Hi All,

We spent some time today on a lake that used to be our go to spot. Back in the day a dozen LM easy was our norm. Then one year there were spring floods and we think septic systems got in the water. The next year there were weed blooms every where ( think Sargasso sea ) and the fishing went down hill fast.

 Once or twice a year we hit it to see if it might be coming back. It's still a shadow of it's former self.

   Fished it for hours today with only one pickerel to show for it.

How sad to see water like this being so unproductive

I actually fish a pond that is reclaimed sewage water and the fishing is very good, so I'm not sure that would be your issue. 

I'm not a biologist but my thoughts are this:  Plant growth (fed by nutrients (sewage) will produce oxygen HOWEVER, later, those same plants, when dying, take away oxygen.  Too many dying plants (decay) can harm/choke a system.  It may take several years for your lake to come back to its previous "glory."

8 hours ago, Ratherbfishing said:

I'm not a biologist but my thoughts are this:  Plant growth (fed by nutrients (sewage) will produce oxygen HOWEVER, later, those same plants, when dying, take away oxygen.  Too many dying plants (decay) can harm/choke a system.  It may take several years for your lake to come back to its previous "glory."

You could be right, that year we saw "rafts" of dead floating weeds 8-12 ft in dia. Had to keep an eye out that we didn't run into them with the boat. Never saw anything like that before.

My mileage has seen small bodies of water offer a brief window of opportunity for phenomenal fishing with diminishing returns setting in due to nature and fishing pressure. Best: private managed waters if you are fortunate...find another one...

 

good fishing...

Well that's a shame, looks like a darned good spot! Are you sure nothing else happened to it? I used to hear stories of a former small lake we had about 15 miles away from me that produced bass well over 5 lbs. regularly. A flood washed several drums of used brake fluid into it, and by the time they realized this, it was too late. The drums leaked and polluted the water. Lake never recovered, and now you're lucky to catch anything over a pound in it due to the pollution.

What type of other fish besides pickerel do you see? Bluegill, crappie, small minnows, carp?

Tom

The pictures are from a cove in the lower end of a 900+ acre lake. We are more familiar with this lake than any other we fish. We used to see schools of minnows, yellow perch, sun fish, pickerel, bass you name it. The water used to have good visibility. My family had a camp on this lake when I was a kid. Our camp had a nice sandy beach, now it's all mud and silted in. 

 This trip I think we saw one yellow perch and the pickerel we caught, nothing else. I also have been noticing that back in the day the boat launch always had several cars parked there from people fishing. Now we never see more than one or two parked there. ( we go past this launch dozens of times each year on our way to other lakes) All I know for sure is eight, ten years ago the bass fishing was the best we've ever seen ( with multiple 4,5 lb LM ) and after that spring flood it died to almost nothing. Last fall we did catch a couple of small bass there but they were very thin.

14 hours ago, jbmaine said:

The pictures are from a cove in the lower end of a 900+ acre lake. We are more familiar with this lake than any other we fish. We used to see schools of minnows, yellow perch, sun fish, pickerel, bass you name it. The water used to have good visibility. My family had a camp on this lake when I was a kid. Our camp had a nice sandy beach, now it's all mud and silted in. 

 This trip I think we saw one yellow perch and the pickerel we caught, nothing else. I also have been noticing that back in the day the boat launch always had several cars parked there from people fishing. Now we never see more than one or two parked there. ( we go past this launch dozens of times each year on our way to other lakes) All I know for sure is eight, ten years ago the bass fishing was the best we've ever seen ( with multiple 4,5 lb LM ) and after that spring flood it died to almost nothing. Last fall we did catch a couple of small bass there but they were very thin.

Does your states department of natural resources not do creel studies   On this lake.  I know here in Michigan with thousands of lake we have.  The lakes could be on a 3-10 year creel survey rotation. After they do creel survey and other studies  the DNR will adjust stocking data to that certain body of water.  At the very least your states DNR should be able to tell you what happened. I am surprised the amount of data the MiDNR has on just about any body of water in the state.  Most times you just neeed to make a phone call or email 

The DNR simply needs to do a electro shock survey and water chemistry study to determine the lakes health issues.

Tom