# From Greenup Dam to Paint Creek Lake. What a day.



## Jamie Caudill (Jul 12, 2015)

Yesterday I left around 7am in the morning from Hillsboro, Highland County to Greenup Dam with a fishing buddy to do some catfishing. We started by castnetting Gizzard shad at Rocky Fork Lake and catching blue gills on a rod. Our target species was Blue cat on the river. We hit the bait shop and stock up on extra 2 and 3 ounce no roll sinkers, and Team Catfish 5/0 circle hooks.

We make it to Greenup Dam 3 hours later, arriving at roughly 10am. This is my first experience there and my initial reaction was that it was a beautiful location with decent bank access. The view was quickly ruined by the vast amount of trash debris in the parking lot and on the bank and access platform. Garbage everywhere. Crowds of people. A putrid stench lingered in the air. I scout the area and find a place away from the congestion on the bank to fish. I park the truck at a spot near the most accessible path through the woods to the shoreline. We begin removing the gear and I soon discover a horrifying result of massive potholes in the parking lot and a loose transport wagon in the bed.

My Abu Garcia Ambassador 6500c and 6600c's were both damaged. Both handles were bent and the knob on my 6600c was snapped off, along with the drag star being bent as well. I was able to correct the bent handles with pliers, so the damage was mainly cosmetic, but being bipolar and obsessive compulsive didn't make it feel any better. One of my fishing buddy's rods was also snapped in half. We cowboy up and begin fishing. Baitfish everywhere. We could see millions of minnows and a healthy population of drum, stripers, and gar. Well, we only stayed 2 hours because in that time the current robbed us of 5 3 ounce no roll sinkers. 2 1.5 ounce no roll sinkers. 5 Team Catfish circle hooks. 5 barrel swivels. A santee cooper float. A great pirtion of our bait. My buddies live bait bucket (which an hour later resurfaced and he was, fortunately, able to snag it on hook and line.) We decided to leave that hellhole and no sooner did we make it back to the truck did it begin pouring rain.

We regroup and decide to go back to Highland County and fish our honey hole at Paint Creek Lake. 100 mile round trip. 40 bucks in gas gone, just like that, for nothing but misery. No fish were caught. We make it back to Rocky Fork Lake in Hillsboro and do some more castnetting then shove off to Paint Creek Lake and target the spillway.

We spent 16 hours fishing and caught 8 total. 5 channels and 3 shovelheads. 2 10 lb.+ Channels, 3 3-5 pound Channels, 2 13 pound shovelheads, and a 17 pound shovelhead. It was my first time catching a flathead. Ever. I'm 34 years old. And on cut bait! I was and still am ecstatic! What a way to finish a completely horrible start to the day. We transported 2 shovelheads to a friends pond who is relying on me to stock his pond with Channels, Shovels, and Blues. I made the quota for flatheads in one trip considering anymore than 2 would dominate the ecosystem.

Needless to say I'm never returning to Greenup dam.

Here's some pics.










This is my fishing buddy holding up our flatheads:


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## 9Left (Jun 23, 2012)

Nice... Thanks for robbing our lakes of fish to stock a farm pond.


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## Flannel_Carp (Apr 7, 2014)

Sounds like you guys had fun.

Sure hate to see a fish on a stringer that isn't on it's way to a dinner table. They can do a lot of physical damage to themselves when strung through the gills.


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## Roscoe (Jul 22, 2007)

Transporting a couple of 13-17lb. Flatheads, caught from Paint Creek, to your Buddy's pond? Maybe that's legal but not too ethical. Ya gettin' a Pay Lake started? That's what they do. Take our natural fish and dump'em in a shallow pond where they beg to survive. Hell, I might start transplanting Muskies from C.C.Lake to some of the big gravel pits I know.


Roscoe


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## 9Left (Jun 23, 2012)

.


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## ML1187 (Mar 13, 2012)




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## crappie4me (Jan 25, 2009)

......uh oh. pass the popcorn. this should be good


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## beaver (Sep 28, 2010)

As long as it's legal to keep them from there, what's it matter what happens with them afterwards? If someone takes a cooler full of cats home to eat, nobody cares. If they take the same cooler home and release into a pond, people lose their minds. What does it matter where it goes once they take it home? It's still gone. As long as they stay within the legal limit, it is what it is.


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## Buffdaddyfish (Sep 14, 2006)

I see both sides of the debate. I hardly see how these boys raped our natural resources here, but I get the principle on the other side of the spectrum as well.


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## 3 Z's (Jan 25, 2012)

According to the Ohio Fishing Regulations, General Information Section


It is unlawful to transport and introduce any aquatic species (fish, invertebrate, plant) from one body of water to another.


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## 9Left (Jun 23, 2012)

Buffdaddyfish said:


> I see both sides of the debate. I hardly see how these boys raped our natural resources here, but I get the principle on the other side of the spectrum as well.


If you want catfish in your farm pond... By all means , you can have them... Just get off yet lazy but , and BUY them from dealers , and put in the work to raise them yourself to as big a size as you want them.... Instead of, as I stated , taking them from another lake just because you're too lazy to put in the work and time to buy and raise the fish yourself.
Beaver is right, it's legal to catch your limit ... It's not about taking a nice fish From a public lake , it's about taking a nice fish out of a public lake just so you can pitch it in your backyard pond and then telling all your buddies what great fishing you have in your pond.


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## Flannel_Carp (Apr 7, 2014)

3 Z's said:


> According to the Ohio Fishing Regulations, General Information Section
> 
> 
> It is unlawful to transport and introduce any aquatic species (fish, invertebrate, plant) from one body of water to another.


This only applies to state owned bodies of water. You are allowed to put them in a private body of water.


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## RiparianRanger (Nov 18, 2015)

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## chris1162 (Mar 12, 2008)

...


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## Roscoe (Jul 22, 2007)

Them Flatheads, if they survive, will eat all of your Panfish sooner or later. Then what? Ya might have to purchase Bluegills often enough to feed them. Last time I was there, Jungle Jim's had a Bluegill tank with some nice ones in it. 2 Channel Cats would have been the better choice.

I really don't understand why you started this thread in the 1st place.



Roscoe


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## 3 Z's (Jan 25, 2012)

Flannel_Carp said:


> This only applies to state owned bodies of water. You are allowed to put them in a private body of water.


I confirmed withe Div. of Wildlife that Flannel Carp is correct, it does not apply to private bodies of water. However be aware that they stressed a Pay Lake is not considered a private body of water and the no transport regulation applies in that case. I know in this case it doesn't sound like a Pay Lake so no issue, but so other reading understand the regulation.


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## DWC (Sep 8, 2010)

Where do you think those big pay lakes get their cats? First, there's nothing wrong a guy catching fish and putting them in a private pond. I do have a problem with the pros who use nets to catch thousands of pounds of cats for stocking pay lakes. A guy I know does this for a living. He put over 4000 pounds of cats in a farmer I know's small pond for storage until the price went up and then he nets them out to sell to the pay lakes. Fishing from Kentucky, unless they have changed the law, there is no limit in terms of size or quantity of cats you can take. That Cozydale pay lake - they post on their sign how many thousands of pound they put into their pond each year - a couple of years ago they put in 50,000 pounds of cats in there and all of those cats come from the Ohio river. Some guy fishing and catching a relative handful of cats to put in his buddies pond - that's nothing wrong with that and perfectly fine in my book.


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