Smitty Fisher

Adventure fisherman

Lightbulb moment on the Ohio River

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As I write this down I’m not even sure if I will post it. Sitting here in my comfortable chair looking back and trying to put all this in words and frankly I am at a lost to find the right ones. The last 12 months I have been geeking out on how to read and set up my fish finder to really get the maximum use out of it and it paid off.

Day 1 The Ohio River is on a slight rise and running at the perfect water level in my opinion, not to high and not to low. 50 yards from where I dunked my yak I begin to see the returns on my fish finder that really perking my interest. It’s not just about arches or footballs but how these arches and footballs relate to structure and each other. After just a few casts I knew my fish finder had not lied. Some schooling hybrids were finding my lipless crankbait and crushing it on a February day. Life just could not get much better. The interesting piece was that the fish were only biting if the bait was brought back against the current. Water temps 42 degrees with a slight wind from the south.

 

Day 2 Back to the spot from the day before and the fish finder looks even better. The fish are beginning to school by size, awful early for this type of behavior. I cast and I cast I manage to pick off a couple 17 inch white bass. Such amazing fish I really just love big White bass. I start to try different baits different retrieves and nothing. I decide to do a long slow troll over top of the three schools. Running a small swim bait on a long line. As I approach the three schools smash and a giant head shaking run. My lightbulb moment on the Ohio River.

 

As the fish finder revealed the fish were schooling by size and I could clearly see the bigger fish schooled up together. Once the Hybrids revealed that the long line troll with a tiny swim bait, against the current was what they wanted I knew what I was going to do the rest of the day. My day began to go completely insane. Targeting just the big slobs, they just could not help themselves and were crushing the bait. Some of the most violent hits I have ever personally felt, these fish are just plain amazing. Some of you wouldn’t believe the numbers and sizes. Others would think I am just being a fisherman and exaggerating. This was one of the most amazing fishing days I have ever had. We are truly lucky to have such

good fishing right here at home.

 

 

4 days before or recent warm front. Water temp still only 43 to 44 degrees but when you can unlock the code and find the fish some truly amazing things will happen. It took me 20 lure changes and more than a few times had me guessing what I thought I was seeing on my fishfinder was right. Finding the right lure with the right color and action, fished at the right depth and speed can be daunting but the payout can just be huge. I hope you found something useful for your own fishing in this Ohio River report if you liked it please subscribe.

Grinding it out to the other side

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There’s one simple truth about winter fishing, it’s tough and not for everyone. With the need of special safety gear, the cold weather and the need to fish slow and ultra small this all adds to the tough conditions. Grinding it out for weeks in these conditions is not what I would call easy. Don’t get me wrong the quality has been there, big fish have been caught but it’s one here one there and spread out. The people I meet on the river are few and far between this time of year but we all have a kindred spirits with shared hypothermia.

As the slow fishing grinds you down you know that it will change and the bite will be back. Finally the Ohio river and its tributaries are starting to give up the stripes in numbers I made it to the other side of the grind. White bass are beginning to stage into large tributaries, relating to ledges and bait. Water and air temps are still cruel in how cold it is but the the bigger white bass and hybrids and starting to bite along with a bunch of other species that relate to the ledges. You just never know what you’re going to find this time of year in the water.

I have a particular setup I like to use starting with the terminal tackle. ¼ oz jig head thin wire I know most people are scratching their heads  on this. My reason for the thinner wire is the bite is soft and not committed, having a thinner wire you have a better chance of the fish hooking itself, not to mention you don’t need a massive hookset to set it. Make sure your drag is not set too tight or you might have a fish straighten the hooks out. The line is crucial I have three different weights I like using but mostly I end up using 8lb line. Yes I said 8lb line for big hybrids the fish are just looking for a reason not to bite 8lb line is as subtle as it gets. Just a nice sensitive rod 7ft ish medium with a fast tip. Buy something decent I burned up a Pflueger Trion rod and reel last season only had about 4 or 5 months on it.

