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Posts: 37
| I was at the Cincinnati BST Show this past weekend, and I was talking to some OH Fish and Wildlife folks about muskies in the Ohio River. They didn't seem to have a great deal of knowledge on whether there was a collaborative stocking program for muskies between the states with Ohio River shoreline (PA, WV, OH, IN, KY, IL). Does anyone have any information? Are there fishable populations of muskies in the Ohio? I haven't been able to find much information online, but from what I understand, muskies were originally native to the OH River.
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Posts: 203
Location: Germantown, WI | HoosierDrew,
Muskies are native the the Ohio River and it's tributaries. I know from firsthand experience that they are present in PA waters from the point in Pittsburgh downriver to the OH state line. I caught several small ones (under 30") while fishing for bass/walleye in the river over the years back when I used to live in Western PA. I know that the PA Fish and Boat Commission stocks the Ohio and its tributaries, especially the Allegheny River, with muskies. I'd be willing to bet that there is some natural reproduction occuring in the Allegheny River from Warren down to Brady's Bend, but below that it is probably iffy. There are also muskies naturally occuring in some WV and OH tributaries, e.g. the Little Muskingum River near Marietta, OH. WV stocks a number of rivers some of which eventually drain into the Ohio. Kentucky also has a number of rivers and streams with native muskie populations some of which probably drain into the Ohio. I've never heard of muskies on the Ohio south of eastern KY waters (note I'm talking east of Cincinnati, OH).
My feeling is that there is probably nowhere on the mainstem of the Ohio where there is a substantial fishable population. At least if there is I have never heard of it. Your best bet would be to research some of the tributaries in OH, WV or KY. If you are Muskies Inc member you could start by doing some research on the Lunge Log to see where fish have been registered in Ohio River tribs in those states. The main problems on the Ohio that limit creating a great musky fishery are pollution and habitat degradation. The navigational pools on the Ohio most likely do not offer the kind of habitat that is conducive to muskellunge reproproduction and recruitment. Since WV, KY, and OH do not to my knowledge stock muskies in the Ohio River and since PA stocks in only limited numbers the of creating a fishable population on such big water is slim. I'm sure that there are probably some huge muskies swimming in the Ohio, but finding them would be a problem. The river certainly has a tremendous forage base and could support a great fishery if it was ever stocked in high enough numbers by all the states involved.
Tom Ramsey
member Milwaukee Chapter Muskies Inc. |
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Posts: 37
| Thank you for the insight, MuskyLund1. I have fished in WV, as well as IN, and WV has done a nice job in their rivers of creating (or possibly re-creating) and promoting sound musky fisheries. I was surprised to see (and catch) muskies out of some of the turbid (and what seemed to be marginal water quality) and shallow rivers there. It seemed, at face value, that if some of these (what I would call marginal waters) rivers in WV could support muskies, then the OH river would be a natural fit, since the musky is native to its waters. Plus the OH river supports several other types of game species that seem to do quite well (stripers, LMB, SMB, walleye et al). I am a new member of the Hoosier Musky Hunters, and while I was driving to Cincinnati this past weekend - the thoughts occured to me about muskies in the OH river. I know several other states (other than WV) have done a nice job with their rivers as well. I am just curious why IN hasn't. I have read conflicting historical data that says the musky was native to all OH river watershed rivers in IN (White, Wabash) - but just curious as to what people thought out there.
Edited by HoosierDrew 1/23/2006 1:41 PM
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Location: Athens, Ohio | Several of the tribs to the Ohio have fishable muskie populations, so there is no reason to believe that there would not be muskies in the Ohio. The Ohio being so vast, however, I'd say that there is probably not a fishable population outside of the mouths of the tribs that feed it. If you need more precise stream names, send me a PM. I can count about 4 rivers in Ohio that feed the Ohio R. and six or eight rivers in WVa. and 3-4 in Kentucky that would have muskies that empty directly into the Ohio. I'd think your time would be best spent in those areas. m |
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Posts: 122
Location: Pittsburgh, PA | Pennsylvania does stock Muskie in the Ohio, along with the Allegheny and Monongahela. Here is a link regarding PA stocking.
Rich D
http://sites.state.pa.us/PA_Exec/Fish_Boat/musky.htm |
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| They're in there. Trust me. |
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Posts: 37
| Thanks everyone for the information. I am going to bring this topic up at our next Hoosier Musky Hunters meeting; more specifically about expanding the IN stocking efforts to include rivers where the musky is (or was) native. |
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Posts: 73
Location: Hazard KY | The mouths of the smaller river or streams are good for several mile sometimes the whole river or creek system contains fish. people catch muskies in creeks all over Ky that flow in to the Ohio they had to come from somewhere. I have seen two muskies while striper fishing below the greenup lock near Ashland KY. Also the mouth of the Little sandy has a lot of Muskies and some big ones. Kentucky lake has a growing muskie Pop but isnt stocked .The dept. fish and wild life say they came through the lock and dam from the ohio river system. Muskies are native to all rivers that flow into the Ohio here in KY and TN.
hope this helped
Chris |
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| Hey Mikie! I'm in Athens and I want to catch Lung on the fly. Should I head towadards the Little Musk.? |
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Posts: 569
Location: Williamstown, WV | I live beside the Ohio River and every year I hear about accidental catches of some really nice musky out of the Ohio. Also while at the boat launch this summer I was talking to the DNR shock boat guys (shocking walleye at the dam) and he said every time they shock up a couple 40 to 45 inch muskies. I would take Mikie's advice though and fish around the tributaries. West Virginia has some really nice "creeks" that have really nice muskie in them. I would give them a try.
Shawn |
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Posts: 2361
| I wouldn't waste time fishing the Ohio for Musky. Big haystack. Small needle. |
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Posts: 165
| Hello. A couple years back we were cast netting for shad (catfishing) and netted a small guy (20 inches?) in a Marina near the Little Miami River. |
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Posts: 1120
Location: West Chester, OH | Stands to reason that there’d be some muskies in the OH given the influx of rivers/creeks coming from waters w/significant populations – the Licking, Whitewater & Little Miami locally.
However, many years ago, in another life, I worked for 4 years w/a crew of biologists, spending one weekend/month shocking & netting on a stretch of the OH from Aberdeen to downtown Cincinnati. Saw some interesting stuff but NO musky over that period of time.
Another crew managed to catch the same 30” musky on several occasions, affectionately dubbed “the stump musky,” from the same snag in a creek mouth near Portsmouth, OH.
More recently, about 10 years ago, a co-worker caught a 38” fish while tossing a pig-n-jig in Laughery Creek.
Big haystack, small needle, indeed.
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Location: Athens, Ohio | Dang, this came back from a while ago.
Yep, folks from my WV MI chapter do pretty good fishing the mouths of tribs that have muskies. I had one up to the boat below Racine dam on a Bomber bass bait once. They are in there if ya know where to look, I'd suggest Eastern Ohia as opposed to our southern borders. m |
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| All of the musky I hear about from the Ohio come from the creeks or the mouths of them. The fish may be native to the big river, but it has changed alot over the years whereas the creeks haven't. Those silver muskies, at least, like smaller waterways I think. There are native streams that have good numbers in them that you can wade. That is the habitat they seem to prefer over the big river. I live about a mile from it, and have heard of catches from practially all of the streams up and down the river at one time or another but all of the fish from the actual Ohio river that I know of there was a good tributary very close by. I live very close to the Kanawha river and would take it 10-1 over the Ohio......unless I was fishing flatheads. |
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Muskies in the Ohio River