Wonder why you can't catch crappie in lake monticello anymore. This might be why.:mad:
Lake Monticello, Drew County, 62,335 fingerling Florida bass
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Wonder why you can't catch crappie in lake monticello anymore. This might be why.:mad:
Lake Monticello, Drew County, 62,335 fingerling Florida bass
The population of white bass and yellow bass couldn't help either! Neither could the 50-11 wakeboard boats.Quote:
Originally Posted by L.A. stumpjumper
Maybe. Lakes do rise and fall in production over periods of years.
Haven't seen any stocking of crappie in a long time. Those bass were stocked last month
Quote:
Originally Posted by L.A. stumpjumper
Looks like the green carp lobby is stronger with the powers-that-be than the crappie lobby, Jerry!!! :yikes
never fished it but ive always heard what a great Bass lake it is , never have heard allot of good things on the crappie in it, not sure?
Used to have a good crappie population but no effort to keep it up just the bass.
That is actually a light stocking for Lake Monticello. It normally is stocked with 100,000 Florida largemouth bass. The purpose of stocking it every year is to keep the Florida genetics in the lake. It also is stocked with threadfin shad, most years, which there are very few lakes that receive shad stockings. The lake was stocked with 50,300 yearling Black Crappie on 10/24/13.
Up until about 3 years ago it was a great crappie lake.
It also was a phenomenal bream lake at one time.
What happened to the grass in the bottom of the lake? We always thought it was very good cover and one of the reasons for the great crappie population. Last time we had a camera out there we didn't see any.
Yeah used to catch 2 lb red ear too.
It would be nice to catch a mess of crappie without driving 45- 50 miles
Thanks mojorig for pointing out the crappie stocking I guess I missed that one. But do think it should have more emphasis on crappie than it gets. I drove out there one morning last week and there was only one boat trailer in the parking lots and it was a party barge with swimmers no fishing boats. Seems like a big waste of such a nice lake.
Only five minutes from my house and I feel like I'm wasting my time every time I go out there. I truly believe two things have ruined that lake (grass carp and white bass).
Your probably right those green carp are eating machinesQuote:
Originally Posted by Speed trout
Guys sometimes big slabs can fly from lake to lake if you know what I mean. If they won't do it then sometimes fish just migrate on there own from other lakes. Best done in the colder months so survival is better.
Sometimes it is better to put than take
We used to love fishing down in that Hydrilla. I caught my biggest black crappie ever in that lake (19.25 inches).....was about 8 years ago and I didn't even have a scale but it was very thick and healthy. David begged me to have it mounted but I cleaned it with the rest of em and it was good! Have hated that ever since! We have many many fond memories of Crappie fishing on LM but looks like now it is just a thing of the past. Right now as a Crappie lake it ain't worth the salt it takes to eat a meal, LOL.
Stocking that many Bass and lots fewer Crappie it probably won't help much!:twocentsQuote:
Originally Posted by Mojorig
With no more thick cover for the yearling Crappie it will probably just make for some fat Florida Largemouths! Last summer we took an underwater camera to about 10 of our old honeyholes where there was always at least a 60-80% chance of being loaded with Crappie.....and one honeyhole that ALWAYS produced (we wouldn't even fish it after daylight) and didn't see a single Crappie all morning! We did see lots and lots of green carp......Quote:
Originally Posted by NIMROD
we went out there yesterday and pulled cranks for a few hours until the wake board boats ran us off....not a single crappie...I would have never in my wildest dreams guessed that lake would turn out to be nothing but a recreational body of water when it first opened but that's about all its good for unless you like catching white bass
Three summers ago I was fishing around the spillway pipe when a wakeboard boat kept passing very close to me multiple time all the while knowing they were throwing my boat into the concrete....there were 5-6 people on the boat and they were watching me on every pass but they obviously didn't care. They could have gone to the other side of the open water but didn't. When I hit the concrete one time hard enough to crack the housing on my Terrova I wrote down their registration numbers (yea, they were that close) and went to the local AGFC office a few days later to complain. They said I would have to prove that the boat came within a hundred feet of my boat before they could do anything and basically made me feel like a fool for even bothering them with such nonsense. Like I carry a tape measure on my boat???? Even though there were fishermen in 7-8 boats on the lake at the time it turned out that the rights of the one wakeboard boat came before the rights of all the other boats who were out there first and trying to spend a peaceful morning fishing. All the other boats wound up having to go home because it was impossible to fish under those conditions. It's mostly politics and who knows who in this area in order to get anything done. I fish now mostly in MS and LA. BTW, for what it's worth, the truck pulling the wakeboard boat had a sticker on it that said "Wakeboard for Christ". Yea right, I thought that was a hoot. At this point I am pretty much done with that lake for anything except pulling the grandkids on a tube during summer holidays.
Quote:
Originally Posted by gasper_goul
I heard a lot of great stories about it some years ago. I was told it had huge crappie in there.
Yeah I have drive a long way to fish anymore and as high as gas has gotten I can't justify going as much. Just wishing we had something closer to go for a few hours and fish before it gets so hot. Steve I want to get a under water camera what would you recommend. I think you told me once but I can't remember:rolleyes:
Aqua-Vu makes a good one. I would look on ebay for a good used B&W unit because they have IR capability and can see clearly in the dark. I sold my B&W unit a few years ago and bought an expensive color unit and have regretted it ever since. The color one is useless below about 20-25 feet in LM because it gets dark at that depth and the LED lights just can't cut it past a few inches. With my B&W unit I could put it on the bottom and see 5-6 feet with no problem.
