# Skinny Fish no BAIT



## C J Hughes (Jan 24, 2006)

Fished the greenup pool this past weekend . Every fish that I caught was real skinny wipers had sunken in bellys 21 to 25 inches long BUT they had less than a inch thickness to them . Same with the drum ,ky bass and even the gars that I caught were real skinny. 
I didn't see one school of shad no river shiners nor anything chasing and bait fish . Anyone else seeing this ? I spoke to several people fishing they also said the same SKINNY FISH .


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## ranger175a (Apr 20, 2011)

Noticing the same thing with the bass in the Powhatten pool.


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## Daveo76 (Apr 14, 2004)

C J Hughes said:


> Fished the greenup pool this past weekend . Every fish that I caught was real skinny wipers had sunken in bellys 21 to 25 inches long BUT they had less than a inch thickness to them . Same with the drum ,ky bass and even the gars that I caught were real skinny.
> I didn't see one school of shad no river shiners nor anything chasing and bait fish . Anyone else seeing this ? I spoke to several people fishing they also said the same SKINNY FISH .


Where were you fishing? That's a lot of territory, from above Greenup dam to R.C. Byrd. The only thing we've been seeing below Greenup is Mooneyes early, then Shiners coming in a little later in the morning


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## pppatrick (Apr 21, 2012)

i fish this pool about twice a week and i've yet to get any overly skinny fish, except for some post-spawn channel cats. 

i will say, there is definitely less bait fish than in most past years. i'm attributing it to the high water conditions we've had through out the summer. i've not been able this year to get near the amount of chubs, shiners or shad out of the creek i get bait in.

last year we of coarse had a huge drought. the creeks and river never really blew out and i could dip net bait fish in that same very creek. weeds lined the shallows and bank edges throughout the pools, and were literally filled with shiners and fingerling. 

this year seems to be the complete opposite. which looks to be working for me well as fish don't seem to have as much forage, which would explain those skinny guys too.


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## Bad Bub (Jan 17, 2006)

pppatrick said:


> i fish this pool about twice a week and i've yet to get any overly skinny fish, except for some post-spawn channel cats.
> 
> i will say, there is definitely less bait fish than in most past years. i'm attributing it to the high water conditions we've had through out the summer. i've not been able this year to get near the amount of chubs, shiners or shad out of the creek i get bait in.
> 
> ...


Your 100% right! I'm in pike island pool, and we have almost NO bait this year. A few shinners hanging around grass, but absolutely no schools of shad. I also agree that it has helped the fishing, but I worry about low body mass going into winter....

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Ohub Campfire mobile app


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## FLIPNPITCH (Apr 15, 2009)

Definitely little or no shad in Powhatan pool. Last few trips to the river I have been amazed by the lack of shad. Catchin nice smallies and fairly good numbers but the usual schools of shad just aren't there this year. I have heard a couple guys say the same thing about high water. I don't know. Can't be good for any species.


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## C J Hughes (Jan 24, 2006)

Dave I am fishing the islands Brush creek and Twin .I am below Portsmouth.I have a dock on Brush creek it has NO bait fish around it plus Brush Creek has a green film at the top of it .Somewhere there is bait fish on the river I sure wish I knew where should be some great fishing this fall maybe.


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## pppatrick (Apr 21, 2012)

that would be the meldahl pool right?


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## Daveo76 (Apr 14, 2004)

Yeah, the water above the dam is the name of the pool so anything from Meldahl to Greenup Dam is Meldahl pool. There are usually some shad hanging around Shawnee marina. I have used exactly 1 shad for Hybrids all year and it didn't last very long. The rest of the time, it has been Mooneyes and the Hybrids love them. I'm hoping when the water temp drops into the 60's, they hit anything that moves.


