# ODNR Fishing Report 6/14/06



## Big Daddy

Wildlife News 
Ohio Department of Natural Resources

Division of Wildlife
The Fish Ohio Report

June 14, 2006

CENTRAL OHIO
Deer Creek Lake (Fayette, Madison, and Pickaway counties)  A variety of species thrive at this 1290 acre lake located south of Mt. Sterling. Saugeye can be caught in the tail waters using jigs and twister tails, especially after a water release. The Tick Ridge area is a good location to fish for white bass. Use small spinners or live bait to take these fish that measure eight to 12-inches. Areas with cover such as downed trees are good places to fish for crappies using minnows suspended beneath a bobber for best results. Crappies must be nine-inches or longer to keep. The rocky shoreline and extended deep-water points are good places to fish for largemouth bass using medium to deep running crankbaits and Carolina rigged worms. Downed trees are also a good bet this time of year. Fish tight to the cover using jig and pig or weedless-rigged green pumpkin hue tube baits.

Rush Creek Lake (Fairfield and Perry counties)  This is a great month for largemouth bass fishing at Rush Creek Lake. Use plastic worms, spinner baits and crankbaits around shoreline cover and standing trees. Crappies are beginning to move to deeper wood cover in four to 10 feet of water. Minnows and a slip bobber work best. Numerous carp can be caught on doughballs. There is a good channel catfish population here; fish with cut gizzard shad and chicken liver. Over 2,000 yearlings stocked in 2005. There is a 10 horsepower limit at this lake.



NORTHWEST OHIO
Pleasant Hill Lake (Richland County)  Saugeye are being caught in good numbers during daytime and nighttime hours. A two to four-inch piece of worm or a jig is working the best by either drifting or casting. Fish the deeper water areas and keep the bait down between 15 to 24 feet. Crappie are being taken during the daylight hours by fishing a minnow under a bobber. Casting and slip-bobbers are the way to go. Fishing is best around submerged trees. Catfish are being caught in the late afternoon and early evening. Shrimp, liver or shad fished off of the bottom is working the best. A good spot seems to be around the Baron Road area.

Clear Fork Reservoir (Richland County)  Crappie are being caught in the late afternoon or the early morning hours. Minnows fished under a slip bobber is working the best. Try fishing near the sailboat club or picnic area #2 or #3. Catfish are being caught as well in the late afternoon or evening. Still-fishing with shad as bait is working great. The Bowers Road area is best.

Bresler Reservoir (Allen County)  Smallmouth bass are being caught in good numbers by casting jigs. Fish the jigs at a depth of about six feet for the best results.

Little Auglaize River (Putnam County)  Bullhead are being caught in the afternoons by fishing night crawlers two to three feet under a slip-bobber. Bluegill are also being caught in the afternoons by casting and reeling night crawlers or still-fishing with bobbers. Fishing is best near the Ottoville Quarry

NORTHEAST OHIO
Spencer Lake (Medina County)  Channel catfish are being caught by shore and boat anglers. Anglers should concentrate their efforts near fishing piers and inshore areas using chicken livers, stink bait, and minnows. The most productive times to fish have been early morning and evening hours; however, some channel catfish have been taken throughout the daytime hours. Fisheries data collected from this lake during 2005 indicated that the largemouth bass population has a considerable number of bass exceeding 15 inches.

Portage Lakes (Summit County)  Turkeyfoot Lake has been consistent for sunfish. Most anglers are using 1/32 oz. jigs tipped with small plastic tubes or twister tails retrieved slowly in water depths of three to six feet. Also, small jigs tipped with pieces of night crawlers or wax worms suspended below a bobber will always entice sunfish to bite. Redear sunfish up to nine inches have been reported. 

Mosquito Reservoir (Trumbull County)  Walleye anglers are having success in weedbeds located on the west side of this reservoir. Casting jigs with twister tails and crank baits along the weed edges have been two productive techniques. Anglers looking for crappie should focus in deeper water as crappie have moved offshore. Along the causeway, anglers are finding white bass and channel catfish. Overall, fishing at Mosquito Reservoir has been most effective during the early morning hours.

SOUTHWEST OHIO
East Fork (Clermont County) - Crappie are being caught by anglers using jigs tipped with a small to medium sized minnow. Best places to fish around back side of the island, Clover Creek, and into the coves. White, chartreuse, or pumpkin seed are good color choices for artificial lures. Cast into areas with submerged trees and brush. Keep the bait under a slip-bobber and between three to four feet deep. Largemouth bass are being caught by using black, pumpkin, or green pumpkin worms or ¼ ounce white spinner baits as bait. Cast along the points, buck brush, along the banks and in areas with submerged trees or brush. Jig the worm on the bottom. Keep the spinner bait moving in the top two to three feet of water. Channel catfish are being caught by anglers using chicken livers, soft craws, shrimp or night crawlers as bait. Larger channel catfish are being caught on the soft craws. Use a #8, 1/0, or 2/0 long-shanked hook. Keep the bait along the bottom. Bluegills are hitting on wax worms or twister tail grubs. Keep the bait under a bobber and about one to three feet deep. Cast around downed trees.

