Is Bluegrass too Crowded these days?
I've not been fishing at all this year... yet! I drove out to Bluegrass a couple of times only to find 20 boats in the main parking lot of Bluegrass's Big Pit's south launch ramp parking lot. The North Ramp has 6 trucks with boat trailers as well.
With all this fishing pressure along with the people who take their dogs out there to play and the bike riders who park in the parking lot and take up three parking spaces because they failed to park so that there can be more space. ( they are clueless as to how crowded the parking lot gets later in the day or they are too selfish to think about anyone but themselves) But for the most part the fishermen have it figured out and all park in a manner to maximize the amount of people that can park there.
What these bike riders don't understand is that the fishermen and hunters pay fees that are used to buy places like Bluegrass F&W area. It's not a multi use facility like the parks in IN. It's a Fish and Wildlife Area that's dedicated to fishermen and hunters. Sure they can park there but they need to be mindful that they are not the only ones using the parking lot. OK I've said my peace. This is just something that I had to say. It's been bugging me for some time and I feel that we need to help educate the newbies out there on how to park to maximize the space for everyone.
Last year when I tried to troll crank baits I had to watch out for so many other boats. I had fun and caught my share of fish but for some reason I'm not that interested in fishing... yet. Maybe the bug will hit me soon. It's a lot of work for me to get the boat out of the garage and all fixed up to go fishing. I'm moving slower every years it seems.
I got a new Notebook that I plan on using with my Photography Program Adobe PhotoShop Elements 12 with the video program. So I'm going to be getting my Canon DSLR out and taking some pictures of the people of Bluegrass.
I miss seeing the pictures that were posted on the Face book Page called "Friends of Bluegrass Fish and Wildlife Area" or something to that affect. That face book page must have been taken down or deleted as it's no longer on Face book. I guess with all the people seeing that face book page and all the big bass being caught they decided to join in the fun.
I think I saw a picture on Paul Sevc's Face book Page that described what's going on a Bluegrass these days. It showed a small mud puddle with about 20 guys surrounding it holding their fishing poles. That's how bluegrass pit looks on a weekend. BTW Paul, congratulations on the nice catch of 5 bass over 18" along with the 20 other fish. Paul practices catch and release. I wish everyone else would follow his example out there.
I did read that some of the better fishermen are catching some nice bass. The bass should move deeper as it warms up and after they spawn. So guys that know how to fish for summer bass will be doing a good job still. I found that a lot of the bass suspend out over the deepest water and chase schools of gizzard shad around in the open water. Fishermen have a hard time targeting these suspended fish. It's only when these fish come towards the shoreline that most fishermen make contact with them. You will make first contact with them along steep points in the 18 to 25 ft range. Below 25 ft the thermocline produces an area called the hypolimnium which over time gets depleted of dissolved oxygen during the hot summer months. Only when the thermocline breaks up in the fall and the lake turns over will the dissolved oxygen be replenished down below the 25 ft line. The thermocline varies in depth on most lakes if they have a thermocline at all. But out at bluegrass I've measure the temperature profile of the lake several times over the years and found the thermocline to be right under 25 ft. My probe only has 25 feet of line so I was unable to measure any deeper. But I can clearly see the thermocline on my Humminbird 898 C SI depth finder/graph/GPS device.
But I heard that the fishing is getting tougher even for them. You just cant' have twenty five boats on the water day in and day out and sustain the good fishing. And I know that there are some (not many but a few and that's all it takes) that poach and take home short fish. Short fish means that the LM Bass is less than 18" long and illegal to keep. I saw three guys with three short Bass get busted by Gordon Woods Indiana CO and also see quite a few other's out there keeping short fish to take home and eat. One guy even cut off the Bass's tail thinking that he would not get busted if he got caught. What's wrong with some people? I guess he figured that he could argue that the fish was over 18" long before some thing cut off the fish's tail. But that would never fly. Not sure what he was smoking but it was not regular tobacco.
