Mike Axsom (West Boggs Park)

[fishNnut]

Well, I don't know if it is concrete or not. I had a guy in a little bait store up by the lake tell me that he and everyone he knew in their club would kill the northerns when they caught them. They had some pictures of some good fish on the wall too.


Lighten up man, it's not like I blamed any bass clubs for turning loose gizzard shad or anything.

There are still northerns in Patoka. Just deep in the trees.

[topwater2007]

I am sure that Patoka has Chain Pickerel in it.

I caught a whole bunch in Blue River when I was smallmouth fishing. Some anglers would confuse a mature Chain Pickerel for a small pike.

I don't know why a bass angler would care about a few pike in Patoka, I fished up north and the bass do well with lots of pike around. Largemouth and smallmouth are easily compatable with Northern Pike.

One lake the DNR needs to fix is Cagles Mill Reservoir (Cataract). It needs shad control badly. They stopped stocking wipers for fear of cross breading with white bass and sterilizing the entire species. The lake ain't been worth a **** ever since.

They need an artificial cover program too, creating brush piles and off shore reefs with wood pallets. Anything to get some cover into that lake.

I think the reason Musky are not stocked for shad control, it that they will take down only the large shad. If huge populations need controlled, it would take white bass or wipers to keep that going.

Give the state guys a call. I have called them several times about Cataract, never got anything done, but they did talk to me and give me reasons why nothing ever gets done. They fill the lake with walleye fry, and guess what? People harvest the walleye all the time. They are meat anglers and that is the only thing that happens at Cataract. People talk about the crappie, but they are small.

topwater

[Moose1am]

The IDNR fishery research biologist conduct fish surveys using electro shocking boats, gill nets and lift nets and I think I remember reading that they caught one large Northern Pike a few years ago.

There may be a few Big Pike that have survived in Patoka but they don't have the numbers of NP like they did when the lake first opened back in 1978. I remember catching Northerns on spinner baits all the time at Patoka Lake. I have a few photos of the pike.

But I have not seen anyone catching Northern Pike up at Patoka after a few years. I heard a lot of talk about people wanting to get rid of the pike but never saw anyone actually killing any pike.

They probably just dies out over the years as they could not really reproduce in great numbers.

But I wonder if they would do better these days if they were restocked. Back in the early days Patoka Lake didn't have huge numbers of Gizzard Shad. I would think that big pike would be able to feed on those older and larger Gizzard shad.

I'll know how this works in a few more years by watching what happens at Bluegrass and Loon Pits down here on Bluegrass F&W area. They stocked small muskie in these two pits and they hope to see if they can succeed in these deep pits.

I talked to a guy the other day that said he found a spot on Bluegrass pit that was over 100 ft deep. I personally found the deep water to be around 67 ft deep. But there are some spots that I have not been over with my depth finder. So there could be a hole out there that's 100 ft deep. But the thermocline will be around 25 to 27 ft deep this time of the year and not many fish will be found below the thermocline during the hot summer months.

Well, I don't know if it is concrete or not. I had a guy in a little bait store up by the lake tell me that he and everyone he knew in their club would kill the northerns when they caught them. They had some pictures of some good fish on the wall too.


Lighten up man, it's not like I blamed any bass clubs for turning loose gizzard shad or anything.

There are still northerns in Patoka. Just deep in the trees.

[fishNnut]

Moose, IDNR have stocked musky in a stripper pit north of Vincennes for several years. The lake is not nearly as big as the two in Bluegrass and not nearly as deep, but the musky have done pretty well. I think the biologist said the biggest he has seen in there is 42".

I talked with my friend last summer, who owns the lodge we visit in Ontario, and he told me that they will grow to their surroundings. Although for southern Indiana standards, the musky will be nice, he said you will probably never pull out a fat 50"er.

