# Lake Isabella ShovelHeads and BLUES



## smokeyjoe (Jan 15, 2008)

I was out at the lake today catch me some more trout and the fish truck came in and they stocked 1150 pounds of Shovell's and BLUES they said that in the next couple weeks another 1000 pounds were coming...great big uns up to 50 pounds....wowwwww


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## Buffdaddyfish (Sep 14, 2006)

I had heard from someone this was a great cat lake at one time, but the same person also told me that it wasn't considered a good cat lake for a while. Glad to hear they are putting some good ones in there!


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## JerryA (Aug 16, 2004)

I wonder where those big cats are coming from? I'm not sure this stocking of a pay lake is a good thing.


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## sevenx (Apr 21, 2005)

JerryA, I believe the smaller channels are farm raised, mostly one two three pounder put in to make this lake a good place for family outings but fish the size of the ones spoken of here are likely harvested from rivers. I am with you on the stocking of the larger fish, not really a good thing in the long run as many of these big fish will end up dead long before there full size potential is reached and take away the opportunity for those of us who fish the river systems. Scotty over at Isabella is real good guy and trying hard to make the lake a great one so there is a chance the fish are farm raised but fish this size are very expensive to raise so I have my doubts. I know many less scrupilous paylakes buy fish captured from the rivers. I don't like this aspect of paylakes and feel they should be checked as to where they get there fish before fishing them. Isabella as I mention is managed very well, lets hope these fish are coming from a credible source. S


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## [email protected] (Dec 22, 2006)

As a rule of thumb, a lake will likely only support 100lbs of predators per acre. For lake Isabella that is 2800 lbs. 1150lbs of 2-3lb cats could easily double in size in one year. Add another 1000lbs of cats and double that. Are no other predator fish present? This sounds like a wreckless stocking strategy.


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## bassattacker (Mar 14, 2007)

isnt Lake Isabella in the hamilton county parks district? im not sure they would like being bunched in with tru pay lakes, on that note being its a county park im sure they had to abide by regulations, although i agree with you all about fish being taken from our rivers to stock pay lakes and such, but until someone finds out where they got the fish from we shouldnt pass judgement on them.


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## sevenx (Apr 21, 2005)

Pond put in those terms it sure does sound wreckless. I know alot of fish are taken out at 3 pounds thats around 50 fish. It seems that would not be hard to clear out at 20 to 50 anglers on a given day. It is meant to be fished catch and keep for the family looking for a fun day and some fish dinners. as for the big guys around 35 fish at 30 pounds. I know there was at one time pike stocked but not sure they still put them in or not. How many pike would would a pond that size support? What are your thought on the numbers does that sound about right or am I way off. Also how many time a year to they stock, Thanks for the info. S


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## sevenx (Apr 21, 2005)

Yes they are in the Ham Co Park districts a good point and your right about passing judgement. my comments were made meant in that light if you missunderstood my intent. I am certenly no expert just my .02 Some of the facts (general term) were learned here on ogf. S


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## sevenx (Apr 21, 2005)

Just so I am clear not arguing with anyone here just looking to talk about the issue and become more edjucated along the way. S


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## carxman17 (Aug 23, 2007)

my dad has fished isebella since he was a kid. I have fished it for years my self. I remember when it was great for catching big shovels & blues some upto 50 or 60lbs. They used to offer bounty in the way of free fishing tickets for larger cats. They have tried to make it more family friendly the last few years. They stock crappie, hybrid gills(big ones) & bass now along with lots of channels. my dad & I have spent many a hot summer nights fishing there for cats. we usually catch many channels & an acational shovel or blue. I know they get there trout & from Jones's in newtown. I would asume they also get there shovels & blues there also. but don't know for sure.


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## sevenx (Apr 21, 2005)

Jones fish hatchery does not raise flat head or blue cats. My guess is there coming from some in the south. Just a guess


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## sevenx (Apr 21, 2005)

Isabella stocking schedule, 28 acre lake stocked weekly check schedule for totals http://www.hamiltoncountyparks.org/rec_fishing/2008_Fish_Stocking_Schedule.pdf


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## carxman17 (Aug 23, 2007)

you are probably right. wasnt sure havent seen the truck with big ones on it yet.


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## bassattacker (Mar 14, 2007)

its all goods sevenx, i just didnt wanna see people bunch that lake in with tru pay lakes so it didnt start a war...LOL... never fished isabella before but its on my list to try cause my brother n law lives down there and fishes the park lakes all the time, id like to know more about the big ones and where they came from, hopefully they was farm raised or fish rescued from pay lakes.


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## misfit (Apr 5, 2004)

most paylakes get their big cats from commercial netters.fish usually come from the ohio or other southern waters.those fish are not farm raised as it would take years to grow them and cost would be enormous.


