Taylorsville Lake 2016 Spawn

So the spawn is winding down for this year (tho not completely over) and I have to say it's been a great one! I've heard of fish being caught up to 15" and seen very good reports from members who fish there regularly. We have only been fishing Tville for 5 years now and I have seen a major improvement in size and numbers in that time. The big floods from last spring really helped the fish that didn't get caught have a chance to grow.

I'm really proud of our little lake and was wondering if everyone else has seen the same growth as I have. Seems like with all the pressure it sees it would get fished out but it keeps producing numbers of healthy fish year after year. I have never heard of so many limits as I have this year. And the size will rival many lakes in the state. What are some of your thoughts as to the size and numbers of fish this year? Have y'all seen the same improvement as I have?

Can't wait to go again!

TODAY was the first time I have ever fished Taylorsville. All of the creeks I fish up here are muddied up pretty good and I have a friend that has always talked great about Tville so my father and I got a wild hair up our butts and went. And boy we were glad we did! We caught crappie in as little as two foot of water and as deep as 30. We caught consistent numbers in the 14-16 ft range. And SEVERAL of our fish were females still loaded with eggs. We caught mostly males shallow and they were in the dark tuxedos. So from my personal experience in other bodies of water, I'd say you still have a little bit to go with the spawn. Females appear to be split between spawning and stageing.... Regardless, the fishing was amazing. We caught probably 70 crappie today. We culled all day and finally gave up and called it a day around 2. We had several fish in the 11-12 range. And two right around 15 inches. And man I can say one thing is for sure, give that lake a few more years with the strict 15 fish limit 9 inch minimum, that lake will be full of monster crappie. Especially blacks! I can't wait to go back later this week

Agree,agree,agree.I think lake being up last year and year before has really helped.I have caught better quality fish this year than I have ever caught in t-ville.as I posted the other day this past October I caught my biggest taylorsville crappie being a 2.27 pound white.been a banner year for t-ville

I believe it may be the 15 fish limit. What was the limit before they lowered it?

I have fished TVille since we moved from Arkansas to KY (12 years). This is by far the best year of crappie fishing we have ever had. I am worried though as it seems A LOT of fish were taken out this year. For about a week straight the weather and water temp was perfect, there wasn't many boats I spoke with that didn't catch a limit. Do you think all this catching will negatively affect the crappie>?

I have been fishing the lake for 26 years and this is the best spring I have ever had.
Here's a 14" one just yesterday

Attachment 237778

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by BouncingBobber10

Do you think all this catching will negatively affect the crappie>?

---

I highly doubt it. The lake is big enough to substation a very very large number of fish. And even tho I have only fished it the once, it was very apparent from the different sizes that the crappie have had very very good spawns the last several years. The lake has a great balance in sizes right now. Not to mention, the lake doesn't have near the pressure of other lakes in the region. As long as the state keeps a 15 fish limit and 9 inch minimum, you will notice the quality of fish getting bigger and better each year. I definitely see it being a better crappie lake than all the others on the upcoming years.

And as long as the state keeps that 15 fish limit, it will keep a big majority of crappie anglers away from the lake. Not many want to drive all day just for 15 fish. I live an hour and a half away and it was almost like pulling teeth at first for me to go. I'm glad I did for sure. But people any further away will mainly stay away

I am of the opinion that the spawn doesn't happen in a two week period or even longer. I think there will be great opportunities through May.
I am also of the opinion that there will always be a large population of crappie there for years to come. Yet I am a guy who could fish all day long and not
catch a thing and enjoy it. I even enjoy cleaning my boat and getting it ready for the next trip. I am not a pro but have been fishing since I was a kid and I
am retired now. We usually only go Monday thru Friday once or twice a week. I was happy when we got 30 fish on the 18th of April but it wasnt something we
expect each and every time.

Beautiful black JC!!!

I think this year has been kind of the perfect scenario for the spawn. The last two years have been messed up and flooded during the peak and this year the weather was close to ideal. Most importantly, no flooding occurred letting us fisherman put on some real clinics. I believe there are so many females trying to spawn that it has prolonged the duration. Plus a couple cold fronts halted the pace and stretched it out as well. I wonder if some female's biological clocks have past prime making them move back deep and absorb their eggs?

The lake has almost dropped back to summer pool and once it stabilizes it should make the late spawners remain active. I'm trying to work a trip in Sat. I'm ready!