Rocky Fork Lake (Highland County)  Crappie are being caught by anglers fishing live crappie minnows, wax worms, or two-inch twister tails in three feet of water or deeper. Use a fine wire hook in the size range of #6 to 8. Cast into areas with submerged trees and brush. Keep the bait under a slip bobber and off of the bottom. Bluegill and sunfish are being caught by anglers using wax worms as bait. Place the bait on a #6 fine wire hook and cast into areas with submerged trees and brush. Keep the bait under a bobber or slip-bobber and between two to three feet deep. Fish the bait along the shorelines and docks. Channel catfish are being caught by anglers using whole shad, cut shad, goldfish, chubs or chicken liver as bait. Use a #8, 1/0, or 2/0 long-shanked hook. Keep the bait under a bobber and off of the bottom and fish baits close to the shoreline. Largemouth bass are being caught by anglers using shad, soft craws, rooster tails, Eerie Dearies, or Vib Es, or night crawlers as bait.

SOUTHEAST OHIO

Lake Snowden (Athens County)  Use wax worms and mealworms fished under a bobber to reel-in good catches of sunfish. Some largemouth bass have been reeled in using white spinner baits. Largemouth bass in Lake Snowden have a protected slot length limit of 12 to 15-inches. Fish tight-line using night crawlers near the boat ramp for channel catfish.

Wills Creek Reservoir (Coshocton County)  Fishing in the evenings for catfish in the spillway area below the dam is usually productive for both channel cats and flathead using chicken livers, night crawlers, and creek chubs fished tight-line. The tail water area below Wills Creek Dam provides a great place for Saugeye fishing. Saugeye concentrate just below the dam during high volume water releases. Wills Creek Reservoir is 421 acres and a 10 horsepower limit.

LAKE ERIE 
**The walleye daily bag limit is six fish. A 15-inch minimum size limit for walleye remains in effect for the entire season. The Lake Erie daily bag limit for yellow perch is 40 fish. Lake Erie black bass (smallmouth and largemouth bass) are closed to possession (catch and release only) May 1 through June 23. The daily bag limit for black bass on Lake Erie is five after June 23. The minimum size limit for black bass on Lake Erie is 14-inches. The steelhead trout bag limit is five. The minimum size limit for steelhead is 12-inches.**

Western Basin

Walleye fishing continues to be excellent with many limits being caught. Fishing has been best west of West Sister Island in the Gravel Pit and around the turnaround buoy of the Toledo shipping channel, along the northern cans (A, B and C) of the Camp Perry firing range, and north of Kelleys Island to the Canadian border. Drifters are using mayfly rigs or worm harnesses with bottom bouncers, while trollers are using worm harnesses with inline weights or bottom bouncers and jet or dipsy divers with spoons.

The best yellow perch fishing in the western basin has been around Lucys point of Middle Bass Island, east of Kelleys Island, and southwest of Gull Island Shoal. Perch spreaders with shiners fished near the bottom produce the most fish.

Central Basin

Walleye fishing in the central basin has been excellent. Fish have been caught two miles north of Beaver Creek, three miles north of the Chagrin River in 24 to 40 feet of water, north of the Cleveland Crib in 60 feet of water, one to two miles northeast of Fairport Harbor in 25 to 30 feet of water, and one to two miles northwest of Geneva in 25 to 30 feet of water. Fish have been caught on worm harnesses or spoons trolled with dipsy or jet divers.

Yellow perch fishing has been good less than one mile out of Lorain, in the Cleveland area two miles north of E 55th Street in 34 feet of water, three miles north of Willowick in 38 feet of water, two miles northwest of Fairport Harbor in 30 to 35 feet of water, and less than one mile northwest of Ashtabula in 24 feet of water. Perch spreaders with shiners fished near the bottom produce the most fish.

Smallmouth bass fishing has been excellent from Fairport Harbor to Perry in 10 to 24 feet of water. Fish have been caught on tube jigs, jigs tipped with minnows or leeches, or by trolling crankbaits. 

Lake Erie surface temperatures range from 66 to 68 degrees.

To view the predicted weather forecast for Lake Erie visit: http://weather.noaa.gov/cgi-bin/fmtbltn.pl?file=forecasts/marine/great_lakes/le/lez160.txt

OHIO RIVER
Greenup Dam (Scioto County)  Anglers along the concrete walkway and the rip-rap of the Greenup tail waters have had fair success fishing striped bass and white bass using cut skipjack or live shad. Successful artificial baits included white jigs with a three-inch twister tail. Sauger fishing has been fair with average catches ranging from eight to 14 inches. Water clarity has been murky at times during rainfall events.

Racine Dam (Meigs County)  Just below the Racine tail waters anglers have been out in the early mornings trolling shad, minnows, wiggle-warts and rooster-tails to reel in white bass and hybrid striped bass. Early morning fishing can also be productive for channel cats and flatheads using night crawlers or cut bait.


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