauger, not saugeyes. I guess "eyes" is easier/cooler to say then "ers."  There can be a stray saugeye every now and then, but very few. Saugeye are much more common in lakes around SE Ohio, they have been stocked as a put-and-take fishery. Snowden has some (caught a pig on the fly a few springs back), Lake Logan (this is how some could get into the Hocking), and I think Burr Oak has had them stocked. I've actually caught walleyes in the Hocking, but they were all small. Telling a walleye from a sauger is easy, sauger from saugeye is a little tougher and most folks confuse them.


aww man i know the diffrence between all three i just heard that their was saugeye and sauger i just say eyes to be quick on typing but i guess that would make sence with them coming from the ohio i just wasnt sure how they got their im not from athans area im from canfield in mahoning county im just down here for school


----------



## TheCream (Mar 19, 2009)

RiverWader said:


> Yep I am!! LOL Instead of EYES, I'll start calling them fish with Big sharp teeth


Those are gar.


----------



## OU-Pilot (Oct 14, 2011)

hey wish it was you, im from salem, and go to school down here. if you ever wanna hit the hocking or somewhere close on the oh river, let me know, ive been fishin down here for 4 years


----------



## TheCream (Mar 19, 2009)

OU-Pilot said:


> hey wish it was you, im from salem, and go to school down here. if you ever wanna hit the hocking or somewhere close on the oh river, let me know, ive been fishin down here for 4 years


I work on campus, graduated in '04, fish it a lot, too. Hopefully this coming spring will not be as wet and rainy, the flooding this year was horrible.


----------



## WISH IT WAS YOU (Jul 25, 2006)

ohh yea thats whats up , man im down forsure im trying to hit racine before it get to to cold ive never fished it but if your down somtime mabye this weekend or next let me know the only problem i have is no car so if your able to drive i could spit gas cost with you if your down for that i might be going to white mill today sometime to check that out but yea let me know


----------



## WISH IT WAS YOU (Jul 25, 2006)

this is to the cream idk if you would ever would be cool with this but somtime in the future i see you do alot of w.v trout fishing and ive been dieing to get into that the only real kinda trout fishing ive ever done was steelhead fishing the rivers and stocked trout in lakes witch isnt trout fishing but i got a nice cortland 6wt ive been trying to get outa the closet idk if you ever take people with you but if your ever interested in spliting gas costs going to w.v somtime


----------



## TheCream (Mar 19, 2009)

WISH IT WAS YOU said:


> this is to the cream idk if you would ever would be cool with this but somtime in the future i see you do alot of w.v trout fishing and ive been dieing to get into that the only real kinda trout fishing ive ever done was steelhead fishing the rivers and stocked trout in lakes witch isnt trout fishing but i got a nice cortland 6wt ive been trying to get outa the closet idk if you ever take people with you but if your ever interested in spliting gas costs going to w.v somtime


I'd be game for it. I don't usually go down there until late March/early April, but the time between then and about June is the best time to fish WV for trout, in my opinion. Good water flows, active fish, and lots of water to cover.


----------



## dtigers1984 (Jul 24, 2007)

I fished the Hocking a bunch while going to school there ('95-'98). Much of the time I was there I didn't have transportation either. Under those conditions I liked to start at the rt 278 bridge and wade downstream from there for smallies. When I did have transportation we usually went up towards Logan for smallies. Small, crawfish immitating crank baits were my favorite. The biggest I caught there came on a #9 floating rapala.


----------



## Duncan Bay (Nov 10, 2011)

Don't understand why it would be hard to tell the difference between a sauger and a saugeye? Just sayin.


----------



## glassbass (Apr 19, 2011)

To be certain, there ARE saugeyes in the hocking river, of which I have caught a few. You are also correct about where they came from. Lake logan was stocked with them and the lake logan spillway empties into the Hocking. The last one I caught was in the rapids right below the falls mill bridge, which is only a short distance from the spillway creek. (It was approx 5 years ago) The big ones in lake logan are getting far and few between, which is good news for the bass fishing as they are super predators to the bass spawn. (on the smallies in the hocking, I've done my best on the bigger ones, (3 to 4.5 lbs) on a 5" tube, black with red flakes, from late september to TOO cold in December.


----------



## Duncan Bay (Nov 10, 2011)

Burr Oak, which the spillway dumps into the Sunday Creek and then on down to the Hocking River, was stocked with Saugeyes years ago. Haven't caught one there in yrs and believe that most have been sucked out through the spillway.


----------



## RiverWader (Apr 1, 2006)

Duncan Bay said:


> Don't understand why it would be hard to tell the difference between a sauger and a saugeye? Just sayin.


Noone said it was hard. As far as Burr Oak, They still catch 1 or 2 a year out of there


----------



## Duncan Bay (Nov 10, 2011)

TheCream said:


> Telling a walleye from a sauger is easy, sauger from saugeye is a little tougher and most folks confuse them.


Well I guess he said "a little tougher". 

1-2 saugeye a year, I bet they look like dinosaurs by now. When was the last time odnr stocked burr oak with them?


----------



## RiverWader (Apr 1, 2006)

Sometime around 00-03 I believe, I wish they would start up again , I caught alot of Monsters out of there in 97-99


----------



## TheCream (Mar 19, 2009)

Duncan Bay said:


> Well I guess he said "a little tougher".
> 
> 1-2 saugeye a year, I bet they look like dinosaurs by now. When was the last time odnr stocked burr oak with them?


My apologies, I should have said "a little easier to confuse." I have no issues telling them apart, but people who don't know what to look for clearly confuse them a lot.


----------



## WISH IT WAS YOU (Jul 25, 2006)

the cream thats sounds good to me im not really able to get money for a w.v for a bit anyways and that would give me time to get all my gear together and thanks for the info everyone i went down to the mill thursday and saterday thursday i caught 7 crappies and two smallies all on marabou jigs. went down saterday and caught one walleye around 16inch and thats it. but now that i know where the mill is and everything ill be hitting that area up alot more


----------