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## sevenx (Apr 21, 2005)

Misfit, I believe that you are 100&#37; correct. Thanks, Bass, understood and a good point. S


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## CHEFSKIP (Jul 25, 2006)

Dont forget the amount of pressure isabella gets those 2-3# channels might not make it more then a couple weeks before getting caught and eaten. Ive always thought of isabella as more of a put and take lake then an actual eco system. seems like after a busy weekend "Lake No Nibbles" is empty and needs a refil


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## carxman17 (Aug 23, 2007)

chefskip you are right. If you dont fish it fri night sat or sun. forget about it.


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## Chuck P. (Apr 8, 2004)

misfit said:


> it would take years to grow them and cost would be enormous.


Just out of pure curiosity, I wonder how much it would cost and how long it would take to raise even 5 shovelheads until they reached around 40 pounds.

I wouldn't even try to guess.


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## sevenx (Apr 21, 2005)

In the wild it takes about 3-5 years for males to reach sexual maturity and females 5 years. The length at this age would be approx. 20". Flatheads are believed to live approx. 19-20 years and can reach 120lbs. They will pack on wieght from age 5 untill death so figuring a 20 in fish at 4-5lbs it would be approx. 10-12 years to reach 50 lbs. best guess. Now figure how many bait fish a fish this size at this growth rate would have to eat. Flathead and blue cats are the two fastest growing cat species in our waters. It would cost thousands of dollars per fish to raise them to 50 lbs. S


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## Salmonid (Apr 14, 2004)

Just a couple of points to reiterate from those already spoken and will add my 2 cents. Ummm, weather its a park district or not, if you have to pay for any type of permit and they are schedule stocking it, certainly sounds like a paylake to me. 

As already spoken, we know Jones does not carry any flatties or blues so they are coming from elsewhere. 

In my vast research, and I did plenty, looking for baby blues for my farm pond, I can tell you the closest non state hatchery that actually raises them, is in Missouri ( That I was able to find) Blues have to be about 5 years old to be mature enough to spawn, ( 15-20 lb range) so lets just say you have to feed a 20 lb blue 1 lb of baitfish a day ( I think that is rather low but will prove the point) that works out to 365 lbs of bluegills/goldfish that have to be raised just to feed him for 1 year, which is why no one raises them from scratch when the commercial water rapist can net them and resell them for 1.90 a lb ( yeah, I checked and thats the going rate) so a 50 lb blue is roughly worth $100 and no way you could ever raise a 50 lb fishthat is maybe 8-10 years old for 100 bucks, see the point im making, trust me, if there over 2 years old, same with channels, the time, effort and money it takes to raise them is too great vs getting them from someone who takes them from all of us taxpayers waters. 
This is not a vent against commercial fishermen, since most have a living to make,but when the free market dictates that it is Waaaaay cheaper to net/sell vs raise from scratch, there is a problem that i am sure in our lifetime will take its toll and it wont be long before ALL fish over 10 lbs MUST be released by the netters. Until then stricter regulations MUST become law to protect this fragile fishery of the big fish. 

Last point, if your "Paypond" tells you they have all farmraised channels and they are ruiinely stocking channels over 10 lbs, guess what, they are byproduct of the commercial netters. 

For those that are not aware, KY allows commercial netting on the ohio River and at any given time fishing on the river, you will see these guys.

Ill get off my horse now.... 

Salmonid (catfish hugger)


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## AJSutts (Jan 1, 2008)

The Hamilton County Park District has had a contract with Midwest-Cedar Fish Farm for the purchase of flathead and blue catfish. These fish are commercially netted from Kentucky Lake and Lake Barkley. On average, the median fish size will be about 20lbs, with a few fish tipping the scales between 40lbs and 50lbs.

During my college glory days, I worked a seasonal job on the docks for the Park. I personally supervised the stocking of blue and flathead catfish at Sharon Woods on one frigid March day. These are wild fish, born and bred in the environs of Lake Barkley and Kentucky Lake. As some well know, commercial fishing is big business in this area.

Since the Park is a quasi government agency, there is a formal application/bid process for yearly fish stockings. Of course, Midwest-Cedar Fish Farm has been the supplier of choice. At one point in time, the public could access the bid documents found on the Park's website. Once the formal bidding process came to an end, any electronic documentation was removed. However, one can do a general Google search and find partial HTML supported documents concerning this matter.

The Park District does make a distinction between the acceptability of sources for certain fish species. For example, rainbow trout and channel catfish must come from reputable fish farms. Flathead and blue catfish, on the other hand, can be wild fish, provided the supplier reveals the source where such fish came from.

Here is the link for the channel catfish bid.

Here is the link for "miscellaneous fish" (aka, flathead and blue catfish) bid.


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## cantsleep (Jul 25, 2007)

Thanks AJ, that's some interesting stuff.


