Taylorsville - July 24

[CrappiePappy]

Partner Paul and I went to T-ville in search of some "action" ....

Lake was about 4ft above pool ...
Water clarity was normal - water temps in low 80's ...
Post Cold Front - NE winds - Bluebird Skies - Cool air temps/Low Humidity ...
Partner Paul caught one nice Hybrid Striper around 2lbs - trolling small Hot-n-Tot with Pearl curly tail jig trailer - fish came on Hot-n-Tot crankbait ...
I caught several Bass on a Baby Bass Wiggle Wart ... and a couple of hand sized Green Sunfish (on same bait) ...
No Crappie were caught - we didn't fish for them for very long, since conditions did not favor them being in a biting mood.
Contrary to two weeks ago, the Shad schools we saw were of the larger sized baitfish (3-4 inch size) - we saw none of the schools of 2 inch-2.5 inch Shad that I'd seen two weeks ago. But, the constant 10-15mph winds that kept the water pretty choppy, may have kept them deeper. It also kept the White Bass & Hybrids from doing much in the way of "Jumps" - the jumps we saw were single Hybrids or Largemouth Bass.

Due to a "critical oversite", we ran out of gas :rolleyes: and had to be towed back to the ramp. Many thanks to the gentleman in the Sylvan Pontoon boat, for the tow. This unfortunate circumstance cut our fishing time down considerably ... but we were able to get in about 4hrs of actual fishing time (730AM-1130AM) before the discovery. ...............cp

[Moose1am]

Hey CP better get that fuel tank gauge fixed. That reminds me my fuel gauge cork float is bad also. LOL I better get my own fuel gauge fixed.

Lucky for me that I only use an electric trolling motor these days in the local pits. That is electric TM only lake. But I have a 6 gallon tank of gasoline in the boat and another 6 gallons of gas in the boat also. Then I carry a 2 gallon can as backup. So I hope that I never run out of gas again. Been there and done that in the past. Once the motor got stuck in reverse and we had to go backward on the Ohio River for two miles to reach the launch ramp. And it was going UPSTREAM to boot. LOL That was a long horrible night out on the river. Now we always take two boats just in case one breaks down.

Good to see that you and Paul are getting some fishing done and posting some reports.

I myself may have to get the boat fired up and head up to Patoka Lake.

I had to reformate my computer so now I should be able to get the scannner going better so that I can finish making my digital maps of the paper maps that Larry let me borrow. That project got bogged down when my computer kept dying everytime I tried to scan one of the maps. I am using Paint Shop Pro ver 8.01 now and hopefully after reinstalling it onto my freshly reformated hard drive it will work with the borrowed scanner better and I can finish this project and finally got fishing at Patoka lake with better knowledge of where stuff it located under the water.

Partner Paul and I went to T-ville in search of some "action" ....

Lake was about 4ft above pool ...
Water clarity was normal - water temps in low 80's ...
Post Cold Front - NE winds - Bluebird Skies - Cool air temps/Low Humidity ...
Partner Paul caught one nice Hybrid Striper around 2lbs - trolling small Hot-n-Tot with Pearl curly tail jig trailer - fish came on Hot-n-Tot crankbait ...
I caught several Bass on a Baby Bass Wiggle Wart ... and a couple of hand sized Green Sunfish (on same bait) ...
No Crappie were caught - we didn't fish for them for very long, since conditions did not favor them being in a biting mood.
Contrary to two weeks ago, the Shad schools we saw were of the larger sized baitfish (3-4 inch size) - we saw none of the schools of 2 inch-2.5 inch Shad that I'd seen two weeks ago. But, the constant 10-15mph winds that kept the water pretty choppy, may have kept them deeper. It also kept the White Bass & Hybrids from doing much in the way of "Jumps" - the jumps we saw were single Hybrids or Largemouth Bass.

Due to a "critical oversite", we ran out of gas :rolleyes: and had to be towed back to the ramp. Many thanks to the gentleman in the Sylvan Pontoon boat, for the tow. This unfortunate circumstance cut our fishing time down considerably ... but we were able to get in about 4hrs of actual fishing time (730AM-1130AM) before the discovery. ...............cp

[CrappiePappy]

