Jefferson County Sportsmen's Club

[danrclem]

My son bought me a membership there for Father's Day. Has anybody ever fished there? If you have, how is the fishing? Any tips? I don't fish for catfish even though it would be fun. Crappie and bluegill are my kind of fishing.

I don't have a suitable boat to put in the water since it's doesn't allow gasoline engines, so I'll be fishing from the bank. If it's a decent place to fish, I might buy a jon boat and trolling motor.

[danrclem]

Nobody fish there? I figured at least a couple people here would have been there but I guess not. I guess I'll have to try and figure it out myself. It's been so dang hot that it might be awhile before I ever wet a line there.

[CrappiePappy]

I've not fished there, but I did look over the website. Looks like some nice facilities, and a pretty nice looking little 30acre lake. Best I can tell from the Google AI Overview ... there "may" be Crappie in the lake, but they're not listed in the main listing of species present in the lake. You might have to check with the Club Pres. and ask if there are any Crappie being stocked in the lake, or if any have been known to have been caught from there. It's also not listed as a FIN's Lake, but seems to be stocked in a similar manner (annual catfish stockings & the presence of Rainbow Trout). The lake does have Bluegill & Redear listed. From the pictures of the lake & a Google Maps overview, it appears to have shallow water banks with water weeds on the East side ... and maybe deeper water on the West side bank. But since it's so small it doesn't show up on my Navionics website with any contour info to confirm that, or share with you.

Luck2ya, fishing it ... and report back to us what you find out.

[danrclem]

I was there a couple weeks ago and talked to a guy that was fishing and he said there were decent crappie in the lake. He was catching bluegill that looked like they were borderline keepers, but he was throwing them back. Do they list any private lakes on the FIN's? May be the reason it's not listed. Lots of moss right now on the east side. There's a full moon coming up this week so I might try for some bluegill.

It really is a nice place and is kept up nice. There are some nice camping sites there. They don't have water or electricity, but I don't know if I can get my camper around a bend to get back there. I may try that this fall after it cools down.

[CrappiePappy]

I doubt a "private" (or club) lake would be considered for a FIN's lake, due to membership exclusions.

I would have to conclude that at some point there were Crappie stocked or accidently introduced into the lake. Hopefully they're Black Crappie, so as to not have them become stunted or simply serve as "food" for the Bass & Catfish.

If you decide to fish it during the Full Moon spawning period & want to get into the Redear ... the best luck I've had fishing for that species is a 1/16oz black jighead with the dark section of a nightcrawler threaded on it, under a float (with the bait holding no more than 6" above the bottom). I think that kinda resembles a snail (that's my theory, anyway). And with the lake having water weeds & moss, it could also contain snails.