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## C J Hughes (Jan 24, 2006)

Now I know thanks I use to know I think. You may have to remind me again. I only been fishing there for 50 years so it is all new to me.
I use 100 white bandit or some type of topwater or chrome jigging spoons for wipers.
Anyways what were we talking about oh yea we don't have any baitfish for the fish around the islands to eat so they won't be staying long here this fall.The saugers should be good and hungry when they get to greenup this fall .Good luck fishing


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## Daveo76 (Apr 14, 2004)

C J Hughes said:


> Now I know thanks I use to know I think. You may have to remind me again. I only been fishing there for 50 years so it is all new to me.
> I use 100 white bandit or some type of topwater or chrome jigging spoons for wipers.
> Anyways what were we talking about oh yea we don't have any baitfish for the fish around the islands to eat so they won't be staying long here this fall.The saugers should be good and hungry when they get to greenup this fall .Good luck fishing


CJ , I hope you didn't take that the wrong way.Try fishing the big Scioto for Hybrids. They are a blast up there and usually bite until Christmas if the river doesn't come up. Plenty of Saugers there and at times, a lot of Shovelheads on swimbaits.If nothing else, the White Bass can keep you very busy....


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## spiff (Jun 3, 2004)

Same in the Markland pool. Last year one cast of the net == medicine ball of silver dollar shad. This year, one hour of cast netting gives 2 six inch shad. There's a lot more sediment on the bottom this year. Not sure if that killed the spawn or if something happened last year. 2 shad cut into 4 pieces each at least makes for a couple of hours of fishing. Apparently the catfish still remember what they taste like.


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## I Fish (Sep 24, 2008)

It's been the same above and below Racine. A couple creeks I've always found shad in has turned up nothing this year. I've seen years with seemingly fewer shad, but never like this. We can't even find skipjacks. I too am worried about the coming winter.


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## C J Hughes (Jan 24, 2006)

Dave I was just trying to make fun of myself lol your post was fine. I am worried about the river. I have never seen it void of all baitfish. Sounds like it maybe a huge part of the river . I wonder what happen to cause this ?


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## Daveo76 (Apr 14, 2004)

C J Hughes said:


> Dave I was just trying to make fun of myself lol your post was fine. I am worried about the river. I have never seen it void of all baitfish. Sounds like it maybe a huge part of the river . I wonder what happen to cause this ?


Seems like some years are better than others. The river is different from year to year. Earlier in the year, there was plenty of bait(Shad) but I haven't seen any for a week but very few even before that. I don't think the water being high in the middle of summer helped. Mooneyes were the bait to use and now they are hard to come by. I think the fish might be skinny because they spend just as much, if not more energy chasing down a few shiners to get a belly full. I think chasing down shiners and skips is harder for them than shad because they may have to work harder. We usually get a few tropical storms that turn to low pressure systems and keep the water decent. I have used just 1 shad all this season and it didn't last very long. I haven't even seen any of the smaller Threadfin Shad or the smaller , shorter Skipjacks. I have a feeling it will be bad this fall for Hybrids , but with the abundance of Shiners, great for Saugers. Such a big mouth for a little crappie jig. Something definitely ain't right


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## spiff (Jun 3, 2004)

Well, last night was the first time this fall that I got bait fairly easy. Markland pool. 2 casts of the net yielded 2 six inch skipjacks and 8 four to six inch shad. I was fishing for cats from 7 to midnight but caught 2 five pound wipers instead....one for each skippy. Lots of runs, no real hookups other than the bass. Feeding the gars again. I think the wipers are starting their fall feed. The two I caught should have weighed more as they were pretty thin. This was also the first time in 4 weeks that the water felt cooler.


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## C J Hughes (Jan 24, 2006)

Well I did see large schools of shad drifting down the river this weekend, SO maybe the Sky isn't falling. Wipers blues and drum this weekend wipers were skinny but the blues and drum were fat and happy .


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## Carver (Jan 20, 2010)

The wipers I caught in the lower Hannibal pool last week were very light and thin. Those fish should have been 6 pounds or better and they were 5 and less. I did not see any shad at all.


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## I Fish (Sep 24, 2008)

C J Hughes said:


> Well I did see large schools of shad drifting down the river this weekend....


Where, in what pool?


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## BMustang (Jul 27, 2004)

Water temps in the Markland pool near Cincy was 66/68 this morning (10-15).


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## C J Hughes (Jan 24, 2006)

meldahl pool


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