# Indian Lake catfish tournament



## catfish64 (Aug 2, 2007)

A 15lb flathead was turned in at 1pm after a 12pm start. I am looking for opinions on whether the prize money payout is attracting the cheaters of the world. I wonder should I enjoy fishing with my son or go to pay pond and cheat like so many others? I pick enjoying time with my son and be damned the cheaters!


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## saugmon (Jun 14, 2006)

It's going to take more than 15lbs to win the big money catfish64. There's some bigguns in there and they are thriving. 36" and 21.1 lbs is the biggest in my boat this season and I don't even target them.

First tourney for me. I stopped by and registered around 4 p.m.but didn't notice the leader board. 1 kid brought in a 2 lb channelcat while I was there.

Just got the truck back from the repair shop and going to get out real early in the morning. A couple trips ago,I lost a monster flattie just before sunrise. 3 mornings to go and hopefully I get lucky with a monster of a flattie!!


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## CarpFreak5328 (Aug 16, 2004)

With the prize money being so high u know someone is going to pay ponds or elsewhere to get big flatties......wouldnt surprise me if someone turns in a beat to hell looking 40-50lber thats out of a paylake just watch


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## carp (Oct 31, 2011)

I believe the winner has to take a polygraph test and pass to collect prize money!


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## fishslim (Apr 28, 2005)

There are plenty of bigger flatties then that in the lake now. Go try if you get one fine if not instead of worrying about cheater enjoy the time we'll spent with son.they grow up way to quick


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## Salmonid (Apr 14, 2004)

Last year same thing happened but they weighed it in at 12:20 pm on Thursday only 20 minutes after start of tourney and had taken boat out to weigh it. Lol. Was heavily questioned and even threatened with polygraph but i believe never took one. I agree with that much money on the line there will always be someone looking for an unfair advantage. I know many of the channel cat guys are NOT fishing it this year, myself included as its become a flathead game. Good luck to all who are fishing!


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## exciter (Mar 23, 2007)

Just heard the big fish is at 24.8 lbs as of early Friday morning ! 
We fished till midnight last night with only landing 1 small channel cat ! Going to change up our routine a but today and see what happens !


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## saugmon (Jun 14, 2006)

I was out for 3 hrs without a single hit and 1 snag. I ran 2 flatlines then tossed out port planerboard and zilch.I had 2 releases on that board but the last was a snag that ended it.

Party perch/black lime bully,pink lemonade,and gold/black=skunk. B02 red craw/chrome clown on planerboard.Then took the 1 side rod and set it as a propwash rig with B04 chart craw and Mossback craw with zilch.

Not sure what to do tomorrow morning.I was hoping this full moon would fire them up.

Water Temp: 79.3°-80°


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## CarpFreak5328 (Aug 16, 2004)

yea its a flathead game now, witch brings people to go to pay ponds they say they give them lie dector test but ive never seen or heard of any proof of it. Anyway im going out tomorrow and sat with my dad thats all that matters.


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## icetester (Feb 16, 2015)

I'm a past winner...there is no lie detector test....he makes an excuse every year about his poly guy being out of town....I was so jacked when catching that fish, getting excited about the test, then being disappointed when he didn't give me one......the tournament has lost it's luster when he decided not to have two different weigh ins, one for flathead and channel separate....no longer fun knowing u have no chance after an hour into the event...


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## CarpFreak5328 (Aug 16, 2004)

icetester said:


> I'm a past winner...there is no lie detector test....he makes an excuse every year about his poly guy being out of town....I was so jacked when catching that fish, getting excited about the test, then being disappointed when he didn't give me one......the tournament has lost it's luster when he decided not to have two different weigh ins, one for flathead and channel separate....no longer fun knowing u have no chance after an hour into the event...




couldnt have said it better seperate weigh ins would be nice but actually polygraphing the top winners would solve the main problem


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## Salmonid (Apr 14, 2004)

Interesting.. I know for the monthly St marys tournaments, Ive had to take the polygraph twice and my partner has had to take it twice, they cost about $200 and at sign up, ( sat afternoon, before the late night tourney) there is a sign that says Polygraph Sunday at 2 pm or something like that, I believe this guy comes from Lima and is a detective that does it as extra money, I guess only about 50 people in the state are licensed to do it according to this guy. With the money that is there, I say build it into the payout and poly at least 2 of the top 5 or 3 of the top 10, randomly pick numbers at the final and all results are pending the poly. checks handed out the next day or sent to them, pretty standard stuff in a lot of the big tourneys Im in, also the poly takes about 45-55 minutes to do by the time he does the sample questions and the fake responses and goes through hooking you all up. Kinda cool but scary too that youll blow it.
LOL

Salmonid


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## supercanoe (Jun 12, 2006)

It's pretty sad that fishing tourneys now involve polygraph tests. That doesn't sound like it's worth the hassle.


