maumee river report 31 march 2025

Sunrise : 7:20 AM (First cast)

Sunset: 7:5 8 PM (Last cast) 

5 ft leader and  3/4 to 1  oz weight

Probably not a good idea to attempt to get to Bluegrass island today . Lots of rain hit us, and Ft Wayne in the last 24 hrs – river is on the way up.

*click on images to enlarge*

The river is on the rise so we will be able to SPREAD OUT to the Towpath, White street , Orleans park  , as those are good areas when the river is up. It will be the first time this season that those areas should have enough water flow to get a good drift and tag some walleye. 

Scented Baits…I call it Stink.

Green head and Berkley Xmas lights tail did the trick yesterday. Orange head and Firetiger tail is also a good option. 

First some anatomy: The small openings on a fish nose are called nares. These nares aren’t like our nostrils which are connected to our throats. Instead, they lead to an open chamber with sensory pads, that relay the scent information to the brain then signals the fish on what’s the appropriate response- flight or bite. Our goal is bite.

The importance of scent is often dismissed . Steelhead /salmon would be a great example of how important smell is to fish as this is how they return to the river where they were born. So yes scent does matter. One plus  to the use of scents is the ability to mask our human odor.  We carry a predatory complex amino acid which can be transferred to a lure when we touch it, use the scent to mask our human odor and reduce the flight response from fish. 

Berkley has a entire lab dedicated to development of scent , it works and is cheap. Also, the smell is not totally disgusting so its easy to apply. Just a good squirt in the bag of plastic grubs , squish em around and forget about it. When you go to put your bait on they are all pre-scented.  Also once the fish does bite they dont taste plastic but the fish oil concoction  and are apt to hold on longer giving you time to set the hook.

Have fun , be safe  have good luck fishing….smell ya later.