Ohio River -- Sauger, Walleye .. what's biting

[JimDicken]

Anyone been to the river to fish lately?
Wanting info on the Sauger and Walleye and what else might be biting and current conditions.
Jim D

[dpage70]

you asked what else is biting, well i know the crappie are biting extremely well. my buddy fished one of the creeks all weekend and caught about 200 fish with 50 of them being over 14". I went with him today and we caught about 40 fish with 20 of them being over 12" in about 3 hours of fishing. hope this helps

[onemorecast56]

Ok depage ...lol where at?..Hi Jim, been catching alot of stripers. They are about any where there is running water. If just you are wanting to go,,,e-mail me and i`ll tell where. Been catching alot in the 3-4 range with a 8-10 crusing thru.


Doug

[basslure]

Same Thing I have Heard. We Fish the River All the Time and So Far This Year I have Only Caught One Small Sauger and No Walleye. Stripers,Crappie,White Bass and Drum is All We Have Caught.Also Have Heard the Sauger Bite is Slow in Other Places as Well.

[Moose1am]

I have been reading the new In-Fisherman Book Series called Critical Consepts. This one is on crappie fundamentals. It's the first update in the In-Fisherman Crappie Wisdom book since 1985.

I am about half way though the book. But it did have a section on winter or cold water period fishing. When the water temps drop below 50 deg and get down to 40 in rivers. They claim that crappie will get out of the current and go up streams or into Old Oxbow. They will suspend behind bridge pilings to help break the current. Or they will get out of the current and go into offshoots of the river, creeks. If the creek water is muddy you may find them near the area of the creek where the mud line starts or ends. That transition zone is where some have told me to fish the creeks off the Ohio River.

I may start fising Little Pigeon Creek in Warrick County, IN. It runs for about 18 miles from the mouth at the Ohio River upstream and toward the north for many miles. There is even an oxbow type lake near where highway 66 crosses over the creek. Not sure how deep this bay is but I'll bet there are some crappie in there at different times of the years. Big crappie may come up out of the river to get out of the current. Maybe the area near the mouth of this creek where it empties into the Ohio River would be a good spot. There are many barges in this area I am told so if you do venture out to fish this area be careful of the barge traffic.

I would think that Oil Creek in Perry County and the other creeks in this area would hold crappie too. Any small creek that can get the fish out of the current and that has lots of stumps along the creek edges may hold big crappie. Outside bends in the creek channel may contain the steeper drops or banks. That's because the outside edge of a river or creek is normally undercut. That provides a steep profile and sometimes there are exposed roots of old stumps or trees that once grew along the edge of the creek.
Regards,

Moose1am

[jfw]

They have just started good there was 15 boats below the interperative center.in a spot about as big as a public pool.

I have been fishing the river for over 20 years & have never seen that many boats in such a small spot!!
THere were some boats anchored over the rock pile had to be in 18" of water if they were to have dropped the level just a little they would have been sitting on rock LOL .THe River can be dangerous in the falls please use caution ,and dont go up there if you dont know the river!!!You can tear up a lower unit in a heartbeat

Please have some courtesy up there don't anchor 10 feet from another boat that was there before you .There is some big waves up there and it will pull you off anchor allot .

The reason I am saying this is there was almost an altercation between anglers when their boats bumped into one another .If someone is there first then please be nice .

To be honest right now you can catch them off the bank from the shelf there if you use 1/2 oz leadhead !!I woiuld take minnows too the hot color for me was red

[Chubminnow]

Moose1am - That's some great information you shared with us...I'm an In-Fisherman subscriber myself and find a lot of useful material through them. The one thing I have yet to read an article on however is how to find more time to put into practice the information I read.

JFW - I trust what you say JFW, who would have ever thought ANY SPOT on the Ohio would have boats stacked on top of each other like that? I hate to hear about the over crowdedness you encountered, especially the part regarding the two boats bumping each other. Chances are at least one of those boat owners visits this site and hopefully they too will make a note of what you said.

[jfw]

We went monday the 18th ,My buddy got a 19 walleye very pretty fish .Lots of small sauger were being caught by everyone but me !!!!

I did not catch the first fish !!!!And I was tipping with minnows it was almost unreal !!!!

Today is my daughters last day of school until 1/3/06 so my day fishing for sauger is haulted for a while .I dont take her with me down there

[Lowerider]

i've heard of some nice blues being caught the last two weeks...
70#, 52# and a bunch over 40...

for those that like to battle big fish, this is the time of year when multiple pigs are a real possibility. don't think you have to find the deepest holes in the river either - most of these fish came from a gravel flat 30-40 ft deep.

[dpage70]

Moose that actually makes great sense with what i'm told about the crappie moving into the creeks. I'm new to this personally but I'm told that the really big ones move into this creek when the water gets down below 50. It blew my mind to see these crappie in water this shallow and cold this time of year. But after reading your post it actually makes sense. they're lethargic and don't want to expend the energy to fight the current. sort of makes you hit yourself in the head and say duh.

Doug, basically the way i'm told, just find a BIG creek off of the river that has cover and throw jigs at it. After this past weekend I can honestly say their in there. Now i'm wondering if the bass react the same way. Any thoughts on that Moose?

[tglass]

What part of the river are they catching the big blues? i live in NKY, right across from cincy and i would really like to fish the river for big blues this weekend. I even have a bunch of skipjacks frozen. If you let me know if it is around Markland or down further by louisville. Thanks.

[bigwormy]

my buddy had a 5 lb. 4 oz. largemouth last sunday. had three more keepers between 15-16 inches. all on spinnerbaits out of a creek.