Tell me what you think of this lake

[bennylt]

I'm a newbe here. Thanks so much to all the people responding to my first questions. the is really a great forum!

I wanted to give a description of my lake. I have bass fished there and caught the occasional crappie. but there are a LOT of crappie and walleye in there. and i want to catch them. I know the lake well from kayaking around and bass fishing. So here is my description. tell me where you would start if targeting crappie.

Canoe Creek Lake - PA*DCNR*-*Canoe Creek State Park

It is a 44 acre man made lake. no gas motors allowed so it is ideal to paddle everywhere in a kayak, with no worries about being in a traffic lane.

the lake is a steady drop from 2' down to 20' so it is easy to estimate the depth anywhere on the lake without electronics. I know depths pretty well from jig fishing.

The shallow end has a flooded stump field with lots of lily pads. i would say this ranges from about 2' deep fully covered with pads (starting to die off now) down to about 5' deep with stumps. then the lake opens up to a big flat. on one side there is a boat docking area (for kayak rental, where they have built a cement dock, so that is a straight wall down into the water in about 4'. there is a shallow cove with lots of weeds and a few logs. probably averages about 4' deep across the cove. LOTS of bluegill in there.

There is also a fishing pier. I think the DCNR built some structure off the fishing pier to help with that. I always seem to come up with something when I fish out from the pier.

down at the dam it is 20' deep. it is a big wide flat there. the dam is an earthen mound type, so against the dam is a steep wall, but not vertical.

there is a lot of shoreline structure with cat tails, and overhanging trees. I have caught tons of small 14" bass right up against the shore. there are random isolated lilly pads in the shallower half of the lake. pretty solid weed cover down until it hits about 8 feet deep.

The water is stained greenish, but not muddy at all.

the main food source is minnows, and i would assume crayfish.

The population of bluegill is off the charts.

it is a big bass protection lake so you can't keep anything under 15". So there are a good amount of juvenile bass.

They stock walleye in fingerling stage annually to help keep a balance of the breeding panfish population, and they stock mature trout twice a year. one in the spring and once in later winter (through the ice)

Okay so i tried to paint a picture. I fish for bass casting sluggo's and minnow crank baits against shore, and I rig weedless worms or jigs in the weeds and stumps.

I have caught a few very small crappie on tiny minnow cranks, and tiny jigs out in front of the fishing pier. Never caught a walleye but i have seen some VERY nice ones taken from this lake. in the mid 20" range (that is good for PA).


So anyway, if you were going for Crappie where would you go first. (I have no electronics on my kayak) - ah and for you non-northerners the weather is only just starting to turn cold here, so water temps are very slowly cooling down. But the days are getting shorter and nights are chilly, so surface temps are pretty low in the morning.

[Dave and Lynn]

Looks like there are two dams there and two creeks running in. I would fish the deeper area near the dams as it looks on the map as it is hilly around there and you say the water is deeper there. Should be able to find fish in the laydown trees in that area this time of year. I would be thinking ice fishing this lake. You can get some nice fish through the ice. Thats a whole different ball game but if you have big bluegills and walleye you can get some of the best action of the year through the ice. Good luck and good fishing.

[Dave and Lynn]

Ice Fishing Slab Crappies-Fishing and Fun with Jonny Fickert-Ohio Outdoors - YouTube

[bennylt]

Looks like there are two dams there and two creeks running in. I would fish the deeper area near the dams as it looks on the map as it is hilly around there and you say the water is deeper there. Should be able to find fish in the laydown trees in that area this time of year. I would be thinking ice fishing this lake. You can get some nice fish through the ice. Thats a whole different ball game but if you have big bluegills and walleye you can get some of the best action of the year through the ice. Good luck and good fishing.

Yah it is really 2 dams, but the northern one is the spillover, so you can't really get very close to that safely. You have to watch the current and being sucked over the 20 foot fall. I'm a strong paddler, but thats not something i want to wory about. It is also more shallow there, it's really just a man made chanel cut for the spillover, the southern dam is the real deal.

i'll try there, I almost exclusively fish the stumps and shorelines for bass. I have not spent much time on the deeper areas. I will tomorrow though! thanks for the tip