Fishing in Ohio reservoir

Dozens of bass clubs are sprinkled around Ohio, and bass tournaments are held on many of the reservoirs each weekend from spring through fall, although sometimes one wonders why there’s such a big effort. The bass fishery on inland lakes isn’t much to brag about, as trophy fish are difficult to find.

Not surprisingly, the best bass lakes are those with motor restrictions and those closed to high-powered bass boats. Clendening, Piedmont, Leesville, and Pymatuning all have 10-horsepower motor limits and boast the best bass fishing in Ohio. Bass anglers have discovered that small lures work best in Ohio; tiny 3- and 4-inch plastic worms and small jigs are the mainstays. Summer pleasure boaters crowd the lakes, and bass anglers—while dodging aggravating personal watercraft—have learned to move away from wave- and wake-washed shorelines to probe the deeper waters with crankbaits and Carolina rigged worms.

Ohio has surprisingly good muskie fishing, and trophy muskies are caught each year at Piedmont, Leesville, Clear Fork, Alum Creek, West Branch, and Milton, and at sprawling Pymatuning Lake when it’s at its peak. Trolling a big lure is the best way to hook a trophy muskie.

Just as the walleye is king on Lake Erie, so is it on many inland lakes. The best inland walleye waters are Pymatuning, Mosquito, and C. J. Brown Reservoir. Most anglers resort to jig-minnow rigs early in the year, and either drift spinner-crawler combos or minnow-style plugs once summer arrives.

The walleye certainly isn’t Ohio’s fish of the future, at least not on the state’s inland waters. Ohio fisheries experts have turned to the saugeye, a walleye-sauger hybrid, to provide the best fishing. Saugeye will thrive better in dingier, warmer water than will walleye. They’ll hit the same lures as walleye and are more likely to bite during the waning days of summer, when walleye prefer deeper waters and are hardest to catch.

Saugeye have become a welcome addition on Ohio fishing waters, from the Ohio River to such inland reservoirs as Alum Creek, Atwood, Beach City, Burr Oak, Caesar Creek, Charles Mill, Clendening, Deer Creek, Dillon, Hoover, Indian Lake, O’Shaughnessy, Paint Creek, Piedmont, Tappan, and Turkeyfoot. Whereas hybrid fish such as saugeye won’t spawn, walleye have experienced little spawning success on Ohio’s inland lakes.