ALLEGHENY RIVER

[pauleye55]

Well, Dad (He's 87 and as young as when He was 57) and I finally hit the river today. We were thinking that it wouldn't be in too bad of shape. It turned out that it is high and fast. We went to the Freeport dam (no. 6) and drowned a bucket full of minnows. Every cast downstream ended up moving upstream toward the dam. Tried plain jigs with minnow, Power Bait twisters, Power Bait twisters with minnows, Lindy rigs, long snells, long snells with floaters, floating jig heads, minnow shaped crank baits, and even minnows under bobbers. The results of the 7 hours we put in was one water dog about 10 inches long, the only strike of the day. It was still a good day. Every day I spend fishing with Dad is a good day. Has anyone else been on the Allegheny?

[mowallytrkr]

Hey Paul. Being many miles from my dad I can relate to enjoying the time you can whether the fish bother you or not. Do I read the post date right? You went today, Wed. the 31st? I was at the Buff Crk inlet at Freeport Sun and Mon evening and really stung them. There were a few keeper size fish but most were small and they were very spotty (on again/off again). 8 fish on Sun and 14 on Mon, most were caught between 5 to 6 pm (when the sky pinks up!) on plain hooked shiners with 1/8 oz. split shot snugged 8-10 in. above the hook. Current is very good at that intersection right now. A little but not too much and water was really clear. I used the boat but I know bank fishing would have produced too. Happy New Year and may '04 bring some great eye fishing. MO :)

[pauleye55]

Mo, I sort of had a feeling that if anyone was out it would be you. We fished about 100 yards below Lock 6. I need to watch where I take Dad. He has a bone ailment which causes the bones to become brittle. Any fall could break them (took our time walking around the river rock). Glad to hear you had some fun dunking shiners! Maybe a New Years resolution to fish together could happen. Let me know a few days before you want to hit it so I can schedule time off. I think we may have the same ideas about catchin those googly eyed creatures of the deep. A great and healthful new year to
You and Yours!!!!! (By the way, we fished from sun up to about 2:00 p.m. Guess we should have started at 2:00.)

[mowallytrkr]

2004 started off good. 2 eyes in the keeper range and a couple other river rats passed their catch along to make a nice mess. Higher water on the Freeport intersecion with Buffalo Ck. They were in 13-15 ft, moderate current in the brush. There is one brush or debri pile in there that will either eat your rig or produce! Great day on the 1st. 2004 will be good. mO

[Ernest H.]

Fished lock 3 today w/brother. Aside from the rain, we had a great morning. Primarily fished the mouth of the "bay" in the current break. Used 1/2 pound of minnows; not exactly sure of # of fish caught, I can't keep track after 10 or so, but it was constant untill 12 noon. The morning bite(8 am start) was excellent, I could only fish one rod while the bite was at its best. Numerous colors worked, 1/4 was the best size, and a vertical presentation was best. Boat control was key - stay in the current break - trolling motor was spent by noon, should've went home, but hung out till 1:00. God luck to all - looks like bad weather next week. Whats going on at Highland Park Dam????

[205]

Sounds like you guys had a great day Ernest! Is Lock 3 the pool above HPD? Dont believe there will be any river fishing the next week or two. Flood stage down here on the Ohio right now. We hit it down here this weekend and all that was caught were a couple cigars and saw a waterdog caught. Glad to hear someones doing good. :-)

[Ernest H.]

Russell, Lock 3 is the next lock up river from HPD. Got blanked earlier this winter @ HPD, went to Kittaning only to turn around - no bait shops had minnows, and eventually made it to the closest launch from my house(lock 3) to get into some good fishing. I wait all year for the 3 rivers winter fishing fest, unfortunately I may have to wait another year for some "festive" fishing. Hopefully things will turn around soon. Good luck on the Ohio or HPD - haven't read any Shadowman reports - fishing must really be bad.

[shadowman]

no ernest you know me i post good or bad, problem is i havn,t been able to get out and when i do the rivers a mess, i,m going in for knee surgery on thursday so i,ll be off my feet for several weeks but by the looks of it the river will be trashed until at least next week sometime, good luck guys.

[Ernest H.]

Shadowman, Good luck. When the river decides to behave I'll take a day and see if the fish cooperate - will let you know. Just for fun, ask the doctor to use chartruse fireline for sutures

[vanman]

Alright You guys made me write this. You don't need minnows to catch walleye in winter. Ask shadowman, I out fish him all the time LOL!!!
Try them blades, jigging rapalas or powerbaits. Shadowman can give you my email if you want to talk further.
Good luck fishing. I hope they turn off the water up North so it slows down here.

[shadowman]

ok vanman you got me now who the h**l are you, so i can give your e-mail out, i have a dozen people who e-mailed me wanting to talk to you.

[vanman]

Hope the knee is gettin better. See ya on the water. or you can go fishin with me so I can baby sit ya for a while!!!
Keith

[shadowman]

i knew it i just knew it, you dog, you been out????? i,m going to breakfast call me later.

[Izzygator]

Does anyone know of any good spots to catch baitfish in the Pittsburgh/Allegheny River area? Say, between 40th St. Bridge up to Oakmont?

[shadowman]

izzy it used to be you could get river shiners anywhere on the allegheny but not any more, if i were you i,d be seining the creeks for suckers and chubs and darters, you can get shad from the river but give me a chub or sucker any day over a shad, if you want shad try the creek mouths or where sewers come into the river or wait along the shoreline for the tell tale dark cloud of shad roaming around, i used to gets loads od minnies down at 33rd st there are two spots that were called the little sewer and than down futher the big sewer we would just drop a drop net in throw in a slice of bread count to 30 and bring up a load of river shiners, and when that didn,t work a m-80 would do the trick. good luck.

[Mt Stringer]

Is anyone fishing hpd or lock 3? And if so what are the conditions like? I never fished hpd but know tou can do well their. Where can you launch from, at hpd? And if you go where are some good spots to try. I always stay up at lock 3, around the dam down to deer creek.

[tanner]

when you say 33rd street are you talkin bout sharpsburg side or lawrenceville side?

[wallydvr27]

hey tom was just wondering how the river was doing. was thinking of going sunday if it was going to be worth a darn. the ice fishing has been terrible up here. not to many eyes on the ice up here. hope you surgery went well i got a 311 cat excavator and have been busy digging basements. only been fishing once in the last two weeks. look forward to hearing from ya. my new e-mail is wallydvr@earthlink.net . take care rick