By Brian Waldman
To make a long story short, a tourney friend who spent quite a bit of time fishing in Indiana recently moved to Tennessee. He posted back about what a big difference he’s noticed between TN reservoirs and catch rates versus Indiana reservoirs and catch rates. Indiana of course being much tougher, and so the question posed was why? He threw out a few theories as did several others, and there was the DNR management finger pointing, too. This led to a great discussion of which I wanted to “transcript” my responses here.
OK, the big difference between (Monroe, Patoka, Brookville, Cataract, Raccoon) and (Lemon, Boggs, Geist, Morse, Eagle Creek, Waveland, Glenn Flint)? The former are all flood control and as such, Corp of Engineers and flood control purposes are 1st and foremost on the list. All recreational purposes including management by DNR are secondary.
What about the latter? Non-flood control. They all have simple overflow type dams that keep water levels pretty stable over the course of the year, especially around spawn time. Stable or higher water levels create great LMB spawns and typically high recruitment. This then yields good catches, at least for fish up to keeper length for several years down the road.
Studies on Lake Chickamauga show a pretty good correlation between reservoir retention time and LMB juveniles (recruitment). The more they have to “flush” the system the worse the bass pops tend to be for a given year. The same can be correlated to our big waters. The more our waters are fluctuated in an attempt to keep stable water levels or prevent flooding, the greater the likelihood of a screwed up spawn.
In the big picture, DNR and management have very little to do with the productivity (and subsequent “good” or “bad” fishing) of the lake. That’s just a convenient excuse for anglers to point fingers at for their lack of success. DNR doesn’t control water levels, they have only slight control over angling pressure, they have very little control over habitat, and the tools at their disposal (size and creel limits) are really just for trying to fix a screwed up fishery once it is out of whack. The rest has very little effect on Mother Nature. Like a friend of mine has stated before, “greenies” breed like rabbits when given the right conditions and opportunities. If your lake doesn’t have the right conditions, there is not much the DNR can do about it.
Two good examples are Geist and Morse. IDNR hasn’t done a thing management-wise on those two bodies of water for the past 15+ years due to the exorbitant launch fees. There are no restrictions (permits) on tourneys, no special size limits and no special bag limits. No stocking what-so-ever. Their way of showing displeasure to that whole situation. Yet despite all the pressure mentioned, they’re two of the best lakes in the state for bass. Why? Stable water levels, great shallow water spawning habitat and great shallow water cover, plus limited harvest by “meat” fishermen due to the high launch fees.
Here are two other important points; pressure and conditioning. These things have an effect when you don’t have high bass populations to begin with. If you had high bass populations (good spawns and good recruitment), you’d be catching plenty of fish. For bass up to legal size of 14-15” it has been shown that there is good correlation between number of fish and angler success. Need Indiana examples? Remember Boggs in 2000-2001 (313 bass per hour electrofish rate), Patoka in the early 90’s (175-357/hr), Waveland before the fish kill last year (169/hr), Glenn Flint before the renovation (143/hr), Dogwood (195/hr), Westwood (183/hr). Get the picture? All of these were “numbers” lakes where getting 40-80 bass per day was routine. What is Patoka now...(87/hr). How about the Ohio River Cannelton (5-15/hr). I haven’t tracked down Monroe’s but I was thinking about 70/hr. for the last survey I saw.
So that just means less fish to be caught which makes for tougher fishing. You better figure something out to be able to consistently catch fish on these bodies of water. This ties in with the conditioning. Admit it, how many of you guys “kill them” in practice on Wednesdays and Thursdays? The fish are still there, but conditioning, pressure and traffic have an affect when population levels are low. Fish definitely will change their feeding habits and patterns in response to increased pressure!
Some of the other factors not often considered:
Private waters often get mentioned but they get much less pressure, especially tournament pressure, and less harvest. Boggs...no tournaments allowed through the summer. Lemon...no tournaments allowed on Sundays. Eagle Creek and Dogwood...no big boats due to the 9.9 hp limit, so very little tourney-type pressure. Getting the picture yet? From now (June) through September, studies tell us every 8-10 hr tourney will kill between 20-30% of the bass weighed in via initial and delayed mortality. Depending upon all the other combined factors discussed, this may or may not make a difference on some waters.
Lastly, a few other things to consider.
- Longer growing seasons to the south.
- Practically no spotted bass in Indiana reservoirs. This makes up a bulk of the catch in some Southern tourneys.
- Most Southern states have a 12” size limit.
- Almost mo threadfin shad, bluebacks or alewife in Indiana reservoirs for food, only gizzard shad which can quickly outgrow consumption size.
- High pressure on small surface acres
So while DNR may have some control with your overall “experience” as a tourney angler at a state property, they have very little control over what you’ll actually catch or how good fishing will be. They have to work within the watersheds Mother Nature has given them and the limited authority over properties owned by the Corps. If you watched the All-American last week on the Ohio River out of Louisville, or if you’ve seen the BassMaster Classics from Pittsburgh, Louisville or Cincinnati, then you’ve seen that even the best anglers in the country can’t overcome a crappy fishery. You either have to pick and choose the lakes you fish based on where you can catch lots of fish, or just tough it out with the rest of us on our Indiana bodies of water.
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