The Hocking River Roller Coaster

No matter how many positive attributes I throw out regarding my local flow, the Hocking River, it can all be outweighed by a single negative attribute.  This river does not handle rain well.  Historically, the fishing around Ohio University is phenomenal in the spring...when it's in stable enough condition to fish.  Spring time is rainy time in SE Ohio, and this spring was a complete washout for me on the Hocking.  Spring brings heavy numbers of large crappies, bass of all three black bass varieties, sauger, panfish, etc...  The Hocking is an Ohio River tributary and there are no significant obstructions between Athens and the mouth where it meets the Ohio.  If it can swim in the Ohio, it might show up here.  Summer through fall can bring good fishing, but most importantly, it typically brings stable water conditions.  In my experience, getting past the month of May usually means good water conditions on the river. 

My recent lunch time outings had produced some fish, but I wanted to explore some local sections of the river I typically ignore.  I took the afternoon off this past Friday and fished those spots I had in my mental list to test.  The fishing, given that it was November in SE Ohio, was great.  Water conditions could not have been more perfect.  Slow flows, very clean water, very easy fishing.  I found large numbers of fish everywhere I found depth and some current break.  The fish were so aggressive it was like they haven't been fished at all.  Crappies, bass, and bluegills were all very aggressive.  I will never be caught complaining about 30+ fish outings during November for warm water species here, regardless of the size of the fish.  The unnamed streamer (Thin Finz tail), the Jig Candy, and the Murdich Jig Minnow all produced very well.

Then came Sunday.  Sunday brought with it heavy, prolonged rain through most of the afternoon and into the night.  I knew this was a death blow to the Hocking and the remainder of 2017 fishing the river.  Little did I know just how bad it was going to be when the sun came up on Monday.  The small creek, a Hocking tributary, that runs through the cattle pasture behind my house looked like a lake.  The line on the USGS river gauge looked like the drawing of a cliff.  More rain would come last night, further jacking up the Hocking.  Here's what the USGS gauge at Athens looks like currently.

The locations I was fishing beside the river on Friday are now under approximately thirteen FEET of water.  That water appears to have the consistency of Yoohoo.  As quickly as the river came up, it will fall and clear much slower.  Assuming we get no more rain soon, the river might fish sometime in December.  Out of curiosity, I pulled the USGS gauge and changed the date range to begin on March 1, 2017.  This date range only worked for CFS, not feet, so keep in mind the Hocking fishes well for me when it's under about 450-500CFS.  The lower, the better, but that's a good baseline for me.  

Now you can see the roller coaster nature of this river.  Roughly March-June the river was not fishable for me.  Large periods of July and August were similar.  2017 has been a strange weather year in SE Ohio, as we have had long stretches of dry weather but the storms that have broken up those stretches have been severe.  I have always known that you have to strike "while the iron is hot" in the spring, so to speak.  I'm hoping that 2018 brings at least a short window of a warm iron, because 2017's was ice cold during the peak fishing time.  For the foreseeable future, the Hocking is off limits for me and my lunchtime excursions will end for a while.  Hopefully dry weather returns so I get one more shot at the Hocking before 2018 hits.