Bluegrass and Loon

Anyone caught anything worth bragging about? I've had days where I've caught nothing and had a few days with a nice fish (4lbs). Seems hit or miss, especially with all the pressure. I've seem to have my better bass fishing days on Bluegrass than I have on Loon. Although I don't fish Loon much since I'm paranoid about hitting something in my boat. I'm strictly catch and release out there but I wonder how the majority of ppl do and what they keep out of it.

There are several of us on here that fish it multiple times a week. It's not a big numbers lake but definitely a big bite lake. It will always have a lot of pressure due to it being so close to evansville. Good news is they mostly fish it wrong. Lol. There is a very large population of 3 to 5 pound fish. Several 6+ fish are caught as well. If you're serious about fishing it, and want to learn quickly, join the Tuesday night tourney series. Pay attention to what they say and use. I'm just glad the water is going down and the water Temps are going up. I'm not a fan of bluegrass when the water is really high. Another issue is all the kayaks. I've had a lot of problems with them the last few years.

Nice... Thanks for the info. What time does it start on Tuesdays and the cost?

5:00 or 5:30 I believe. Not sure on the cost. My schedule doesn't allow me to fish them.

[QUOTE=JustinM;555662]There are several of us on here that fish it multiple times a week. It's not a big numbers lake but definitely a big bite lake. It will always have a lot of pressure due to it being so close to evansville. Good news is they mostly fish it wrong. Lol. There is a very large population of 3 to 5 pound fish. Several 6+ fish are caught as well. If you're serious about fishing it, and want to learn quickly, join the Tuesday night tourney series. Pay attention to what they say and use. I'm just glad the water is going down and the water Temps are going up. I'm not a fan of bluegrass when the water is really high. Another issue is all the kayaks. I've had a lot of problems with them the last few years.[/QUOTE]

Some of the newer Kayakers will row right between your boat and the bank and not think anything about it. Unless you bounce a few baits across their bow they don't even have a clue that they are interfering with your fishing experience.

I stopped going out to blue grass on the weekends due to all the pressure on these lakes the past few years. There can be 30 to 40 boat trailers in the parking lots on a nice weekend. I was hoping that with the lower gas prices that more guys would take their boats to KY lake and Patoka instead of fishing Bluegrass. But the number of people fishing Bluegrass has increased as far as I can tell.

If you are able to try fishing it on a weekday instead of the weekends.

Kayaks take a little bit longer to launch as they have to take all their gear out of the boat and put it back into the boat at the launch ramp. Unlike other boats that can have their gear already to go in the boat and can launch their boat in a couple of minutes even if by themselves. Using a long rope to help launch the boat really helps speed up the launch.

And parking in the parking lot and preparing the boat before you get on the launch ramp is just common courtesy. People need to be aware that others are wanting to use the launch ramp too.

The people that really take over the launch ramp is the Canoe Evansville People who bring about 15 or more canoes on a big trailer and have a lot of new people in a big group. They will store their canoes right on the launch ramp for the entire evening at times. Once they even parked the canoe trailer and truck across the launch ramp blocking it from being used for several hours. The guy with the keys to the truck was out on the water in a kayak and no one else had any keys to the truck. Now they do this event in September when there are fewer people but if I were wanting to fish and found the launch ramp and the handicapped platform blocked I'd be getting upset if I had to go somewhere else to fish simply because the group didn't consider other people might want to use the launch ramp that evening.

I was returning from a fishing trip up at Patoka Lake one summer and found these folks blocking the launch ramp at Otter Pit one evening. So I ended up walking down to the launch ramp and casting from the shoreline while several of the members went for a swim. Even though the IDNR does NOT allow swimming in these pits. The people that run the UE outdoor adventure club do a similar outing in the fall out at Bluegrass and they too will setup camp on the launch ramp for several hours. So anyone else wanting to fish will have a hard time launching their boat as the ramp may be blocked by several to a dozen canoes and Kayaks parked right on the launch ramp.

haha man that's terrible. I hear you on the crowds. It's a circus on the boat ramps most weekends and I've noticed the large number of kayakers as well. I'm glad they are enjoying the water too but you can definitely tell some of the newer users have no idea of fishing courtesy. You just have to laugh it off because I'm sure we were all the same newbies at once.

I've been to Barkley, Kentucky Lake multiple times (March- now) and Lake Guntersville for a week in the spring, it's just as packed out there. I've never seen as much fishing pressure on local big lakes like it is nowadays. Finding a boat ramp with a parking spot is half the battle on a weekend in the spring and summer.

