Stocking efforts don’t always get same results

I have often wondered why fish react in one lake differently than in others. Same species, different methods of catching.

And why do some fish bite better in one lake than another? A good example is Indian Lake. Saugeyes are stocked in just about every lake in southwest Ohio. Yet Indian (which is technically in central Ohio) outshines them all. If I want to catch saugeyes, I drive up to Indian, not down to Paint Creek, Cowan or Acton, even though all have been stocked with saugeyes from the same hatchery.

The question that really baffles me: Why do fish bite on one bait in one lake, but on other baits in another lake? At Caesar Creek Lake, nobody uses Vib-Es or Vibra-Max to catch saugeyes. Yet those are two of the best baits at Indian and C.J. Brown.

When the Ohio Division of Wildlife decides to stock a particular lake with a species of fish, you can be sure there has been a great deal of research and thought involved. Biologists look at habitat: Are there enough food sources for that species? Is the water temperature and quality suitable for that species? Is there adequate cover to protect small fish from large fish?

They really know what they are doing ... but sometimes they miss. A case in point is East Fork Lake. It’s a nice 2,160acre lake about 25 miles east of Cincinnati, known for its outstanding crappie fishing and its success with the hybrid striped bass stocking program. After a thorough study of the lake and comparing it to almost identical conditions at nearby Caesar Creek Lake (2,870 acres, 50 miles away), state biologists decided that since musky stocking worked so well at Caesar Creek, it should at East Fork. Not so fast. After 10 years, biologists are about to give up and stop stocking East Fork.

“We have not had great survival and there seems to be very little angler interest,” said Rich Carter, executive administrator of fish management for the Division of Wildlife. So more than likely the division will cease stocking muskies at East Fork and look for another lake in southwest Ohio. They’ve tried Rocky Fork, Cowan and now East Fork, but all have failed. Hail Caesar.

Sometimes a lake simply will not hold fish.