George (Spring Valley)

I live only 3 miles from the lake. It is a really good panfish producer from first ice until the time people start driving on the lake. The fish are pretty tranquil, and I think are turned off by all of the traffic on the ice. Since the fish are not used to motor boats, I believe they become extremely weary at the “new sounds” on the water.

Earlier this year, I was having really good luck catching some good sized ‘gills. After the 1st of the year, they seemed to have shut off.

Otherwise, the lake is a good crappie producer, but they are small in size. It sure doesn’t seem to matter to a lot of the locals, and in my opinion, they will soon be fished out unless people start practicing Catch and Release.

Otherwise, I love reading your reports, and keep them coming!

Thanks for the update on George, and the compliment mod auger. You can bet on the reports to keep coming as long as you guys are willing to read them! I enjoy talking about fishing almost as much as I enjoy fishing. I won’t be getting on the ice as much as I would like as my daughter has basketball tourneys for the next several weekends, but I will keep trying to post some up to date reports from area baitshops. The few times I manage to sneak out, I will try to let you know how I do whether good, bad, or ugly!

I have a shack down there and fish once or maybe twice a week. I usually go down after work and fish for crappies. Do pretty well, but they are all small. I haven’t kept any crappies for 3 or 4 years now. It’s a great time for kids though. One of the few places where I know that the kids will catch fish and have a good time. Why do you suppose the crappies don’t get any bigger? I wonder if there’s a big enough food source for them or is there too many?

Honestly, I don’t really know why they run so small. There could be a lack of food, or there could be an issue of stunted growth for the fish. But I would have to throw out the lack of food. I have caught quite a few decent sized panfish in the lake, so I wouldn’t think it would be due to a lack of food. But then again, crappies feed on the same food as other panfish.

If I were a betting angler, I would guess that there is an overpopulation of crappies. Rarely have I been down to the lake and not seen a decent crappie bite.

Are you having any other luck on the lake with bluegills?

Please keep on posting updates! Good to hear from other honest fishermen.

Comparing to Lake Magnor……….there are effects on not throwing the eaters back. If the population is high, food competition will definitely slow the rate of growth but doesn’t necessarily indicate stunted genetics. A stunted crappie can still reach 1.5 lbs! But, my experience on Magnor was a good fish population but all the fish over 9″ weren’t being put back. That REALLY reduces the number of quality fish. The numbers that survive to grow bigger are few and the majority just come into size and hit the frying pan. On Magnor, guys started accepting smaller fish and just taking more of them! Bad answer………………

I was listening to a conversation just last night and heard of some guys up north that found a hot bite, got their friends involved, and for 4 days straight, they all caught their limits! No fish released in the eater size! The bite cooled off but the people are still pounding this little 33 acre lake!!!! I just walked away. They’re meat hunters but staying within their legal right. From the numbers I understood, 4 days combined with a total of 14 limits, a limit being 25 combined pannies……….that’s 350 fish being taken out of a mere 33 acre water!!! There’s no way anyone can tell me this won’t effect the overall size and quality of the fishery!

The only reason they can access this lake now is because the beavers built a dam and the level came up enough to reach the road. Now people can access it without trespassing. But if the beavers don’t make a big enough problem, the conditions will stay accessible and I wonder how long a fishery will sustain that kind of pressure and harvesting?

Sorry for the vent guys………..but this kind of stuff is not conservation and it gets me heated up………especially when guys like the one’s being referenced complain about some lake that “just doesn’t produce like it used to”.

If numbers really are the problem, keep some of the little ones and pickle them! It’ll help thin the school and begin improving the quality of the individual fish size.

Hey Stillakid, I hear yu!!! Three years ago I went back to my hometown of Owen and met up with my brother and high school buddy and decided to take our nephews to the local 15 acre mill pond in the middle of town to do some fishing. Not expecting to catch much, we through out a few poles with flu-flu jigs and minnows, low and behold we started catching lots of 12-15″ crappies. No one has ever really tried fishing it in the spring. Soon enough the local cop comes down to check on us along with some locals. We had a few pictures taken and released them…the pics ended up in the local bait store. My dad called me the next week and said there were wall to wall people all day long filling their 5-gallon buckets and within 3 weeks caught them all out…. the local warden ended up handing out a few citation to few individuals for over their limit. Since then only a handful of crappies have been caught. Conservation seemed to go out the window and killed a possibly good fishery for kids to go and enjoy. It frusterates me when people feel the need to keep everything they catch…like the fish will soon dissapear from the face of the earth…..wait it will if they keep fishing!!!!

That is a lot of fish being taken kid. Are you sure they weren’t over the limit. If you keep a limit 4 days in a row that’s two limits two much unless you have eaten the previous two days catch. I think thats how it works anyway.

I’ve often debated if I should keep a limit now and then just to help thin them out, but I always end up putting them back. I have some little cousins that like to go with me and so I like the population the way it is. It makes fishing fun for them because they can catch a lot of fish. (even though they think they should keep them.) I usually go north on the weekends and keep some bigger fish for eating. I hardly ever keep a limit (if they’re biting that good). I just take what I think I will eat. I’ve thrown too many freezer burned fillets away otherwise.

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That is a lot of fish being taken kid. Are you sure they weren’t over the limit. If you keep a limit 4 days in a row that’s two limits two much unless you have eaten the previous two days catch. I think thats how it works anyway.

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I can’t speak for everybody………….I wasn’t there to personally witness anything. I do know that the guy providing the info will share fish with those who aren’t able to get out themselves but I too, questioned how legal they all were if the freezer got checked. Not being any part of it, I haven’t a leg to stand on. Hunches aren’t enough for legal action and from the time line I’m understanding, I’m willing to bet that a lot of it’s been eaten already. It just bugs me, terribly!

I keep and eat fish too, so don’t misunderstand me. But I don’t need to keep fish every time I’m out. I have a certain relative who ice fishes strictly for what can be kept, EVERY TIME and OFTEN. What is kept is eaten fresh and rarely saved but I think about the annual numbers that are accumulated and it bothers me to know that there are 100s of fish lost to 1 person, annually. Multiply that by number of ice shacks or boats and it’s a tremendous strain on the resource. Inside of the legal limit, there’s nothing to be said, but knowing the strain on the resource ………………….. it still bothers me.

Fished last night from 5:30-8:00 and caught several crappies. Mostly small ones. The disappointing thing was to see shacks moved so close to me that I can hardly get my truck between mine and others. I don’t know why anyone would want to be so close to others. Another thing that pisses me off is the guy who snowplowed a road to other shacks and leaves the pile of snow in front of mine. I don’t tell very many people how I’m doing as far as the fishing so I’m not saying they moved close because I’m catching fish, it just makes me mad that they have to be so close. The reason I have a problem with this is because I have an older vexilar that I use. Most people also use them. When they get too close I get all that interference on mine and it’s frustrating.