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## MIGHTY (Sep 21, 2013)

Lol I was thinking the same thing supercanoe. Just out of curiosity, did they stock Indian Lake with flatheads recently? My family used to go out there once or twice a year for vacation when I was younger and I never saw any or heard of any flatheads caught. It's probably been 10 years or more since I was last out there, but if the people still rent the house out on orchard island where we used to stay I might make a visit.


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## saugmon (Jun 14, 2006)

I can't locate the info but the ODNR stocked them 1 year MIGHTY. That class should be under the 15# size. It was a couple years before the stocking of bluecats at hoover.

Usually I end up with around 8-10 flatties last couple seasons.Mrs Littleking brought in a 21.1 lb and Mrs Exciter has caught some bigger ones this year.
This season's a lot slower.Same with the channelcats.Last 2 years my numbers were way down on keeper sized channelcats.Tons of dink channels last couple years. We did have a huge channelcat fish kill a few years ago. Dead 6" channels floating everywhere.


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## TomC (Aug 14, 2007)

Until they split the class's up, I feel that its pointless to fish the tourney. You have guys that bait areas for weeks before hand, and you also have the guys that don't move and anchor in the same spot for days. I will say I noticed 6 years ago the lake really changed when the flats were introduced in the lake. You would always catch a ton of bull heads in the lake while trying to channel cat fish. Now you cant even catch a bullhead from the lake. It seems the channel cat numbers are down too. I don't know if anyone else has noticed this. 

When it comes to the cheaters, I posted something a couple weeks ago about two guys snagging flatheads out of the spillway saying they were going to put them in their pond to catch em later for the tourney. 

Anyone know what the largest channel cat turned in has been so far?


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## Marshall (Apr 11, 2004)

What is the top payout. How hard is it to set up a side pot for channels. Also i think it would be cool to see side pot for youths. There is many businesses in the area that may donate especially for the youth part. But the guys running it have to go out and work to get the sponsors. I don't know anything about this tourney I have not seen anything about it. Maybe it does do for the kids and has sponsors.


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## saugmon (Jun 14, 2006)

How about payout for live/dead bait and another payout for artificial bait? My 2 lb channelcat would have been in the money for artificial bait category, LOL! It got tossed back in because I was too embarrassed to have it checked at the tent, LOL!

$2500 for big fish.Last year,it was $150 for biggest cat each day.Proceeds go to youth fishing. 

Trolled 4 hrs this morning. After the 1st 90 minutes I was skunked and almost called it a season. Finally after yesterday's skunk and 90 mins of complete boredom,the eyes started hitting. Country fisher cruised by me after eye #1 was bleeding out. It was a few hundred yds from where I started this morning. Got around my old waypoint vernon in 5.8' water and the bite started around 7:30 a.m. Eye counter read 10 eyes,3 keepers,and a 2 lb channelcat. A couple snags,1 swivel failure= 1 lost flickershad. Tennessee shad took the biggest and Black lime bully took most. 1st dink on chrome clown. Now I have hope for tomorrow morning!!! The dinks took over after 8:30 a.m. and quit at 9:45 to beat the launch traffic.

1-15.5"
1-16"
1-19.5"

Water Temp: 68.5° and lots of weeds.


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## MIGHTY (Sep 21, 2013)

Thanks for the info saugmon. I might make a trip out there in the next couple of years. Whenever I see a thread about Indian Lake I'll look it over since I used to vacation out there. I feel bad for those of you who actually fish the tournaments while having to deal with some shady sounding people. Pretty interesting thread


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## TomC (Aug 14, 2007)

Back in the day it was an even fight as channel cats ran the tourney, heck a 8-10lber would take it, now it takes 20+lber to win. When guys fish exclusively in the same spots for 3 days and don't move, and they do this tourney after tourney, you can key in real quick where the main flats are caught. I would love to start learning how to fish for the flatties at indian but I don't know it I have the patients for them.


