# Scioto Crawdads - where are they?



## Wrecks (Jan 30, 2013)

I have fished for several years in the Scioto on a section between Rt 42 and Prospect. There is a particular spot where there have always been lots of crawdads scurrying under the rocks in the shallows when I waded it. For the second year in a row, they're gone. Nothing. Lifeless, rocky bottom. The top water minnows are gone too.

Is it just at that spot? Has anyone else noticed this in the Upper Scioto? It worries me because I used to catch lots of smallmouth there, but now, hardly any. I can catch lots of small channel cats on nightcrawlers, but not smallies.


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## Mushijobah (May 4, 2004)

Wrecks said:


> I have fished for several years in the Scioto on a section between Rt 42 and Prospect. There is a particular spot where there have always been lots of crawdads scurrying under the rocks in the shallows when I waded it. For the second year in a row, they're gone. Nothing. Lifeless, rocky bottom. The top water minnows are gone too.
> 
> Is it just at that spot? Has anyone else noticed this in the Upper Scioto? It worries me because I used to catch lots of smallmouth there, but now, hardly any. I can catch lots of small channel cats on nightcrawlers, but not smallies.


I have also noticed a near void of crayfish from creeks in E. Columbus. Strange. The one usually has very few, but now it's close to 0. Siltation perhaps?


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## FOSR (Apr 16, 2008)

Is the bed still rocky, or is it embedded with silt?


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## Wrecks (Jan 30, 2013)

FOSR said:


> Is the bed still rocky, or is it embedded with silt?


There is a light layer of silt from the recent high water, like a dusty covering, but the bed looks like it always has, except, no crawdads.


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## Hoover 4 Me (Jul 30, 2013)

Has there been any commercial/residential development in the area the last few years?

There was a small creek that ran behind my parents house, I fished it all the time growing up and it had tons of fish, frogs, turtles, snakes and crawdads. They were everywhere. I'd catch creek chubs, a lot of them huge, nice sunfish, decent channel cats and the occasional bass. If we ever wanted minnows for the lake I could set a minnow trap and get all we could use and them some. After a heavy rain the creek would flood and I could wade it and get carp from pools where they got stranded after the water went down. I remember some friends and I being able to walk around in shallow water upstream of a deeper pool and get the water stirred up and fish the deeper pool and get channel cats. The water would clear out, we'd stir the water up again and the cats would start hitting again. We thought it was the coolest thing ever. Then the surrounding land owners sold the land to a developer. Multi-story apartments went up shortly thereafter and more storm drainage entered the creek. One of the first projects I saw take place was huge drainage pipes run to the creek. Within maybe 2-3 years the frogs, turtles, crawdads and snakes were pretty much gone. There was little finger in the creek that we could walk down and frogs jumped into the water every few feet. I haven't been back there in probably 10 years but it is more developed than before so I'd imagine it's in bad shape. The last time I was back there I was able to get some small creek chubs and that was it. 

I might go back there here soon just to see what kind of shape it's in now. I'm sure it'll be depressing.


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## fishintechnician (Jul 20, 2007)

I saw quite a few on the upper scioto today on a wade. The creeks that feed that section are completely full of craws tho


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## Revodrew (May 10, 2014)

Wrecks said:


> I have fished for several years in the Scioto on a section between Rt 42 and Prospect. There is a particular spot where there have always been lots of crawdads scurrying under the rocks in the shallows when I waded it. For the second year in a row, they're gone. Nothing. Lifeless, rocky bottom. The top water minnows are gone too.
> 
> Is it just at that spot? Has anyone else noticed this in the Upper Scioto? It worries me because I used to catch lots of smallmouth there, but now, hardly any. I can catch lots of small channel cats on nightcrawlers, but not smallies.


I went to a local stream last week with my boys that we normally catch crayfish in and also noticed we couldn't find any. We went a couple days after a pretty hard rain, I just figured the increased flow had washed them into an eddy.


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## PerchGuy (Dec 7, 2011)

You are noticing what I have witnessed for years. My dad and granddad each owned bait stores in Columbus and made most of their living catching crawfish. I started at about age 8 and eventually paid my way through college catching crawfish. The decline in the number of crawfish throughout Ohio has been sad to behold. In my lifetime (67 years), streams like Alum Creek and Big Walnut used once supported huge numbers of crawfish - enough to make them viable places to work in the spring. The Scioto up around Prospect was even more populated. Stretches of that river once looked like Broadway on summer nights due to the number of bait catchers picking craws (a little exaggeration, but you get the point). I was picking craws at Prospect one night about 50 years ago when some company or village dumped something into the river upstream and every crawfish, turtle, forg or anything else that could get out of the river could. Craws were actually hanging from the bushes over the river (that's no exaggeration)! Tens of thousands of fish and crawfish died that night.

I've seen the Sandusky River in Bucyrus look white from the numbers of dead fish floating on top of the water following pollution dumps. (Yes, this has happened more than once). The bottom of Honey Creek up around Attica used to be covered with crawfish. I stopped there a few years ago to seine up a few craws to fish with and couldn't find one crawfish!

The Great Miami River is perhaps the saddest case of all. I used to be able to drag a seine over at Dayton, Tipp City, Troy, or Piqua and literally catch a half bushel of craws. Probably no river in Ohio held more crawfish than the Great Miami. The last time I bothered checking for craws there, I was lucky to find one. What I did find were signs along the river bank warning people not to fish, wade, swim, or otherwise come into contact with the river water. I have seen the same types of signs in the Ottawa River around Lima and the other Ottawa River in Toledo.