Having fished the lake since it opened (around 1984), I've seen a great improvement in the size of Crappie, over the recent years. I'm thrilled, but also concerned. I certainly don't want to go back to the days of catching paper thin 7-8" Crappie that are over 3yrs old, like I've experienced in the past.

Chaunc .... the limit was 30/person/day w/9" size limit

BB10 ... it "could" affect it, going forward, but hopefully enough of them spawned out to maintain a viable population. If the Spring floods had anything to do with allowing these fish to grow this big over the last few years ... then expect the same to happen, now & again, over the next several years. The lake WILL flood, again ... count on it.

Flootie ... don't think for a minute that a 1.5hr drive is going to keep that many people from fishing Taylorsville, especially after word gets out about the size of fish being caught. I drive 1.5hrs to get there ... 1.5hrs to Cave Run ... 2hrs to Green River Lake ... 1.5-2hrs to Cumberland (depending on where I launch) ... 1hr to Cedar Creek ... almost 1hr to Herrington --- and haven't caught Crappie that big in any of them, in recent years, except Taylorsville.

BubbaThump ... The only fish I've caught this year, bigger than the Taylorsville fish I caught earlier this year ... I had to drive 4hrs to Watts Bar Lake, Tenn. (and even then, though the fish were bigger, I only caught a few of them each day I was there)
I started noticing the "larger" size of fish I was catching from Taylorsville, back late last Summer, when I was catching 11-12" fish as often as I was used to catching 9-10" fish in prior years. I'm just hoping the bubble doesn't burst anytime soon.

All lakes have their up and down years.
Don't think for a minute that the huge harvest doesn't affect the population.
A lot of people believe that this years good size and population is due
to last years spring and fall flooding which kept many fish from being caught.
If that is true, there's your proof.
A lot of people gave up on Taylorsville years ago for crappie but the word is
out and there have been record numbers of fishermen this spring,
and they're taking out a lot of fish.
I've never seen so many fishermen as this year.
Settlers Trace has been almost full during the regular week days.
More than what used to be on the weekends.

I agree JC, I have never seen Settlers Trace overflow lot being used in the early spring. Even when I snuck out of work on a Tues or Weds the boat ramp would be packed.

Yesterday the ramp was full at Settlers Trace. But I also noticed a lot of them were bass or catfishing. That's another great thing about Taylorsville that I love. It's a trophy bass and catfishery. Those two being as good as they are also help your crappie population. I wouldn't expect to see a diminish in the crappie population. It's a bigger lake and very deep. It'll be very very very hard to overharvest any of those three fish species as long as the current regulations are in effect and the anglers follow them.... I know some break the rules. But most do.

I agree. I do trust the biologists. I have witness them shocking and recording so I know they keep a close eye on things. I also agree with bubba. Starting last summer we had single pole fished several over a pound. Last year we placed second in the kosair tourney with 8.98lbs and this year all three places weighed in over 11 and there were more over 10 as well. The lake does get fished alot but I think that is critical for a healthy population. And the biggest change I've seen this year is the white fish quality. It used to be a bummer for us when we were catchin whites cause the blacks were so much healthier (thicker and longer) but the white fish quality we have seen this year has been much better.
Another difference with tville in my experience is it gets blasted in the spring with fisherman but just a small percentage of boats will fish throughout the year, as opposed to some of the larger lakes in the state where lots of fishing goes on throughout the summer and fall.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G750A using Tapatalk

KyWarEagle, you are right on the money. Starting last fall, CrappieSnob and I started noticing the size of the whites improve. We used to catch 90% black keepers. Now it's about even, if not larger whites now.

I also think it is critical for a lake to get fished hard instead of overpopulating, which causes stunting and puny fish, as long as it has the means to support every year class. I have also noticed the dramatic increase in baitfish. In the fall, whole creek arms can be covered in them. There is definitely plenty of forage. I think the lake has plenty of capacity and forage to support large amounts of quality fish for years to come. All we can do is keep fishing and find out!

