# Pay lakes



## mason08 (Oct 16, 2010)

Just wanted to see what everyones thoughts were on paylakes.


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## spfldbassguy (Mar 23, 2009)

Really don't care too much at all for any of them.


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## H.I.McDunnough (Sep 24, 2010)

I've never actually fished at a pay lake but I was considering it just so my girlfriend's little boy could actually have a better chance at catching something big. Neither one of us are experienced anglers. But there's a few things that immediately turned me off after the initial research:

1) It seems most of them want to charge you a lot of money for a lot of time. We generally don't have enough time to fish 12-48 hours at a crack. If they wanted to charge me around $5 for 2-3 hours I might be more willing to try.

2) There's no reduced prices for when their stocks get low. It seems the few that I've checked out still charge the same rates no matter how long it's been since they last stocked. Doesn't seem right to still be paying $15 or $20 to fish their lakes when most of the fish have already been pulled out.

3) They should charge less for people that only want to catch and release.

I know it would probably be difficult for them to chase out every person when their 3 hours is up, or to check and see whether or not they're actually releasing, but until I can find one that wants to operate along similar guidelines it's public waters all the way.


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## tommy454 (May 20, 2008)

I would rather spend $15 on 2 or 3 new lures and lose them in the river than pay to catch nothing at a pay lake. Sure there are some monsters in the paylakes. I personally would rather catch a 18-20" smallmouth than a 30-40lb catfish. Didn't used to be that way. I have fished my share of paylakes. But I enjoy the challenge of finding the fish rather than just sitting on a small pond waiting for them to find my bait.


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## bsmith (Mar 26, 2010)

It is my opinion that paylakes contribute to the destruction of our fisheries. The catfish fishery is the simplest example. It is my understanding that most of the catfish that you find in paylakes come from commercial fishing operations. They net lots of adult catfish out of the Ohio river. They sell the large ones to paylake operators. By going to paylakes you are supporting the industry. It's destructive to the gene pool and definitely not a sustainable practice. I choose not to support paylakes. However, I don't look down upon people that use them. It's their choice and I don't think it's my place to tell them what they should and should not do with their time and money.


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## mason08 (Oct 16, 2010)

I dont think there netted out of the river.They are farm raised as far as channels go but thats is what they say.I go to them a couple times a yr.I dont own a boat so its the beat way two catch the big ones...but on the other hand what i pay to fish i could save up and buy a boat lol.But i also like to bring my son fishing with me who is 2yrs old.I can bring him there and its safer for him...he cant follow me up the river wading and walking the banks plus it allows me to invole the whole family bring chairs and sit and have a good time so it has its pros and cons just like anything i guess.


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## River Anglin (Feb 18, 2008)

$15.00-$20.00? Wow! I've never fished in a paylake so I had no idea that people paid that much to sit and watch their bobber float.

I used to visit a paylake frequently on business and I was always amazed at the type of clientele around the place. Trash lying all around them and they looked like they lived in a cardboard box, yet they pay $20.00 to go fishing? I played 18 holes of golf last week for $18.00 and that included the cart!


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## mason08 (Oct 16, 2010)

i dont know of any place charging 15-20$.Monroe lake is 12,triangle is 10,stoney meadows is 11,all for 12hrs.And if u catch a tagged fish could win up to a couple hundred dollars.Plus there are jackpots.


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## SpecialNick (Dec 8, 2008)

the real pain is catching bait (im assuming its catfishing your doing). After that you just need to find someone who knows what they are doing at that lake. which is hard cuz everyone there claims to know everything. It can be fun, you'll catch a lot of giant fish. but its not cheap and catching bait gets old.


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## Fisherman 3234 (Sep 8, 2008)

The vast majority of paylakes here in Ohio do way more harm then good. The Flats and Blues that are in paylakes are river fish and a great majority of them were poached from native waters here in Ohio. It's sad when a 30+lb fish takes anywhere from 12-20 years to attain that size, but after it's thrown in a paylake they typically only last a month...


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## Salmonid (Apr 14, 2004)

as far as pay ponds go, if they have ANY cats bigger then about 4 lbs, I GAURANTEE you they were taken from a public body of water by Hoop Net, Jug Line or Trot Line. any smaller they may very well be pond raised. We tournament fish the Ohio River for cats around Cinci and I can tell you, we have some catfish "Pros" in our area, folks who fish all over the Midwest and 3-4 days a week year round. Now we have a 4 fish Limit and its typical for our tourneys to only have the top 3-4 teams actually bring 4 fish into the scales ( 14" minimum), Not that I am an expert but the last 4 times out, I have managed a total of 2 bites and zero fish. 

