What's going on at Cedar Creek

Haven't heard anything in a while.Me and a friend are talking about going up next week.Only been on it once, that was early last year. How fishable is it at night and how is the bite?

One thing I'd like to know is what's happened to the bluegill? The past two years, you could catch them anywhere and there was decent size. Now you can't catch them nearly as well and they're all small.

Crappies are everywhere, but they're tiny.

Good fishing has been on an off there--As far as the bluegill bite they are hanging around the bottom of trees about 15 to 18 feet deep.I sure pull enough worms back with the tails gone. gl all

I get a weekly fishing report from the Tackle Store, he keeps a pretty close eye on the fishing. As for the bluegill thank the Gizzard Shad that showed up for the smaller fish.. but hey check out deeper water. I would love to know if any one has any suspicions as to who may have put Gizzard Shad in that lake... OR IF that is how they got there.
I just want to stir the pot though.







Jim

Jim ..... previous threads about Cedar Creek have covered this "Shad" question. As far as the "most logical" reason ... seeing as how there are several other species in Cedar Creek, that were not 'stocked' -- it would seem most likely that the KDFWR did not kill out ALL of the resident species (as planned), and Gizzard Shad were not completely eliminated.
It has been alluded to (rumored) that some landowners, of the upper reaches of the creeks, did not want the creeks (running thru their land) poisoned (livestock, crops affected ??? ). But, that's just speculation ... only KDFWR/those landowners would know for sure.

And yes .... the Gizzard Shad would be detrimental to the sunfish population/size ... for the simple reason that Bass prefer the soft rayed Shad, over the spiny rayed panfish, for a food source. This would allow/account for the stunted size of the sunfish population, because the sunfish population would not be controlled by the predation from the Bass.

MY biggest concern, is why the ban on Shad is still in effect ?? They're already established in the lake, so why not let castnetters help thin out the population ? The only "reason" I can come up with, is that it may cut down on the purchase of minnows (from the local venues). But that's just MHO.

"Stirring the pot" is easy, when it comes to Cedar Creek !! ...cp

But would the shad affect the bluegill population this quickly?? The fishing forecast for this year by the KDFWR - which I assume was done through a survey of the lake either late last year or early this year - lists bluegill fishing as "Excellent". And the thing is, it's not so much that they're smaller (but they are), it's that there really seems to be significantly less of them than last year.

Maybe they were just concentrated more before and are starting to spread out into the rest of the lake???

I noticed the same thing last 2 times I've been. Last week I didn't think we were going to catch anything, we finally caught a few decent bluegills, but I think part of the problem was that we weren't fishing deep enough. Still, it doesn't seem to be like it was a year or two ago.