Good Afternoon to Ice Fish Ohio Followers! Saturday, 12/4/2021 was the 3rd installment of the Dock Tournament, and this time we mixed it up a little bit and had it at Rocky Fork Reservoir. We met up at Bay View Bait and Tackle in Hillsboro, OH to register and pick up some bait and other items. 17 registered fishermen signed up and the fun began at the East Shore Marina. The day started out a little chilly, 34-degree morning with a slight breeze across the lake. I'm speaking on my own experience, the morning bite was on and saw several people catching fish, a hand full of crappies coming up. As the day progressed and the temperature increased, you would expect the biting to get a little bit better, but from the movement of everyone trying to switch spots and the socializing with each other, the biting actually got worse. I was able to bring in 2 crappies by 11.30am and then that was about it. I caught several bluegills and 1 baby perch. But from 11:30am till 1:45pm I think I might have brought in 3 fish. One of the guys fishing towards the next to last docks had something big on, but lost it before he could get it to the surface; possibly a big catfish. Rusty, had a crappie in his basket and after a few hours he had his second crappie and in the process of trying to net it, he got his net caught on a cleat and wrangled with it and as he finished getting it off the cleat the crappie decided it would get off his hook. Not knowing at that time, this was the kind of day it was going to be. Some of the others anglers had more success, Joey, caught a couple crappies early on and moved to another dock which he said he fished closer to the inner portion in shallower water and was able to find some more. Aaron, moved around and was hunting the crappies; which proved to be the key in finding them. He landed over a dozen crappie for the day and had his limit and then some. There were a lot of short crappies reported caught throughout the day.
The results in the end, Aaron L. won the crappie pot with 5 crappies turned in for 2.80lbs. Since there was no saugeyes turned, there was a 2nd place crappie pot, Joey L. with 2.57lbs. And Steve I. had the big fish pot with a crappie weighing in at .70lbs. Payouts were handed out and some door prizes given out at the end. Thanks to Bay View Bait and Tackle for sponsoring our event and Nasty Nate's Baits and Slab Grabber Baits. And many thanks for those who follow us on this forum and on Facebook and to all the members who turned out for this event. And thank you to Ryan Kerns and Nate Boldman for making the dock tournaments happen.
For those who don't follow us on Facebook, sorry there was no post on this website forum of this dock tournament at Rocky Fork Reservoir. It was brought to the attention of the administrators, and it should be corrected for next weekend's tournament. Next Saturday, 12/11 will be at CJ Brown Reservoir at the Marina, meeting at 7am -7:30am for registration beforehand at our new Sponsor's bait shop, Leen's General Store on Rt. 4 in Springfield, OH. Fishing will begin at 8am and last to 2pm. And there will be a regular post of this sometime next week as a notice and reminder for everyone. Keep an eye out for this post and keep the date open and come out and join in on the fun.
