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Dang it. Just write a big long thread on my phone and it didn't post and kicked me out.
Very short version. Anyone willing to chat about thoughts/experience with catching big fish above 10 feet in the water column?
Have you? How shallow to try lures, color, afternoon vs. morning? I've tried and had no luck.
Generally, I'm fishing 25-45 FOW. Just a thought as we await ice out.
THX
DW
We rarely run out lures less than 10 ft down or less.But we don't start fishing till mid April.I think some big fish are caught early in the season up high as the surface water warms later in the day.No experience doing it, but have read others catching some good fish high Good luck trying.Doesnt hurt to run a lure or two high in your spread.
We always would run harnesses with 1 oz egg sinkers way out on the outsides. That's where we always caught our biggest fish. We don't fish harnesses anymore, but I'm sure it will still work.
Thanks guys. I re-read my post and had to laugh a little bit. I may not even have answered it LOL. I don't expect folks to share their secrets on how to catch their biggest fish.
What you said was exactly what I meant to ask. I usually have the most success on fish that are about 13-20 feet down. I had heard that sometimes especially on sunny days that a big pre-spawn fish may rise higher in the afternoon in an effort to warm their body temps.
i have tried it for several hours a few times when I was catching the deeper fish but to no avail. Just wondered if you accomplished folks out there have had any success doing this?
Particularly for a chance at a trophy, do you think it is worth continuing to try or is it better to just search for larger marks on the graph and stick with the depth ranges where the fish are active? Maybe I should try more subtle and natural looking baits up that high?
Tight lines!
Would you guys say that bigger lures = bigger fish?
Generally I think so. I have also certainly noticed that fish sometimes school by size and in slightly different depths of water. Especially true in the central basin in the summer. And many days when running different baits, I have caught bigger fish in bandits than on spoons or harnesses.
I'm usually fortunate enough to pick up 1-2 fish Ohio's per year and get plenty to eat. Am hoping to up my odds just a little bit for a family member who has never got one that big. I know there are much more knowledgeable and better folks than me on this site.
I remember seeing a Capt. Juls post saying she wasn't seeing marks as good as she wanted in an effort to get a client a fish Ohio. So she moved. Thinking I need to learn the details and perhaps settings on my Sonar better. Maybe search around a little more once I learn to identify the bigger marks?
I was always happy to just fish and catch what was there. Never really tried to target the biggest fish. Appreciate all comments!
late August early morning drifting into 10 ft 0f water with worm harness 1/2 ounce egg sinker. Snag for a second on rocks pull lose 1 second later snag again but it started pulling. 29 inch walleye. Walleye will come shallow over night to feed. Caught another 25 inch in 15 ft. after a goby hook my worm harness and caught both
I think it's just a matter of having the appropriate year class of fish. Right now there just aren't very many fish Ohio year class fish around. Ten years ago or so there were tons of fish Ohio fish around. We caught a 4 man limit with a 9 pound average. You can't do that today
If you fish much, you'll notice that every year the fish are getting bigger, (longer and heaver.) That year class just needs to grow up, and it will. Just give it a few years and you'll be catching all the fish Ohio's you want.
Great stuff there Ducker. I have noticed that in the past couple of years there have been quite a few beauties in the 23-27 inch range! What an incredible fishery and can't wait to get out on it again.
That insane to catch 24 fish that average 9 lbs.Our all time best was a little over 5 lbs.Read posts of guys fishing the brawl this past fall and they said the best they could catch was approaching 9 lbs.
the best My friend and I ever did was in april when the limit was 4 each, we got 7 that were fish ohios and the one that wasn't was a 27 incher The biggest was 32 11 pounds post spawn. Good friday in the ferry channel off of Catawaba. It was an epic day for just about everyone who fished that area that weekend