Moose...Have you seen a map

[Larry-Southern Indiana]

of the area around Hovey Lake? I was looking at one this morning and there's more water to fish than Hovey. I pulled up a map of that whole area and in the top left corner is another decent size oxbow lake with a road running right next to it. Lots of creeks down that way that run into the Ohio or Wabash rivers. I'd like to bring my boat down that way this summer and check all of them out. I like fishing creeks with a little current than have an endless supply of food for the fish. I'll bet they're full of stumps and laydowns. Have you ever checked any of this out?

Went back to the boat show yesterday and bought one of those 10' Outlaw rods. Damn that rod is light. It feels lighter than the BnM rods. That guy held the tip and told me to pull up real hard to see the backbone the rod has. I had it bent so far I thought I was going to lift the old man off of the floor before the rod broke of which neither happened. I also got a 6bb shakespear reel for it. That's just what I needed when my wife seen my new toy. I told here it came out of her Florida vacation money. That look she gave me then was one I'd seen plenty of times before and still don't pay any attention to.

I'm taking her out there today to look at nothing but pontoon boats. Seems like she'd like to have another one :D :D I'm tagging along to make sure she doesn't spend to much of MY money. Lots of nice boats and since it's the last day of the show we'll see who's the hungryest.

Did I spell that last word wrong? If I did you'll know what it means anyway.


Larry

[Moose1am]

Funny you mentioned Hovey's as I was just reading Phill Potters Article on Duck hunting being bad this year for many reasons and was thinking about when Hovey's could be ready to fish. Last year I drove down there on the last day of Duck hunting season and ran into my old neighborhood next door neighbors who were just coming off the lake. I use to duck hunt with these guys every winter and they still are killing ducks like we use to. They had several ducks that they had bagged on the last day of hunting season. It was good to talk to them. I was down there checking on when I could crappie fish and was talking to them about the motor restrictions. Seems that they are concerned about the boat ramp being destroyed (their words) by guys lunching with big motors) They think that the big motor wash is washing the dirt away at the base of the concrete and they don't want that. Seems to me they could put some rip rap down at the base or drop more concrete down there and fix that problem. I still say that a speed limit and not a motor restriction is needed so that more people can utilize the lake. It's too darn big to motor around with only a trolling motor. That is why I have not fished it and I would assume that's why many others don't fish it too.

The lake is pretty big. It's hard to tell by the map the have as it's not a very good map. I cant' tell what water on the map and what's land. I guess it's because of the changing water levels as the Ohio River rises and falls. Not really sure. Hoveys' has some nice crappie in it according to Dan Carnahan of IN DNR. A four year old crappie at Patoka is only 8" long while at Hovey's is much bigger at 4 yoa.

Send me an email when you get ready to come down and I'll help you out.

Only Creek that I can see is the old Bayou Creek and Pigeon Creek.

There is a damn below Hovey's on the Ohio River and I think that there are some nice creeks in that area that are not polluted. Bring the boat down and I will show you were we can catch some crappie. I know three pits that have nice numbers of crappie. They range from 8" to 10" in length with a occasional 14" fish being caught on rare occassions. Make sure that you charge up the two batteries before you come down and after that you can charge them up at my house. I live as close to these pits as your camp is to Patoka Lake.