Fishing while lockin through the dam??

[JuniorFisherJJ08]

ok fellas. we have a tournament on the ohio river Sunday. There is alot of smallies being caught on the lower side of the dam with a mix of LMB 2. We are thinking it will be beneficial to lock through the dam. The only problem is its wasting 1 hour of our time both ways so 2 hours total. Has anyone ever locked though and fished while in the lock and caught bass? Is it worth fishing inside the lock? Im just wondering if ill look like an idiot in there lol.

What do you guys think/know?

[roadwarrior]

Your chances of catching a bass during lock-through are nil.

Also, if the Ohio system is similar to the Tennessee River,

which I think it is, two hours is just an "average". There is

no telling what the real time will be, it all depends on barge

traffic.

8-)  

[JuniorFisherJJ08]

thanks road. I figured so but maybe some of the bass that are running up by the dam will come into the lock lol. but as for barge traffic the Ohio river system keeps peaks hours usually clear of all barges. they dont start coming until later in the evening. I just hate sitting through the lock for that long but it could be worth a hefty pay. Well decide saturday but thanks for the quick response road.

[roadwarrior]

** MODERATOR NOTE **

Off topic posts have been deleted.

-Kent  a.k.a. roadwarrior

Global Moderator

[George Welcome]

I think you will find that the lock is posted against fishing. The lock tender could get a bit upset at that one.

[JuniorFisherJJ08]

We have locked through one other time. We fished for a few but just didnt feel it was worth it. Never got yelled at or anything. So im not sure.

[ohioriversmallie]

I fished a tourney out of new martinsville last weekend and locked thru to the proctor pool and it took probably 40 minutes to lock thru up and less back thru. In this tourney it was illegal to fish within the long walls of the dam, on the downriver and upriver side. I've locked thru several times and have never seen anyone even think about fishing inside the locks. Most of the pre-tourney meetings state the no fishing inside the long walls.

Which pool or marina are you launching from? Club Tourney? Open Buddy Tourney?

[Blue Streak]

It would be very, very unusual to have a long wait to lock through on the Ohio.

[Rob G.]

One thing we do in tourneys is call the Lock Master on the telephone and find out what time we will be able to lock. Be polite and they will take care of you. This enables us to get to the lock and not have to wait too long. Sometimes you can call them the day before and they can tell you an approx. lock schedule for the day. The numbers for the locks can be found in the Corps of Engineers Navigational River Charts.  As far as fishing while in the locks, probably a waste of time.  In there you are better off paying attention to what is going on also.  Locks can be dangerous places. Good luck!