The Ohio River in this area is hammered by the commercial fishing guys, nets every couple of hundred feet at times, it is amazing there are ANY fish left in the river at all, all because of 1 thing, Pay Ponds.......trust me, nobody is catching fish for sales to restuarants its all about the big dollar fish. 

Ok so you ask, where is the problem?, the problem is that while Ohio doesnt allow any commercial fishing, Ky does and for $50 a year, I , as an Ohio resident, can buy a commercial license from Ky, fish as many hoop nets/trot lines or whatever and keep EVERY fish I catch, even 1 lbers all the way up to 100 lbers. NO LIMITS! Now along those lines, many, many times have I been downstream of hoopnetters when they are pulling there nets and here comes tons of carp, drum and about every other species half dead floating right past us, its really sad, there is no regard for the fishery as a whole nor about the future, its easy money for folks and most serious pay ponds have there own Ky license and a boat with nets, just look around the next time your at your lake and youll see their boat, I bet! 

BTW, the commercial licenses are on a fast rise and now it seems every tom dick and harry is doing it while Ky reaps the benefits of quick license sales,there is no cap to it nor any enforcement either, I can tell you many of the tourney guys have gotten props stuck in the nets that are inches below the surface with no bouys or jugs marking them, I have seen on the fish finder long strings of fish caught in nets and at the ramps, 1 guy may take 700-1000 lbs of fish in one mornings haul from 1 string of nets,in his large tanks in the back of a Pick Up truck, when you see that, youll about cry. Needless to say, every time you go to a paypond, if they have any flatheads or blues in the lake, they are GUILTY as charged of raping the very resources we all own and pay for. 

When you pay to fish for those beutiful wild caught fish that have been put into a 1 acre pond with another 100 fish with no food available for them, its a wonder why they are caught on nigthtcrawlers with WD-40 sprayed on it. Needless to say, the catfish tourney guys are sick and tired of releasing fish to only be caught the next day by the netters. Who are ever lurking on this very website looking for someone to tell about all the cats they caught at this XXXXX spot. We have seen it and even baited some of the netters with false reports, LOL Funny part is the next day seeing 2-3 different boats fighting over who can get there nets out the fastest.

Sorry for the rant, supporting a pay pond is bad news....IMHO. If you need a place to take your kid, send me a PM if you live near Dayton, Il get you hooked up. 

Salmonid


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## 7thcorpsFA (Mar 6, 2010)

Won't find me at a pay lake. Until I joined this site, I didn't know how they got their fish. Not any sport in it for me. Seems like a bad joke.


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## mason08 (Oct 16, 2010)

i had no idea they got them from the river no more pay lakes for me.looks like its time to buy that boat


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## H.I.McDunnough (Sep 24, 2010)

mason08 said:


> i dont know of any place charging 15-20$.Monroe lake is 12,triangle is 10,stoney meadows is 11,all for 12hrs.And if u catch a tagged fish could win up to a couple hundred dollars.Plus there are jackpots.


http://www.reilakes.com/fishing.html

This one is pretty close to me but I was turned off by the price. Now after reading Salmonid's post, I'm especially turned off.


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## bsmith (Mar 26, 2010)

Thanks you Salmonid. You were able to articulate what I was trying to say much better than I was able to.


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## BassAddict83 (Sep 21, 2010)

I will NEVER fish pay lakes. Not only are they torture to the fish that were put in them but in my opinion there is absolutely no challenge whatsoever in going to a 100-200 sq ft pond where you know exactly where the fish are, putting some bait on a hook, throwing it out to the bottom of the pond, and just sitting and waiting for one of the poor starving fish to bite. Sure it can be fun to battle a 30-40 lb monster cat but can you really say you earned that catch? Anybody with heavy enough line could do that. I personally love the challenge of first finding the fish, and then getting them to strike at a piece of plastic that I presented in such a way that made them believe it was real live prey. Sometimes I win... Sometimes the fish win... But when I win it is much more rewarding than any amount of money a pay lake has to offer. Fishing will never be about money for me. It's a test of my intelligence and skills. THAT is what I love about the sport. And when I catch a fish, it is put back into the environment it belongs in to live the life it is supposed to. So again I say, I will NEVER fish a pay lake.


