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Thanks for the information about where the ramp is located. No wonder I could not find it. That lake looks a lot better now. Is the new Oakland City Lake trolling motors only?
As for Snaky point. That's a big area and I am thinking that the canal that leads from the shallow flood plains to the Patoka River may be a good spot to look for fish. I am just guessing. Never fished there and don't know that much about the place. It's a real swamp and pretty shallow.
Isn't Snakey Point trolling motors only? It can be difficult but sure is a fun place to fish. We use two man boats there and there are some dandy crappies swimming around those lily pads.
I drove up to Oakland City last Fall and I stopped in the US Fish&Wildlife Office. There were two people there at the time. One gentleman who hid in his office the entire time I was there and one older lady who is originally from Wisconsin. She had little information to tell me other than giving me pamphlets. She was not familiar with the area much. I went to snakey points North side launch ramp and took pictures of the area with my cell phone. I showed the pictures to the lady and she could not recognize where the pictures were taken. Evidently she does not get out to that area much. She must just stay in the office. I was up there to get information about snakey point but I could not get the lady to get the gentleman to come to the front to answer any questions that day. He was on the phone for a while but then he got off the phone and I was hoping to get to ask him a few questionsOne of the questions I would have asked is if we can use outboard gas motors on snakey point? I guess I'll talk to the local CO's and ask them what's the deal with motors on that swamp area.I do know that the area looks rather shallow. And I did obtain some information about the flood levels of the Patoka River in that area. I think the river was above flood level when I went up there and took pictures of the area. I should still have those pictures in my cell phone's camera. But the only way to get them out is to email them to someone at 25 cents a picture or to send them to my cell phone carriers pic place.[quote=raporter;289824]Isn't Snakey Point trolling motors only? It can be difficult but sure is a fun place to fish. We use two man boats there and there are some dandy crappies swimming around those lily pads.[/quote]
Well Thursday I decided to go to Helfrich golf course and fish the lakes in the back. I fished most of the day with not much luck. I just circled the larger lake in the back with all the trees around it. As I was about to quit and head out I found a deep spot with a bunch of stick ups and I started catching crappie. I caught about 10 in the last 1 1/2 hrs of daylight I had left. None of them were big, 6 of them were about 8 inches. Friday I tried bluegrass in the morning and it was packed there. I caught a few bass fishing with minows but that was it. It was too windy there so I went back to Helfrich and fished the same spot. I ended up catching about 25 crappie total, and 14 were keepers ranging from 8-10 inches. I ran out of minows and all I had left were meal worms and I was catching them on those too. So I was pretty happy with my first crappie fishing experience. And they tasted great last night.
Good report. And Congratulations on catching some. When crappie are in a small lake like that they overpopulate the lake quickly. One crappie can lay 30,000 to 100,000 eggs in one season. A good indication of overpopulation is small fish. Unless more predation occurs the lake will continue to house stunted fish. The best management technique is to keep as many of the small fish as possible. This will thin the numbers down and help those fish left have more food. There is not a lot of food in such a small lake. That lake should be productive even though it's small. That's because I will almost bet that the golf course is fertilized well. Any excess fertilizer will runoff into the lake and be used by the aquatic life in the lake. I use to play Ice Hockey on that lake when it froze solid years ago. And I lost a few golf balls in that lake as well. Good to hear that it's holding some crappie. It has great access for the shoreline fisherman and is not as crowded as Bluegrass will be in the early spring. I'll bet that Bluegrass pit is packed with boats today. It will be a circus out there today.
[quote=daniel240;289835]Well Thursday I decided to go to Helfrich golf course and fish the lakes in the back. I fished most of the day with not much luck. I just circled the larger lake in the back with all the trees around it. As I was about to quit and head out I found a deep spot with a bunch of stick ups and I started catching crappie. I caught about 10 in the last 1 1/2 hrs of daylight I had left. None of them were big, 6 of them were about 8 inches. Friday I tried bluegrass in the morning and it was packed there. I caught a few bass fishing with minnows but that was it. It was too windy there so I went back to Helfrich and fished the same spot. I ended up catching about 25 crappie total, and 14 were keepers ranging from 8-10 inches. I ran out of minnows and all I had left were meal worms and I was catching them on those too. So I was pretty happy with my first crappie fishing experience. And they tasted great last night.[/quote]
Dan ,
Opps , it may not be a good idea to post here were you caught fish - Im not saying people will fish it out but you never know . Glad to hear someone got out and wet a line , I was going to today { Sunday } but got some ribs on the smoker . Plan on going Monday as Im working nights this week . The best bet with a good crappie lake is to keep it to yourself or maybe let some of us on here know about it { me , moose , larry , he he ! } and we can tip you off to some good spots . Ill send you a email with some info .
