# CC Fishery Needs Improvement



## troutski (Oct 9, 2005)

My opinion is that Caesar Creek does needs help in the fish department. It is a beautiful lake but the fishing is poor. It probably suffers from a poor spawn hatch. Crappie fishing is way down over the last three years. CC lacks weeds to help protect fry. CC has a lot of carp and now has an infestation of zebra mussels that blankets the bottom. Saugeye stocking is not the answer either. Ohio needs to do a better job with their lakes!


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## kingfisher (Nov 29, 2004)

yea i agree, ohio fisheries management is horrible, the stocking program is good, but the limits are no where near strict enough. Gotta keep the meat hunters happy i guess


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## fishcrazy (Apr 6, 2004)

I thought the same thing when I first started fishing there. It can be tough out there. I had the best crappie spring ever on caesars last year, even some 15 and 17 inchers. You have to find the secret, which is tottally different with other lakes. I have two suggestions. 1. For Crappie put on a 1/8 jig and milk chartruce twister (minnow tipper) and troll (yes troll) the edge lines of the lake in 10 to 20 ft of water, with med slow speed on the trolling motor. For Saugeye do the same but have the bait on the bottom and no higher of the bottom than 10 inches.

Not a expert, but it worked for me.

Fishcrazy :T


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## Guest (Jan 3, 2006)

Yes we do need more limits on ALL fish if we want to maintain our fish population. If we had limits both the meathunters and the selective harvesters could be happy. I do beleive CC does have some limits but we need them on ALL lakes on ALL fish. And they need to be much stricter. This is just my opionion if you want your grandkids to enjoy fishing like you have.


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## flathunter (Apr 5, 2004)

Good post trap, I agree with you!


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## dinkbuster1 (Oct 28, 2005)

just gonna add my 2 cents here, i live near ceasars creek but think i might have fished there 3 times so i dont know it very well. i agree that saugeye are not an answer to making a fishery better unless you have an over abundance of shad. in fact i beleive adding saugeye can ruin a lake. i have a park near me that has an old gravel pit lake that is about 200 acres, eastwood lake. now this hasnt been the best lake in the world to fish but it wasnt bad. until the park district started stocking 'eyes. the perch have dissapeared, very hard to catch a bluegill now, shad are scarce,crappie, bass, etc. over the years ive caught a few saugeyes while crappie fishing there and have found all kinds of fish in their bellys, including small channel cats. i honestly think those 'eyes have cleaned that lake out.


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## Salmonid (Apr 14, 2004)

Hey Dink, I have some experience with Eastwood and unfortunately, its those same meathunters who say "we want fish to eat" and the saugeyes are the perfect fit for most ohio lakes, they are a Put, Grow and Take fishery. 
We have to remember the DNR has an obligation to ALL anglers in Ohio and that includes sport and meat eaters. Typically the meateaters are from an older generation where this was much more common and they have a very strong voice within the DNR, I personally dont have a problem with selective harvest of certain sizes and species. (so dont take this as any type of attack) 
I agree that panfish are often sacrificed in all the Saugeye fisheries but a decision has to be made as to what type of fishery do we ( DNR) want to promote in each lake. It is unfortunate that Ohio has decided for us that most lakes are to become a Saugeye fishery ( recently added Loramie, Acton Lakes) so I suppose its a blessing that Ceasers Creek is still valued as a multi species fishery ( Musky,Eyes, White bass and every once in a while, Bass) and that we stil have CJ Brown as a true Walleye Fishery. Many are concerened that the Wiper fishery at Kiser may hurt the excellent panfish fishery.

What most folks in the fishing world dont realize is that the state really has no money nor bodies left to do much of anything other then to just maintain what is being done now. Just be glad the local fishing is as good as it is considering all the local poaching that we have here.

