Great Lakes Bass Fishing Forum

A while back I was begging you guys for some information on the Ohio River. Unfortunately, very few of you knew anything about it; tells me something about you guys  :D. Anyhow, some of you asked me to post how I did once I got there. I went down there yesterday and fished it getting ready for the BASS Federation Nation State Tournament next weekend.

This was my first trip to this body of water and overall I was happy with the results. I was quite worried about fishing it. First of all, between Rocky Point & Cannelton there is a bait shop called "Bass and More" that is truly a great little store. The owner gave me some good advice and hooked me up with some great baits. If anyone is headed to this stretch of the river, I encourage you to stop by this place. They should sponsor me  ;D.

I never fished mud before; this was the dirtiest water I have ever seen. I mean, if you see a mud puddle sometime soon, that IS what the river looks like. Plus, it stinks! It reeks horrible; you can smell the river 20 miles away. Apparently, that area received 6 inches of rain the previous Thurs/Friday. That amount of rain made the creeks unfishable for the BFL tournament Saturday b/c of the rushing water. It isn't running like that now, there is little current. However, the many locals I spoke with said its still muddier than normal and it shut down the bite. I also learned that running the boat in those creeks is a challenge; this place can be very dangerous. I never planed it out because of all the wood. I caught 6 keepers in 9 hours of fishing that would have weighed about 8#; not bad for a bite that "shut down" and this weight normally places a person towards the leaders in tournaments. Once I figured out a pattern, I targed points and stumps inside creeks. I caught my fish on Bandit 100 series crawdad crankbaits and NetBait craw tubes with a rattle in it rigged on 1/4oz (I never knew of this bait until the man at the tackle shop showed it to me. Great Bait! Anyone else use it?). I noticed the wood with growth on it produced better as well. Overall, a good fishing trip and I can't wait to get back there for my tournament.

Duke

Thanks for the report.  Getting five keepers on the Ohio River is a great thing and would place you high in a tournament.  Nothing like Ohio River mud, it's a world of it's own.  When it floods look out.
I don't like to use the world "luck", but I hope you do well!

Thank you, but I fear I'm going to need some luck! If my pattern holds up, I should do well; but how often do patterns hold up 10 days later on a river? Either way, it'll be a lot of fun... hopefully. Are you familiar w/ this body of water?

Duke