MyFishFinder Forum
MFF US Midwest => Indiana => Topic started by: bigr on Aug 07, 2017, 05:02 AM
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Weather for Sunday looked perfect for a float and river was in good shape so I decided late Saturday to load the boat and get an early start. My wife was kind enough to drive me to the start location seven miles upstream in Lagro. Kissed the wife and said alittle prayer as i pushed off. I was only a few hundred yards downstream when I noticed a pair of majestic Bald eagle standing guard over the river. The first two of many that I encountered along with several other river birds like Baltimore orioles and king fishers. The river was quiet and flowing easily over the shallows. This Sunday church service was just what I needed and I thanked God for letting me attend. The drive from my home to the Lagro ramp is seven miles by car but from boat I think it may be alittle further. A small cooler packed with a lite lunch, water and snacks is all I would need for the eight hour trip in the plastic bass boat power by my small trolling motor, used only to readjust position in river when the current and I didn't agree. The first fish came only a few minutes after settling in the swivel seat. Almost immediately after setting the hook an explosion from the three foot water confirmed my first of fifteen smallies I would lip. This fish was a nice 2 1/2lb perfect example of a river smallmouth. Green with bold markings on its side. Fat from shinners and craws. Further down the river my biggest bass of 4lb plus would take up atleast five minutes of my trip. That fish was in the air as much in the water. It only took a couple ripple areas to know where I could expect the bass. The faster moving current also attracted the Hickory shad/Skipjack. I think of them as fresh water Tarpon. The flat silver fish hit hard and love to jump. Their lower jaw over laps the top similar to a tarpon. Small teeth will sometimes cut your line. Those brite yellow eyes with the coal black pupil make them one of the prettiest fish we have. I haven't said much about the Walleye/Sauger I caught but there were a few, in fact an even limit. Kept a couple small channel cat that offered themselves up. Only the cats and legal size eyes were kept. This trip will end tonight with a very nice fish dinner. Love the river.
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great post, nicely done. bigr
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Sounds like an awesome trip to me.
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Great report big r. A guy i know from town here caught a mess of big walleye Saturday night wading the wabash. He had a 28/27/25 and 24 inch walleye with pics on facebook. I didn't have the nerve to ask him where he was at :) but it was along the wabash somewhere either cass or miami county. Over the last week or so i managed 3 walleyes from the eel in Logansport, 2 shorts and one keeper. Have been doing a lot of catfishing lately but am about to start back on the walleye and smallies, especially as we inch closer to the fall months.
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Great trip report BigR. You probably had the river to yourself for a nice, quiet trip.
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Great report big r. A guy i know from town here caught a mess of big walleye Saturday night wading the wabash. He had a 28/27/25 and 24 inch walleye with pics on facebook. I didn't have the nerve to ask him where he was at :) but it was along the wabash somewhere either cass or miami county. Over the last week or so i managed 3 walleyes from the eel in Logansport, 2 shorts and one keeper. Have been doing a lot of catfishing lately but am about to start back on the walleye and smallies, especially as we inch closer to the fall months.
Now those are some pigs!
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Those size of fish are not uncommon especially down stream during Aug and Sept when water level is normally low and very warm. I hooked a big eye for only a few seconds. All that I caught were 17 or less. A mistake I make is not changing jig heads. The hook I'm sure gets dull in a hurry bouncing bottom. I only lost one jig and the one I replaced it with had been used before. I lost a lot more fish than I caught. Hoping for another trip in mid Sept but will make it an over night. There's a nice sandbar as nice as any beach at one of the better holes. I'll plan more for that adventure and take the time to change hooks when needed.
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So is the salimonie junction a good spot for a trophy walleye? I'm new to the wabash and biggest one so far is a 17. Took my little sister with me and I think she had a big eye hooked but it popped the hook.
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The junction is a very good location for trophy fish especially April thru June. As mentioned before when water drops and stay low for extended time period and water gets at it's warmest the bigger fish move down river to deeper holes and night fishing the ripples is your best chance.
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Now those are some pigs!
