# Ohio River report from Sunday, 21st



## UFM82 (Apr 6, 2004)

This wasn't really worthy of a report but I tried something different and it worked somewhat so I'll try it again. 

Launched at Tanners around 7:45 a.m. and could not net a shad to save my life. They had been popping all over the place the night before but in the cool of the morning they were not shallow yet. Decided to hit AEP for skips and see what was up. They were in the discharge thick but weren't taking baits as normal- lots of strikes but few hook-ups. Got desperate and threw the net a dozen times and managed 4 dozen 6 inchers. Not the size I was looking for but bait nonetheless. If the river continues to stay the way it is now until October and the water cools a bit and the skips continue to grow, they'll be thick and I should be able to harvest a good number of them for the freezer. 

Ran up to Anderson Ferry and set up the drift. Unfortunately the river was not cooperative and the current (or lack thereof) didn't cooperate at all. In an hour and a half we had moved about 300 yards and that was about what I could have done on a lake. We did manage a couple fish, a 7.7lb channel and a babay flatty of about a pound. Marked fish and most were in the 20' or deeper areas. I can see the drifting as being a good technique when the current is a little better and hope that I'll get a chance to try it later this year. 

One thing I did find and this was a good thing. Some advice from a member showed me the light on drifting and I can say that I'll use the technique again- no snags, no lost rigs, no cussing and swearing at hanging up and we went through a lot of different structure. Going so slow showed me lots of stuff I may have overlooked previously and I'll fish those areas better in the future. I guess that's what makes a good fisherman from a bad one...

UFM82

See, it wasn't worth posting was it? LOL


----------



## hunterm (Apr 22, 2004)

but how about sharing the tip on no-hassle drifting for the rest of us un-enlightened heathens?


----------



## LittleMiamiJeff (Oct 1, 2005)

hunterm said:


> but how about sharing the tip on no-hassle drifting for the rest of us un-enlightened heathens?


UGH, MPHH, my thoughts exactly!


----------



## UFM82 (Apr 6, 2004)

I didn't know it not having the bait near the bottom would work, how much weight, etc. I now know that keeping the baits 3'-5' off the bottom does in fact work and using heavy weights to keep your lines hanging straight down is the way to go. I also experimented a lot with rigs and found that a three-way swivel on the main line, an 18" leader for the circle hook and a 6" dropper for the weight doesn't twist up and get tangled. I tried other configurations and they were all poor choices. I also used 3 oz slim trolling weights as my sinkers as they show very little resistance. More current will require more weight. I HATED drifting in the past because I didn't know what to do- not enough weight, too much line out with the bait dragging bottom, bad rigs, etc. I'll actually try this again and may find it to be worth the hassle. The ONLY thing I don't like is watching the finder and adjusting the rods up and down. That gets old. 

I also found out what happens when a 7.7 lb channel hits a suspended bait as it passes overhead. That a no-doubter! 

UFM82


----------



## Flatty01 (Aug 9, 2008)

thats nice but i wonder how it woudl work with 6 rods out at once, lol.


----------



## UFM82 (Apr 6, 2004)

And didn't run into any tangling issues. You have to watch what you are doing but generally it was fine. Trust me- I'm a lazy fisherman. If it was hard I wouldn't try it again. LOL

With the heavy weight the lines hang straight below the boat and don't tangle each other. My boat has holders in the gunwales and that spreads them out a bit. (It's a center console style boat) No issues with tangles. 

UFM82


----------



## Salmonid (Apr 14, 2004)

even spread out, you may have some serious tangling issues, last weekend me and Mellon were out, had 6 rods out, only had problems with the 1 rod with the lively 10" shad on it, he was a real swimmer, drug around 8oz like it was nothing and tangled at least 2 times, other rods were fine with 3 oz. 

Salmonid


----------



## hunterm (Apr 22, 2004)

I'm thinking a fillet knife reducing that dude to cutbait would have resolved the tangle issue....Just kidding...lol


----------



## -mike- (Sep 26, 2008)

Thats funny. Up river in the racine/syracuse area the bigger skippies have disapeared as well. Id like to know where they went to.

For drifting I like to use shoe laces or parachute cord stuffed with buckshot on a three way rig with a cork bobber about a foot above the bait hook to keep it up off bottom. Sinker lead is 12 pound test with main line and hook lead being 65 pound power pro. What snags I do get, just get broke off and retied. Real simple fishing as the bobber keeps the hook a constant depth off bottom no matter how much line is out, or how much the depth varies.

Neat thing is I pick up a ton of non target fish- walleye, sauger, smallies and hybrids- on these rigs when using whole small skippies.

BTW, You can drift using planer boards and practically any rig to cover more ground as well.


----------

