# 1st Trip out this Spring.



## PJF (Mar 25, 2009)

Fished the Ohio River Wednesday. 1st trip of the spring. Water was up about 18". Temperature was 57.9. Trolling shad looking type baits. Caught 3 or 4 Smallmouth maybe 12-14". A couple 1-2 lb. Hybrids. Did some jigging caught a couple nice sauger, several slunger sheepshead. The fish of the day was my fishing partner caught a 26 in. Walleye on a bait he modified. We caught one other walleye. Saw a pair of Osprey on the nest. Lots of very small baby zebra mussels. Several broods of baby ducks- wood ducks-and mallards. A couple broods of geese. Nice outing. I chuckle about all the negatives of the river, fracking brine effects, cessapool, yadda yadda. IMHO the biggest thing that effects the fishery the last several years is the excessive high waters, near flood events, turbidity and water fluctuations. Water up 10 feet, down 6 feet, up 4 feet, etc. etc. repeat repeat repeat. Excessive sediment loads dropped. Only my opinion. I am blessed to live within eyesight of this great fishery.


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## flyinghappy (Jun 26, 2017)

If I was going to get started fishing on the river, where would be a good place to start (just stretch of river, don't need exact spots)? I like walleye and smallmouth the best.


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## PJF (Mar 25, 2009)

IMO current breaks are important. Ambush points seem to be a consistent key for me. Wing dams, snags, small points, ends of islands. Walleyes will surprise you as to how shallow they can be. Sand adjacent to gravel banks seem to hold fish most of time. I am not a bass fisherman but I catch them this time of year in the same areas. Later in the summer I rarely catch any bass. Bait fish are very abundant and if you mark clouds of bait or see them you are in the right area.


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## PJF (Mar 25, 2009)

Got out on the Big O this morning. Beautiful day, water was right, maybe 8" high, water temperature around 64. 1st ten minutes thought we had it figured out. 2 walleyes and 2 sauger. One walleye was 25" nice healthy fish. Then for the next hour and a half we had to contend with 4 tugs and barges churning up the river. Picked a few here and there after that. Got sunny and hot. Between the 2 of us we ended up with 5 species, walleye, sauger, hybrids, 100 lbs. of sheepshead, and a crappie. Sauger were nice looked like 2 year old size (9 total). Tons of bait fish schools. All were praised and released to fight another day. Crankbaits.


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