The lures need to be small not just smallish but miniature nothing bigger than 2.5 inches and even that can be too big at times depending on the fish’s mood. I personally prefer small swim baits in a pearl or white color. Fish them slow on the bottom or just off the bottom along ledges the fish are right on the bottom mostly right now. Be prepared to catch drum, carp, hybrids, whites, sauger and catfish you just never know this time of year. My secret is using scent, scent will make all the difference. I noticed that you get more variety of fish using scent in the winter adding to the fun of winter fishing. If you do find fish schooling and they are trash fish always fish the edges of the group seems like you can always pick a good hybrid out of the group. Fishin the top and bottom of the school the hybrids seem to relate to these schools but on the edges.

Water temps are from 35 to 45 degrees so fish it “slow and low” I like to let my bait lay on the bottom sometimes for a few seconds during pauses. Good luck out there and be safe cold water is nothing to play around in. Please subscribe to my blog for more good fishing.

Review of Winter PFD XPS Deluxe Fishing Life Vest

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Sometimes just finding that one piece of winter gear you need to round out everything else you own is tricky especially if you’re talking about a PFD, most are designed to keep you cool and not warm and warmth is what’s needed. There are so many PFD’s out there to pick from and with temps dropping into the 20s and going lower you really shouldn’t wear a inflatable PFD which is my go to pfd. In cold weather they don’t inflate as much not giving you the floatation you may need.

4.5 inches thick old PFD front and back together

The biggest gripe I always have is how bulky a traditional PFD is and once you layer up for cold conditions they make it even worst not to mention you really almost need a separate winter PFD just to have one to fit on over all your layers. I hate it when your trying as hard as you can to target a small group of fish and your rod butt hits you PFD when working the bait or worst yet when you’re setting the hook a slob of a fish and the rod butt catches on your PFD only to feel the fish come off.

Only 2inches thick the front and back together

I went to Bass Pro to pick up a cheap vest for the winter the  cheap ones were bulky in the front and back, but the price was right $49.98, I’m only using it at most 3 months of the year . They were having BPS Santaland being it’s right before the holidays which was where all the PFDs were. When I found where they had put them all the PFDs were smashed on top of each other, which was magic, just one of the XPS Deluxe Fishing vests were mixed in and when I saw it, I just had to check it out.

Fleece collar help keeps you warm

XPS Deluxe Fishing vest is different then most PFDs, most PFDs have all the foam floatation located in the front and back where on the XPS Deluxe Fishing vest its distributed all the way around the vest adding a layer of warmth and greatly reducing the bulk on the front and back. Not only is it less bulky and warmer this vest comes in sizes up to 4xl. With fleece lined pockets to warm your hands up when they get cold from fishing and it doesn’t stop there it has a fleece collar as well. Is this thing made for me or what.

My one disappointment with this vest there’s no place to put my knife, I always like to have one handy, you never know when that catfishing line is going to cause problems.

The XPS deluxe fishing vest make a great winter kayak fishing vest its slim, warm and the fleece lined pockets really dial this vest into keeping you warm. Coming in at only $69.98 what a great value on a piece of critical importance in the winter.

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Grinding it out

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Fishing for Stripes at one time or another will bring you to the grind and there’s only one way to get thru it and that’s to just keep grinding it out.

The weather has been up and down as well as the river for the past couple weeks I have been grinding away. The striped bass like to move around finding the easy prey and may even ignore a tributary with thousands of bait fish because they are not the size they want. This transition phase the Stripes are hanging out more in the main river hitting minor tribs and cuts sometimes filling these little tribs full .

These spots are best hit on foot and I am full bore kayaking right now, so as I grind away on one fish here two fish there my friends text me picts a quality fish. This is the grind, I have another couple weeks I guess till the fish move into the majors tributaries.

 

 

The rising river report 3 days

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Needless to say things have been getting colder lately and with the cold comes tuff conditions but with these cold and wet conditions comes the opportunity to land a monster fish and enjoy a epic battle with a striped freight train. These conditions are nothing to play around with, be safe and wear the right gear if you go out.

Hitting up a tributary of the Ohio River with my good buddy Rob aka House (housetackle on FaceBook) any time I fish with Rob its a chance to fish with a true specialist, he has stripes in his blood. We were greeted with a partially frozen trib but nothing the Hobie Outback couldn’t break her way threw and off to the mouth we go.