Good discussion guys!
Salmonid


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## dinkbuster1 (Oct 28, 2005)

hey thanks for not slammin me about keeping fish lol. i do on ocassion get the evil eye when i keep fish but i honestly dont give a s###. i am a conservation minded person and only keep a few a year and i only keep fish from areas that have an over abundance of the type of fish that i eat. my grandfather taught me to make sure that i eat the fish i'm after during the season, makes you a better fisherman and/or hunter when you take into your body what your after.


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## kingfisher (Nov 29, 2004)

I keep quite a few saugeye simply because they taste good and they serve no purpose since they don't spawn and are mainly just in the lake for temporary entertainment. The crappie fishing at Caesars creek is actually not bad compared to lakes like cowan due to the 9 in. limit put into effect. I catch many good fish over 10 in. in CC and very few over 8 in. in Cowan. This limit obviously works wonders and its a shame the state doesn't put it into effect on all ohio lakes. Almost all great bass lakes in the country have very strict limits (lake Fork, Dale hollow, etc.). The proof that stricter limits work is out there everywhere you look,and with lake erie falling victim to gobies, a strict slot limit might be the only way to save the entire smallmouth population from rapidly declining.


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## Guest (Jan 3, 2006)

If we all agree about limits, then why dont we try do do something about it? I have wrote the DNR and have good the same generic reply back. Why stop at ceasors on the crappie limits when cowan is a much smaller lake and gets hit just as hard? I mean the way they manage most stuff just dont make sense to me.


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## gulfvet (Apr 14, 2004)

I've fished all over the US and I think stricter limits would be a good thing _IF_ ODNR has the manpower to enforce them. I've seen people go into all kinds of waters in states ranging from Ohio to my home in Illinois to Minnesota and Nevada and just take whatever they want, regardless of size limits. And by the time the fish and game folks catch up with them, the evidence is done away with one way or another. 

I also agree with several of you about ODNR overdoing it with 'eyes. 

In Lake Mead by Las Vegas it's the same thing, only with stripers. They stocked way too many stripers which eventually overgrazed the lake ending the reign of the native rainbow trout and the black bass that had been stocked earlier as the top predators. Later you couldn't hardly find a trout or a bass, only stripers cats and carp. Then the stripers started starving themselves out when the lake had a couple of poor years of shad hatch. I caught a 25 inch striper on 4lb test that was so emaciated I scarcely got a pound of meat off it when I filleted it. It wasn't even that much of a challenge to land it, it had no fight left in it. In think the ODNR better start managing according to what's best for the ecosystems they're dealing with instead of what's going to please some group or other. Healthy lakes are money makers. Lakes out of balance start getting called things like the "Dead Sea", right? 

And the best thing to do for Eastwood would be to quit catering to the powerboat crowd. That lake is way too shallow and devoid of structure for the fish to have anyplace to hide from all those propellers. Maybe that's why my best catches from there have come at night in November. The boaters have all gone home. Now understand, I have nothing against powerboats on lakes like CC or CJ where the fish have an opportunity to hide, but Eastwood is just a big gravel pit. I really think Blue Lake back there at the end of Eastwood is actually deeper and contains more structure per acre than Eastwood. Eastwood needs a 10 hp limit if they are interested in it as a fishery. But that's the problem. The hydroplane races are too big a money maker for the metro parks for them to do anything as silly as making a decision that favors fish who don't pay any taxes.


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## dinkbuster1 (Oct 28, 2005)

dont even get me started about eastwood lakes management  .


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## TheKing (Apr 15, 2004)

I fished Caesar's and Anderson's Fork as a teenager, years before it was dammed up and the lake was formed. As creeks they were great fisheries.

The first few years of Caesar's was really good. My dad use to take us boys about once a week. Fantastic fishing every time. After about 5 years, the good fishing went away and has not ever come back. I still check it out once or twice a year.......same dead sea every time. Creel limits are not needed there - I have never heard of anyone getting a decent mess of fish since the old days. Something happened to kill off the fish or take it out of balance and it was not the fisherman.