Hey Moose - I don't think I ever got a reply from you about Cedar Creek Lake ... on the Fishin.com forum -- if you still have questions or just want more detailed info ... I'm here for you. You can post on this KY link - or on the main forum.
Supposedly they only put Black Crappie in this 784 acre lake ... 3" fingerling stock fish - and they are already in the 8+ inch range (after less than 2 yrs of being established there). Next year should see decent numbers of "keeper" sized Crappie - 9in size limit minimum. Plus - a good number of those fish that are already 3yrs old, and mature enough to spawn, should start replenishing the numbers ... and stock fish won't be necessary.
The KDFWR's efforts to establish Bluegill/Shellcracker in the lake, to grow to "bull" size, has been dealt a blow. Gizzard Shad are showing up in the lake. The Shad were supposed to have been killed off, along with all the other native fish of the creek, prior to the damming of the creek. They used Rotenone and were supposed to have completely eliminated the Shad and other fishes in the sections of the creek that was to become the lake. Either that did not happen as planned, or someone illegally placed some there (the likelihood of that, though, is slim). This will give the Bass an easier target, taking away their predation on the sunfish. Without that predation, the Bluegill and Shellcracker (redear sunfish) will probably overpopulate and never reach the "magnum" size they would have if kept in check.
Anyway .......... luck2ya at Patoka and the other "Strip pits" you fish ....cp

[Moose1am]

I must have missed your reply on fishin.com's web site. Sorry. Thanks for being there for me and everyone else. It's much appreciated. You are one of the best guys on the interenet when it comes to being there for us fishermen. I want you to know that it's appreciated.

That lake sounds good. Wish Indiana has some new lakes like that down here where I live. LOL IN is asking fishermen if they would like to see Muskie stocked in Blue Grass Pit of which I said yes. Not many people down here know what a muskie is though. Some know about them but many don't have a clue as to what a muskie looks like. When I tell them it's big and has teeth they look forward to catching a few in the future. That is if they are stocked and can survice here this far south.

Sounds like the Crappie will be a good species to target at that new Cedar Creek Lake.

As for the bluegill not growing that may be because the gizzard shad compete for the same food source as the bluegill. That stunts the bluegills that are there in the lake because they can't get the same amount of biomass to feed upon. All that biomass that they used to consume is tied up inside the Gizzard shad. And the Gizzard shad grow faster and get so big that even the largemouth bass can't eat the adults unless they are 12lb bass. At Patoka Lake they killed out all the rough fish and Shad before the lake was filled in 1976/77. In 1996 they netted a few gizzard shad for the very first time since the lake was filled. Never before had they captured any gizzard shad in Patoka Lake. Well not sure how they got started but by 1997 the Gizzard Shad Population at Patoka Lake in Southen IN exploded and it's been taking out the bluegills ever since. Indiana stocked hybrid stripers in Patoka to try to control the Large Gizzard shad. Hopefully that may work. There are a few 30lb strippers being caught at Patoka Lake but not many fishermen are aware of the strippers or are targetting that species. That will change in the future if the Strippers make it there. I read the last fishery survey of Patoka Lake and the Bluegills are still not like they once were. Time will tell on Patoka and on the New Lake in KY. Maybe KY DNR will do what IN did and stock some Strippers in Cedar Creek. Does that lake get very deep? Patoka is only 8800 acres and still its having trouble keeping the stripers in that lake. It's only about 50ft deep at the deepest section and the thermocline limits how deep a striper can go and survive in Patoka. I would imagine that Cedar Creek may not be so deep and that it may not support strippers. Not sure what else they can do to limit the gizzard shad population if the stocking strippers does not work.

Hey Moose - I don't think I ever got a reply from you about Cedar Creek Lake ... on the Fishin.com forum -- if you still have questions or just want more detailed info ... I'm here for you. You can post on this KY link - or on the main forum.
Supposedly they only put Black Crappie in this 784 acre lake ... 3" fingerling stock fish - and they are already in the 8+ inch range (after less than 2 yrs of being established there). Next year should see decent numbers of "keeper" sized Crappie - 9in size limit minimum. Plus - a good number of those fish that are already 3yrs old, and mature enough to spawn, should start replenishing the numbers ... and stock fish won't be necessary.
The KDFWR's efforts to establish Bluegill/Shellcracker in the lake, to grow to "bull" size, has been dealt a blow. Gizzard Shad are showing up in the lake. The Shad were supposed to have been killed off, along with all the other native fish of the creek, prior to the damming of the creek. They used Rotenone and were supposed to have completely eliminated the Shad and other fishes in the sections of the creek that was to become the lake. Either that did not happen as planned, or someone illegally placed some there (the likelihood of that, though, is slim). This will give the Bass an easier target, taking away their predation on the sunfish. Without that predation, the Bluegill and Shellcracker (redear sunfish) will probably overpopulate and never reach the "magnum" size they would have if kept in check.
Anyway .......... luck2ya at Patoka and the other "Strip pits" you fish ....cp