A lake without bait or forage fish?
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A little about the lake (PLEASE READ EVERYTHING)
I fish at this 165 square acre lake in middle Ohio. It is in a gated community (Cinnamon Lake). It isn’t the healthiest body of water I have seen. In late spring it starts growing weeds and every GD year they dump poison in there. It kills the weeds and all summer the lake is filthy with loose strands of weeds everywhere. In fact last summer they stocked the lake with at least 10 50 pound grass carp. I would say the fish are under somewhat high pressure from anglers but the main problem in my opinion is the unhealthy ecosystem.
So that brings me to this point. There are definitely NO type of forage fish in the lake. The only type of small fish would be after the bluegill/pumpkin seed spawn, bass spawn, or small perch or even bullhead and baby channel cats. Basically the small game fish are the only possible bait fish. I thought that a lake of that size should have some type of forage fish. What would a proper forage fish be?
It seems to me that the decisions on lake management are made by stubborn old men an old ladies who have no knowledge on the matter. They just throw a fit because the weeds look ugly and tangle up their little 2 horse power trolling motors on the back of their 14 foot pontoon boats. Then the lake committee decides to spray the lake with algicide. I don’t know if they are invasive or not but in early spring after the lake warms up the water is very clear and there are healthy looking green beds along the bank in front of my grandparents house. Also, the live “weeds” don’t uproot and float to the top of the water like the killed ones, therefor boats don’t get stuck in them and you can put out casts all day long and never pull up 5 pounds of dead weeds. A Texas rigged anything just glides right through the live stuff. So why do they continue year after year to kill the stuff? What do you think about it? How would you fish the lake?
Questions: So why do they continue year after year to kill the stuff? What do you think about it? How would you fish the lake? What would a proper forage fish be? How do you think this should be handled? What would be a good bait?
Additional information: It is very hard to catch a fish there. I stay there a couple times over the summer for 2 week periods. In one stay I may catch 10 largemouth. It is a bit easier to catch sunfish but not enough to have a fish fry for 4 people.
Thank you for taking the time to read this. The first answer that puts time and thought into it will be chosen as best.
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Good question. Next weekend alot of the yahoo pros will come on and try to answer this question so post it again if you want to. Now to your question I believe you are referring to grazers which feed on the plant material. Usually carp is a good bet however it is not a native species. Suckers such as the yellow, longnose, white suckers can be used but they do not consume as much algae or plant material as the carp. Tilapia is a good choice but they are a warmwater species. I believe that the reason why the city or state put alot of algacide and herbicides is because it is more of a cosmetic reason, meaning that they want the place to look good and attract people. The old grannies on the plantoon boat could be part of it but I do not believe the city gets that much revenue from grannies unless there are alot of them. Anglers would also complain about this too because getting snags all over would irritate people one way or the other. I am not for invasive species and the lake seems to large to drain so introducing native species such as the suckers would be a good solution, bluegills would also work. If that doesnt work than more carp would be needed , if the carp would be continued to be used it should be sterile males only and they should be restocked periodically to keep things under control. If the city or state wants to use alot of suckers or bluegills than they could be easily controlled with tiger musky which are always sterile and are good sport fishing. I believe the easiest fish to catch are bluegills, sunfish, and bullheads. For bluegills and sunfish just fish with a fly near structures or you could use worms. They always hide around rocks or what not. Bullheads use the egg slip rig and fish at calm deeper pools or in the summer at night. Worm is the best bait and if you catch one there should be more since they swim in schools so keep fishing the same area until you get no bites. I believe bullheads which are my favorite have no limit and you can catch as many as you like
I think a good forage fish would be some sort of shad. As for the people who make the decisions on killing the weeds every year, its hopeless. It always seems to be the people who don’t actually do what u are and they think they know whats best. Fishing it. I would go to weedless top water baits such as frogs, mice and buzz baits.
so hope it helps. good luck…
You’re screwed. Actually, those bluegills are considered “forage fish” in lots of places. Of course, they are not the most ideal form of bait in which fish to feed on, but they’re a still a fish that is eaten quite commonly. The most common forage fish are american shad, gizzard shad, mooneye, shiners, etc.
Not many minnows for ‘em to feed on? I’m sure crayfish are present. Go to a local creek and catch some crayfish and use them as bait. A 1/0 or 2/0 hook with a crayfish hooked through the spine or tail will catch nice bass and catfish. Use enough split shot to hold it on the bottom or close to it.
As far as lures go, jig ‘n craw combinations, deeper diving crayfish crankbaits, “crawdad” colored plastic worms, ETC ETC. will all work. If crayfish are not present, well…
Frogs? Bass (and sometimes catfish) will eat frogs. Try a topwater frog, either hard or soft. These work great in weedy waters where frogs are present. But hell, throw ‘em where you don’t see any grass. The bass will think it’s something they haven’t seen and nail it…
No offense, but your lake sounds crappy.
Sounds like the same idiots that run Casitas.