Peabody WMA

Anybody ever fished Peabody WMA? There are several small lakes on those properties that produce a lot of fish, but not sure about crappie. :confused:

The permit to fish, hunt, or do anything on their property is only $15/yr. I personally have never fished any of these lakes so I can't give any advice, but I was just wondering if any of you have been down there. I only live about 30 minutes from a lot of these lakes but have never gotten a permit to experiment these waters.

Here's a link to the maps for the area. I couldn't get the maps to show, but I think it's because of my slow dial-up connections. :( Hope this works. :cool:

http://fw.ky.gov/kfwis/viewable/PeabodyAll.pdf

I have never fished for crappie there. I have fished several of them for bass and bluegill and did very well. My friend and I took one of those small two man plastic boats with a battery and trolling motor. Several of the lakes you can park right beside and drop the boat in. I have another friend who takes several weekend trips a year there and just sleeps in the back of hid truck topper.

LS, when you gonna get some that high speed internet? I got them to open just fine. I got your permission slip from Robin,:D so I guess it is true you can go fishing with us! :)

Several years I spent lots of time on Peabody. Yes there are crappie in some of the lakes. But before buying the permit check around the areas you may be interested in, I am being told more of the land is reverting back to private owners.
Good luck,
Tom

Good advice Tommy. I don't know that much about that side of the county. If I was to ever get down on those haul roads, I'd be lost for sure.

I agree with Tommy, crappie in most of the pits but lots of areas are now closed. I would like to see a "crappie.com fish the pits day" with a fish fry sometime.

That could be arranged one of these days. I'm new to the crappie scene so I've got some learning to do. Being this close to home, it would be a shame not to fish there if there is good fish present.

If you all find any lakes that are still open that have any crappie in them, let me know - you don't even have to tell me which lake - maybe which area would be nice because I would like to go down there and try and find a few.

There's got to be some down there somewhere. The KWF website said that there are lakes ranging down there from 1 acre to 150 acre. If I do go, I'll let ya know how I do and what worked (or most likely didn't in my case.)

I have emailed the state before and they said that they didn't stock any of them but the ones by the river may have some due to flooding. Some people say that they are there, I don't know. I would like to get some minnows and catch some - if only I knew there was some in where I was fishing. Guess that's why it's called fishing.

I'm pretty tight when it comes to money. I'd hate to spend $15 for the permit, the gas going to and from, and the time it would take to check out most of the lakes.

I've heard they stock musky in some of the lakes as well.

The only stocking I know for sure is Trout.

I hunt at Peaboy WMA a bit & have wondered about the ponds myself. There has to be some fish in them, I'm hoping there are some catfish, maybe a few turtles, & bullfrogs. I'm thinking about going out there before long to give it a try.

Let us know how you do if you do. I talked to a neighbor and that's about the only place that him and his dad fish. He said there are tons of bass, some crappie, lots of bluegill, and some catfish. I'll try to get some more information.

The Courier Journal newspaper in Louisville did a story on fishing Peabody in the Sports/Outdoor section of the paper today(4/20/08). It may help a little.
www.courier-journal.com/outdoors

Thanks for the info Creeker, I haven't had a chance to plan my trip out west just yet, but I was thinking within the next 2-3 weeks. Very interesting article, I am more inclined to try it now after reading it. I am familiar with the area they were talking about & have hunted around the pond featured, I just didn't know it had a name, they are right about the roads for sure, it isn't too difficult to get lost if you aren't paying attention. I've hunted the RQ area for the past 2 years, so that's a plus. Hopefully I can get out there & see what they have before long. Thanks again for the information!

No problem. Good luck to you.

I haven't had a chance to go yet, & actually been researching a bit & don't know that I will go at all. I have found where fishing is only allowed in day light hours, I planned on maybe a few frogs in the mix, you have a 15 daily limit & 30 possession limit. The plan was to go for a few days 3-4, & camp, fish, blah blah blah, but I'm not so sure now. We'll see I guess.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by HarleyMan08

I haven't had a chance to go yet, & actually been researching a bit & don't know that I will go at all. I have found where fishing is only allowed in day light hours, I planned on maybe a few frogs in the mix, you have a 15 daily limit & 30 possession limit. The plan was to go for a few days 3-4, & camp, fish, blah blah blah, but I'm not so sure now. We'll see I guess.

---

Harley,
You should call Peabody WMA Office at 270-273-3117. I think I read somewhere that the "fishiing allowed in day light hours" was a misprint. Or call F/W Headquaters 18008581549

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by crappiecrazy

Harley,
You should call Peabody WMA Office at 270-273-3117. I think I read somewhere that the "fishiing allowed in day light hours" was a misprint. Or call F/W Headquaters 18008581549

---

I hope so, I'll do that, Thanks!

The time has come finally, I'm going to give Peabody a shot. If nothing happens, I'm leaving Thursday afternoon & will return on Sunday. I'll report when I get back, wish me luck.

*I hope I'm not wasting money & time, it's somewhat a shot in the dark so to speak :D *

Well, here we go.....

I ordered some bait from the internet w/ 2 day shipping. I was hoping to receive them by early Thursday, but they finally got here about 2 PM, so by 3:30 PM we were finished getting loaded & ready to go. We left here & headed West.

We had to stop for a grocery run & a few extra supplies, so we ended up getting to Central City about 7 PM, 2 hours later, we were on Peabody looking for a place to set up camp. Every pond we came to was occupied. We drove around for a good 2 hours trying to find a place to camp for the night. There aren't many places to set up a camper & have room to camp & be able to fish. Also, there are a bunch of ponds that you just can't get to, (grown up around them). We settled in for Thursday night finally about 11 PM, got a few supplies out & set up the camper for the night. We fixed some hot dogs on the fire & sat around a bit. Before we knew it, it was 4 AM. We hit the hay & didn't sleep much because it was hot & muggy & worse in the camper. We took a generator but couldn't get it off the truck due to firewood, the boat, etc.

