Provided it doesn't rain tomorrow, think I'm going to head over to Independence Lake in the afternoon. No gas motors over 6hp on this lake so if anyone is interested sitting front seat in my little jon, shoot me a PM or reply.
I'd like to hear how you do. I haven't fished it yet. They originally stocked smallies in it but I've heard they got beat up pretty good the first few years of its existence. Should be some largemouth and panfish. Maybe a few smallies left?
Have been fishing Independence Lake for about 5 years now, but never caught a smallie. When I went there earlier this year, the weeds were just starting to come in, but it looks like they either dredged the weeds out or had a chemical kill. All the nice weedy spots are gone and with them the fish seemed to have disappeared as well. Add that to the brisk winds and my jon couldn't keep up today. All in all very disappointing.
Bummer. I haven't heard they are doing any weed treatment, but they may be. This time of year, some weeds just die out too. I'm more likely to believe that because of the tight budgets.
I was told that most or all of the smallies were caught out because they were very aggressive in the lake - not really their type of habitat. I know the first few seasons after they were stocked, people caught a bunch of them - my neighbors told me they caught 16 keepers one afternoon. They did release all of them. Sounds like maybe the smallies petered out.
I don't remember the weeds dying out like that in years past, but maybe the heat this summer? I don't know. There are some MONSTER green sunfish in the lake, usually catch my limit of keeper largemouth (and release), and a lot of pike (usually between 20"-30"). It was just weird because there were NONE of the weeds I'm used to seeing on the lake in all the places they should be. I saw a few of them back by the launch, but even all the weeds around the cat tails were very sparse.
Ah well, probably going to sell my little boat next year and try to move up to a bigger boat (that won't be able to get on the lake).
That's good and bad. I like the big lakes and the little lakes. Maybe someone did treat the little lake? Kind of strange they would. Could be someone had a grant or some urban fisheries money to spend? I have actually heard many reports this year about weeds being either a lot heavier or a lot more sparse on many lakes which makes me more suspicious that Mother Nature is to blame.
If someone recently treated that little lake, it could explain why the fishing is a little off. Or maybe we can just blame it on Irene?!? ;D