This is representative of how Ohio deals with the problem of water pollution. Don't do much to stop the pollution, just put up signs telling people to stay away from the water. Witness what is now going on at Lake Erie and other lakes) with e. coli and algae blooms. Same type of stuff has been happening to Ohio's rivers for years. We just hear more about it with the lakes because it has a much greater economic impact. 

So, yes what you are seeing around Prospect is probably reality. Sadly, it is also reality for most, if not all, of the water in our state. Seeing what I have seen in my lifetime sometime makes me feel like the American Indian with the tear running down his cheek in the famous commercial bemoaning what we are doing to our planet.


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## freshwater_newb (May 16, 2013)

Hoover 4 Me said:


> Has there been any commercial/residential development in the area the last few years?
> 
> There was a small creek that ran behind my parents house, I fished it all the time growing up and it had tons of fish, frogs, turtles, snakes and crawdads. They were everywhere. I'd catch creek chubs, a lot of them huge, nice sunfish, decent channel cats and the occasional bass. If we ever wanted minnows for the lake I could set a minnow trap and get all we could use and them some. After a heavy rain the creek would flood and I could wade it and get carp from pools where they got stranded after the water went down. I remember some friends and I being able to walk around in shallow water upstream of a deeper pool and get the water stirred up and fish the deeper pool and get channel cats. The water would clear out, we'd stir the water up again and the cats would start hitting again. We thought it was the coolest thing ever. Then the surrounding land owners sold the land to a developer. Multi-story apartments went up shortly thereafter and more storm drainage entered the creek. One of the first projects I saw take place was huge drainage pipes run to the creek. Within maybe 2-3 years the frogs, turtles, crawdads and snakes were pretty much gone. There was little finger in the creek that we could walk down and frogs jumped into the water every few feet. I haven't been back there in probably 10 years but it is more developed than before so I'd imagine it's in bad shape. The last time I was back there I was able to get some small creek chubs and that was it.
> 
> I might go back there here soon just to see what kind of shape it's in now. I'm sure it'll be depressing.


I hear ya, boss. It's like this everywhere I'm from, all up and down the east coast of the US. 

Example:
The fishes and reefs in the Fla. Keys, the only living coral reef in the continental United States (up until 1989 or so, living that is  ) will NEVER, EVER recover from feed-and-seeding lawns and the farming of year round (non-seasonal) tomatoes, strawberries, etc. and the nutrient-rich runoff all that fertilizer laden water bring to the gulf and south-eastern atlantic. All that convenience farming is killing everything in our Southern waterways except algae.

This is why being an environmentalist isn't feel good, hippie ****. It's essential to our existence.

EDIT:


PerchGuy said:


> You are noticing what I have witnessed for years. My dad and granddad each owned bait stores in Columbus and made most of their living catching crawfish. I started at about age 8 and eventually paid my way through college catching crawfish. The decline in the number of crawfish throughout Ohio has been sad to behold. In my lifetime (67 years), streams like Alum Creek and Big Walnut used once supported huge numbers of crawfish - enough to make them viable places to work in the spring. The Scioto up around Prospect was even more populated. Stretches of that river once looked like Broadway on summer nights due to the number of bait catchers picking craws (a little exaggeration, but you get the point). I was picking craws at Prospect one night about 50 years ago when some company or village dumped something into the river upstream and every crawfish, turtle, forg or anything else that could get out of the river could. Craws were actually hanging from the bushes over the river (that's no exaggeration)! Tens of thousands of fish and crawfish died that night.
> 
> I've seen the Sandusky River in Bucyrus look white from the numbers of dead fish floating on top of the water following pollution dumps. (Yes, this has happened more than once). The bottom of Honey Creek up around Attica used to be covered with crawfish. I stopped there a few years ago to seine up a few craws to fish with and couldn't find one crawfish!
> 
> ...


OK. This is pretty much what I was trying to get across, only described much better than I was willing to bother. Thank you sir.

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## Putty (Jul 22, 2013)

I was in the Scioto wading last week and they were all over. I was up in Dublin though.


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## slowtroller (Sep 28, 2011)

South of the Fifth Ave bridge but not in numbers like in the past.


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## Garyoutlaw77 (Feb 3, 2005)

I fish the Tangy Scioto confluence often & have seen a marked decline in the craws & those giant Snails after the shake up - 
I was below Greenlawn and can say their were Craws all over the rocks after dark - so just assume the Rivers have changed.

Was going up to South Bass Island & got hustled into some Craws at R&R by the old Man - Glad I listened to Bill


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## Mushijobah (May 4, 2004)

Bill knows what's up! Hope the craw thing is just temporary. Seeing that it's all over central Ohio, it could be more of a regional trend. This area has seen worse days in terms of stream pollution. Namely 80s and 90s.


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## Crazyheaven (Apr 24, 2008)

Anyone who has spent time outdoors knows we have a environmental problems. I would think it was common knowledge. What isn't so common is the solution to these problems. I'd bet that if anyone came up with a solution to the population we are now facing that didn't upset any the local business, they will have no problems gaining funding. 

I think the main thing we should consider is what to do about all of this sewage. I like the idea of solar energy but I can't help but feel that we have greater problems that could be subsidized. Solar is one of those investments that could pay for itself. Finding ways to keep the water clean is more of a humbling experience in terms of investments.


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## RatherbFishing2Day (Jun 26, 2013)

I dont know if it was because i was not looking for them or what but i saw a ton of them last night. Mainly in the water but saw this guyvwalking around.


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## leckig (May 11, 2005)

PerchGuy said:


> You are noticing what I have witnessed for years. [....]


This is heartbreaking to read. It upsets me to no end when I hear so many people voicing their opinion against EPA. 

Nothing is worth protecting more than the environment we live in.


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