Ohio bass fisherman gets more than he angled for
6/5/2001Southern Ohio bass angler Bruce Genovese thought he was casting for bass in a recent tournament on the Ohio River, but he ended up with a huge Asian oddity - a bighead carp.
Genovese caught the bighead, which measured 48 inches and weighed 47 pounds, on a crankbait while fishing near Rayland, Ohio. It took him about 25 minutes to land the brute, according to Don Weaver, of the Ohio Huskie Muskie Club.
It was the second bighead confirmed in the Ohio River. The first was taken in 1997 and was recorded at Moundsville, W.Va.
This bighead carp, measuring 48 inches and weighing 47 pounds, was caught by Bruce Genovese on the Ohio River.
The bighead carp is an Asian exotic that was introduced initially into the southern United States with grass carp, silver carp, and similar species for “polyculture “ - principally vegetation control, according to Larry Goedde, fish management supervisor for Ohio Wildlife District 2 at Findlay.
The exotics generally eat various types of aquatic vegetation, including algae, microscopic plankton, and other organic material, Goedde said.
Exotics often are stocked in sewage lagoons, from which the bass angler's catch initially may have escaped.
Bighead also apparently have an occasional taste for plastic crankbaits, Goedde said.
The gar, 14.57 pounds, was taken April 14 by Ronald Lee Cross, of Russellville, Ohio, while bowfishing on Ohio Brush Creek in Adams County. The fish was 48 inches long and eclipses a bowfishing-division longnose gar of 12.67 pounds taken last year in the Scioto River.
In other news, OWO has restored a record to the current state list - a 0.75-pound green sunfish taken by Edward Alltop, of Utica, Ohio, in 1994. It was found that the 1994 record outweighs a 0.456-pound green sunfish taken in 1998.
For details on the OWO all-tackle record fish program, call Tom Cross, record fish chairman, at 937-386-2752.
The area between West Sister Island and the Toledo Ship Channel, about 9 to 10 miles off Anchor Point was most productive, said Chris Milliron at Al Szuch Live Bait on Corduroy Road.
Many boats on morning runs had limits by 9:30 a.m. daily. Action slowed Sunday night, however, as winds dropped.
Spot 'N Spam's Bait Shop in Point Place reported walleye action on a line between Little Cedar Point and West Sister, about two miles off the island. The shop also said that yellow perch are being taken in 17 to 18 feet of water just north of Toledo Harbor Light.
Also, white bass still are being taken on the Maumee River, using spreaders and minnows fished under bobbers, the shop said.
The Ohio Division of Wildlife also reports walleye action, weather permitting, west of Rattlesnake and Green islands and north of Kelleys Island. Both casting and trolling are producing fish.
DATEBOOK
Tomorrow - Luna night, 7:30 to 9:30 p.m., program on the moon and stars, White Star Park barn, Sandusky County Road 65 just east of State Rt. 300, Gibsonburg; also, dog fair, Countryside Park, Countryside Drive off U.S. 20 bypass, Fremont; call the Sandusky County Park District, 419-334-4495 or 1-888-200-5577.
Tomorrow - Bowling pin shoot, 6:30 p.m., Sandusky County Sportmen's Club, State Rt. 600 east of Gibsonburg; also, Thursday - trapshoot, 6 p.m., club range; also, Saturday - cowboy action shoot, register 8:30 a.m., shoot 10 a.m., club range, call Bob Caswall, 862-2861.
Thursday - Trapshoot, 6 to 9 p.m., Otawa County Conservation League, Martin-Moline Road, Martin; call Rick Temple, 666-1399.
Friday and Monday - Public trapshoots, 6:30 p.m., Wolf Creek Sportmen's Association, 349 Teachout Rd. north of State Rt. 2, Curtice; call Frank Schaffer, 691-2769.
Friday and Saturday - Boating education courses, 7 to 9:30 p.m. Friday and 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary, Flotilla 10-6, at Woodville Mall across from the Cinemas, call 698-4122; also, Monday and June 12-13 - 6 to 9 p.m. nightly, education center, Medical College of Ohio, call 936-3848.
Saturday - Family fishing and outdoor skills day, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., fish derby, rubber-band gun shoots, hunter and trapper education displays, knife display; Paulding Fish and Game Club, a mile south of Paulding on U.S. 127; also, Sunday - gun show, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., at the club; call Theresa Carver, 419-399-4420.
Saturday - Volunteers to restore oak savanna, 10 a.m., Kitty Todd Preserve, 10420 Old State Line Rd.; call The Nature Conservancy, 867-1521.
Saturday - Hike the Dikes, 9 a.m., wetland breeding birds, Sportsmen's Migratory Bird Center, Magee Marsh State Wildlife Area, 13229 West State Rt. 2, Oak Harbor; call Mary Warren, 419-898-0960 extension 31.
Saturday and Sunday - Silhouette shoots, 11 a.m., Toledo Muzzle Loaders, Clinton Boothby Memorial Range, 875 Schwamberger Rd.; smoothbore Saturday, rifle-pistol-smoothbore Sunday, meat prizes; call Richard Hulsebus, 474-6666.
Saturday and Sunday - Registered trapshoots, six events, starting time 9:30 a.m., Jaqua's Trap Club, 900 East Bigelow Ave., Findlay; call the club, 419-422-0912.
Sunday - Bowshoots: Willard Conservation Club, Willard, register 8 a.m. to noon, call Herman Collins, 419-935-3044; also, Wildwood Bowmen, Delta, register 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., call Tracy Sattler, 822-9198; also, Tomahawk Archery, 2085 Erie Rd., Temperance, Mich., register 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., mixed game targets, call Gil Kollarik, 691-5130; also, Lenawee County Conservation League, 1404 Sutton Rd., Adrian, Mich., register 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., 30 3-D targets, call Allan Andrews, 517-431-2909.
Sunday - Third annual fun shoot, 9 a.m. Three Rivers Chapter, Ruffed Grouse Society, at Briar Rabbit Shooting Sports, 2949 Granger Hill, Zanesville; call Joe Miller, 740-452-9664 or Briar Rabbit, 740-454-3817.
Monday - Friends of Side Cut Metropark, 7 p.m., Lamb Center, Side Cut, program by Mary Alice Powell on living the good life; call Alaina Meister, 897-8663.
Steve Pollick is The Blade's outdoor writer. E-mail him at spollick@theblade.com.