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## treytd32 (Jun 12, 2009)

the only time I have ever fished a pay lake in my life, I was 6 years old and with my grandparents who really only enjoyed sitting out and spending time with myself and brother and sister who were my age or younger..if they ever wanted to do any real fishing it would not be at a pay lake lol i can agree with the family idea of it but that could also be done at a number of lakes in the area. still a good idea for a family activity


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## Dandrews (Oct 10, 2010)

Others have already mentioned the mortality rates at these lakes, they&#8217;re over-crowded under-fed and over-stressed from being caught and released over and over again. I&#8217;m by no means a catfish expert but I enjoy catching a catfish as much as anything. I know the blues in the Ohio River are stocked, they&#8217;re paid for with tax money, license fees and various other fees tacked on to the sport of fishing. I have no qualms about paying my share for the sport I enjoy; I hold licenses from multiple states. What pushes me over the edge is some joker nets fish that we the fishing community have already paid for, takes them somewhere and charges us again to fish for them.


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## tightline67 (Sep 24, 2009)

I like to go pay lake fishing once in a while, build a fire, knock back a few PBRs , but the one i liked to go to, got to be no place to take your family (at least not at night) theres no law once you pass thru their gate, anything goes,a constant parade of lowlifes coming around selling every happy ending service, or something to smoke,shoot, or snort. I hear its under new mgmt now , so was thinking of giving it another try, but after reading salmonids, and dandrews posts, i will prob never go another pay lake, i didnt realize all that was going on, i just assumed all their fish were farm raised.


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## gottabite (Sep 29, 2009)

Paylakes have changed ALOT in the past several years. Some of you may have known me when I was a youngster. My family owned/operated Lake Comfort out on Jacksonburg rd., Until probally 1982-83. Back then I can assure you all fish where farm raised. At that time it was a place people could go and catch catfish they could take home and eat. As someone had mentioned earlier we rarely ever saw a Channel Cat go into our lake over 3 or 4 lbs. I believe my dad would have to request a couple larger ones every now and then to tag. (maybe 10lb)
Now days it is all about the monsters 25lbs and up. I have not been to a paylake in about 3 years now. Last I fished one was between Hamilton and Ross. While I was in the bait house, the phone rang, I overheard the conversation and it was the guy's brother who had just caught a 42lb Flathead out of the gmr and was on his way there to sell it to them. Sure enough it showed up a few minutes later and put in a holding tank to make sure it was going to survive. They did not know I was paying attention, but I saw the man get paid right out of the register. Later I walk into the bait house and casually asked " do you guys buy fish from just anyone" NO we don't buy fish, this one was donated.
Seems like a caged hunt, to me. The over stocked, fish are usally not healthy
you run a good risk of infection handling them, I assume from the nasty water they live. Probally from all the dead ones. 
I sure there are some decent lakes around, and they have their place. Plenty of reasons people fish them. Just not for me anymore, or should I say yet.


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## Intimidator (Nov 25, 2008)

I have no use for them. 
Fishing to me is more than just sitting there catching fish, it is understanding and learning the fishery, understanding and learning about the fish, and learning and understanding what it takes to catch fish all year long on artificial bait. The problem is that Mother Nature makes sure to continually throw you curve balls so that you constantly learning and trying to understand

My soon-to-be 9 yo son also understands the difference between Fishing and Catching Fish, he enjoys learning about the fishery, the fish, and how to fish (he is now skilled with jigs, cranks, and swimbaits). He also understands that sometime you go home empty handed and you learn from that.


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## Jackfish (Apr 15, 2004)

I will hit a pay lake a couple times a year with my little ones.

I love to fish the GMR, but dont feel safe taking them out there bank fishing, and why wife would kill me if I put the kids on a boat in the river.

Im looking for a fairly easy outlet that gets my kids outdoors and doesnt take much of a commitment, and provides a safer environment than my normal cat locations.

As far as the fishing goes. I can catch way more fish in the river than I can a pay lake. There are some big fish in pay lakes, but they are not healthy wild fish  and dont come close to matching the power of a wild fish. A 8lb wild cat will outfight a 46lb pay lake cat, from my experience.

My girl has been going on Musky outings with me since she was two  we have a blast together  but its a lot of work  sometimes I need an outing that is quick and easy  especially when her 3 year brother is along.

Im against pay lakes on principal, but will continue to visit a few times a year until my runts are big enough to do some real cat fishing with me.


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