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Went today on the water at 7:30a.m. off at noon. Water temp was 68 arrival & 72 at departure. Caught alot of 8" crappie in about 12' of water. Caught a couple decent white bass & a big carp. Used crappie magnets & fast lane was the color of the day. I did end up keeping 4 bigger ones for my mom to eat on. Everything else was returned to lake. Attachment 409558
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Thats the way it goes sometimes....but still a good trip and you got your mom fixed up
8 fillets should make Mom happy.
Good report to read.
nothing wrong with taking some of those sized crappie, nice filets and some of my friends ask me to bring them this size. especially in a lake with healthy population.
Neck pan sized filets there, congratulations
Seems crappie size has gotten smaller since last year, we were catching 10-12 in crappie all year last year, now this year even though we caught some nice ones the biggest majority were 7-8 inches long..
With fishing pressure on these lakes in Indiana past 2 years…we have quadrupled the amount of fish being taken out. Most of our fishable waters are not over1500- 2000 acres in size. Smaller lakes like Dogwood and Boggs has been really ripped due to pressure. I also think your smaller fish right now are way more aggressive in feeding than the larger fish. Sometimes I find the larger fish scattered deeper below bait balls and in creek channels off points or drop offs so try a different fishing technic than you have been using. You will catch larger crappie in the springtime feeding prior to spawn…so they are there somewhere even tho the numbers can be down. Glad your getting out and fishing! Keep the reports coming. :cheers2
I usually catch bigger fish in the fall then I do in the spring, this year only got to fish the tail end of the spawn biggest crappie I caught for 11-12 times out was 14.5 in.. I agree with you on the fishing pressure its been unreel since last year.
I usually start out catching small crappie in the fall. Then when they start the draw down of the lake the bigger ones turn on. But I agree with you guys the fishing pressure has definitely changed the lakes. I know I will start a big argument & guys disagree with me. But I'm ready for a 10" limit in this state. Just my opinion but you look at the states that have a size limit they have bigger crappie.
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went this morning for 3.5hrs and caught 13, water was 70.5 to start and 72-73 when we left.. bite was super slow and except for a couple fish very light. Water needs to cool down to about 65 then I think they will turn on.
Thanks for the report.
Both Harden and Cagles Mill just turned over and it caused a big oxygen sag. This turns the fish off the bite. Dissolved oxygen levels at Harden were down in the 3's this week after the turnover Louisville District > Missions > Civil Works > Water Information > Updated Lake Temperatures and Dissolved Oxygen Lev > CM Harden Profile.
The bite should pick back up now that the lake has turned and oxygen levels are rebounding but this explains the slow fishing recently.
If you doubt the quality of the fish out there just look out for the results from the slabmasters tournaments once they are posted. Results will be posted here Tournament Results. They caught a lot of nice fish at Harden in the Sept. 11th tournament there. 70% of what was weighed in were 10"+
Even tho I haven’t been on them,,water temp I would think not cold enough for a turn over yet.
There is no debate needed. The link i posted has the data from the corps sensors at the dam. Lake has turned over. Thermocline is gone. Oxygen is low throughout because of the turnover. All that is required is some consistent nightly air temps much cooler than surface water to make it sink and destabilize the thermocline.
No debate needed? Who makes the rules? I will debate you.
1. The links on Slabmasters aren’t working when I click on the current tourney results.
2. Have you been on both lakes recently as past few days and seen them or fished them for yourself?
3. Water temp for a turn over begins at 50 degrees and for deep lakes some don’t turn over till ideal surface temp is 39 degrees.
4. Yesterdays and todays air temp still in the 80’s. So it’s not cold enough yet for water to cool enough and sink and mix, thus creating a turnover.
5. Most of the time,,those gauges your reading are not accurate and kept in working order.
And,,if the gauges are working…they are only located in one place on the lakes and don’t cover entire lake acreage.
Quote:
Originally Posted by cevans
1 - I didn't say they were posted yet. I was indicating where they will be posted in the future. So members can see them when they go up.
2- Yes I have been on Cagle's Mill recently and fished it. The fishing has been slow for the last few weeks.
3- You are not correct. There is no magic temperature where the thermocline will break down. It's a matter of differences in temperature. Water density changes continuously with temperature. Cooler water sinks when its on top of warmer water. The surface waters have been cooling since the nighttime temps have been dropping for the last several weeks. When it sinks hard enough to penetrate the thermocline it will begin to break down.