Yes they were and him and his buddy even had a few get off the hook that were just as big. I have caught some 25 and 26 inchers here around Logansport. Got 2 that were 25 inches in 2 days this past May. Usually it's just one that size if your lucky i have never caught multiples like that in one trip. It seems down here the water levels really have to be perfect to get the fish in here and have them bite. I like to fish where the eel runs into the wabash and it's very shallow there unless the wabash is running high and then it spills over to the eel. When both rivers are running near normal flow like now it's about pointless to walleye fish that spot. So i actually prefer higher water levels around here. But if you know where the holes are in the wabash you can do pretty good on them when the water is at normal levels, i just havent fished enough of the wabash to know exactly where they are at yet.
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Where would be the best place to put in if you wanted to float down the wabash and fish?
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Depends on what your fishing out of and how long you want to be on the river. Not a lot of options for put ins. If your thinking up stream from Wabash the long trip would be Lagro to Wabash. Eight hrs of float time approx. Hanging Rock up stream from Lagro to largo is another much shorter trip. Two hrs approx. You could start as far upstream as Below the dam at Roush lake. As far as down stream from Wabash ,Richvalley, peru and then several other take outs or put ins along the way. You could take a drive and also google map and check things out.
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BigR: have you ever thought of using a hook sharpener? I find that hooks that I use for a lot of fishing need just a couple of passes on my stone and they are very sharp. My circle hooks I use on the pier almost always get the stone. Keep in a pocket, doesn't take much space.
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Buddy and I fished the wabash lastnight he was looking to catch his first walleye in Indiana. We got to the river around 10 pm what would you know his first couple cast he lands a 23 inch walleye that weighed 5.7 pounds. That's a pretty good eye for your first one!
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Good job. What did you get her on. Did you get any others. Normally if there's fish around they hit quick. That's why I like to keep moving around. When you hit one you normally get other usually on next cast or two.
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We caught 2 but we had some others that I would say wasn't bigger than the 23 but I guess we will never know. I think we had 3 hooked that got and got off one broke my buddy's line. And we started off using twister tails. But quickly switched to crank baits he was using a orange and black I think 4 inch crank but they seemed to like that color
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Was* bigger than the 23
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Nice report bigr!! Fish on brother! ;D ;D
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Fished the wabash today only one eye. But a nice 20 incher I'll take that any day
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Thanks for the report bigr. A friend and I are planning our first trip on the Wabash Thursday. Putting in at 4 lane 31 and out at Lewisburg. Guessing this is about 4-5 hrs. Fishing on the Tippy has been real good the last 3 weeks as the water level is finally getting down to fishable level. Ready to try something new. Any info on this stretch appreciated such as which side of the large island to stay or does it matter? Will post results.
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Your going to have a good float. Good fishing all thru that stretch. Slow down just before and especially after a choke down area(ripple). Try and stay in the channel and current, use your paddle from time to time to feel depth. I suggest a couple top choices for lures. A baby o crank or any crank for that matter in clown color. 1/8 oz orange headed jig with chartreuse or white Berkley power twister,2 or 3 in . There's many other choices but those are my favorite with a number 3 mepps silver bladed aglia spinner with a white buck tail on occasion. Stay on the north side of island because this time of year there won't be enough water to float you. Where the river comes back together from that island I would fish hard. Always holds fish for me. Nice slack area with a good current edge. You should pick up as many sauger as you will eyes. Good smallie fishing in the fast running current edges wherever a rocky point sticks out. Right where you take out at Lewisburg is some good fishing in the deeper runs right under bridge. Good luck and please let us know how you do.
Thanks for the report bigr. A friend and I are planning our first trip on the Wabash Thursday. Putting in at 4 lane 31 and out at Lewisburg. Guessing this is about 4-5 hrs. Fishing on the Tippy has been real good the last 3 weeks as the water level is finally getting down to fishable level. Ready to try something new. Any info on this stretch appreciated such as which side of the large island to stay or does it matter? Will post results.