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## kingfisher (Nov 29, 2004)

One thing Ive noticed about CC is the lack of quality vegetation. I don't know why there is hardly any, I guess the lake is too rocky, but that would definatly help the fishing if some pads or weeds would come up in there.


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## troutski (Oct 9, 2005)

This is what I was getting at. I have yet to see a stringer of fish taken from CC. I would feel good if the "meat hunters" were the problem. I used to fish at the 200 acre Black Hawk Lake in Wisconsin and catch crappies like crazy by casting. Even at the 220 acre Lake Pelham in Culpeper, Virginia, I once caught over 100 crappies in two hours. A crappie almost every cast. This is why CC is frustrating to me. It should be crappie heaven but it's not.


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## JIG (Nov 2, 2004)

Sounds like WB! Some call it the Black Sea and others say theres no fish in it but.....I think the low water markers should stay in all year. Helped a bunch on WB with boat props. The water level is key. If it drops so do the weeds.


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## taxiecab (Apr 24, 2004)

I am one of the older guys on here past 70 years of age so I can speak with some experience on C C and it's fish populations.
First of all it is a great lake to fish with huge population of white and black crappie and the 9" limit has helped it greatly. There are good populations of saugeyes, bluegills, Ky spotted bass and large mouth bass. The only chnage that I have noticed is the white bas seemed to have fallen off in numbers in resent years but this was do to over fishing years ago and to some bad spawn years.
You can not effectively enforce any regulations of any kind without proper man power. I have fished this lake regularly since I retired in 1995 and many years before than and I have yet ever been stopped by any one to make a check of my catch*** never. That will tell you something if you are thinking of some kind of enforcement. yet my neighbor's bother went there on a sunday and got checked and was fined over $200 dollars for 2 undersize crappies. wow That would hurt.
The two main problems of this lake are toooo many boats all the time in the summer and DEEP WATER. Most fishermen can't fish deep water. When i say deep water I am talking of over 20 fow for several types of fish.


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## JIG (Nov 2, 2004)

The clearer the water the more they move. In what direction is pending on time of year and water table. All reflects water temp and 02. Alot of lakes lack it and structure for the amount of fish they hold. At low pool the worst. Becomes when to fish deep and when to fish shallow at any givin time night or day. It ALL affects ALL fish. Different light or UV penatrating the water drives them all down. Crappies are 2nd for sensative sight. Then bass followed by catfish and gills. Some fish turn on and some off according to light levels. Takes ALOT of trial and error!  200 FOR 2 FISH!!!!!!!


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## BlueBoat98 (Nov 5, 2004)

I might as well chime in here too.

I'm also one of the "older" generation although I'm not too close to that 70 mark yet.  I've been fishing C.J. a couple times a week for quite a few years and I've also never been checked for length or limit of Walleyes - or a license for that matter. I've also never cheated on the rules. In the course of a year I release a lot more keeper 'eyes than I take home for the skillet. I also enforce a personal slot limit of about 16 - 21 inches. 

Maybe I'm missing something but I see very few anglers taking short Walleyes at C.J. The ones that do seem to have missed the signs posted all around the lake and are embarrassed when it is pointed out to them. The lake regulars enforce the limits through "peer pressure" at least as well as DNR could do. The result is that the lake is full of 'eyes four pounds and up as well as huge Cats and White Bass plus big Bluegills, Crappies, Smallies and Largemouth. I tend to believe that those native fish find their own natural balance and don't really destroy each others populations. Remember, C.J. is basically a "bathtub" lake and is only 2/3 the size of C.C. Of course, I'm prejudice toward Walleyes and Saugeyes but I doubt that they harm the balance. Stipers and Wipers are not really native around here and might be a different story. I know, White Bass may not be "native" to some of these waters either but they also don't grow to 20 pounds plus.

I'm definitely in favor of length and creel limits on most fish especially Channels, Flatheads, Crappies, and Saugeyes. There is no way I will ever understand how anyone, "meathunter" or not, would take the trouble to clean a 9" Saugeye or Cat or a 7" Crappie. It just makes no sense.

