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Experts rate the upcoming fishing season for central, southwest Ohio

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By Jim Morris, Staff Writer Updated 12:07 PM Friday, April 3, 2009

Each year, the district fish management supervisors in each of the Ohio Division of Wildlife's five districts rate the fishing prospects in their areas. In southwest Ohio that's Doug Maloney and in central Ohio it's Rich Carter.

Following are their outlooks, rating fishing for each species as excellent, very good, good or fair. Carter has jurisdiction over Indian and Kiser lakes and the northern Mad River. The rest are supervised by Maloney.

Lake prospects

Acton Lake: Excellent for largemouth bass and crappies with saugeyes coming on. Good for bluegills and catfish.

Caesar Creek Lake: Saugeye fishing has improved each year and is very good. Bluegills and white bass are plentiful, while fishing for bass, crappies and catfish listed as good. The fishery is for stocked muskies.

C.J. Brown Reservoir: Walleye fishing has improved in recent years and is considered very good. Fishing for bluegills, white bass and crappies is good.

Clark Lake: Rainbow trout, stocked in March, is the big attraction. Good bluegill and catfish fishing, but it's only fair for largemouth and crappies.

Cowan Lake: Channel cat fishing is excellent and the lake is very good for crappies and bluegills. Bass and saugeye fishing is good. Muskies, stocked no longer, are still around.

East Fork Lake: Catfish, crappies and bass are very good. Striped bass fishing is good. Muskies were stocked in 2008.

Eastwood Lake: For largemouth bass, fishing is rated good, but for crappies and saugeyes, the outlook is just fair.

Grand Lake St. Marys: While the lake has suffered with water quality problems, fishing for all kinds of catfish remains excellent. Crappie and perch fishing have been downgraded to fair, but bass fishing is good.

Indian Lake: The saugeye capital of Ohio keeps going strong. More than 4.1 million saugeye fingerlings have been stocked since 2003. Catching is excellent in spring and fall. Crappie, bluegill and largemouth fishing are rated very good.

Kiser Lake: This might be the best bluegill lake, for numbers, in the area. Largemouth, crappie and hybrid striped bass fishing should be very good. Catfish are rated good. Pure stripers have been stocked in recent years.

Lake Loramie: Three species are rated excellent: bluegill, crappie and bullheads. Channel cat fishing should be very good, while largemouth and saugeye are listed as good.

Paint Creek Lake: This is one of the best crappie lakes around. And it's also excellent for channel cats. Bluegill and largemouth are rated very good. Saugeyes are rated excellent with the best action in the tailwaters.

Rocky Fork Lake: This probably is the best bass fishing lake in SW Ohio. It's also excellent for saugeyes. Channel and flathead catfish are very good, along with bluegill and crappie.

Rush Run Lake: This is another of the rainbow trout stocking lakes. When stocked, prospects are excellent. This lake seems to be able to keep those rainbows alive all year. Bluegill and bass are rated good.

Stonelick Lake: More rainbow trout stocked here in March, so rate it excellent at least for a few weeks. It's also good for bluegills. Crappies and largemouth are just fair.

Sycamore S.P. ponds are stocked with rainbows in March and October.

Area rivers

Great Miami: Excellent smallmouth fishing from Sidney downstream to Hamilton area. Tailwaters below low-head dams (especially in West Carrollton and Hamilton) are hot spots. Saugeyes are present the length of the river, thanks to those coming over the Indian Lake and Loramie dams. The outlook is very good below the dams. Lots of rock bass, bluegill, carp and suckers are present. Channel catfish fishing best from Dayton downstream to Cincinnati. Flathead catfish numbers increase as you move downstream from Dayton into Hamilton County.

Little Miami: Good fishing for rock bass and smallmouth bass from John Bryan State Park in Greene County downstream to Hamilton County. Channel catfish become more numerous downstream of Waynesville.

Mad: The state stocks brown trout and a few up to 10 pounds have been caught in the northern part of the stream, above Urbana. Prospects are very good. More smallmouth are found downstream.

Stillwater: Excellent smallmouth and good largemouth fishing from Covington downstream. Good rock bass and catfish, too.

The hot spots

A quick look at the best places in southwest Ohio to fish for various species:

Largemouth bass: Rocky Fork seems to be always on. Acton is a strong second.

Smallmouth bass: The Great Miami and Stillwater rivers.

Saugeye: Indian Lake may be the best in Ohio.

Walleye: C.J. Brown has improved.

Crappie: Hard to beat Paint Creek. Try East Fork, too.

Bluegill: Loramie, Kiser and Rocky Fork are all excellent.

Musky: Caesar Creek gets better and better. Some remain at Cowan.

Trout: Northern Mad River for browns; rainbows wherever they're stocked.

Catfish: St. Marys, Loramie and Cowan stand out.