I'm seriously thinking about buying a kayak and fishing some of the smaller pits that are not as crowded. I don't mind 5 or 10 boats and actually feel better if there are a few other boats on the water in case I need some help. I also help others who may have motor problems. I've towed in a few other boats in the past when they needed help.
Anyway I think I know why they took the face book page down now. They just didn't want to tell everyone else about how nice Bluegrass can be.
One more thing. I noticed a lot of Algae growing in the water again this years. That tells me that the lake is full of Potassium and Phosphate. Without those limiting nutrients there can be very little green plants. I think that the phosphate must be coming out of the rocks that were uncovered when AMAX mined the ground for coal. So this is going to be a continuing problem of eutrophication.
I also noticed a lot of green algae growing on the concrete of the launch ramp too. So be careful when walking on the concrete as that algae can make the ramp very slippery. I've seen the same thing happen at other ramps in Southern IN. Warrick County's Lynnville Lake is a good example of what can happen if they authorities don't take care of the ramps. That ramp is as slick as water covered ice covering a banked corner at the Daytona Race Track. One can easily loose their footing and fall down. I've seen guys cut their arm trying to grab onto their boat trailer and catching their arm on an expose bolt on the trailer wench. They ended up having to have first air treatment for a pretty ugly laceration. One guy almost broke his hip when he fell down on the slick ramp. So be careful out there when launching and recovering your boats. The kayaks guys are the ones that probably see this more than anyone else. Now if you have a four wheel drive truck it won't be a problem getting your boat trailer back out of the water. But guys with short trailer tongues that have to get their back wheels in the water before their boat floats up off the trailer can get stuck on the ramp and end up slipping back down further into the water. This happened to me one time and I had to have someone hook up a strap to my truck and pull me out. It helps to throw a little sand or small rocks on the concrete to help get better traction on the slick algae covered ramp. So be careful out there.
I also am thinking about making a movie about Bluegrass Fish and Wildlife Area. I have video capability on my Cannon and hope to learn more about the video function and how to use it better. And if all goes as planned I will figure out how to better use the Adobe PhotoShop Premier Program that allows one to edit movie files. I did a TV commercial while I was in College and found it to be fun. But we used real TV camera in a studio back them. Technology has changed a lot since 1972! :D
OK that's my Blog for the week !
Never said I was making a major motion Picture!
That I could do anything about the over crowding and would not claim to be able to do that either.
I'm not wondering if it's too overcrowded. I already think that. But, I'm wondering if anyone else thinks that? But thanks for bring that up. I guess I was not clear and didn't make the point properly if you didn't understand the gist of my post.
We can thank the Evansville Courier and Press Sports writers and the TV sports celebrities for telling everyone about Bluegrass.
If you can't be them, maybe join them. I'm just fooling around with my camera and a new video editing program for my own personal use. I didn't say that I was going to show the movie to others. I take pictures all the time and usually just put them on my computer. Some of them I use as my screen saver pictures during the cold winter months so that I can look back on the good times at Bluegrass when it was warmer.
Did you read the part where I said I have not been fishing this years at all? That's because I have new interest that I like to do instead of fishing. I've been fishing or digging worms since I was 3 years old. I like a variety of things and get bored easily. I have so many other things going on right now with my life that I just have not had the desire to go fight the crowds at Bluegrass.
BTW: If you were wanting to go fishing somewhere would you want to go there it was not crowded or where there were people all over the place. Notice I said "Fishing" not partying or people watching.
Who wants to go to Bluegrass when it's so darn crowded? Not me! If I were to go there I'd at least go in the middle of the week when it's not as busy. But even on weekdays you may find 10 boats on the lake and 15 vehicles in the parking lot. Some with boat trailer and others not.
BTW: Did you just ignore the real question? I'll ask you directly. First do you even fish at Bluegrass? And second do you also think it's getting more and more crowded on the weekends? There are only so many good fishing spots on that lake.
And from the pictures I saw on that face book page there are a lot of fish being caught out there. Maybe she took that page down because she thought it got too much attention? Maybe she thinks that I'm thinking?
[QUOTE=psprowler;533933]So you're wondering whether it's too crowded, then discuss making a movie about it?[/QUOTE]
