Why I hate Fishing in Ohio
- Thread starter Jackalope
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I agree 100% with Joe! I've fished quite a few places, mostly northern MI and Canada, some in TN and Lake Seminole too.... Ohio sucks, with the exception of Lake Erie. Mason and I are hard on crappie and saugeye. Bass lost my interest 20 years ago. I will say this; Ohio did the RIGHT thing several years ago by limiting crappie harvest to 30 over 9" on many lakes. Rocky Fork is now AWESOME for crappie fishing. In the first year of the new regulations, many cried they were unable to catch any of legal size. We do not keep anything under 12" now.
Joe, my mom and dad will go up to CJ a couple times a year. They have a friend that is out there trolling several days a week and knows every hump in the lake. They do really well. (For Ohio) You are welcome to come down and fish with me a time or two this year. I can just about guarantee you will get all the fish you want. It's not uncommon for Mason and I to catch 100 saugeyes in a morning. You are allowed 6. Some days it will take a while to find them, but we usually do. Come on down.
Joe, my mom and dad will go up to CJ a couple times a year. They have a friend that is out there trolling several days a week and knows every hump in the lake. They do really well. (For Ohio) You are welcome to come down and fish with me a time or two this year. I can just about guarantee you will get all the fish you want. It's not uncommon for Mason and I to catch 100 saugeyes in a morning. You are allowed 6. Some days it will take a while to find them, but we usually do. Come on down.
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Yes I've fished down south... Florida, Georgia, NC, Tennessee, SC...
It's all relative Joe.
Those big bass are cool, but they aren't much for table fair. Crappies and gills... Can be caught anywhere. I agree there are a ton of other tasty species down south, but there are a bunch up north too. I think Ohio overall is a good place to catch fish. Pike, musky, perch, smallmouth, largemouth, bluegill, crappie, salmon, steelhead, walleye, catfish... What more do you need? But Lake Erie itself, is an incredible fishery. In my opinion, anyone who claims Ohio sucks for fishing is just plain ignorant and hasn't spent any time near Lake Erie. A couple weeks ago there was a line of trucks 3/4 of a mile long, waiting to drop their boats in at Catawba State Park, for the chance to go out and troll for trophy caliber walleye. Rigs from all over the midwest were showing up. And just look at the last two winters... Ice fishing out on Erie was nothing short of amazing. There were days where access points along the Erie shoreline held over 1000 vehicles belonging to ice fishermen. You'd be out on the lake, miles out there, and it was sleds and quads and shanties as far as you could see in any direction. Have you ever experienced that??? I don't think you have. Because if you had, you wouldn't be of the opinion you hold currently.
It's all relative Joe.
Those big bass are cool, but they aren't much for table fair. Crappies and gills... Can be caught anywhere. I agree there are a ton of other tasty species down south, but there are a bunch up north too. I think Ohio overall is a good place to catch fish. Pike, musky, perch, smallmouth, largemouth, bluegill, crappie, salmon, steelhead, walleye, catfish... What more do you need? But Lake Erie itself, is an incredible fishery. In my opinion, anyone who claims Ohio sucks for fishing is just plain ignorant and hasn't spent any time near Lake Erie. A couple weeks ago there was a line of trucks 3/4 of a mile long, waiting to drop their boats in at Catawba State Park, for the chance to go out and troll for trophy caliber walleye. Rigs from all over the midwest were showing up. And just look at the last two winters... Ice fishing out on Erie was nothing short of amazing. There were days where access points along the Erie shoreline held over 1000 vehicles belonging to ice fishermen. You'd be out on the lake, miles out there, and it was sleds and quads and shanties as far as you could see in any direction. Have you ever experienced that??? I don't think you have. Because if you had, you wouldn't be of the opinion you hold currently.
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I have been told there are a couple humps in the reservoir where you can catch walleye and sauger. The trick is you have to get there early and be one of the first ones to troll it. I appreciate the invite and might come for the ride along.
If you want to rip some lips for crappie let me know and we can plan a trip back home next spring. We wouldn't need to tow or rent a boat, seems like everyone in my family has 2.3 boats per person. Lol. I guarantee you will go through 100 minnows per person in the boat before lunch. Catch a lot of incidentals also like gar and freshwater drum but that's half the fun. We always use 12 foot jig poles and troll along the bank or submerged timber jigging until we hit a school of them. If you're only catching 9-10 inchers in the School move on to another one. Statewide limit is 30, In most lakes anything under 12 inches must be released. Except on Eagle Lake about 20 miles from my house where any crappie under 16 inches must be released. The ohio State record for Crappie is both 18 inches one caught in 95 and one back in the 80s.
