Ohio River creeks 3/29 - 3/30

Went fishing in the creeks around Union, KY for a few hours Tues, then Wed. About 3 hours each day.

River is up a couple of feet. Tuesday it was very, very muddy. Fishing was terrible. Just weren't biting. Managed 1 fish.
We hit another nearby creek yesterday and did better but not great. Water still muddy - a little less so. Managed about a dozen crappie. A few nice size ones, including this 14" seen below. She was ready to pop with eggs. Also caught a number of small ones.

Caught all my fish yesterday on a Bobby Garland Stroll'R GumDrop. 1st time I used it and they liked it. (I was vertical jigging, not trolling, but I think they liked the vibration.)

Looking forward to getting back out the next couple off weeks. Yesterday, I was probably 1.5 miles up creek. Some of the water up there is still about 12-14' in depth. This year, I still hope to figure out how to catch crappie in the summer. Seems like I do great until about July 1 and then I catch nothing but dinks until fall again in the creeks. Does anyone else ever catch nice crappie further up the creeks in the summer, or is it your experience that they all vacate the creeks for the river in the warm months?

mbk

Attachment 234051

Nice fish...Tbone is the river expert on here.

:Rofl

Okay ...so maybe it's Yates:biggrin
My guess is they are still in the creeks

No! a guy called faststick #1

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Originally Posted by crappiemax

My guess is they are still in the creeks

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That would be my guess too... I'm thinking a mile up creek from the river and there is moving water and plenty of 14' holes, the crappie would just hang out suspended in the deeper pools and brush piles during the July-Sept timeframe. However, I've never been successful catching the bigger fish in the heat of summer. So either I'm still fishing in the wrong places in the creeks, or they're making the voyage to the river. I wonder if there have been any tagging studies on river crappie.

Nice report ,I have been wanting to try Brush Creek on the Ohio side anyone ever try it .?

I'm a pretty firm believer most fish don't travel far on an annual basis, I'm not saying all but most.
Ky did a tagging study about 10 years ago, they actually did 2 studies...spring and fall. It used to be posted on their website. I forget all the particulars but like anything some fish seemed to move more than others. Some fish stayed shallow all the time while others moved in/out/in/out shallow-deep-shallow deep. It was surprising how little the fish moved. As usual there were the few exceptions where a fish would travel several miles during the study. The study was done at Ky Lake which is a nothing more than a big river reservoir with locks and barge traffic and plenty of bays and creeks. The flow rate is slower I believe but the study would be similar I believe.
If I were to fish one of those creeks I wouldn't assume anything. I would use my electronics and try to fish all depths in trying to at least locate some fish. I'd certainly be checking all depths and let the fish lead the way as to where I should keep looking.

I would think Brush Creek would be as good as any other creek.

Thanks for the feedback. I will try again at figuring them out this summer. As for now, looking forward to good creek fishing in the coming months.

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Originally Posted by mbk

Thanks for the feedback. I will try again at figuring them out this summer. As for now, looking forward to good creek fishing in the coming months.

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I find fish in marinas all year.

Gunpowder creek by chance?

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Originally Posted by kissfan4

Gunpowder creek by chance?

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Yep.

It's not my usual creek but I like it. If I had a bigger motor, I'd motor up to Laughrey, Hogans, etc.

Gunpowder is my go to creek, usually do pretty well there.

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Originally Posted by kissfan4

Gunpowder is my go to creek, usually do pretty well there.

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What's the avg depth of this creek??? How far can u go up in it??

I have gone up Gunpowder about (my guess) 1.5 miles from the mouth of where it meets the Ohio. There's still pockets of 14' water. It gets shallower, then deeper, like most creeks.

I'm not an expert on Gunpowder though. I do know it's a fertile creek in general. In the summer, I fish about 4 miles upstream from the river - long after it's navigable - and catch really nice smallmouth from the banks. I think Big Bone has deeper water (20' in places) until you get about 300 yards left of the ramp, then it's about 8-10' max.

15 foot is probably the deepest you will find, also depends on the river obviously. You can go pretty far up the creek, although I rarely go past the first island. I prefer Gunpowder over Big Bone, I think there is more cover in Gunpowder, but I have done well in big bone as well. Mbk, did you launch at weather or knot? Previously trixies? If so what is their launch fee now? And do they have a season launch pass?

Yes. I launched at what was (formerly) Trixies. I really did not know the name/ownership had changed. It costs $5 still. I did not ask about season pass since I just paid for one at Big Bone - $55 for the year.

The thing that Big Bone definitely has over Gunpowder is the ramp. Big Bone has a nice 4-wide ramp where there's only a single ramp at Trixie's. So, if I'm fishing a Saturday in late spring/summer, I will definitely be putting in at Big Bone.