# Catching Skipjack in the winter



## catfisherbrad

Anyone have any tips for locations and methods for winter skipjack fishing near Cincinnati? I live somewhat close to the Meldahl dam, however I have no boat. I would be fishing from the shore. 

I understand to use sabiki rigs, however not sure where or what technique to use to catch skipjack. Any tips?


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## Daveo76

Find some warm water. I typed Skipjacks in the search and found 339 posts, so it shouldn't be too hard to find them near you


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## boonecreek

i get into,m ever once,n a while when the river flooded, throwing a white curly tailed grub. reeling in reel fast, trying to keep the lure close to the surface. ( in the flooded creeks, forgot about giving u location. look for them bust,n the top of the water ) where do u live? its a big river i fish east of cinncy and below meldaul dam.


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## catfisherbrad

I live in Amelia, Ohio. Was not sure if Aberdeen still has the warm water discharge, I have heard different things. I have tried fishing both KY and Ohio side at meldahl, however bank fishing is not producing.


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## fishdealer04

Never do well catching them in the winter. Always have to wait for spring/summer for me. I know people do catch them at Aberdeen at times but in the past 4 years I have fished there never caught any more than a couple small ones (4-5 inchers)


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## BleedingBlue

I used to catch them all the time from shore at Greenup but only when the water was warm. About the time the sauger bite started to get good the skipjack were gone. I don't know where they went but you didn't see any caught from shore.


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## Daveo76

Skipjacks will be there as long as there are shiners for them to chase. One of the first fish to bite, one the last also. Seems they are bigger and bigger every year. Heres one from Greenup early April.


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## boonecreek

catfisherbrad said:


> I live in Amelia, Ohio. Was not sure if Aberdeen still has the warm water discharge, I have heard different things. I have tried fishing both KY and Ohio side at meldahl, however bank fishing is not producing.


i live in tall timbers off lindale- mt.holly rd.. will have to get together and go after,m some time:B


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## whodeynati

You should be able to get them now at the warm water discharge in Aberdeen. I always fish the mouth of the creek. I got over 100 of them in my freezer ranging from 14-22 inches. 

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## Don't Tell

Just below Racine Dam on WV side is a warm water discharge at some kind of a plant maybe power I don't remember but we caught skip jacks crankin small white grubs up high in the winter. U may see them jumping there also. Be careful up in there it can be dangerous. water coming out of there pretty fast. Lots of fun catchin them they were jumping like Tarpons.

DON'T TELL


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## SeanStone

The warm water discharge in Aberdeen is hit or miss. With that said, when they are there you can fill a cooler with them. I have to disagree with fishdealer on this, the skipjack there tend to be on the large side. We have caught many skippies over 2lbs there. 



















Here lately the skipjack haven't been around. We fished it for hybrid stripers the last two weeks and havent seen one caught, or bust the surface. Won't be long till the start running the hotwater again. 

Don't be afraid to toss larger baits for skipjack, we catch them all the time on crankbaits and spoons. Its hard to beat two white grubs though. Good luck.


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## catfisherbrad

boonecreek said:


> i live in tall timbers off lindale- mt.holly rd.. will have to get together and go after,m some time:B


Sounds good to me! I have been sauger fishing lately at Meldahl dam Ohio side and have done ok. 

Thanks alot guys for the info. I may just wait til spring to try to catch them skippys.


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## fishdealer04

SeanStone said:


> The warm water discharge in Aberdeen is hit or miss. With that said, when they are there you can fill a cooler with them. I have to disagree with fishdealer on this, the skipjack there tend to be on the large side. We have caught many skippies over 2lbs there. QUOTE]
> 
> How can you disagree with me? I said I never caught any big ones there. Never said they couldnt be caught.
> 
> Nice fish though. It is nice to see that people do catch nice ones there. With the amount of time it takes me to get to Aberdeen I can go other places and catch them more consistently at the dams.


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## SeanStone

fishdealer04 said:


> How can you disagree with me? I said I never caught any big ones there. Never said they couldnt be caught.


You stated that you didn't do well there in the winter, and that you had only caught a couple small ones at that. 

We typically do well in the winter for them, and we rarely catch small skipjack there. (almost the complete opposite of what you had stated) 

Don't wanna start any arguments here, just sharing information to answer catfisherbrads question. I had a differing opinion and I shared it.


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## cdmarion

I fished the Aberdeen discharge about a week ago for Skipjack and found no skipjack or shad, Ran into one of the regulars there and he said he hadn't seen any Skipjack there in about six weeks. We did however catch a variety of other fish throughout the day. The water was very warm so yes they're still discharging warm water.


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## Carver

SeanStone those are the biggest Skipjack I have ever seen.


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## FishFrenzy89

THOSE MONSTERS LOOK MORE LIKE TARPON!! lol


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## whodeynati

I have heard people refer to them as "Tennessee Tarpon." 

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## Daveo76

" Box Jaws!!"


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## SeanStone

They do put on quite the show when they are hooked. Some of them leap up to 2 feet out of the water. Thats probably the reason they are called tennesse tarpon. Super fun on an ultra light.

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