Tight lines
LOL if they would have been big crappie I wouldn't have posted it on here. Anyway that was nothing compared to what I caught the last 2 days. My freind who I always go fishing with who has a boat got home saturday and said he had a place to go crappie fishing. So we went out to this pit north of Chandler and we each caught our limit in about 1 1/2 hours. They were all around 10''. We had so much fun we went out again today and caught our limit in about the same amount of time. The thing that surprised me most was that these crappie weren't biting on minows at all. I tried fishing with minows for about 10 minutes and never got a single bite. We caught every fish on red and green jigs. Anyway this was the most fun fishing I have had in a long time. This spot I'm not telling anyone where its at.
I was bored today and went back to browse some old posts. I read this one and the part about the Muskie caught my eye.
I fished Bluegrass Pit one day this week (Mon or Tue) and when at the launch ramp I spotted what appeared to be a 6" to 10" long baby Muskie. It sure looked like a muskie to me. It may have been a gar but I don't think so. This was colored like a Northern Pike which I have caught a lot of these fish and know what they look like. I have seen gar before and this didn't have the mouth of a gar nor the fins or tail of a gar. This was a yearly muskie for sure.
I have yet to talk to anyone knowledgeable about when the IDNR stocked the muskie in Bluegrass Pit. Now there are signs at the launch ramp with 36" size limits for muskie so that tells me that they are putting muskie in this pit.
I hope they don't eat too many of the crappie. LOL. I am going to be trolling crank baits in these pits this summer. Maybe in a few more years I may hook into one of the grown up muskie. That could be fun trying to land a 36" long Muskie.
I did noticed that last Sunday the parking lots of Bluegrass Pit South, Loon Pit North and Otter pit were full of trucks and boat trailers. I think I counted almost 26 boats on these three pits.
I try to avoid fishing on the weekends if I can. It's more peaceful during the middle of the week. But last Tuesday when I fished Bluegrass pit I saw 6 other boats on the lake that day.
[quote=bassmanic1;289381]Hi ,
Just wanted to add my 2 cents . I know Moose likes Otter pit but personally I haven't had much luck on any of the Bluegrass pits . I have caught some small crappie in Loon pit on the eastern back side in the boat but only caught good ones {11-14" } the first few years after they opened the pits , the past 2 years nothing but 7-8 inches . The Bluegrass pit is worthless - not to step on any toe's - I wish I had all the time back I wasted getting skunked there . I believe it is fished out and now the DNR has stocked muskie ? No thanks . The lake at USI may have a few gill but there is a reason you don't see anyone fishing it . If you want to drive a little go up to Oakland City and fish the city's reservoir on the south side out of town , its called New Lake . Head up 57 and before you get to the stoplight with the Grundy's res. take the last right turn - there will be a sign saying something about the lake . You go down about 5 miles past the RR tracks and the wire company . Its on the right . They have a real nice dam that is mowed and pretty good size so you can move around and they have a campground too . I have caught lots of descent gill and a few crappie off the bank . There is a boat ramp on the southern side of the lake and there is a self-serve bait shop in town and there is a DNR office where you can get maps of the area . If you cant get out of Eville why not try the lakes at Helfric { sic } golf course ? Or Cypress creek up past Newburgh ? If you really want to fish you should try and find a small jon boat and get out on the water - its the best way to be successful .
Tight lines[/quote]
According to Dan Carnahan with IDNR, both pits on each side of the road as you enter Bluegrass from Boonville - New Harmony Road were stocked with about 600 Muskies each. I cannot remember exactly when but it was late last season or early this year. He spoke at an earlier meeting of the Ohio Valley Fly Rod Club and this subject was brought up. In addition to the individual that rotates between pits doing creel studies, the Muskie are being monitored closely in ways that are not readily evident.