[QUOTE=jkelley1487;555650]Anyone caught anything worth bragging about? I've had days where I've caught nothing and had a few days with a nice fish (4lbs). Seems hit or miss, especially with all the pressure. I've seem to have my better bass fishing days on Bluegrass than I have on Loon. Although I don't fish Loon much since I'm paranoid about hitting something in my boat. I'm strictly catch and release out there but I wonder how the majority of ppl do and what they keep out of it.[/QUOTE]

Loon Pit has a lot of shallow areas on the North End near the Launch ramp. If you hang to the EAST side of the pit when heading South out of the Northern Ends concrete launch ramp you have deeper water. (relatively deeper than if you head out straight to the South and don't veer towards the East Bank. There is an Island directly South of the launch ramp on the North End of Loon Pit. When the water's down you can clearly see it. And there are many shallow areas to the South of the Island. The water changes depth often in this area. Now if you can ever manage to get out on the Western Edge of this pit in the Most Northern Part of Loon Pit there is plenty of deep water. It's too bad they didn't build the launch ramp on the Western Part of the pit instead of where it is. Now with the water being so high this spring it should be easier to reach the deeper Western Area of the pit.

During the summer months the submergent weeds help you to see the relatively shallower areas as the weeds grow to the surface. So you can see where the weeds are and where they are not. The areas free of weeds on the surface should be the relatively deeper areas. I've not figured this part of Loon Pit out as for as where the deeper channels run though the shallower areas.

[url]http://winnebagophotography.blogspot.com/2011/08/what-is-difference-emergent-submergent.html[/url]

[QUOTE=Moveon;555768]Loon Pit has a lot of shallow areas on the North End near the Launch ramp. If you hang to the EAST side of the pit when heading South out of the Northern Ends concrete launch ramp you have deeper water. (relatively deeper than if you head out straight to the South and don't veer towards the East Bank. There is an Island directly South of the launch ramp on the North End of Loon Pit. When the water's down you can clearly see it. And there are many shallow areas to the South of the Island. The water changes depth often in this area. Now if you can ever manage to get out on the Western Edge of this pit in the Most Northern Part of Loon Pit there is plenty of deep water. It's too bad they didn't build the launch ramp on the Western Part of the pit instead of where it is. Now with the water being so high this spring it should be easier to reach the deeper Western Area of the pit.

During the summer months the submergent weeds help you to see the relatively shallower areas as the weeds grow to the surface. So you can see where the weeds are and where they are not. The areas free of weeds on the surface should be the relatively deeper areas. I've not figured this part of Loon Pit out as for as where the deeper channels run though the shallower areas.

[url]http://winnebagophotography.blogspot.com/2011/08/what-is-difference-emergent-submergent.html[/url][/QUOTE]

Lakemaster has the pit surveyed. Follow your map card. Great lakes region, versions 2 and 3 have it, possibly even version 1.

[QUOTE=SteveM4A1;555795]Lakemaster has the pit surveyed. Follow your map card. Great lakes region, versions 2 and 3 have it, possibly even version 1.[/QUOTE]

Any lake that Lake master surveyed is marked as such. I think they list the name of those lakes in a different color or something.

I have the Lakemaster map for Bluegrass and have found that in some areas of Bluegrass the map says my boat is over 20 ft of water and I'm actually in 7 ft of water. I have to move about 30 ft to get over the 20 ft deep water. This is caused by the survey not sampling enough data points and the GPS locations not being exactly on the spot. Remember that all the GPS data is accurate to plus or minus 3 meters at best and this can vary and be off even more.

I was trolling crank baits along the South East Side of the lake where the depths vary a lot depending on how far out from the shoreline you get. This area the flats vary as to how far out into the lake they reach. Some areas reach out into the water farther and have a shallow depth where as just another 50 to 100 ft to the North the shallow water does not extend out as far into the lake. I found this out the very first time I went along that Eastern Shoreline after leaving the concrete launch ramp at the South end of the Lake. My depth finder was showing deep water and then shallow water and then deep water and then shallow water again for a few hundred yards going along that Eastern Shoreline. During the summer months you can see the milfoil growing in the shallower sections of this shoreline. It must be due to the way they mined this area.

Remember a few feet deeper water can block out the sunlight from reaching the lake bottom and keep the plants from getting any sunlight down there. Weed can be found in the 1 to 7 ft depths but at the 10 ft depths there may be no weeds growing at that depth. This depends on the turbidity of the water or the water clarity and the amount of sunlight hitting the surface of the water along with the angle of the sunlight and the amount of surface waves. Only part of the sunlight actually enters into the water as the rest is reflected off the surface and back out into space again.

You fish them more often than I do, but I have never noticed lakemaster being off by that much. If I am sitting on a ledge, maybe that will happen sometimes because of poor GPS signal at the time. But their charts are excellent, within 1-2 ft that I've noticed on Bluegrass and Loon. The difference would more than likely be a combination of bad GPS signal at the time that exceeds the 3 meter accuracy, water level offset not configured correctly for current water levels, depth offset not set right, etc. If you don't mind, next time you are out snap a screenshot of the area in question with GPS coordinates on screen and I will run the AC Live on it next time I'm there and take a screenshot of the difference.


[QUOTE=Moveon;555839]Any lake that Lake master surveyed is marked as such. I think they list the name of those lakes in a different color or something.

I have the Lakemaster map for Bluegrass and have found that in some areas of Bluegrass the map says my boat is over 20 ft of water and I'm actually in 7 ft of water. I have to move about 30 ft to get over the 20 ft deep water. This is caused by the survey not sampling enough data points and the GPS locations not being exactly on the spot. Remember that all the GPS data is accurate to plus or minus 3 meters at best and this can vary and be off even more.

