bank crappie fishing in southern IN

[Moose1am]

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?

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.

[bassmanic1]

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 .

[Moose1am]

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.

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 .

[bassmanic1]

Hi all ,
Dan , the lake Im talking about isnt on the golf course - if you have Google Earth zoom in on the intersection of Hwy 57 and SR 64 , where the Grandys res. is and you will see the road to right before SR 64 . Follow it for a while and you will see the lake on the right . Moose , the boat ramp is on the south side of the lake , you have to go down the road below the dam and then follow it around a bend to the right and the road to the ramp is on the right . There another way off of Hwy 57 to get there but its hard to describe - try Google Earth . Its gravel and halfway down there is a place for the locals to dump their brush and lawn waste . The ramp is at the end - its on a point . If you take a boat you can work the dam and I have seen schools of gill in the summer working the top , I spent one day chasing them till my trolling battery died . Caught about 2 dozen hand size gill that way . The lake used to be full of weeds so bad it was un-fishable but they treat it now to get rid of most of them . We have also caught some legal bass and I hear there are catfish in there also . The campground has some sites right on the lake too . There is a playground for the kids and they were working on a swimming area last year . I took my daughter fishing at Snakey Point about 3 years ago - its shallow and full of lilypads and we didnt have much luck . You need a small outboard and all I have is a trolling motor for the jon . Well fellows , got go Lost is getting ready to come on !

Tight lines

[bassmanic1]

bump

[Moose1am]

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.

[raporter]

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.

[Moose1am]

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.

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.

[daniel240]

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.

[Moose1am]

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.

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.

[bassmanic1]

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

[daniel240]

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.