4- The temperatures have been as low as the high 40's at night in the past several weeks.
5- I'm not going to debate someone that thinks their opinion is better than actual measurements. The data at the dam that I posted isn't actually stationary sensors. It is a portable meter profile taken weekly by a staff member. Also a faulty meter wouldn't magically show a strong thermocline present for the past several weeks and then magically show a turnover. Also why would all these lakes magically have faulty sensors showing a turnover at the same time? Much more likely they are actually turning over unless you want to argue that Cagle's and Harden's meters just magically failed simultaneously.
I have not had any nights in the 40’s yet and live 30 miles as the crow flys from the Cat. Everybody fishing the Coon and Cat has found water temps in low 70’s. Check the previous postings. What is the water temp you been finding while fishing? The discussion was about everybody catching decient numbers of fish,,just not sizable keepers. I was at Glendale and West Boggs this weeek and they haven’t even begun to turn over even tho they are scum filled from warm temps. My 2–4 acre lakes haven’t turned over either.
I agree, something doesn't appear right with the readings posted for Cat and Coon. All the other lakes listed in the area (Patoka, Monroe, Brookville) all show 'normal' readings, exactly what you'd expect for this time of year. Cataract reading is actually showing no oxygen in the entire reservoir (1 ppm at surface, nothing below that), but 6.78 ppm in the tailwater. Those two lake profiles seem highly suspicious to me, and I'd just about bet the next time they are updated, they won't look anything like what they do now. We'll see.
As for Raccoon, while the weights were up compared to how the guys have fared in past tourneys there, "sizable keepers" is about the best I'd give it. A very fun lake for catching eaters, but I don't think many of the guys looked forward to that event this year because it is dominated by so many smaller fish. Was really surprised they went there instead of Cataract, but maybe the water level fluctuations were too much of an iffy thing. Now, Monroe on the other hand - lol.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Team9nine
Not trying to stir something up here guys but the readings are accurate. Brookville also showing the thermocline basically gone. Louisville District > Missions > Civil Works > Water Information > Updated Lake Temperatures and Dissolved Oxygen Lev > Brookville Profile
Cataract had one of the shallowest oxyclines i've ever seen this year and water quality was bad. Not surprised it had a big sag when the thermocline broke. Good thing the oxygen levels normally rebound quickly.
It looks to me like the more northern lakes have cooled just enough but not yet further south. Perhaps an influx of cold rain on one or the other might also be driving it since I agree Monroe and Patoka haven't yet flipped.
Brookville readings are not normal for summer. Normal thermocline and oxycline at Brookville is 17-20ft. Graph is showing same temps down to nearly 50 ft. Oxygen levels also abnormally low at Brookville. As you would expect when the thermocline breaks down.
Roush, Mississinewa, and Salamonie also completely destratified.
Louisville District > Missions > Civil Works > Water Information > Updated Lake Temperatures and Dissolved Oxygen Lev > JE Roush Profile
Louisville District > Missions > Civil Works > Water Information > Updated Lake Temperatures and Dissolved Oxygen Lev > Mississinewa Profile
Louisville District > Missions > Civil Works > Water Information > Updated Lake Temperatures and Dissolved Oxygen Lev > Salamonie Profile
We'll have to wait and see how this plays out. It doesn't seem like we've had anything terribly unusual weather wise that would cause the differences we're seeing. I normally would trust the gauges, but a couple of them do seem strange to me for this time of year. Anything electronic is subject to going faulty, as well as anything taken and recorded manually (human error). I'm also not familiar with how the translation from human record to electronic graph is accomplished (manually? automatically generated?).
Have only been on Heritage and EC in central Indiana the past couple weeks, but bite has been normal and surface temps were running around 75 degrees, so nowhere close to turnover during a more traditional year.
If the lakes are truly about flipped, we should see a more or less straight vertical line on the temp side with the next set of readings. Right now it's just the last gasps of a really deep thermocline. That is what I'll be looking for. If the readings are correct, those few lakes that seem odd should completely turn and their graphs reflect that. If it is some type of error, we'll know it because the graphs will revert back to showing a more traditional thermocline depth level, which would never happen in real life because there simply isn't enough heating going on with the shorter days and lower sun angle now. We'll know soon enough - I'm really curious to see what happens here.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Team9nine
There is no way that six lakes are showing faulty readings guys. Occams razor.
