There is a campground (privately owned by Tom Newmaster) right down the road from the two main pits. Blue Grass (north pit) and Loon (South pit). Loon is a wildlife refuge and it's off limits during all the hunting season so that the ducks and geeze have some solitude also. Hunting can occur on the other pits in this area. There are only three big pits that have concrete launch ramps. BG, Loon and Otter Pit. Otter Pit is south of Loon Pit and it's only 90 acres in size. All three of these pits are connected Hydrologically vias coverts (pipes) that rund under Boonville New Harmony road and under Kansas Road. Blue Grass Pit is about 190 acres and has lots of bays and has good crappie populations. The crappie in general are running small ( slow growth rate) due to overcrowding. Bass are trying to rebound and will reboud if all the fishermen respect the 18" size limit on Blue Grass and Loon Pits. Otter's size limit is 14" or 15". All these pits are typical of strip mined lands. High conductivity and lots of iron in the water. The pH is around 8.5 or so. There are many other walk in pits in this area. Wildlife abounds in this environment. It's full of hawks, owls, coyottes, beavers, muskrates, deer, fox, and rabbits as well as waterfowl in the wintertime.

The campground phone number is (812) 925-7575.

The pits are full of Eurasion Millfoil submergent vegetation. The deeper parts of the pits can run 50 to 60ft. Loon pit has a lot of shallow areas as well. Loon pit is about 200 acres in size and has more submerged brush than the other pits.

You can usually hook into a short bass where the water runs under Boonville Newharmony road from Blue Grass Pit into Loon Pit. There is a small ditch there that channels the water flow into the very NE part of Loon Pit. The bass will hang in that area waiting for food to be washed into the pit by heavy rains.

Lynnville is more secluded that Blue Grass in that it's an older pit and has more full grown trees even if they are mostly pine trees.

I know what you mean about Lynnville. It's reminds me a lot of the canadian lakes I fished when I was in HS years ago. There is nothing like boating 20 miles up or down a small river at night only to come to a lake that is hardly ever fished by anyone. I did that once with some friends and we had a blast. Got to the camp site around midnight and setup the tents and it rained all night long. I ended up loosing one of my contact lenses in the pine needles that next morning and had to wear my glasses for the rest of that week. :(


Regards,

Moose1am