Quote Originally Posted by redearhoosier View Post
Ferdinand's a pretty good lake, I've caught several one pound bluegill out of it and that's a BIG bluegill for these parts as you very well know. My opinion on these lakes I guess is that they're simply not big enough to handle the demand put upon them.

My wife, son and I camped out down at the Forestry in the fall of 2010 and the camp host told me about people from Kentucky coming over from Brandenberg and Hardinsberg. One group of seven people kept over one thousand gills/ears/crappie from Tipisaw. Of course it's not just Kentucky people doing this, I've got some in my very own family who practice these same methods...and they're smart enough to know better. But they do fry most of the thousands of fillets up at family, friends and political events, so it's not like they're wasting these fish.

I go back to the theory of building that spectacular lake up in the Proving Grounds. Patoka could be a VERY good panfish lake if it was managed properly but we all know it's managed as a Largemouth Bass destination. Build a lake up in the Proving Grounds that could compete, at least size wise, with Cumberland or Dale Hollow. I'm thinking 20-25 thousand acre lake would do it. You would have to get the local politicians on board for this to ever happen.
Too bad it will never happen. Where would the money come from? Considering they already don't use our angler taxes for our hobby! It is sad since we have to spend our money elsewhere.