Now you have my curiosity up! "Monitored in ways that are not readily evident" I am trying to figure out what Dan means by that! LOL
I have seen a small muskie near the shallow water at the South Bluegrass Pit's launch ramp. This fish was about 12" long or maybe only 10" long. It was right up next to the bank in only 1 or 2 ft of water. This is where the small largemouth bass, small crappie and small bluegill hang out. Also there are plenty of small minnows that frequent this area as well as small water snakes.
I'll bet the water snakes will be scared for their lives in a few more years if the Muskie take hold and grow bigger.
I can just see a big muskie chopping a swimming water snake in half and dragging it under with a big splash! Yike's what the He(( was that?
[quote=RiverRunt;294723]According to Dan Carnahan with IDNR, both pits on each side of the road as you enter Bluegrass from Boonville - New Harmony Road were stocked with about 600 Muskies each. I cannot remember exactly when but it was late last season or early this year. He spoke at an earlier meeting of the Ohio Valley Fly Rod Club and this subject was brought up. In addition to the individual that rotates between pits doing creel studies, the Muskie are being monitored closely in ways that are not readily evident.[/quote]
Yep , there is nothing we fishermen in southern IN love more than Muskie fishing ! The DNR guy doing the survey last year asked me about it and I didnt think it was a good idea - I suggested stocking Rainbow Trout like they do at Sugar Ridge and Airline Pit in Greene-Sullivan . Trout taste much better that Muskie { just a guess } , the state would make more a the extra stamps and fly fishermen would have a place to go . Oh well .
I never really expected them to stock muskie in these pits. I too would rather have rainbow trout and fly fish for them. I love fishing for trout in the Smokey Mountains. Wish I had the means to take a trip out west somewhere to fish for trout someday.
Muskie may not survive our summers down here. We will have to wait ans see how they do and if they can reproduce in our waters. That's the key to keeping them in the pits down here. If the water it too cold or too hot or too polluted or the pH is not right they may not make it very long.
They can be a lot of fun to catch and I have the tools to fish for big muskie. Dad and I use to go up to Ontario Canada one a year for a few years and we got setup to catch big Pike or Muskie. He bought the big rods and reels and the heavy lead center line for big fish. We have super sized lures for those big Muskie. Some of the Muskie lures are 6" to 9" long I would guess. Big spoons and big crank baits that look like Giant Rapalas. I have hooked and landed some 8lb Pike and see many follow my baits that looked larger.
One secret tip when fishing for big Pike. If you get the crank bait to the boat leave about 6" of line between the crank bait and the tip of the rod. Stick the end of the rod in the water if you see a fish follow the bait to the boat. Then make a figure 8 several times with the bait in the water. I've seen some big Pike follow the lure to the side of the boat and not hit the bait until I did the Figure 8 deal in the water beside the boat. Then WHAM the big fish returns and nails the crank bait or spoon. Talk about excitement!!!!!!
Muskie or big Pike were not that good to eat because they have a rib bone structure that makes it hard to get all the bones out of the flesh even when you fillet them. But if you take the fillets and SMOKE them over a slow smoker they can be great. I use to catch 4lb Northerns near the mouth of Eagle River where it Empties into Eagle Lake Ontario and had the camp owner smoke them for or. Or maybe dad smoked them on his smoker. Can't remember which. But once they are smoked really good the flesh can be picked away from the bones. You have to be careful and eat these smoked Pike slow and watch out for tiny bones. But eat them with some Cheddar Cheese and a glass of White Whine (sweet type) and they make an excellent snack.
We fried up the Walleye we caught up north and man that was some of the best fish eating there is on Earth. Better than Crappie IMHO. Maybe it was because I was so hungry from fishing all day and the shore cooked fish lunch always tastes better than home cooking. There is something about cooking in the outdoors and being extra hungry that makes shoreline fish dinners excellent table fare.
[quote=bassmanic1;294885]Yep , there is nothing we fishermen in southern IN love more than Muskie fishing ! The DNR guy doing the survey last year asked me about it and I didn't think it was a good idea - I suggested stocking Rainbow Trout like they do at Sugar Ridge and Airline Pit in Greene-Sullivan . Trout taste much better that Muskie { just a guess } , the state would make more a the extra stamps and fly fishermen would have a place to go . Oh well .[/quote]