Just met and talked with friend of mine that lives on the Cat. Cat is slow unless you can find a stump or some kind of cover in deeper water, then he said he is catching lots of crappie. He fished the Coon yesterday getting at the launch at 1:pm and fished till late evening. He caught lots of small fish, kept 6 over 10”. Water temp was 75. Before launching he talked to 2 different boaters fishing as they launched early morning. One had a limit of crappie over 10”, other guy kept 12. He mentioned they were using jigs with minnows 15’ down. They had to kull out the keepers. Neither lake was turning over in his opinion.
You sure wouldn't think so, but even Occam's Razor isn't an absolute. Those Missy/Sally readings don't seem right, either - 50 feet of water column heated to 70 degrees on Oct. 01???Quote:
Originally Posted by Trout211
14 day weather report is for high temps in low 70s, and nights in low 60s until 10/13 and nights will drop to mid to low 50’s. Sorry but I have never went by or had faith in the gauges as they are not just kept up or constantly calibrated when they need calibration. I go by the reports everybody sees and experiences as well as what I experience when out. Even the River gauges on the East Fork of the White River down here are constantly not working properly most of the year. I’ve been sitting in a deer stand all day and gotten caught and come out of the woods at night,,and have to wade 3’ of water or drive home in high water with those gauges telling me I would be ok.
My trust is in what my electronics show me..and my abilities to catch fish…when they will take a bait. :cheers2
Attachment 409785
I came off Mississinewa a couple hours ago. Surface temp a 9 am start was 70 and 72 when we left. Only had 6 for the day. Jigs and cranks.
Was at Cataract yesterday. Surface temp 75-78. Heavy algae bloom. Water clarity less than 2 feet. Caught a dozen keepers, kept none.
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Good report. I noticed they had a heavy algae bloom on West Boggs also. Hopefully this rain will clean the water up a bit.
75-78 wow that is warm. We need some cool weather to turn these big ones. Hopefully in the next couple weeks it will start to cool down a bit not that I want winter but just a lil cooler weather. Cool enough to keep the weekenders home so we can have the lakes back.
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Trout211 - I think you're correct on this one. Fortunately, I've tracked a lot of this in the past and was able to dig through my archives and pull up some old records and lake profile graph captures from this same time period over the past 5 years. A couple years nearly mimicked what we're seeing right now, so while it seemed really early to me, especially given the hotter than normal September we had, it's only slightly earlier than most years according to my records. Was also on Heritage again on Friday and made it a point to graph the basin of the lake down near the dam and found plenty of fish using the 28-30 ft range, suggesting it has likely also neared turnover completion. Hoping to get out to Cat or Coon if the weather allows next week, so I'll see what I see there. By then a few of the Corp gauges should be updated and we'll be able to see normal progression on these lakes that weren't quite completely flipped yet on both the oxygen and water temp profiles.Quote:
Originally Posted by Trout211
As for fishing this past week, picked off 100+ crappie on Eagle Creek Tues, and then a total of 96 crappie at Heritage on Wed and Friday. Water temps in the low to mid 70s at both places and the best bite was fairly shallow, in the 8-12 ft. range.
Attachment 409867
Attachment 409868
Good info and great fishing! Nice pics! :ThumbsUp
Do you have any updates on these posts concerning fall turnover?Quote:
Originally Posted by Team9nine
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They've updated a few of the profiles, and things are mostly as expected. Patoka and Monroe are still thermoclined, but slowly breaking apart. Raccoon isn't complete yet, and I thought the newest data was slightly wonky. Cataract hasn't been updated, nor have the northern reservoirs. I did message a friend that lives on one of the northern lakes, and he said they are nowhere close to turning over (this was over a week ago). He showed me a screenshot from his local lake and they were definitely thermoclined at around 22 ft. still. He said it would be a few weeks still for those natural lakes. Not sure why the reservoirs act differently from the natural lakes. Might have something to do with water movement through the bypass gates and dam, but the reservoirs are so much larger, I would think they'd be more stable because of it, but that hasn't been the case this year.Quote:
Originally Posted by Fishinfred
Brief report: Hit EC Wed. and it is still running 70-72 degrees. Crappie were biting both shallow and deep, but the quality fish came shallow. The deeper I went, the smaller they got - lol. Ended up with 136 in 3.5 hours of fishing.
Attachment 410699
Thanks for that report, great catch also.
Those are great numbers on the catch!