There is no doubt that the crappie fishing is better than its ever been,i have fished this lake since it was filled,there were a couple of decent years when it was 5-7 yrs old but never anything close to what it is now. I read an article in a magazine,maybe ky game and fish i cant be sure but it said that tville along with 2 or 3 more,i think paintsville was one also.was a lake that the kdfwr felt needed to stock heavily to boost its crappie population and that was done,and it also said that ky made a trade for some of our elk to maybe missouri,not sure but it said that we received a very large amount of crappie fry in that trade and tville got some of those also. this has been about 3 maybe 4 yrs ago best i remember-tville was on a list of lakes to watch in the future. I was checked in late march by a creel survey officer and spoke to him about continued stocking efforts and he said they were evaluating the lake yearly,he also told me that tville was stocked this past sept with hybrid sauguy-walleye sauger mix. I to fished the Kosair tourney sunday and had a nice limit but not any big fish, think we came in 11th place,i live 10 minutes from the settlers ramp and try to sneak up there after work when i can during the week and i have seen the lot full on weekdays as well-i dont like to go there on weekends for that fact. geuss well have to wait and see-its been a fishermans dream for sure.

T'ville has been stocked in the past with crappie, which shows it's not
always self sustaining.
Every year is different, that's why they regularly check it.
I wish they would impose a 10" size limit.
Maybe even a slot limit.
The big ones are what restocks the lakes the most,
the smaller ones can't defend the nests against the larger fish as well as the larger crappies do.
So maybe all the ones over 12" should be released.
I don't know, but I do believe that last years lesser harvest
made this a banner year, proving fishing pressure does affect it.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by JCCLARK

T'ville has been stocked in the past with crappie, which shows it's not
always self sustaining.
Every year is different, that's why they regularly check it.
I wish they would impose a 10" size limit.
Maybe even a slot limit.
The big ones are what restocks the lakes the most,
the smaller ones can't defend the nests against the larger fish as well as the larger crappies do.
So maybe all the ones over 12" should be released.
I don't know, but I do believe that last years lesser harvest
made this a banner year, proving fishing pressure does affect it.

---

According to what I can find on the web ... 20,900 White Crappie were stocked in 2011 ... and according to a KDFWR article, there was another stocking in the Fall of 2013.
Also in that article, Chris Hickey (Fisheries Research Biologist) said they reach 9" in about two years ... but, I'm not too sure about that. I'm thinking it's closer to three years @ Taylorsville, but I could be wrong. :dono

They put Blacknose in Paintsville Lake ... and I wish they'd consider Taylorsville for a stocking of Blacknose !!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by johnbobby

I was checked in late march by a creel survey officer and spoke to him about continued stocking efforts and he said they were evaluating the lake yearly,he also told me that tville was stocked this past sept with hybrid sauguy-walleye sauger mix.

---

According to this study - http://fw.ky.gov/Fish/Documents/FishBulletin117.pdf - the stocking of Sauger was done in the Salt River, BELOW the dam at Taylorsville (& not in the lake, itself). It was also halted in 2014, as there was no evidence that a sustainable fishery could be maintained.

That may have been what the Creel Survey Officer was talking about ... :dono

The only fish I know of, that have been "added" stock to the original population of the Salt River, when Taylorsville Lake was formed ... is Hybrid Stripers & Blue Cats. There was talk of putting in Spoonbill Catfish, years back, but Blue Cats were stocked, instead.

There was sauger already there, below the dam.
They come up from the Ohio River when releasing a lot of water.
I like them as well as crappie.
I'd be surprised if they could even live in Taylorsville Lake.
They require clean water and Taylorsville has had some real bad
pollution problems ever since it opened.
It's much worse than most people believe.
The Corp has had a lot of study on the subject
and at one time was considering building a aquifer up at Van Buren.
(whatever that is ?)

well pappy he could have been mistaken but i asked him specifically about the new hybrid in guist creek lake which i had heard were being caught this spring and said yes they are, and are right at legal size now-didnt say how long they have been there and he added that they had been stocked here last september,maybe he meant the river i dont know but they should make fine table fare. As far as the stocking goes that article was basically saying that it was double stocked in the same year with the bonus fish from the state trade, Blacknose crappie i dont geuss ive ever seen one-tell us about em. JB

JB ... Blacknose are just Black Crappie with a pigment gene that creates a black stripe from the front of the dorsal fin, down between the eyes to the bottom lip. They're a naturally occurring fish in about 15 states, and were/are used as stock fish by biologists, to tell them the catch rate from a particular body of water they're studying ... because they're so easily identifiable with that stripe (which they're born with). They look like this :

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y42...eaning0003.jpg

I've mostly caught them from Watts Bar Lake, Tenn ... but, also caught some from Cedar Creek Lake (Ky). They're in a few other lakes in the state, also, most notably KY/Barkley lakes.

