# Mad River



## Larry D Von Deylen (Dec 1, 2016)

I will be moving to Urbana hopefully by the end of January. Looking for information on the trout fishing in the Mad River tips and gear. I have canoed it twice now in the Urbana area.


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## riverKing (Jan 26, 2007)

Wait for higher water, stained is best. Spinners and spoons are classics of you don't fish fly. However, the really like minnowbaits, x-raps are dirty on trout. I try to replace the trebled with sigle hooks otherwise they year themselves up. The water between 29 and st rt 55 is the most productive


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## Larry D Von Deylen (Dec 1, 2016)

riverKing said:


> Wait for higher water, stained is best. Spinners and spoons are classics of you don't fish fly. However, the really like minnowbaits, x-raps are dirty on trout. I try to replace the trebled with sigle hooks otherwise they year themselves up. The water between 29 and st rt 55 is the most productive


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## Larry D Von Deylen (Dec 1, 2016)

Thanks I used to fly fish years ago before ultra light tackle came out.


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## Dillon.R.Nott (Oct 4, 2015)

I have fished a part in between urbana and west liberty for brown trout. The stretch is pretty small / shallow, i have only caught 3 there and the biggest was about 10". I only used drifting night crawlers , but i used blue fox spinners and they were striking it but not takers. Good luck and if you ever catch anything let us kno!


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## Larry D Von Deylen (Dec 1, 2016)

Dillon.R.Nott said:


> I have fished a part in between urbana and west liberty for brown trout. The stretch is pretty small / shallow, i have only caught 3 there and the biggest was about 10". I only used drifting night crawlers , but i used blue fox spinners and they were striking it but not takers. Good luck and if you ever catch anything let us kno!


Thanks for the info. Any tips are helpful and appreciated. Im thinking about replacing the trebles to small siwash hooks.


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## Dillon.R.Nott (Oct 4, 2015)

Larry D Von Deylen said:


> Thanks for the info. Any tips are helpful and appreciated. Im thinking about replacing the trebles to small siwash hooks.


Sounds like a great idea. Them Trout bleed like crazy and are super fragile.


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## Dillon.R.Nott (Oct 4, 2015)

riverKing said:


> Wait for higher water, stained is best. Spinners and spoons are classics of you don't fish fly. However, the really like minnowbaits, x-raps are dirty on trout. I try to replace the trebled with sigle hooks otherwise they year themselves up. The water between 29 and st rt 55 is the most productive


Hey Riverking what other species have you caught in Mad? I have fished one spot and only caught chubs and some small trout. Do you ever catch anything else?


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## Larry D Von Deylen (Dec 1, 2016)

Dillon.R.Nott said:


> Hey Riverking what other species have you caught in Mad? I have fished one spot and only caught chubs and some small trout. Do you ever catch anything else?


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## Larry D Von Deylen (Dec 1, 2016)

Dillon.R.Nott said:


> Hey Riverking what other species have you caught in Mad? I have fished one spot and only caught chubs and some small trout. Do you ever catch anything else?


Im thinking there should be smallmouth bass along the way.


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## Deazl666 (Mar 30, 2012)

I've fished it many times, usually during the winter. The flow is swift and dangerous, so be careful wading it. Cover is sparse due to channelization, so look for subtle indicators of fish holding areas, like low overhanging branches and subsurface rocks. Also, the good spots are few and far between and every wannabe fly-angler within a fifty-mile radius will be lined up for those spots on the weekends so try to arrive early.


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## onaygem (Oct 19, 2016)

I've heard smallmouth are better the farther you move downstream. Personally I've only ever caught trout & chubs (though smallmouth are less likely to take the flies I use).
In case you decide to pick up the fly rod again, I've had pretty good luck with caddis imitations.


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## odell daniel (Nov 5, 2015)

I have fished parts of that area for smallmouth, quality fish, awesome river. someone may correct me but I believe the state record smallie was from the mad river for years until KVD's brother got the record on erie. dont know much about trout fishing.


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## Larry D Von Deylen (Dec 1, 2016)

odell daniel said:


> I have fished parts of that area for smallmouth, quality fish, awesome river. someone may correct me but I believe the state record smallie was from the mad river for years until KVD's brother got the record on erie. dont know much about trout fishing.


You can't beat river smallmouth when it comes to all out smash mouth fight. Presently I live a couple miles away from the Maumee river and an hours drive to Lake Erie. I have enjoyed catching smallies on both. I have chased Walleye on Erie for 20 years. Thnx for the info.


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## Salmonid (Apr 14, 2004)

Zero smallies above springfield. Water too cold year round for them to spawn. Many years ago before the tree canopy got as tall as it is the cold water used to stop further up river but the cold water holds further down each year. In the 80's there were several spawning populations as far up as Millerstown rd of smallies and rock bass but not any more


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## percidaeben (Jan 15, 2010)

odell daniel said:


> I have fished parts of that area for smallmouth, quality fish, awesome river. someone may correct me but I believe the state record smallie was from the mad river for years until KVD's brother got the record on erie. dont know much about trout fishing.