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Made it out last Thursday, had the grandkids for three days so a late report. Started out good with the plentiful ripples. I got a smallie and lost a short eye at the boat in the first 15 minutes while my buddies first 5 fish were different species( short eye, catfish, gar, shad, and a smallmouth all on a crank bait). Slow stretch after that tried twister tail and mepps with no luck. At the end of the island we had several hits but no hookups. Buddy thought we would of done well with live bait there. Caught a couple drum and another catfish and that was it, nothing at the bridge. Saw a couple eagles and two deer. Getting the boat out at the bridge was a pain. We ended up hauling it up with a rope tied to his truck. Is there a better exit or was that it? Took us 5 hrs. and 20 minutes. The Wabash is so much different than the Tippecanoe with the hard bottom, width, and big rock rapids (we got hung up on the rocks twice). Thanks for the info bigr. We are thinking about doing it again down by Logansport.
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Fishing on the wabash has picked up for me in the last week. Me and my son absolutely killed the channel cats over the weekend, we must have caught 15 or so in just a couple of hours on chicken liver. I don't catfish a lot but my son really likes it. We even kept a few and i fried them up as catfish nuggets. They were very good. Saturday night i caught a 19 inch sauger that swallowed about a 5 inch chub minnow. Went back on Sunday and my boy was catfishing, as he is reeling in something hooks up and it's a short walleye that basically hit a bare hook that just had a slither of liver on it. True story. I then caught a 17 inch walleye and another sauger on a twister tail. I plan on going tomorrow or Thursday targeting just walleye.
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Conditions are very good right now and fishing is at a high. The corp will be opening up the gates sometime early October and the leafs will start falling which makes it tougher. Get em while the getting is good.
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Hit my little spot on the wabash again this evening for the last hour and a half before dark. Second cast was a familar thump and a walleye was brought to shore. This one had to go back though as he was 2 inches shy of legal. About 10 minutes later i get another thump and a bigger fish this time, a nice 20 inch sauger. I would proceed to catch 2 more walleye before i left, one a barely legal 16 incher and the other just an inch shy at 15. Caught all fish on 3 inch twister tails and 1/8th oz head, casting just upstream and using a slow retrieve as the current took it downstream. River is very low but i have a found a deeper channel just below a set of ripples with a rocky bottom that is holding all kinds of fish. I love the fall bite it's probably my favorite time of the year to fish.
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sounds like a good outing. I went last evening also. Fishing was consistent. Not fast but good quality. Keep the cheeks and save for some great fish chowder.
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We also floated the Wabash Thursday. Put in at France Park and got out 7 hrs. later at French Post Park by Lockport. Had to get out and wade 4 or 5 times, the worst was at the Georgetown bridge where we waded about 300 yards. We caught 4 Sauger largest was 19" early in the fog with crank bait, night crawler, and fluke above the ripples. Also 25-30 Smallmouth mainly with flukes or super flukes. 6 catfish and one large drum.
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The eye and sauger bite was on this afternoon. Got to the river a little earlier then normal and right from the start the bite was on. Had half my limit in the first 15 minutes. I thought tonight i might get my first indiana limit of sauger/eyes but came up a little short. Unfortunately i lost the biggest fish of the night about 4 foot from the bank and then while trying to help my son land another eye around 18 inches long he popped the hook and fell back into the river. I called my buddy and he caught 2, biggest at 21 inches. I ended up with 2 walleye both at 18 inches and 2 saugers. Had quite a few short strikes and my buddy had 2 nice ones get off. Bite actually slowed down and got worse the closer to dark it got. I caught all my fish on twister tails, my buddy got his on rapala cranks.
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Good outings guys. Been along time since the river has been this clear and low. Fish seem to easily spook after catching a few or having alittle noise on the surface. Just for fun have you ever tried a lighted bobber drifted thru your run after dark. Its fun and exciting seeing that glow disappear under the surface but still being able to see a faint glow. Small bass chubs or crawlers or even leeches will work. You will mix in alittle of everything.
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Never tried that big r but sounds like a good idea. The place im fishing would be perfect for it as it has just the right amount of current. I caught a sauger there last week on a chub that was on the bottom. I agree the fish do spook easily. We went back yesterday morning real early and one of the hispanics that live across the street had already beat us there, he seen us catching the eyes the night before. He was catfishing in the hole using huge sinkers and worm, im sure he was spooking fish. We still managed one 16 inch eye and 3 saugers but the bite wasnt nearly as good. Last evening was even worse, the entire bank was lined from the guys across the street, wading in the river using hand lines. Got one sauger before the storms rolled in. I'll hit it again when there is less traffic lol.