I was trolling crank baits along the South East Side of the lake where the depths vary a lot depending on how far out from the shoreline you get. This area the flats vary as to how far out into the lake they reach. Some areas reach out into the water farther and have a shallow depth where as just another 50 to 100 ft to the North the shallow water does not extend out as far into the lake. I found this out the very first time I went along that Eastern Shoreline after leaving the concrete launch ramp at the South end of the Lake. My depth finder was showing deep water and then shallow water and then deep water and then shallow water again for a few hundred yards going along that Eastern Shoreline. During the summer months you can see the milfoil growing in the shallower sections of this shoreline. It must be due to the way they mined this area.

Remember a few feet deeper water can block out the sunlight from reaching the lake bottom and keep the plants from getting any sunlight down there. Weed can be found in the 1 to 7 ft depths but at the 10 ft depths there may be no weeds growing at that depth. This depends on the turbidity of the water or the water clarity and the amount of sunlight hitting the surface of the water along with the angle of the sunlight and the amount of surface waves. Only part of the sunlight actually enters into the water as the rest is reflected off the surface and back out into space again.[/QUOTE]

[QUOTE=SteveM4A1;555854]You fish them more often than I do, but I have never noticed lakemaster being off by that much. If I am sitting on a ledge, maybe that will happen sometimes because of poor GPS signal at the time. But their charts are excellent, within 1-2 ft that I've noticed on Bluegrass and Loon. The difference would more than likely be a combination of bad GPS signal at the time that exceeds the 3 meter accuracy, water level offset not configured correctly for current water levels, depth offset not set right, etc. If you don't mind, next time you are out snap a screenshot of the area in question with GPS coordinates on screen and I will run the AC Live on it next time I'm there and take a screenshot of the difference.[/QUOTE]

Steve That sounds like a good plan to try to see what's going on. Do you know the shelf that goes out from the East Bank into the lake the farthest. This is the area South of the entrance to the "H" where the shallow water reaches out the farthest into the lake. It's about half way down the East Bank from the entrance to the "H" area. The "H" is the first Cove or bay on the right after you leave the launch ramp at the South End of the pit and head North.

The area drops off from around 5 or 7 ft into 20 then again it will drop down into about 35 to 40 ft of water. The ledge there is not straight but jagged and some areas of the ledge go out further into the lake than others. It's about Fifty feet to 100 ft out off the bank. And it's inline with the handicapped ramp and the main sign board by the porta-poti. The other line of sight used to be a cross up on the East Bank and some rocks along the shoreline. That should get you into the general area of the drop off I'm talking about.

I'm using the Humminbird 898 SI unit and the latest software from about 2015 on that unit. My GPS signals are taken from a elevated position above my engine at the rear of my boat near the transducer. I get accuracy readings of about 2 ft or 3 ft according to the screen readings. But they still could be off as just because the screen estimates the accuracy at 2ft that doesn't always mean it's true IMHO.

Anyway I'm off about 20 ft or so as I explained. now other areas the accuracy is much better as they may have been survived closer with more data points. Date point = a depth reading connected to a longitude and latitude reading. The closer the data points are together the better the map will be.

Loon is listed but if you look close at the list of lakes in IN the loon pit in Warrick county is not listed in bold print and it's name does NOT have a * at the end of the name which indicated that it was surveyed by Lakemaster in High Definition. I'm not sure what they call HD?

I was there watching the IDNR crew surveying Bluegrass in the area I'm talking about a while back. About 4 years or so and they were not making repeated treks across the lake close to each other. The girl doing the survey drove about 100 yards apart on each transit line across the lake on the South End where I could see her driving the boat from the Parking lot area by the Concrete Launch ramp on the South end of the lake. It was in March and it was a cold windy day and they appeared to be cold and in a hurry to finish up the survey. I took pictures of her and the boat and the guy that was with her. I also talked to here for a few minutes and asked her what she was doing. She explained what they were doing and that they would collect the data on a data logger ( computer and then take the data back to the office and make a map of the data. I learned to make Topo maps by hand using data points in my College Physical Geology class at USI back in the 1970. Drawing the contour lines of equal elevation around the data points took some experience to do. And it helped a lot if you had a lot of data points on the map showing the elevations of each point. Often one has to interpolate the data to determine where to draw the contour line between two different data points.

I'd definitely update the Lakemaster Great Lakes Card if I thought that they had done more surveys and collected a lot more data points. But I fear that they are just using the data that was collected by this girl that worked for IDNR.

I talked to the IDNR Director of Fish and Wildlife and he knew who she was. I know the director as we went to Purdue together and took some of the same classes together. We use to go out and drink beer together and spent a lot of time together back when I was in college. I don't see him very much anymore as he's up in Indy and I'm down here in Evansville. But we talk on the phone once in a while and that was when he told me the name of the girl that does all their lake surveys for them. She did the job but I am picky and wish that they could have collected more data points than they did. They do a quick job of each lake as they have a lot of lakes to record.

Navionics maps are pretty accurate out there. I've never seen one off by 20 feet there