You are right about state record smallmouth from Mad River. Think it was caught around WW ll era and lasted till the 90's?


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## Larry D Von Deylen (Dec 1, 2016)

percidaeben said:


> You are right about state record smallmouth from Mad River. Think it was caught around WW ll era and lasted till the 90's?


That was a long standing record. KVD is great bass fisherman. He grew up near a lake that I know like the back of my hand. I always loved fishin for Erie smallies.


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## Saugeyefisher (Jul 19, 2010)

Salmonid said:


> Zero smallies above springfield. Water too cold year round for them to spawn. Many years ago before the tree canopy got as tall as it is the cold water used to stop further up river but the cold water holds further down each year. In the 80's there were several spawning populations as far up as Millerstown rd of smallies and rock bass but not any more


It surprises me they don't run up to that cool water in the summer time. As far as they will travel for a wintering hole. Is the mad pretty fast and deep south? To where there is no need to seek better water?


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## percidaeben (Jan 15, 2010)

Larry D Von Deylen said:


> That was a long standing record. KVD is great bass fisherman. He grew up near a lake that I know like the back of my hand. I always loved fishin for Erie smallies.


When I was a kid (and still do now!) and family went to Ohio State Fair, always hit odnr of course. They had little booklet that described something like 20 Ohio sport fish and their state record. If my reckoning is correct, that Smallmouth from the Mad was 24", 7lbs. Which is a MASSIVE river fish.


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## Dillon.R.Nott (Oct 4, 2015)

percidaeben said:


> When I was a kid (and still do now!) and family went to Ohio State Fair, always hit odnr of course. They had little booklet that described something like 20 Ohio sport fish and their state record. If my reckoning is correct, that Smallmouth from the Mad was 24", 7lbs. Which is a MASSIVE river fish.


Wow thats crazy. The part i fish is no more then 20 feet across and 1- 2 feet deep. But the mad is LOADED with all kinds of minnow fish, and crawldads, there would have to be some monster fish in there somewhere


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## Salmonid (Apr 14, 2004)

state record smallie came from within city limits of Dayton, several of us know the exact hole, ( Dinkbuster, Catmangler, 9left) which is still there to some degree but Ive never done well there, LOL. I remember the first time I ever fished the mad, one of my teachers was a fly guy and took me up there, around 1979 Im guessing, we fished below Millerstown at the old bridge foundation pool there and my buddy got 2 small smallies and a rock bass and no trout. it wasn't until later when I was fishing the Mad hard with fly gear that I realized the smallies were gone and I know many landowners who talk of tales of plucking smallies of fthe clear beds in late June, with pics to boot! but as the canopy got taller, the trees provided more shade all the way down the Mad, also old pics of the whole river bright yellow where the paper mill in Urbana dumped water which stained it up bad from below 36 down to Springfield, when that cleared up folks realized the trout were actually living all the way down to springfield. but nobody was fishing in the stained polluted water for many years. LOL pretty much all youll find above Eagle City Road is trout, Browns mostly, a few stray rainbows, some carp, loads of chubs, minnows and several varieties of suckers. ( White, Hoghead mostly) then youll start really getting into the stonerollers and white suckers really heavy below that area with a handful of trout still, a handful of smallies and rock bass and loads more chubs and carp, stretch between Springfield and Enon is pretty much too warm for a lot of trout ( needed water temps below 70 to spawn) and too cold for many bass ( need 72 degree water in June to spawn) so its kind of a dead zone where there are not a lot of gamefish, folks don't know but in the 70's I think, the state actually stocked Northern Pike into this "dead zone" but they never really took hold, in this stretch is where youll start finding a lot of Redfin Pickerel also with the cold clear weedy streams that enter the mad. ( usually called Grass Pike)

Food for thought... and to all a good night.!


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## Deazl666 (Mar 30, 2012)

Saugeyefisher said:


> It surprises me they don't run up to that cool water in the summer time. As far as they will travel for a wintering hole. Is the mad pretty fast and deep south? To where there is no need to seek better water?


From my bathroom readings of InFisherman's book on smallmouth, I recall that they prefer the warmer water...


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## Draggin along (Nov 8, 2012)

If your into preservation, squeezing the barb on the single hook is a good idea.


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## odell daniel (Nov 5, 2015)

Saugeyefisher said:


> It surprises me they don't run up to that cool water in the summer time. As far as they will travel for a wintering hole. Is the mad pretty fast and deep south? To where there is no need to seek better water?


we have waded south of urbana a couple times, their are some deep stretches so we found parts we could wade, we caught a few nice bass. I could see a monster coming out of it.


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