Brookville Lake Help Needed

Good afternoon guys, let me start by saying this site has been invaluable as I try to learn all that goes into being a better fisherman. I am hoping to gain some information on Brookville Lake. My fishing partner and I live about 45 mins from Brookville and have spent some time on the lake with little to no success. We have tried to launch from Fairfield and work the upper half of the lake. We have launched from Garr Hill and Templeton to work that area. We have tried to run the Wolf Creek area and not been able to establish much of a pattern. We really enjoy the lake but are starting to become somewhat frustrated with a lack of success.

What kind of patterns do you see at brookville?

Are there better spots for different times of the year? I would imagine the stumps and downed trees around Templeton and Wolf Creek would be good during the spawning period. What about during the pre-spawn/warm up period?

What kind of techniques do you all find the most effective around there? We have predominately tried long lining or throwing jigs/minnows.

One thing that will help us greatly is we have upgraded our electronics to an hds-8 and finally have a working water temperature. We also have solid boat set-up so we can move spots very easily and quickly. I am not looking to steal any spots but would love to get pointed in the right direction. Any type of help or insight would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance

I'm no expert by any means but look for spots where the old river channels run close to the banks and work those areas. I'm not familiar with that lake I mainly fish eagle creek reservoir but I have always had good luck fishing those areas or areas where there is a big drop in depth and yes spring spawn fish around almost any structure and your bound to find them.

Look for coves right off main creek channels for spawn

Dave all the spots you list are good... try 9 to 12 foot...

I live in brookville and have been punching a lot of holes this year. The shallower early ice bite has died for me. It seems recently I have to be deeper than 40 ft to start marking and catching fish. Sometimes it has been 40 ft in 60-80 ft of water. We have even got them on the bottom in 40-60 ft. It seems to me that early spring and late fall you have to be prepared to fish shallow one day and deep the next, which to me is dictated by weather and bait fish movements. In the summer time weather and water is stable and most fish in the lake are found at mostly the same depth. I will troll cranks in the summer down to 15 or 20 ft but I normally like to vertical jig deep brush. I dont use minnows so I dont know what to tell you there. I have been really getting into using spoons for crappie the past couple years with good success. They work great for fishing really deep or on days when the wind is howling and you want to keep your bait vertical. Hope this helps alittle and good luck!

Thanks alot guys for the help, we will keep working those spots and at those depths. We are still learning the electronics and how to take full advantage of it, so hopefully we can get a few in the boat.

For those of you who fish templeton, do you right up in the stumps and trees or do you troll on the outside of them?

For those of you who fish templeton, do you right up in the stumps and trees



YES

Kents Harbor is good up thru the spawn as are Egypt hollow, Wolf Creek and Salt Well Creek

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Originally Posted by DaveBuckeye01

Thanks alot guys for the help, we will keep working those spots and at those depths. We are still learning the electronics and how to take full advantage of it, so hopefully we can get a few in the boat.

For those of you who fish templeton, do you right up in the stumps and trees or do you troll on the outside of them?

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I would say do what ever is working for that day. Normally I will troll the outside edge of the trees and inside of the trees. I will scout the timber with my SI and find tree tops that top out at the depth the fish are holding, say 10-15 ft below the surface, and troll cranks to where they tick those top branches. You cant forget that crappies are not all related to timber. Sunny wind blown rocky banks and points that drop off steep on one side can be really good also. I normally never fish crappies on visible structure simply because those are the spots that most fisherman will fish to death. The face of the dam is good in the summer time for black crappies.

We ice fished Brookville yesterday. The water was muddy do to all the runoff. The ice is still 4 to even 10 inches in spots but it has turned rotten. We managed some cats and crappies. Water temps were 36.5 in the deeper water to 40 in the backs of the coves. The lake is a foot or two above winter pool right now.

Bluedrifter,

Thank you for the updates. How long before you think it will be clear of the ice? We still looking at a month or so before any type of good crappie bite?

I think the ice should be off the lake by next week. Somebody drove there car out to the middle of the lake when it was real foggy Mon. morning. They hit the edge of the ice at the boat ramp at full speed. The car flipped end over end and slid on its top way out on the ice. Good thing it was a small car. It never fell thru until they got it pulled back to the ramp. Any crappie bite is a good bite to me so I would be out there now.

Hope to get out in the next couple weeks. These 60/70 degree days are really nice and will hopefully draw them in to some shallow areas.