Friday morning we had some pork chop sandwiches for breakfast & loaded up in search of that great combination (camping spot & pond) After driving around, we found a perfect location & dropped anchor (camp) there. Ready to try out luck, we unloaded a few items, just enough to get to the fishing poles, we unloaded the boat & figured we'd do the rest later, so we hit the water.

We started about mid afternoon on Friday, fishing the banks, caught a few smaller ones, then we started to see some size, next thing you know, we had slabs!! We were catch 2-3 super bluegill per "hole" We probably finished up w/ about 20 for the day on Friday. We decided to get camp setup, some supper cooking & so forth. So we retired for the day from fishing.

We went to bed fairly early this night, about midnight, was up about 7:30 AM. We reloaded our bait & away we went. We fished for about 3-4 hours Saturday morning. Bank fishing was good, but the heat started picking up & the fish quit. So we started trolling for them. This turned out to be a good choice. We ended up with about 50 slabs for the morning & a very nice 17+ lb. Catfish, & a largemouth bass, about 17 inches.

As it got hotter, we quit for a bit, fixed a late breakfast, (sausage, bacon, eggs, biscuits, & gravy) then took a nap. We got up about 3 PM, we cleaned the fish we had in the cooler before heading back out. Saturday's cleaning was: 70 bluegill, 1 bass, 1 catfish.

We fished some more on Saturday evening & ended up w/ some more beautiful bluegills, not as many as before but probably about 10 or so. We gave it up early & had to make a run to a local store for some ice & fixed some burgers for supper.

Saturday night we were sitting around the fire, decided to give it up. Got ready to goto bed & heard some coyotes across the pond going nuts, yelping, etc. We went to bed then. (I hated to camp in Peaboy w/o hearing the coyotes, lol, we had a run in with them rabbit hunting out there a few years ago, I'm not too fond of them) They stayed away & we didn't hear them anymore after turning in.

Sunday came, the day of decisions. If we get out this morning & kill them, we'll stay another day, but if not, we'll go home. The sky was overcast, you could tell a front was moving in, & we tried out luck.

I never have claimed to be a "master" fisherman, it love it, but I'm not very good at techniques, baits, etc. We weren't doing any good trolling so we went to drifting on the bottom, We worked for them, & we earned some nice fish. But we were tired, we fished hard Sunday morning. We gave it up, deciding w/ the weather moving in, we may as well go home. From Saturday night & Sunday morning's total, we cleaned 27 more bluegills. We didn't catch anymore catfish, a few small bass, but didn't keep them.

We tried for turtles, but couldn't get them to hit anything. They were everywhere, they would come up, stick their heads out & back down they would go. And I can't believe it, but we never heard the 1st frog. I figured they were be everywhere, but weren't.

The pond where we camped was busy, people in and out driving by, some fishing. We met 2 very nice men from the area & spoke w/ 2 more that fish there regularly & one said the best crappie he's ever caught came from the area we fished, 17 - 18 inches. The water level was down about 2-3 feet. The water temp was warm, 80's, maybe even low 90's. Grass on the bottom of the pond, the pond was maybe 15 - 20 ft. deep. The fish were great size, thick & long.

The pic of the catfish, he has his tail bent the other way.

I only took 4 pictures, we were too busy fishing or cleaning fish or eating or sitting around, just relaxing. I wish I had taken more, but oh well.

I hope this is a decent report, I could go into alot more detail, but I won't as for saving reading time.

http://robinson.lostinspacehosting.c...n_101_0142.JPG
http://robinson.lostinspacehosting.c...n_101_0143.JPG
http://robinson.lostinspacehosting.c...n_101_0144.JPG
http://robinson.lostinspacehosting.c...n_101_0145.JPG

Decent report??? Now that's the way to do it. I guess that answers my question about the crappie.

Glad all had a good time. I may have to get my permit next year to check it out for myself. I have some neighbors that fish there some so maybe I can hook up with them and get to some of those good spots.

Thanks for sharing.

Np, glad I had the chance to finally make it, I've been wondering for 2 years, now I wonder no more, haha.

The fishing at night, is for Goose Lake, South Lake, & Island Lake, you cannot fish after dark at those 3 lakes, you can't take frogs by any method at those 3 lakes. I called to find out for sure before heading out.

Which lake were you fishing at or on what area were you fishing??

I talked to a guy last week and someone else today that was complaining about it. They said that a lot of the good places had gone to private owners. The remaining "public" lakes have good numbers of fish but are getting over crowded. That means it might not last long. Having that many people fishing that place to death makes me not want to get a permit next year.

The cost of license and everything else keeps going up so why should I pay for a permit and get to fish less area that is now overcrowded?

Sorry for the rant. Just kinda gets me irritated. I like to get more for my money I guess.

The KDFWR still owns the same amount of land they always have but Peabody has taken large portions of the land out of the lease with the state and sold it to private individuals or started mining it. There is no real good solution to the overcrowding.

I've heard the same Limb Snagger about the property & lease. I still rabbit hunt out there, but even so, the little area we camped in was actually pretty popular. Everyday there were 2-3 boats & people bank fishing, (which wasn't a problem, just making a statement), but alot of ponds were so grown up around them, you couldn't get a boat to them if you had to. A bit of my rant so to speak.

tazstone, we fished around Central City, Kentucky, (within 20-30 miles of Central City), we didn't venture out to the other areas. (farther West)

I'm going to bump the tread up.