Blue Grass F&W Pits closed to fishing Nov25th to Jan21st

[Moose1am]

There goes my winter fishing spot.
Looks like I am going to have to fish in a new watering hole this winter.

[Damon]

There goes my winter fishing spot.
Looks like I am going to have to fish in a new watering hole this winter.

Why has the DNR closed down Blue Grass? Not a good thing for me either - 5 minutes from my house and easy access. Oh well, I guess that means I'll be driving a lot more to fish this winter.

[Moose1am]

I would recommend that we call INDIANA DNR offices at Sugar Ridge Fish and Wildife Area and ask why? (812) 789-2724 or by writing them a letter at

Sugar Ridge Fish and Wildlife Area
RR#1 Box 314
Winslow, IN 47598

Might want to get an Email Addy for the Property Manager and post in here if you do call them. I lost that email address. I had it once but lost it when I reformatted my computer

Maybe we will run into each other out there next spring. I plan on fishing it a lot more. Wish I had fished it earlier when a friend told me about it in 2002. But that was before they put in the concrete boat ramps and I need those to launch my boat. I found that I could not launch my boat without using the big motor when all they had was gravel launch sites. The launch site was just not deep enough to get my boat to float off the trailer and for me to be able to push it off the front of the trailer and out into the water.



I too would like to be able to fish there this winter. Lynville is the only other stirpper pits that I know of that are close. I won't not consider fishing in the Squaw Creek area after reading all the stories about dumping toxic waste in that area. I drove around in that area a few weeks ago and it didn't look very good anyway. I didn't see many paved roads and not one paved boat ramp. LOL

There were two active mines between Bluegrass F&W are and HwY 61 which runs between Boonville, IN and Lynville, IN. Boonville New Harmony road comes out onto HWY 61 just North of the Boonville Country Club.

Why has the DNR closed down Blue Grass? Not a good thing for me either - 5 minutes from my house and easy access. Oh well, I guess that means I'll be driving a lot more to fish this winter.

[Damon]

Thanks for the info. I will definitely send DNR an email and try to get a straight answer as to what's going on out there. How'd you learn about BG being closed? Are there signs posted?

[Moose1am]

Hey Damon:

The sign that is located by the Parking Lot of Blue Grass Pit has that information. It's on the left side of the big sign and down in the Fishing Section.

I just sent an Email To Phil Potter from the Evansville Courier as he wrote an article this Sunday asking where all the fishermen had gone on BlueGrass F&W area. LOL Even the local sports writer doesn't appear to know what is going on with BG.

I asked him to maybe do another article on this "No Fishing Policy" at Blue Grass F&W area during the Waterfowl hunting season.

Good to see your gong to contact them.

I drove over the the pits Saturday evening and tried to count how many ducks and geese were using the refuges (Loon pit) and Otter Pit. I took my binoculars and only counted Five geese that landed on LOON at about 4:45 pm just after the sun set. Those were the only birds (Waterfowl) that I observed. I have only seen a few duck hunters using the pits. You can see who is there hunting at the parking lot of Blue Grass Pit by looking at the sign in sheets. Anyone hunting has to sign in there and fill out a card and turn in the card at the end of the day. Right now the waterfowl is in season in the Ohio River Zone and deer are still in season for bowhunters. Also the small game hunters are using the area on Tue, Thursdays and maybe on Sunday.

Waterfowl season ends on Jan 21 in the Ohio River Zone in IN. So we can be back out there fishing on Jan22 if it's not frozen. LOL

I drive out there and look around one or twice a week if the weather is not too bad. Gets me out of the house and gives me something to do. Last year the pits had some ice on them which was not too thick. When the ice melted there were many seagulls out on the lake eating the dead shad. Seems that the shad didn't do well last winter as the water was so cold that it killed a few of them on Otter Pit. The North end of Otter Pit still had some ice left in the Protected part. The windblown areas had melted and the bird were standing along the very edge of the ice eating the shad as the water melted and the shad came out of the ice. Yes the shad had been frozen into the ice and were being eaten by the birds as the ice receeded. It took me a while to figure out what was going on that day.

I am not sure if we can get the policy changed but it won't hurt to ask. At least we may know their reasoning for closing the lakes to fisherman from 12 noon to the next day. Those duck hunters can only hunt until noon and then they are not allowed to hunt until the next hunting day. And no duck hunting is allowed on Tue and Thursdays that I know of.

The message on the sign said to call the Sugar Ridge to find out about the no fishing dates. As far as I can tell there is only one sign that says that we can't fish during waterfowl season. The sign on St John's Road didn't have that message that I can remember. Maybe I just didn't see it though. It may have a sign there also. They changed that sign sometime in the past as it use to have some aerial photographs of the entire area. That was a nice thing to have posted but it appears to be gone now.

I wish I could remember the property managers name. Alan told me his name but I forgot it. I know that Dan Carnahan is the Fisheries Biologist for District Seven.

I will post a list of the different conservation officers emails in here today.,

Thanks for the info. I will definitely send DNR an email and try to get a straight answer as to what's going on out there. How'd you learn about BG being closed? Are there signs posted?

[Moose1am]

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Update 12/19/04 Special Thanks to Phill Potter from the Evansville Courier. He got my email described below and wrote another article this Sunday to help people become aware of the Blue Grass F&W DNR no fishing Policy this winter. He also asked people to see if the DNR might agree to let us fish on days or hours that would not interfer with the waterfowl hunters. Lets hope that people read this and contact the DNR to see if we can get this policy modified though public comment. I myself hope that DNR would agree to let us fish on days such as Tue, Thurs and Sunday when the Waterfowl guys are not huntings. I would not want to use LOON pit as it's for the waterfowl to rest upon but we could maybe fish on Otter Pit and BlueGrass Pit when they are not being hunted.

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