Steve...I'm thinking that might have been the very boat that did us in...he was running right on the levy and the guy on the wakeboard even touched the drain one time as he passed by it...just crazy...I will say they did have some good tunes playing lol...I went to Miss yesterday and had a good day but like Jerry said it would be nice to stay at home every now and then too...good post Jerry...that's been on my mind for a while also
I appreciate you guys commenting on this subject of Lake Monticello. I'm frustrated as well. I remember the glory days it was awesome for a time. However for the past several winters I have been able to catch some nice limits out there. The fish are 50-55 ft but there a few left out there. No wake boarders in Jan and feb. Would love some company this winter.
I went one time last winter and caught a few in the trenches.....pretty easy to find them with decent electronics that time of year as they cluster up on the bottom and there is nowhere to hide. However, the size has gone down drastically and I hate having to keep 6-8 inch fish to go onto a 20 fish limit. (Have to keep everything you catch after Dec.1 because of the depth.) We really liked fishing it during the hottest part of the summer hanging minnow rigs just over the 14 ft thermocline with a slipcork. We had 10 or so hotspots and there was always at least one of them loaded with Crappie. Those were the really good ole days that I would love to see return!
Would you happen to know anything about the Cain Creek lake drawdown? Same story with that lake. Use to catch some monsters before the grass left.
Jerry (L.A. stumpjumper) is the one to talk to about CC. I just heard about the drawdown from some Lincoln County friends but nothing specific. Folks from all over the country would come and camp at Cane Creek in the dead of winter to catch a 3+ lb black crappie in the beaver pond......but I don't think that is the case now. That hydrilla kept the Crappie fingerlings hid and alive until they were big enough to make it on their own. Otherwise, they would have been an easy pick for predator fish in that crystal clear water. Was a pain to fish in that grass sometimes but the rewards were well worth it. You would think they would learn, LOL! It is almost always better to NOT fix what ain't broke.....but some new biology grads wet behind the ears just don't think they are doing anything if they ain't changing things around and experimentin.....
Yeah putting those grass carp in Cane Creek messed up the big crappie fishing. Still some left but in the future they won't make it long enough to get that big. It was fun for several years but won't be like that without the hydrilla to hide in. MHO
The drawdown starts July 7 they are going to clear the boat lanes. I stopped by the office and asked how much they were going to draw down and they said you wouldn't be able to launch a boat.Quote:
Originally Posted by lacey crappieman
The limit will be 7 for those able to fish it.
I am not sure there is 7 in there! !!! Lol
Luvpt,
Diana Andrews has been the district biologist or assistant biologist down there for close to 20 years. I was her assistant for four year from 2005-2008, which I guess was part of the glory years.
For Monticello, it definitely needs submerged vegetation back in it. It has been gone since the early 2000's. We had start trying to re-establish vegetation in the lake before I left but I'm not sure of status of the project.
I hate to hear that the grass is gone in CC. That was a tough place to get around.
No one has said yet what happened to the vegetation. Did they actually put grass carp in that lake or did it just spontaneously disappear? I know that several times the lake was closed for fertilization. Are there any plans being made to revegetate the lake?
I know they were released. That came straight from the horses mouth. And it wasn't a couple either. It was close to the maximum amount recommended for lakes of the size.
So wonder what the logic was for putting them in there in the first place? So far as I know all species of fish were thriving and doing wonderful at the time.
Yes, Grass Carp were stocked in Lake Monticello in 1998 (3076 yearlings) and 2001 (380 yearlings) to control the coontail (at least that was what I was told). In 2008, Diana and I rode with some bow fisherman (one was a good friend of mine) to try to remove some of the grass carp from the lake. We rode along to ensure no game fish were shot. We started working on having a large group of organized bow fishers to bow fish the lake but not sure what happen with that after I left.
They are continuing to fertilize the lake. I was told it wasn't done this year but I believe there are plan to do it next year.
Feel free to contact Diana at [email protected] about future plan for Monticello and Cane Creek.
Please voice your concerns, we need to hear from more anglers.
I wish they would have put much more thought and research into that before the introduction of grass carp into LM. It appeared to be a very well balanced lake in a good state of equilibrium...the fish were happy and so were the fishermen. The coontail would sometimes get on lines but it was not a problem....same with the hydrilla....that's where the fish were, LOL! ! ! "Studies have shown grass carp will eat coontail, but only after eating other more preferred aquatic plants." Well, that took care of the coontail, but also the hydrilla (and all the other aquatic vegetation) and more important, also the Crappie. We could live with the vegetation for the sake of having an abundant fishery....now we have neither......I wish the biologists would think long and hard before pulling the trigger on something that has the potential for such a drastic impact on the fish population and ability to survive. And now we find out that Cane Creek has met the same fate.....! So how do we get rid of the grass carp now? Poison the whole lake? Don't worry about the Crappie cause there ain't any in there anyway.....and very very few people go out there to bass fish anymore either....same with the bream. Just kill everything and start over???