Hovey Lake

[King31]

I was working down on the south side of Hovey Lake and had never even heard of it until today. Has anyone fished it recently? i'm always up for trying new places especially ones that look like a swamp with all the cypress trees. anyway thanks in advance for any information

[Relic]

I haven't fished it this year...but I have fished it quit a bit in the past. There are some good times to be had cat and carp fishing there but the quality and quantity of other fish species has diminished in recent years. We use to crappie fish there quit a bit but have decided the quality of the fish we where starting to catch didn't make the drive worth it anymore.

[Moveon]

I'm wondering what you mean by the quality of the fish. Are they getting smaller now? The reason I ask is that because a few years ago I read a fishing research report written by the Southern IN fishery Biologist and in that report he said that Hovey's lake had the fastest growing crappie in the Entire State. That made sense to me as they have more food in the form of Thread-fin shad that are in the Ohio River in that area and they get into Hovey's Lake when it floods. So the crappie have a good food supply that doesn't grow to big for them to eat. Most of your lakes down South had bigger crappie not only due to the longer growing season but also because those lakes support thread-fin shad.

All we get up here in the Northern US is Gizzard Shad and they grow to big for the smaller crappie to eat. They also get to be about 18" long and compete for the phytoplankton that the little fish need to survive.

I used to hear people talk about fishing the "DRAIN" at Hovey's all the time when I was still in High School back in the 1960's. Then I read where they built a dam or structure across the drain and that stopped the crappie from coming up the drain and into Hovey's. Well that's what the rumors were. But I talked to the IDNR people down there and they told me that the drain is not closed off as there is a gate that can be opened or closed. So fish can at times get into the lake though that open gate. But I've not seen it for myself so I can't tell you if that's true or not. But why would the IDNR employee lie to me? I'll have to drive down there some day and check this out for myself. I don't have four wheel drive so I'm not sure if I can drive out there or not. I've seen some of the gravel/dirt roads that the duck and goose hunters have to use to get out to the Goose Pit and they were muddy and so rutted that it took a Doose and a Half to get though them. That's one of the multi-wheeled Army trucks for those of you who have never heard the term doose & 1/2.

I haven't fished it this year...but I have fished it quit a bit in the past. There are some good times to be had cat and carp fishing there but the quality and quantity of other fish species has diminished in recent years. We use to crappie fish there quit a bit but have decided the quality of the fish we where starting to catch didn't make the drive worth it anymore.

[Relic]

Yes..by quality I mean size. I'm sure Hovey has some big crappie in it, but we noticed the average size of the ones we started catching got smaller and smaller each year...this could mean the population of crappie "blew" up and we where catching young ones or it could also mean that something is stunting their growth. My opinion is that asian/silver/big head carp whatever they are called have destroyed that place..eating everything that the baitfish feed on and causing the shad to die out which in turn has caused the population of fish that typically eat the bait fish to drop off in size and quantity. I have no data to prove or disprove this theory, but it sounds logical to me.
As far as the "drain"...yes they built a structure across it quit some time ago and the way its set up it looks like smaller fish can still move freely but anything larger than 3-4" wouldn't be able to make it into hovey unless the creek flooded..which it does. The structure hasn't totally sealed hovey from the river but it did affect the fishes ability to move in and out of hovey freely.

[Moveon]

Based on what I have read so far about these Asian carp I think you are right about them eating up most of the phytoplankton which the young crappie and other sport fish need to grow from fry to bigger fish.

The report that I read was from Dan Carnahan, IDNR fishery biologist, but that report was several years ago. Things may have changed drastically with the arrival of these Asian carp.

Yes..by quality I mean size. I'm sure Hovey has some big crappie in it, but we noticed the average size of the ones we started catching got smaller and smaller each year...this could mean the population of crappie "blew" up and we where catching young ones or it could also mean that something is stunting their growth. My opinion is that asian/silver/big head carp whatever they are called have destroyed that place..eating everything that the baitfish feed on and causing the shad to die out which in turn has caused the population of fish that typically eat the bait fish to drop off in size and quantity. I have no data to prove or disprove this theory, but it sounds logical to me.
As far as the "drain"...yes they built a structure across it quit some time ago and the way its set up it looks like smaller fish can still move freely but anything larger than 3-4" wouldn't be able to make it into hovey unless the creek flooded..which it does. The structure hasn't totally sealed hovey from the river but it did affect the fishes ability to move in and out of hovey freely.