I was on a route yesterday that I havn't done in awhile.  This is the route where there is a lake that holds some nice carp,bass, perch, etc.  Highly pressured but a fun lake just the same.

When I was on this route a few yrs back ( 2 or 3), they had completely drained this lake.  Not sure why but I saw this and was kinda bummed, wondering how many years it will take to bring it back if they plan on filling it.  

I went by there yesterday and was chatting with a guy who works right next to it and I used to see fishing there all the time.  He said, the fishing in this lake is better than ever.  the carp are bigger and there are noticably more bass than before the lake was drained.

HOW????

The lake was completely empty for 5 months, how could there be fish in there already, nevermind, good size fish that are obviously older than 2-3 yrs???  My buddy has no clue either but isn't complaining because there are very few people who go there now, much like myself, assuming the place was dead for awhile.

This lake was not re-stocked or even initially stocked, ever.

HOW CAN THERE BE ADULT FISH IN THERE???

Isn't that the guy you told me about that drinks at least 12 beers a day and use to take the short bus to school!

alot of our lakes here in nj get drained often.(the smaller ones.) Generally these lakes have channel running through the bottom that drains directly to the mouth of the creek or river that empties it. This low spot usually holds enough water to hold the fish that are smart enough to dive . looks like a dried lake bed with a creek running through it.  Unless they drained every inch then i dont know how. i have no idea why the fishing is better though. cleaner happier fish?

Here's the kicker.  Spring fed, no creeks.

Redtail- No, that would be a buddy of mine up in Harvard.  Different guy.

could a flood have stocked it to some degree?  We have lots of small park and neighborhood ponds near where I used to live that were never stocked but full of fish.  I've seen the creeks rise in a minor flood to cover those ponds and presto, they are stocked.  Seems like it happened 1-2 times per year.

Just a thought.  didn't you guys have massive flooding last year or was it this spring?

It can only be one of three things:  (1) Flooding as suggested by Flechero, (2) Someone placed those fish in that body of water, and (3) Aliens abducted those fish and brought them back to the wrong body of water.  

LBH, you didn't happen to notice if the vegetation around this lake was pressed down into nice geometric shapes, did you?

The same thing happened to our lake here on campus at James Madison University. I heard they drained it like 5 years ago and found a dozen kegs and a truck...This year I discovered that the lake has a healthy population of fish including a few crappie, tons of bluegills, some shiners, a ton of carp (plenty around 15lbs)  and a good population of up to 2.5-3lb bass! The extra surprise with this lake is that being fed by a creek that runs through the city of Harrisonburg and campus, it is often times very polluted. There is a lot of trash floating in it and the water often times looks very stagnant and gross.

Could be that someone tossed out a few fish there.  Also could be that various birds carried eggs on there legs and deposited them in the lake.  Presto, 3 years down the road, very possible to have 2lb bass.

Also, what is the lake called?

Plastik

Tiogue lake, coventry RI

We've had ponds dry up on our property and within a few years, fish. These ponds are fed by pasture land.

Could only attributate to birds flying in from other ponds and had fish eggs on their bodies.

Who knows!

fish eggs cant really be the answer if there are already nice size bass and carp. The pond by my house was stocked by people transfering fish form a resevoir, i say somthin like that happened. Who knows though

LBH,

Here's an article that explains why they drained it:

http://www.awriter.com/tioguelake.html

I would assume that it was restocked.

Tom

interesting article, nice to know your fish and wildlife dept. is on top of things.

It's pretty clear from the article that there was no legal stocking of carp.  so the big ones your buddy is catching were illegally planted as adult fish.

If as you say there are no creeks, culverts, or anything connecting it to another body of water there is no other expanation that fits the facts.

I like the bird theory. Or locals are catching in one lake and bringing them to tiogue, unofficial restocking

russ hear anything about boone lake?

Lots of small bass and cats.  That wasn't completely empty like Tiougue though, just lowered alot to fix the dam.  Plus it is creek fed.