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With the river as low as it is the fish don't move up and down as much to replenish the holes. If you've caught several over the past couple weeks you've probable caught the easy ones and majority so you should expect a slow down. Give that hole a break and search out fresh portions with similar features. Your numbers will remain high and you'll add new sections to fish next season. You'll likely get your Indiana limit several times a year and run into those 30 40 fish trips. I would say I have 10 to 15 go to locations from upstream from the Wabash and sally connections all the way to Logansport. I always start upstream early and by now i'll be as far downstream as I know then start my way back up as the river cools and discharge from dams brings fish back upstream for the fall bite. My biggest problem is choosing what water or species I want to chase this time of year. A good problem to have.
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I thought about that too, i have another location that i want to look at maybe this weekend upstream a ways from where i have been fishing. Im not sure on the depth or bottom structure of the hole but has a big set of ripples leading up to it. I had an hour to spend this afternoon around 4pm so i drove by the river and the bank was empty so i fished from 4 to 5 and caught 3 more saugers from 15 to 18 inches. If my math is correct we have caught probably close to 15 saugers and 5 or 6 legal walleye in the last week out of this hole which is probably only 20 yards long.
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I would call that a honey hole.
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I would call that a honey hole.
X's 2 !!
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I would call that a honey hole.
It's been good to me recently, and i found it while catfishing lol. I'm concerned though that this heat wave is about to put the brakes on the good fishing. Might have to start fishing after dark.
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River is up atleast two feet over night. I thinking it was from the rain upstream but they may have started the fall draw down for the roush. Watch the corp site for updates.
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Interesting. Looks like they may have started Roush as it dropped 4 inches below pool since yesterday. I fished a little yesterday and thought the river seemed up a bit, but not much. I caught one 14 inch walleye, only bite i had. Water is still on the rise here according to the graph i just checked. This rise in water may be exactly what i needed as i usually do real well here when the drawdowns start. Now if we could just do something about these ridiculous temps. Im ready for the low 60s again, looks like not until next week into early october though.
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Bite has died this week with the hottest temps of the year. The water was as warm as bath water this evening. I could only fish for a half hour this evening before i quit, i was dripping with sweat. The channel catfish aren't even biting now. My son had a pole out with liver and not one bite. He was hammering them 2 weeks ago. Last 2 trips i have not had one bite, i even fished well after dark thursday night. I walked over to the eel side of the river and by comparison that water was much cooler then the wabash, as is typically the case. But there simply isnt enough water in the eel right now to make fishing much good. Cooler weather coming next weekend.
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sounds like the wabash is the new walleye capital of indiana on this tread. lol keep up the good work and post some pics for us that cant get there.
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sounds like the wabash is the new walleye capital of indiana on this tread. lol keep up the good work and post some pics for us that cant get there.
Here are some pics from 2 weekends ago, this was 3 different trips. Saturday evening, sunday morning and then one hour of fishing on monday afternoon.
(https://www.myfishfinder.com/fishing_forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi151.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fs146%2Fbherr88%2F6%2520walleye.jpg&hash=c85d1dbb411092502581078dc1d721f1) (http://s151.photobucket.com/user/bherr88/media/6%20walleye.jpg.html)
(https://www.myfishfinder.com/fishing_forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi151.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fs146%2Fbherr88%2F3%2520sauger%25201%2520walleye.jpg&hash=c79960613ac41d55b7b4e931dd0753ca) (http://s151.photobucket.com/user/bherr88/media/3%20sauger%201%20walleye.jpg.html)
(https://www.myfishfinder.com/fishing_forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi151.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fs146%2Fbherr88%2F3%2520sauger.jpg&hash=53460f8d834f659e1b6d075171109b0b) (http://s151.photobucket.com/user/bherr88/media/3%20sauger.jpg.html)
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Here are some pics from 2 weekends ago, this was 3 different trips. Saturday evening, sunday morning and then one hour of fishing on monday afternoon.
