# Whats wrong with the Scioto?



## dinkbuster1 (Oct 28, 2005)

made another horribly boring trip from Dayton to the Scioto yesterday with a couple friends to fish for some Flatheads and Gar. ended up going to one of the spots Flathunter took us to before on the Mid-Scioto and had a horrible night, not one flathead and maybe two runs total (2 swing and a miss runs). we did however manage to catch 6 gar, one being around 12lb.
we fished from about 5 pm to 330am.

aside from two of us catching our person best flatheads from that river all the trips we have made over there have been pretty boring and uneventful for the most part. i think 2 or 3 flatheads has been the most i have ever seen caught in one trip. the river doesnt seem to have many flatheads, but the ones caught do seem to be bigger. also, channel cats seem to be non-existent. with all the shad i see in that river, along with the drum for food you would think the river would be lousy with flatheads and channels. for some reason it seems there is a very low survival rate, and the ones that do make it get big. we also pondered why there are so few people fishing the Scioto even in heavily populated areas, unlike the GMR where you have to use stealthy Ninja tactics to keep your spot from being over run with fishermen.

we normaly fish the Mid-Lower GMR which is almost deviod of good baitfish (lousy with crawfish though!) but unlike the Scioto it is lousy with big fat healthy channels, and even though they seem to top out at around 35lb is lousy with Flatheads too. its almost a guarentee that you are going to catch a few flatheads on every trip but they mostly do tend to run small 
in the 3-10 lb range. you throw out a live gill or a piece of cut bait and it usually doesnt sit very long without a taker. we thought it may be because of the gar eating up all the small flats and channels (which the Gmr doesnt have above dam in Hamilton) but the lower GMR has them too and there isnt much a difference in numbers of cats. 

aside from fishing for Gar, which i have found very fun to target, i really dont enjoy targeting Flatheads on the scioto. even though we had a chance at a BIG fish we sat there last night, sweating and swatting bugs all night asking ourselves...."is this really worth the drive?"


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## H2O Mellon (Apr 5, 2004)

Man, don't go anywhere near Chillicothe. At least earlier this year as I drove though, people were lined up in any spot that I saw. It was insane. I wish I had a boat that could hit the majority of some of those areas. I also know that there have been some Hoop Netting issues in a few of those areas. I think that the Scioto produces more during the fall, why I don't know, but that's just me.

I can relate to those long skunk od dink filled trips though. I hope bust a 50# out of there though. You've been like me, almost non existant when it comes to fishing this year.


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## flathunter (Apr 5, 2004)

The scioto rive has suked this year bad, I also see alot more trotliners, so i JUST DONT KNOW.

I may stop fishing it if it does not improve, and go back to fishing paintcreek.

I have taken 9 stright skunkings on the scioto, with every trip being 9-10 hrs long, so you are looking at close to 100 hrs of fishing time, without a fish.


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## flathunter (Apr 5, 2004)

H2O Mellon said:


> Man, don't go anywhere near Chillicothe. At least earlier this year as I drove though, people were lined up in any spot that I saw. It was insane. I wish I had a boat that could hit the majority of some of those areas. I also know that there have been some Hoop Netting issues in a few of those areas. I think that the Scioto produces more during the fall, why I don't know, but that's just me.
> 
> I can relate to those long skunk od dink filled trips though. I hope bust a 50# out of there though. You've been like me, almost non existant when it comes to fishing this year.


Bryan is right, I live in chillicothe, and you might as well forget fishing any spot close to town, the number of people fish now is staggering, and to get a opne spot requires a very long wait...Plus those that do catch any fish in town always run it out to the bait shop for a picture, then toss in in the dumpster.


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## Fishin' Addiction (Aug 16, 2009)

flathunter said:


> Plus those that do catch any fish in town always run it out to the bait shop for a picture, then toss in in the dumpster.


People are unbelievable.


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## Smallmouth Crazy (Apr 4, 2006)

flathunter said:


> Bryan is right, I live in chillicothe, and you might as well forget fishing any spot close to town, the number of people fish now is staggering, and to get a opne spot requires a very long wait...Plus those that do catch any fish in town always run it out to the bait shop for a picture, then toss in in the dumpster.


That is terrible...bring your own dang camera, snap your own pic and turn that guy loose.


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