Anyone get out this week?

I went out Friday afternoon for about a half hour just to run the bugs out of the boat. There was a few boats and a few people on the dam, I would say fishing for walleye. Water temp at bonwell ramp was 39 and semi clear. Water temp at mounds area main lake was 41 and stained. I talked to a guy at the ramp and he said the north end around hanna creek was 45 and stained. Water has cleared up in the backs of the coves and up around quaker town. I had a catfish tour at craigs creek on the ohio on Saturday and didn't fish at Brookville any.

We was out Saturday mostly to run the boat but did catch a couple and watched a couple guys catch a few at the north end of the lake.bluedrifter is right with the water temps

So it looks like if we could get some sunny days they might start moving in the creek mouths. Looking at the 10 day it looks like rain and below seasonal temperatures for the next week or so.

What water temps have you noticed they start to get a bit more active? Does it need to hit 50?

The problem with the shallow bite has been stable weather patterns. We get one or two 60 degree days to 4or 5 days of below average temps. That first batch of warm weather and rain after ice out I caught a lot of fish but it only lasted for a short time. I have heard they have been catching fish at the north end of the lake at Quaker town. I even heard of a 12 lb walleye caught last weekend. I would say the best bite for crappie right now will be around deeper water. The weather man is calling for warm temps most of next week so the shallow bite may turn on in a hurry.

I braved the cold and fished Brookville yesterday. I did a lot of motoring around trying to get an idea of what the crappies and bait fish are doing. I only managed maybe a dozen crappie but they were all good size. I found a few trees that were loaded but most fish seemed to be scattered and roaming still. Most fish were caught 15-20 ft down on pink or chartreuse jigs with white or glow Bobby Garland minnows dead sticking vertical.

any of you guys fishing Indiana Slab Masters Tournament...
it's always a good time, you are welcome hope to see you there...
Brookville Lake saturday April 4th @ fairfiled ramp...
$40 7am-3pm

Yep I'll be there!! Going to warm up some this week with a cold front coming in Friday! See you guys Saturday

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Originally Posted by Yates

any of you guys fishing Indiana Slab Masters Tournament...
it's always a good time, you are welcome hope to see you there...
Brookville Lake saturday April 4th @ fairfiled ramp...
$40 7am-3pm

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Last year I planned on fishing it but over slept. My dad was pissed but decided to give it another try this year. We went out yesterday and caught fish as shallow as 10ft on Jigs and as deep as 40 feet on blades. They are talking rain and thunder Thu and Fri. The water will be muddy but the lake will be on the rise.

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Originally Posted by bluedrifter

I braved the cold and fished Brookville yesterday. I did a lot of motoring around trying to get an idea of what the crappies and bait fish are doing. I only managed maybe a dozen crappie but they were all good size. I found a few trees that were loaded but most fish seemed to be scattered and roaming still. Most fish were caught 15-20 ft down on pink or chartreuse jigs with white or glow Bobby Garland minnows dead sticking vertical.

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Blue, you are a better man than me getting out in that cold.

What kind of water temps did you see?

The water temps are still getting warmer even with the cold weather we just had. I would add a degree or two to the previous posts. Some coves we visited were still 40 while most of the others were low to mid 40's. The north end was 45-47. The lake is about 2-3 ft above winter pool right now.

Thanks Blue, looks like we are going to get out Wednesday. We usually go out around templeton/mounds area. Hope we can provide a good report when we get back

Not able to get out today due to family illness. First nice day of the spring and have to be inside all day.

You probably didnt miss much. I went out Tuesday and caught a few. I am still getting them on blades in 30-40ft of water off of points. There was no visible structure other than the point so I am assuming that is what was holding the fish. I was actually expecting the fish I was marking to be walleye because they were so tight to bottom. Most fish were on the back side of the point from where the wind was blowing. I tried shallower in the same area but wouldnt mark bunches of fish until I was deeper than 30ft. I would say right now you could catch crappie at what ever depth you want. I have just been mainly focusing on deeper water.

I went out today and caught a nice smallmouth that measured 18in. I also got a few white bass and crappie but it was still a tough bite for me. Water temps have warmed quite a bit. The main lake from the dam to around Fairfield causway was around 45 degres. Further up the lake water temps were around 50 degrees. Most of the coves were around the mid to upper 40s until you get back in the shallows and then the temps were low to mid 50s.