 

The river levels were approaching 20 ft and rising this spells good fishing outside the mouth and up along the ledges of the Ohio river the one down side temps are falling.


Marking fish on the 20ft ledge, right where they should be knowing that those ones wont bite I start casting my trustee red eye shad to the 10ft shelf making sure to work the red eye shad with short hops off the bottom and letting it fall on slack line. Now this is playing with snagging the bottom and yes, I loose a lot of lures. Rob is working the same ledge vertically and I can hear him saying” I see them!” The red eye shad was getting hammered by some monster drum and a couple gar and then something different all together thumped it.

 


My bait was slammed on the drop I go toset the hook an at first I thought I missed the fish and snagged a log or something but then the head thrashing began,  I knew it was something different then a drum. There was a moment soon after the head thrashing that I reeled as fast as my hand could turn the handle and nothing not even the feel of my lure, that striped hybrid was running straight at me mach 4. Under the boat he goes and spinning me in circles, coming up and diving down this fish new the tricks to get off the hook but thankfully I stepped up my rod to a Duckett Ghost and it  was amazing at keeping this fish on, that parabolic bend really is something else. When I finally get her landed I notice only one hook from one treble was keeping her on, just amazed I didn’t loose her.

With the river rising fast the fish were moving and getting ready to head into the trib to get out of the current, the Ohio river was 39 degrees with the tributary being 36 degrees the temperature difference is getting close enough that when the current gets to strong on the Ohio they will move into the tribs. Thanks to Rob for capturing these fish in some awesome picts.

Nuts and Bolts:Air temp mid 20’s,over cast skies, Ohio river 20 ft and rising, Ohoo river temp 39, trib temp 36

Day 2 Cold as a witch’s heart


Starting this trip from a trib down river I met there Todd Strong and feeling confident that we could catch some fish on the same pattern from the day before but when we got to the boat ramp and saw nothing but ice things got dicey.  We couldn’t launch at the ramp it self the ice was just to thick but a few yards down for the ramp the ice was looking a little thinner. Good thing we had Mirage drives as the mouth of the trib was about a mile away and trying to smash you paddle threw that much ice for a mile would be no fun.


 

The Ohio was up to almost 30ft and it was full of garbage floating downstream unfortunately the pattern of working the ledges that has been working for a month was not getting it done. After looking everywhere we could safely fish we did and ended up with a big fat zero.

Nuts and Bolts: air temp 10-30 degrees, water temp Ohio river 38 degree, partly cloudy, Ohio river 28ft and rising

 

 

Day 3 Opening of the mind

 

 

Hoping to redeem myself I head out to one of my favorite tribs and what do I find? Ice and its the thickest yet. After battling the ice up to the mouth I come across some fishing friends Steve and his buddy that I see every winter in a couple tribs, they had not had any luck but a couple gar, Steve was talking about breaking up the ice and I am thinking “ya right.” The Ohio is up and ugly  the ledges are now swept with current and the current is ripping and no fish to be found.

 


Heading back up the trib what do I see but Steve in his boat busting ice and pushing it to the sides I could not get a good pict of this and it was something to see. After he blows everything up by breaking the ice I’m thinking every fish is gone and never to return but what does he catch but the biggest slob striped fish I have ever seen pulled from this part of the river.

Unfortunately for me I never found my fish but had almost as much fun seeing Steve’s fish, the pict doesn’t do it justice that thing is huge, Steve is a big dude. I would not believe it if someone told me they caught a 29 inch hybrid but we measured it on my Hawg trough and its real. Totally amazing fish that was caught where there had been a inch of ice only a hour earlier. After talking to Steve and finding out he is from Wisconsin and has a lot of experience ice fishing we came to the conclusion that they are under the ice and are probably farther up then where we were or they were scarred from him breaking up the ice.

Lesson learned, the fish really don’t care about the ice and move freely up the trib to get out of the swift current of a blown out Ohio.

Nuts and Bolts:Air temp 20-38 degrees, partly cloudy, Ohio river 30ish ft and about to fall, Ohio river temp 37, trib temp 35 degrees.

 

<<<<<<Just look at that slob of a fish!!!