How to know if a lake is public before going out

I love to go new places to fish. Recently, I bought the Southern Indiana Fishing Map Guide from Bass Pro, and it has detailed information for lots of lakes that sound fun to fish. I also came across a site call fishingworks.com that has a state by state, and even county by county, list of lakes, lakes that I'd love to go visit and fish. However, just as an example, the other day I went up to Scottsburg to fish. I normally fish the reservoir. It is on my new map book, and I know it is open to the public, as I've fished there before. But the website and book show that there are other lakes nearby, such as Forrest Helton and David Garriott lakes. I was going up there anyway to fish, so it wasn't a big deal to drive just a few blocks away to see that both lakes appear to be private. So, they were of no use to me.

I'd love to see if there is a way to know about other lakes though, before driving all over and getting shut down time and time again. For example, I live in Clarksville, and not to far away are places like the Greenville Reservoir, Ulrich Lake, Floyds Knobs Lake, Scottsville Lake, Mount Saint Francis Lake, etc. How do I know if I'm just wasting my time driving to all of those places, or if they are fishable before driving all over for nothing? Just east of Scottsburg is Marysville Lake, Thomas J. Miller Lake, Arthur S. Kingman Lake, etc. Which are open to just a regular shoreline fisherman like me, and which are private?

I just hate to drive out to a lake only to find out that I can't fish there. I once drove somewhere around Elizabeth to a nice lake that I was told was great, only to find out that it was surrounded by private land, and you had to be a member of that neighborhood to fish there. An hour or more, plus gas, wasted.

Any suggestions, or do I just have to drive out and see for myself? The big lakes are great too, but I like to go to the small out of the way places that don't have as many people around. I go for the fishing, but I love the peace and quiet as well.

[QUOTE=shemwelljr;370447]I love to go new places to fish. Recently, I bought the Southern Indiana Fishing Map Guide from Bass Pro, and it has detailed information for lots of lakes that sound fun to fish. I also came across a site call fishingworks.com that has a state by state, and even county by county, list of lakes, lakes that I'd love to go visit and fish. However, just as an example, the other day I went up to Scottsburg to fish. I normally fish the reservoir. It is on my new map book, and I know it is open to the public, as I've fished there before. But the website and book show that there are other lakes nearby, such as Forrest Helton and David Garriott lakes. I was going up there anyway to fish, so it wasn't a big deal to drive just a few blocks away to see that both lakes appear to be private. So, they were of no use to me.

I'd love to see if there is a way to know about other lakes though, before driving all over and getting shut down time and time again. For example, I live in Clarksville, and not to far away are places like the Greenville Reservoir, Ulrich Lake, Floyds Knobs Lake, Scottsville Lake, Mount Saint Francis Lake, etc. How do I know if I'm just wasting my time driving to all of those places, or if they are fishable before driving all over for nothing? Just east of Scottsburg is Marysville Lake, Thomas J. Miller Lake, Arthur S. Kingman Lake, etc. Which are open to just a regular shoreline fisherman like me, and which are private?

I just hate to drive out to a lake only to find out that I can't fish there. I once drove somewhere around Elizabeth to a nice lake that I was told was great, only to find out that it was surrounded by private land, and you had to be a member of that neighborhood to fish there. An hour or more, plus gas, wasted.

Any suggestions, or do I just have to drive out and see for myself? The big lakes are great too, but I like to go to the small out of the way places that don't have as many people around. I go for the fishing, but I love the peace and quiet as well.[/QUOTE]

I usually e-mail the Indiana DNR for any questions like that. They probably could tell you whether they are private or public, ramp fees, gate fees, etc.
Nothing more sad than driving all that way and not being able to wet a line.

Try the Where to Fish Finder on the Indiana Division of Fish and Wildlife website: [URL]http://www.in.gov/dnr/fishwild/3591.htm[/URL] It will have quite a few public lakes around the state.

The Greenville Reservoir, Floyds Knobs Lake are both privately owned bodies of water. If you can track down the owners you may be able to get permission to fish them. However the owner of the Greenville Res is currently in Iraq. Mount Saint Francis is also a private lake but you can pay a membership fee and be given the combination to the lock on the gate leading to the lake. My dad and I used to be members at the Mount but the membership fee was rased to like $175 and that was 15 yrs ago. May be different now but I don't know. If you find out any info about MSF please post as I would like to rejoin.

[QUOTE=shane2480;370618]The Greenville Reservoir, Floyds Knobs Lake are both privately owned bodies of water. If you can track down the owners you may be able to get permission to fish them. However the owner of the Greenville Res is currently in Iraq. Mount Saint Francis is also a private lake but you can pay a membership fee and be given the combination to the lock on the gate leading to the lake. My dad and I used to be members at the Mount but the membership fee was rased to like $175 and that was 15 yrs ago. May be different now but I don't know. If you find out any info about MSF please post as I would like to rejoin.[/QUOTE]

Hey, thanks for the info. I actually figured some of that out today, as I went and looked at the lakes on Google Maps. Using the satellite view, you can zoom in and see that there are no roads around those lakes going to them that aren't driveways to houses and such. Looks like that might be the most effective way of figuring some of this out. Oh, and I'd never pay $175 to fish. I fish from the shore, and I'm not a great fisherman. Thats a lot of money to do what I do, lol.

You might go to the [url]www.indianainfo.net/[/url] site.
They have lots of these lakes posted and are printable and free. How-ever I don't think they post if they are public or private.