turtle creek

[shaner]

when does turtle creek open for fishing?

[stratosjoe]

Shaner , Give them a call 1-812-356-2477 then post for all ,Joe G:-)

[bassmanic1]

The number for Turtle Creek lake office is 812-356-4744 . The recording gives info for duck and goose hunting blinds and says the lake will re-open to fishing Jan. 12th . I hope to hit the Road 25 causeway on the north end to bank fish the discharge for some big bass . The limit is one 20" bass and the lake has a 10 HP limit . Its a long way to the north end by jon boat and trolling motor so bank fishing sounds better . Till then I plan on hitting Bethel pit for trout thursday or friday , the high is suppose to be in the 50's .

Tight lines

[Moose1am]

Can one fish Turtle Creek and just use their electric trolling motor and raise the gas motor up? I have heard that the lake gets rough when the wind gets up. I have fished Gibson Lake years ago and that lake sure can get rough in a heartbeat. But they let us use the gas motor on Gibson.

Dan Carnahan, fisheries biologist for IDNR district 7, told me that Gibon Lake and Turtle Creek were the only two lakes in IN that had a year round Threadfin Shad Population. He said it's because both those lakes stay warm enough all year round to support the threadfin shad. Evidently those shad are very susceptable to cold water and die easily.

I know that Gizzard Shad are being controlled on one lake in Southern IN by drawing the lake water down so that the cold weather can help kill the Gizzard Shad Population or at least reduce it on that lake. Can't remmber the name of that lake for somereason this morning. Sorry. Getting older.

Regards,

Moose1am

[bassmanic1]

Moose ,
That lake is West Boggs and we are all getting older so dont worry about it ! I too have fished PSI Gibson lake and it can get very rough - back in the late 80's I remember using my 90HP to get around , do they have a HP limit there now ? I stopped fishing there because the catfish would be dead by the time we got back to the truck - usually they live out of water all the way home . They felt mushy also so I quit going . Turtle creek is kinda like that , we caught several gill that had sores on them , some bass also . I would not eat anything out of these two lake . The wiper fishing at PSI was a blast thought , we would use old shrimp for bait and they do fight great . The web site for Turtle Creek - http://www.hepn.com/turtle.htm - has lots of info on the lake . The only part of the lake open to fishing in Jan. is the northern end which is a long run via boat . If you get on Google Earth and zoom in on that end you can see the discharge and it looks like bank fishing is the way to go . Im going to try it after it opens and hopefully nail a big one !
Tight lines

[Moose1am]

Thanks for the information. I'll check out those Google sites and see what I can see. And I will save the web site in my favorites.

I fished Gibson when it first opened and know first hand how ruff that lake can get. I was not aware of the fish having sores on them but that makes sense. The hot water can promote bacterial growth and over time some metals may be accumulating in that water.

We did catch quite a few small crappie up at Gibson Lake one day. It was right along the buoys that divide the hot water discharge area from the rest of the lake. My little 16 ft boat won't handle the waves on Gibson when the winds kick up.

I did hook and catch one nice bass in the creek area where there was some standing timber just below the surface. But that bass fought more like a catfish than a LM Bass. The water was too hot and the fish's metabolism was off. Cold water does the same thing to bass in that they are too cold to fight. But cold water bass don't die as easily since cold water has a lot more dissolved oxygen than hot water does.

I'll check the Google maps to see if I can drive to the Northern areas and shoreline fish.

What's the motor size limit on Gibson now? Hope it's not 10 hp like the rest of the lakes in IN. I hate that motor size restrictions on Hovey and and Glendale's Dogwood Lake. I don't mind using a trolling motor on smaller lakes but those lakes are too big to fish with just a trolling motor. And I surely don't want to have to sell my 35 hp motor to buy a 10 hp motor for my bass boat. Then I could not fish KY lake, Barkley Lake and or Patoka as well as I do now. 35 HP is a small motor guys. But then again I can push my little aluminum bass boat around at about 23 mph or so on calm glass like water. I have to go much slower if there are waves on the water. The front end of my bass boat is squared off like a john boat and it will beat the heck out of anyone driving it into a ft high wave. Some waves will practically stop my boat in it's tracks if I don't cross them at a 45 deg Angle. It's a wonder my rivets have not all come out of the boat by now. But I learned from the very first trip out with my boat that it was not designed for rough water running. I should have taken it back and waited two more years to buy a boat as by that time they were modifying the front ends to better cut though the waves. The newer boats today are even better made and have all welded construction and no rivets. That's what I need. Something about 19 ft long with a swing away trailer tongue so that I can still get the boat and trailer in my garage. LOL. Wishful thinking never hurt anyone.
Regards,

Moose1am

[muskyman87]

I hit Turtle Creek on Tuesday off the bank. I only managed one 13-inch fish along with a few other bites. I was only out for a few hours.

The fish are there but I think you need to be out in a boat, which should be open on certain days as of 1/12. The one fish I got was off the main area by the causeway, near the warm water discharge. Still, I didn't see the blow-ups in that area as I'm used to seeing when things are a bit colder outside. I'm guessing this warmer weather has scattered them a bit in other areas since water temps aren't too bad in more of the lake.

I hit the other public spot towards the middle of the lake and did see some blow-ups out there but couldn't get any takers on a rattle trap. Still, enough visible action to make me think they're pretty well scattered out there right now, which is a good thing for when they open it up to boaters; not as much competition for certain spots when they're bunched up closer to the warmer water.

Anyway, good luck to anyone that gets out there!!