I started a thread a couple months back about Blacknose Crappie. Others posted a lot of good info on there about them as well. I caught one at Tville last November. Only one I have seen come from there in the 5 years I've been fishing. It's kinda cool catching one. Kinda like a crappie fishing novelty.

I,ve seen a map of all stocking in Ky in 2015. Unfortunately i cannot locate it to provide a link.I saw it on one of the fisheries dept twitter feed.Anyway it stated 6900 sauger or saugeye were stocked in 2015.I believe they were stocked mid-lake. Maybe someone smarter than me can locate the interactive map.

Ok then heres the facts according to Jeff in the fisheries dept per our phone conversation this morning-tville was crappie stocked first couple years and never again till they started a 5 year program by stocking all white crappie in 09-10-11-12-13. All the bonus white crappie from missouri went to blood river 139,000 and barkley 153,000 in 20012. But the fish that were going to ky/barkley from our hatchery instead were added to regular stocking numbers at tville,barren,carr creek,and paintsville-all being whites 2-5 inch fish,he said the whites were difficult to raise in the hatchery compared to the blacks.That being said sounds good for future blacks but maybe not so good for the whites. As far as the hybrid saugeye on may 14th 2015 65,000 were stocked in the lake,2in fish, he said these fish will favor mud flats and should be legal 15inch next year. And as far as asain carp go they have had reports of sightings but have never actually put there hands on one-via shocking i geuss but added that one of those reported sighting was from the director of the department. not good news. I have a long history with this lake, me and another fella spent a couple years up there before it was flooded during construction- in our late teens we would go up there and rabbit hunt-squirrel hunt, cut firewood and just bug around-had some great times- truth be known we could have killed a rabbit in the same brushpile that we later caught fish in-funny way things turn out. By the way that other fella im talking about im PROUD to say is my little brother-AKA SAMJOE.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by johnbobby

Ok then heres the facts according to Jeff in the fisheries dept per our phone conversation this morning-tville was crappie stocked first couple years and never again till they started a 5 year program by stocking all white crappie in 09-10-11-12-13. All the bonus white crappie from missouri went to blood river 139,000 and barkley 153,000 in 20012. But the fish that were going to ky/barkley from our hatchery instead were added to regular stocking numbers at tville,barren,carr creek,and paintsville-all being whites 2-5 inch fish,he said the whites were difficult to raise in the hatchery compared to the blacks.That being said sounds good for future blacks but maybe not so good for the whites. As far as the hybrid saugeye on may 14th 2015 65,000 were stocked in the lake,2in fish, he said these fish will favor mud flats and should be legal 15inch next year. And as far as asain carp go they have had reports of sightings but have never actually put there hands on one-via shocking i geuss but added that one of those reported sighting was from the director of the department. not good news. I have a long history with this lake, me and another fella spent a couple years up there before it was flooded during construction- in our late teens we would go up there and rabbit hunt-squirrel hunt, cut firewood and just bug around-had some great times- truth be known we could have killed a rabbit in the same brushpile that we later caught fish in-funny way things turn out. By the way that other fella im talking about im PROUD to say is my little brother-AKA SAMJOE.

---

I learned how to ride a dirt bike on the graded lake bed!! I have to say im probably enjoying it more now that it's filled with water.It is crowded and from now till oct fishing there will be a lesson in patience.I read somewhere it was originally supposed to be double it's current size but budget cuts ruduced it to the 3000 plus acres it is now.

If there's Asian Carp IN the "lake" ... then someone's put them there. They can get to the spillway all by themselves, but the dam cuts off any access to the Salt River beyond that.

I still don't see any real reason for Saugeye to be stocked in the lake. :scratchhead Especially since there was never any public mention of it, that I know of, anyway. I've seen no mention of it in the Fishing/Boating Regs, so I guess state-wide rules would apply as far as limits.

Wonder if they'll start catching THEM on chicken livers, like they found out they could the Hybrid Stripers :Rofl

I can't stand chicken liver as a bait for anything.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G750A using Tapatalk

Speaking of the saugeye, I caught one today over 16 inches out of Taylorsville

I caught multiple sauger this year on Taylorsville. First time for me. I agree with others and wish we had a 10" limit.