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## sevenx (Apr 21, 2005)

Thanks AJ and Salmonid for the info. Not to start a fire here but it sucks there pulling the fish from those lakes. By my way of thinking the supply of those size fish can be taken from the waters much faster that it can be replenished. Its like clear cutting a forest, It can be done in a matter of days but takes many years to grow usable tree's from the saplings they plant. Though a renuable resource there will many years with less chance of big fish for the anglers fishing those lakes
Ps AJ how is the Sage Smallmouth rod working out for you. S


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## Fishman (Apr 5, 2004)

To my knowledge they get their commercially caught flatheads and blues from Midwest Fish Farms, also the owner of Cedar Lake off of Route 28/Smith Rd. They do carry farm raised trout and farm raised channels though. The parks do purchase fish from us, bluegills, bass, typical midwest sportfish basically however.


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## bassattacker (Mar 14, 2007)

scratches isabella off my too fish list!!!!!


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## smokeyjoe (Jan 15, 2008)

wow take a week off and look what i missed....I ask today and found out yes the fish are sold to Lake isabella by midwest fish apparently this last load of big fish came from alabama, not Ky lake..??.Who really knows we as fishermen can only hope the seller is reputable and the fish are legal...I guess If you are an owner of a lake you cant do anything but deal with reputable bait and fish dealers, Just like everything else you gotta takes somebodys word and trust them in business. I am sure that Hamilton county parks if anyone is watching the resource and where it comes from...By the way several of the big fish put in knock on 50lb.....


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## catking (Apr 5, 2004)

Big southern cats of 50 -60 pounds are around 8-10 years old .....I thought they decided to stop stocking the large cats at Isabella...I guess others had a diffrent agenda.....there are a few lakes in our area that are really "sleepers" when it comes to large flatheads...a few of the lakes would really surprise you.... I fish two state lakes that are hardly EVER fished for flatheads because most don't even know they are in there to the extent that they are. THE CATKING !!!


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## AJSutts (Jan 1, 2008)

sevenx said:


> Ps AJ how is the Sage Smallmouth rod working out for you. S


Hey Steve,

The Smallmouth rod rocks!!! I've never used a 290 grain line before -- woah. Big flies are owned by this beastly specimen of a fly rod. And the accuracy? Point and fire. Literally. Shooting line is a dream. Waiting for a hot summer night when one large bass decides to take my mouse/rat fly imitation. It's all going down!


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## smokeyjoe (Jan 15, 2008)

big cats are being caught today i saw a 48 and a 35 and I lost 1 over who knows but it was big!!


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## smokeyjoe (Jan 15, 2008)

I caught a 30 and a 25 last night ..the place is open all weekend fri,sat, sun night lots of big uns I also had 3 carp over 15


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## Fishman (Apr 5, 2004)

Salmonid said:


> As already spoken, we know Jones does not carry any flatties or blues so they are coming from elsewhere.


No flatheads or blue's are raised commerically up to adult hood. It's simply to darn expensive. Any flathead or blue you catch in a paylake is a wild commerically caught fish. There is no argument there. What actually concerns me is, some paylakes allow patrons to keep channels, or smaller fish. Honesty don't know what the weight limit is, anyone know?

Eitherway, if people are keeping 8lb channel cats out paylakes, there's no way in really telling where it came from, and what kind of advisory is in place for that specie at that specific spot it orginated, provided its wild. That, I personally think is a hazard. There arn't many hatcherys out there that grow channel's over 5 lbs, adverage commerical adults probably range in the 2-3lb class. That's not to say brood stock doesn't occasionally go on sale when a grower is freshening up the genepool so to speak.

I'm not trying to ruffle any feathers, just food for thought


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## Fishman (Apr 5, 2004)

Chuck P. said:


> Just out of pure curiosity, I wonder how much it would cost and how long it would take to raise even 5 shovelheads until they reached around 40 pounds.
> 
> I wouldn't even try to guess.



It really would be astronomical from farmers standpoint, and the fish would be unmarketable at best due to their cost. You wouldn't start with 5 fish... say you grew 10 of them hoping to get 5 40lb fish (this is completely unrealistic by the way... but). Imagine when a 30# fish just dies from natural causes and all that money you pumped into it is lost. Some fish are just predisposed to being smaller too, and will probably never even reach that size in their "natural" life span.


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## sevenx (Apr 21, 2005)

Fishman iteresting point (and a good one) on the adviseries that may be in place. It never occured to me that these fish could be toxic depending on there natural environment, Definately food for thought....or should I say thought for food. S


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## DANNYB513 (Jun 18, 2008)

Hey smokey, im new to the site and this happens to be my first post, my dad use to take me to isabella all the time and we've caught numerous large cats and carps, and i havent been there in maybe 9 months to a year and im taking my gurl camping friday "2 days" and dads taggin along for old time sake and i was wondering what all u use for bait there now for the decent channels, blues, carps ect. any info would be awesome

ps we are fishing friday night 6pm:G threw sat afternoon from the shore on the 275 side!

thanks!


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