(https://www.myfishfinder.com/fishing_forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi151.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fs146%2Fbherr88%2F6%2520walleye.jpg&hash=c85d1dbb411092502581078dc1d721f1) (http://s151.photobucket.com/user/bherr88/media/6%20walleye.jpg.html)
(https://www.myfishfinder.com/fishing_forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi151.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fs146%2Fbherr88%2F3%2520sauger%25201%2520walleye.jpg&hash=c79960613ac41d55b7b4e931dd0753ca) (http://s151.photobucket.com/user/bherr88/media/3%20sauger%201%20walleye.jpg.html)
(https://www.myfishfinder.com/fishing_forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi151.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fs146%2Fbherr88%2F3%2520sauger.jpg&hash=53460f8d834f659e1b6d075171109b0b) (http://s151.photobucket.com/user/bherr88/media/3%20sauger.jpg.html)
Nice pics !! Congrats nice to see someone is getting um !!
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(https://s26.postimg.org/5ep0qd0j9/IMG_0288.jpg) (https://postimg.org/image/5ep0qd0j9/)
Here is one my buddy caugt last month. His first time walleye fishing and he catches a 26 lol
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I got invited to fish a different part of the wabash yesterday evening over in Peru. A fishing buddy of mines friend invited us both over. The last time he had been out was the same weekend where i did so well here in Logansport, he said they caught about 2 dozen walleye and sauger that day along with several catfish and drum. We waded and fished 2 deep holes, much bigger holes then what i fish here in town. Between the 3 of us, there was only 2 short walleye and 1 sauger caught and none were by me as i didn't even get a bump. Something deffinitely has shut the fish off, glad to see it wasn't just my honey hole lol. My guess would be the heat, we had a week or 2 of nice cool weather and the bite for all fish really took off. Then the hottest temps of the year show up and it has sucked ever since. The cool down starts tomorrow, i can't wait.
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Nice trip!
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Cooler weather has arrived, got 2 wallleye and a sauger tonight. Waded the river a little further upstream from where i had been fishing. Caught one short walleye, a 17 inch eye and a 16 inch sauger. My 9 year old son actually caught the bigger walleye tonight i got the shorty and the sauger. Will probably get back out saturday.
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Hit the river today around 5pm, fished the hole that i did so well in before the heat wave started and the fish cooperated. Ended up with 5 keepers, and also had 2 shorts. All on firetiger twister tails. Also caught my biggest walleye since last spring, a solid 25 inch fish. All it took was 2 days of cool weather to get these fish active again, hadn't had a bite in this particular spot for almost 2 weeks until tonight.
(https://www.myfishfinder.com/fishing_forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi151.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fs146%2Fbherr88%2Fbig%2520fall%2520eye.jpg&hash=52b25aa3ed4a5e46cdc26ff8a2dd798b) (http://s151.photobucket.com/user/bherr88/media/big%20fall%20eye.jpg.html)
(https://www.myfishfinder.com/fishing_forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi151.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fs146%2Fbherr88%2Ffall%2520eyes.jpg&hash=f71d7d677e096d1c8328b7f899bc48d8) (http://s151.photobucket.com/user/bherr88/media/fall%20eyes.jpg.html)
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Awesome ! Good eating rite there !! Nice pics and thanks for sharing
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Nice job!
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Hell yeah! Good to see the bite picked back up
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The corp has started the resi's draw down. River is up atleast a foot. Still fishable but with more current. Wading will be tougher.
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Yeah the river has come up a couple inches here in logansport but not much so far. Tried for a short time last night and got a white bass and one 15 inch walleye. If river gets too high i will move down a ways to where rivers meet. I'll probably fish for another week or two for the eyes before i start to focus more on deer hunting for a few weeks. Then after that it's on to the crappie for the rest of the fall and winter. Hopefully run into ya over on Missy again big r.
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We floated it yesterday putting in at the 31 bridge again. One sauger, two shad and a smallmouth for 5 1/2 hr. float. We noticed the river was up a little and a little dirty but didn't know why until we talked to a guy fishing from the bank. On the plus side we did find the correct place to take the boat out at the Lewisburg bridge after talking to him.