Exactly!
We have without a doubt the best freshwater fishing lake in all the world right on our north border...LMAO
World class walleye, smallmouth, yellow perch and steelhead fishing is right here!...and all the marinas around the lake are loaded with crappies and bluegill, millions of catfish and other species.
I invite any of you naysayers to make a trip to lake erie in your future.
No one arguing that one whatsoever.... It's the other lakes that are lacking thought the state....
Erie is one bright spot in a state that's overfished and where people take home everything they catch....
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One Lake at the extreme northern border of the state does not make Ohio a world-class fishery. Nor is it the greatest freshwater lake in the world. One could argue it's not even the greatest freshwater lake of the Great Lakes. Nobody is saying it's not a great place to fish. But saying that Ohio is a great place to fish is just laughable. Then to support the claim that Ohio is a great fishing state by pointing at one Lake makes it even more laughable.
The lake is 4 hours away for this redneck. How far I gotta drive down south Joe? I don't fish, so I don't have a dog in the fight, but Erie is a luxury to most.
Huckleberry Finn
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It's refreshing to see you chuckleheads argue about a new topic.
I figure we are probably better off that some but behind others. Got to be better than Indiana, right?
I figure we are probably better off that some but behind others. Got to be better than Indiana, right?
To expand on my previous thought, Erie and the Gulf cancel out IMO. Each are luxuries to a farm pond, worm and bobber fisherman. I'd have to think the south would offer better fishing by default due to warmer weather ND Bergmann's Rule.
I'm a bass guy, have been my whole adult life.... My son has taken too my addiction as well and he's living in SC and laughs at what we have now that he knows better.... The only lake he will want too fish when he comes home is Erie and the Ohio River being the only other body of water he enjoys up here.... He averages 2.5lb fish down there where ours would be a third of that up here.... The only bad thing is dealing with the heat during the summer months while out on the lake....
If you watch the weigh ins on some of the big tourneys down there it'll wake you up real quick.... Good back up here is 8-12lbs on inland lakes, that won't get you in the top 20 down there....
But again they have a much longer growing season down there vs up here....
If you watch the weigh ins on some of the big tourneys down there it'll wake you up real quick.... Good back up here is 8-12lbs on inland lakes, that won't get you in the top 20 down there....
But again they have a much longer growing season down there vs up here....
The BASS classic was in Oklahoma of all places this year and the winner brought in a bag of 30+lbs on the second or third day..... For most lakes here in Ohio (other than Erie) that's a three day limit on a good tourney....
I guess I could care less about crappie or bass . I don't mind driving 2 hrs each way to experience Erie because its what enjoy . If the lake is to rough and ya can't get out sometimes ya can salvage the trip catching a bucket of crappie in the marinas but most people don't bother . I have friends who fish Cowan , and east fork and hueston woods and seem to catch a lot of nice crappie .
Comparing saltwater fishing isn't fair ....No freshwater fishing anywhere can compare to saltwater fishing . Its a different type of fishing in a league of its own .
And as far as Mississippi being 6th in Py entries ...I'd venture to say that if someone kills a PY in Mississippi they're much , much more likely to enter it . I just think many people in Ohio give a crap about 125" deer . On that subject , I don't think the reduction in number of BBBC is because that many less are being killed , it just that hardly anyone cares to enter them anymore .
Comparing saltwater fishing isn't fair ....No freshwater fishing anywhere can compare to saltwater fishing . Its a different type of fishing in a league of its own .
And as far as Mississippi being 6th in Py entries ...I'd venture to say that if someone kills a PY in Mississippi they're much , much more likely to enter it . I just think many people in Ohio give a crap about 125" deer . On that subject , I don't think the reduction in number of BBBC is because that many less are being killed , it just that hardly anyone cares to enter them anymore .
Will do , doubt I come down there though. Used to go there occasionally when I lived in Springboro. Wasn't bad for me but wasn't great. Definetly not good enough to drive 3 hrs to fish..lol