Anyway, I guess my bottom line suggestion is that we try a little more of that peer pressure thing on the knuckleheads who kill baby fish. This state is broke and they're not going to allocate more money to enforcing fishing regulations. We've got to help.

MC


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## TheKing (Apr 15, 2004)

Taxi- I have read your posts before about the great CC fishing. But you are the only one. Hopefully no one will find your honey hole.  
I would love to see some nice catches from CC. But never have.  

Just this year, Crappie USA has canceled their event that was running at CC for many years. I think the winning catch on last years event was 3.5 lbs, and only seven boats had limits.

If you think you have been doing good since '95, you should have seen it in the early 1980's.


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## cincinnati (May 24, 2004)

CC is an easy drive from 3 major cities - Dayton, Cincinnati & Columbus. Is it any wonder that there are always so many boats & that the fish are tough to find?

Take a Canadian fly-in trip & be amazed @ how good fishing can be in the absence of a trillion boats & fishermen!


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## Guest (Jan 4, 2006)

I can understand that the DNR would not always be able to enforce the limits if they were set. But I think they still would help out alot becasue most of the law abiding citizens would follow them. 

I still wonder at how someone can complain about catching no fish, but then when the fish are biting, they go out and keep hundreds of them.


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## gulfvet (Apr 14, 2004)

I moved here in '95 along with my unit from Offutt AFB in Omaha. I started fishing almost as soon as I arrived and fish quite often. And in all this time I have never been checked or seen anyone else checked, off base. I've been checked twice at Bass Lake on base. ODNR just doesn't seem to have the manpower necessary to get the job done. There's just too many acres and too many people for the staff they have now. However, as someone said here, most fishermen are law-abiding and would honor size and catch limits. Somebody else said earlier that there need to be more statewide limits. I agree with that. Growiing up in Illinois it was well known that the minimum size for bass was 10 inches, because it was the same all over the state. The same held for Minnesota when I was going to school up there. Having different limits for different waters might be contributing to the problem.


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## Nightprowler (Apr 21, 2004)

Dayton Daily news reports "CC confirmed to have Zebra Mussels". Some call them "aquatic nuisance species" and others call them "invasive species," but the bottom line is the same. These are species of animals and plants that we really don't want in our fishing waters. They damage fisheries. They can completely change our fish habitat. And once these invaders arrive, there's often nothing that can be done to get rid of them. 

We can always blame the Jetskiers!


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## fishcrazy (Apr 6, 2004)

Okay, Limits are great but if the fishery does'nt have the carring capacity. It will do no good. For example, I think pond stocking companies only stock certain species at 1 or 50 per water acre. The reason is to make sure there is enough food and habitat to support the fish. Over population is worse than underpopulation. (example 9 million 4 inch crappie in cowan lake). We need to get a expert opinion (biologist) (Not that there is no experts here).
One that comes to mind is elmer Heybob from ODNR. This guy is sharp and he's a sportsman (Muskie not Carp) LOL just like us. Now zebra muscles have been there for several years, they make the water clearer which if managed right could produce wonderful weeds which the lake lacks. Elmer should be at the columbus muskie show this febuary. 

Not intended to agitate, just my opinion. 

Whats next antler limits???? This is for you traphunter!!!! I could'nt resist.

Tight lines everybody


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## big_b16 (Oct 17, 2004)

Dang fishcrazy, don't slaughter the guys name...Elmer Heyob, Aquatic Biologist, ODNR Division of Wildlife District 1, 614/644-3925.


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## Guest (Jan 10, 2006)

Hey I would be 110% for antler restrictions.


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## fishcrazy (Apr 6, 2004)

leaches are te key for saugeye. 

fishcrazy


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## Walter Adkins (May 20, 2004)

Good posts guy. I have not fished this lake yet, so I have no idea about the lake. I can relate the problems that you are having with some waters I fish.


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