Fishing quality

[Shelbyzd]

Hey all, first post. Ive been watching this forum for a long time. Ive had a camp on fish creek, well since forever lol. We went up this past weekend for the 4th and I just wanted to say, I see a lot of negative posts about fish quality, overfishing, etc etc. I actually had a heck of a weekend, we caught nice fish, and some real big bass, two over 5lbs and a lot of 2-3 pounders. Only one dink. Although, has anyone had any luck on fish creek? I have not for a few years now. And carp have really taken it over. Also, the pike seem to have taken a big hit too? Something I'm not used to seeing.

[MrSimon]

I agree, the bass fishing on Black Lake is fantastic. There are tons and tons of fat healthy fish. They can be finicky though and will sometimes shut off for days on end. But when they turn on it's incredible. Spring and Fall are great, but July and August can be really tough. The water turns green and the fish seem to disappear.

The pike fishing has declined significantly. I believe it's because of two reasons. First, over-harvest, especially of larger fish, throughout the year and definitely during the winter. Second, crappie and smallmouth are ferocious shallow water feeders and tend to wipe out pike fry in early Spring.

Black Lake is interesting. The lake seems about 25 years behind in terms of regulation, enforcement, and attitude towards conservation. The local population is CLEARLY not focused on conservation. Nobody cares and they just catch and keep whatever they want. It's an unfortunate and an uneducated perspective. And, for some reason, the out-of-town visitors all seem to have the same mindset. People just fill their coolers and head home.

The lake gets massive amounts of fishing pressure and still produces. It's a testament to how healthy the lake is. But, no matter how good it is, it can't keep up with the over-harvest that happens each year. I've said it a million times, the lake is good now but with strict regulations it would become world class.

[Astro]

I agree on the Bass fishing sometimes it is great . That said I am a out of Towner and have been fishing Black Lake since 1987 and practice catch and release now did keep a few in the past. You are right about no enforcement on the lake in the 30 years I only seen the sheriff twice on the lake as to the meat hunters it should start at the camps who let them clean whatever they catch . Its all about the Cash!!!

[Shelbyzd]

Its kind of hard to consider myself an out of towner. I spent probably equal days home as I have up there. Im only a couple hours away, but spent pretty much entire summers up there and grew up there. If I kept 50 fish over the 32 years I have been there, I would be amazed. Fishing has always been catch and release for me. Anyway, I have noticed a pretty crazy decline in fish creek and also pike size. Its sort of alarming.

[Bexster]

What is going on with the dead snails and green water with green on top of the water that looks like paint? It use to be a great place to fish but the fish catch is greatly declining.

[Musky hunter]

Closed Fish Camp yesterday. The quality of fishing I saw was pretty much average over the last 60 or so years. We had low water and then high water. We had weeds. We had hot weather yet the water temps were low all summer. We had fewer bass but larger bass caught.
As usual, "never seen anything like this since we've been coming here" is the lament.
The more things change the more they stay the same. Stick around. It all evens out.
We had plenty of action days and an equal number of slow to zero days.
As a group, we boated only one musky but lost 2 others. Had numerous follows and missed strikes.
I'm thankful for what the lake gave us.