[bassmanic1]

The pit is called "Bass Lake" , it is in the Greene-Sullivan State Forest , Duggar unit . My Sportsman Connection southern Indiana fishing map guide has some good maps of this area and this lake is suppose to have some trophy muskie in along with bass up to 10lbs . I fished Goose pit across the road from Bass Lake earlier in the year for crappie without any luck . My favorite trout pits are also in this area . If only we had that amount of pits closer to Eville !

[Moose1am]

First, thanks for the new information. I was not aware of that.

I am just wondering if they will be able to reproduce in the Bluegrass and Loon Pit.

I don't know that much about the biology of these Northern Fish. The Northern Pike at Patoka never did really take over that lake. I guess that they could not reproduce in numbers suffiecent to take hold.

Maybe these Muskie will take hold at Bluegrass pit.

I know that I will be excited if I ever hook into a 36" long muskie. That would be fun.

I already have a lot of Muekie baits that my dad left me when he died. They are 6" to 9" long and he used 7 ft long rods with heavy duty reels to use these huge baits.

[panfish]

Mike,

I heard (3rd hand through Bob's bait and tackle) that the DNR has decided to stock wipers in Boggs. I think that is great news although I am a little suspect. I'm sure that no one would ever give me info that is not 100% true but I just wanted a little confirmation.


Are these locals nuts, or did they get some insider info?

Please let us know if you have any new info on this????

Thanks for your time..

Panfish

[MikeAxsom]

Panfish,

Bait shops are notoriously poor places to collect scientific information; this particular one maybe more so than most. It is surprising how often certain names come up in association with stories about future management plans for the West Boggs fishery, with absolutely no reason to think the people involved have any information, let alone good information. It is more surprising how many people want to believe those stories, instead of checking them out like you just did.

There is no current “plan” to stock wipers at West Boggs. That idea has been discussed among anglers for a few years now, and is something that might eventually be done as we move toward a fisheries renovation sometime in the future. But you can rest assumed that if that decision is ever made, it will not be some top secret, covert thing that we won’t let anyone know about. Rather it would be done to provide some additional angling opportunities once the Gizzard Shad problem causes the eventual decline in the Largemouth fishery. That has not happened yet, as the adult Largemouth are growing rapidly with shad forage. But there is an ongoing decline in the numbers of small bass; which means someday there will be fewer bass overall. Then it is possible that Wipers or some other predator could be introduced to allow the public some angling opportunity. There is no plausible reason that such an event would not be highly publicized. We always want anglers to get involved, as their money helps make it all work.

Thanks for asking and giving me an opportunity to once again set the record straight. The West Boggs fishery is managed by the Avoca office of the Division of Fish and Wildlife; which is a team of very knowledgeable and dedicated biologists. They are always considering every factor, and always come down on the side of creating the most opportunity for the most anglers.

[DSPCHAMY]

Moose, IDNR have stocked musky in a stripper pit north of Vincennes for several years. The lake is not nearly as big as the two in Bluegrass and not nearly as deep, but the musky have done pretty well. I think the biologist said the biggest he has seen in there is 42".

I talked with my friend last summer, who owns the lodge we visit in Ontario, and he told me that they will grow to their surroundings. Although for southern Indiana standards, the musky will be nice, he said you will probably never pull out a fat 50"er.

I don't understand why Southern Indiana would be any less productive for Musky growth than central Kentucky. Cave run has Musky with many caught each year over 50 inches.

I think the true fact is that you have to pick your poison. If you want to be a musky lake you have to put the resources behind it with stocking programs that insure there are enough fish to make it. Cave Run is still stocked every year.

I am not a biologist or a hatchieries expert, but I thought that Musky need deep moving water to be able to spawn, while northern could spawn in a non river based lake. I thought Tiger Musky were the answer for non river based systems.

[fishNnut]

I don't understand why Southern Indiana would be any less productive for Musky growth than central Kentucky. Cave run has Musky with many caught each year over 50 inches.

Cave Run is also a lot larger lake than any of the lakes in Bluegrass.