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## saugmon (Jun 14, 2006)

24.89# was leading it with 50 mins left. A flattie shy of 16# was weighed while I was talking to a buddy.

Mighty: With the record number of dink eyes this year, 2017 and 2018 is going to be fun!!! 6 year cycles.


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## CarpFreak5328 (Aug 16, 2004)

So thats how the flats got in there, explains why those damn bullheads dont bite anymore flats mainly feed on them and shad. As for the tourney me and my dad did real good on bigger channels with live chubs but they were only 5-6 pounders not enough to weigh in. I did hook a good 25-30lb flat last night on a massive sized creek chub but i got to excited and didnt have my drag set right and it snapped me off. Never felt such a low feeling lol, but just fishing with my dad for 2 nights was good enough for me.


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## CarpFreak5328 (Aug 16, 2004)

On a side note when i went to sign up they had the two big flats in the tank with a couple of small channels and every time one of those channel cats got close to the those big flats they darted to the other side of the tank it was pretty funny.


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## saugmon (Jun 14, 2006)

Tom mentioned catfish numbers way down. My keeper sized stats have been dropping the last 2 years.15 this season and I used to catch 50+ keeper sized a season before that.Tons of dink channels,but rarely any 4-6 pounders like I used to catch trolling.That day I met up with tomc and he showed me how he catches them in the spillway,there was a major channelcat kill that time. 1000's of dead 6" channelcats everywhere and lining the banks of the spillway.Must have been 4 or 5 years ago. My flattie stats were around 10 a season but only 4 this season,but did lose 2 hawgs.

I didn't have any luck with the flatties this week and only 1 channelcat. Oh well, $15 for a chance and the proceeds benefit the kids. I never had much luck trolling august-september and the unusually cool water got me itching to try it.

Water Temp: 78.5 °

Back at end of july 2012,it was 92° and still pulled out 2 man limits every trip. That's the saugeye cycles that I started to post. 2006,2012,and 2018 should be a phenomenal season for saugeye!!!


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## exciter (Mar 23, 2007)

Not as much luck as we hoped but had a blast. ! Caught 3 eyes this weekend only 1 keeper a couple 3 or 4 small channels and 1 decent 4-5 lber
But the best part of the weekend was when the starboard side rod went off and we handed it to our 4 yr old grandson and he fought and landed his first Flattie !! A monster that went 4.02 and was good enough for him to take home secon place and 50 bucks in the kids 2-6class !!! Absolutely one if the best moments in my 35 years if fishing !!! It was great he absolutely loved the fact that he caught a flathead and won money !! Lol 
Hell he even lamed it Larry !!! Lol 

Great times !!!
Joe


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## exciter (Mar 23, 2007)




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## TomC (Aug 14, 2007)

I remember the small channel cat die off a few years ago. The die off almost coincided with the cat tourney. I wonder if the overtaking of the flatheads has something to do with the lower number of channel cats? Since the flats are the main predators of the lake now maybe they are going after the channels? I will say its interesting to fish the spillway and way upper GMR. Guys say that the flats haven't moved up into the upper GMR but there is a definite population up there and some nice ones too. I don't what the impact will be on the upper gmr with these predators taking over thou.


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## Fisherman 3234 (Sep 8, 2008)

Flatheads at native to the entire stretch of the Gmr. Before the lowhead dams were built they could move freely through the entire stretch all the way down to the Ohio river.


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## icetester (Feb 16, 2015)

Darn..I just saw the final weights...So not one channel cat was in the top 20.... How sad for a supposed kids event. The guy that won had 3rd day big fish as well. So the winner had a 24 and 22... And 18 took 20th place.....I wonder how many of those 20 we're kids. What more proof do you need to change the rules of this event? Anyways, I've had fun over the last 6 years, spent a ton of money and met some nice people.....Too bad I'll never return for what is now a laugher of an event...


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## TomC (Aug 14, 2007)

Don won the tourney, he is a huge cat guy and fishes the st marys year long cat tourney over there and constantly places. They either need to do two different categories or make a separate pot for the flatheads. Its crazy thou how many flatheads were turned in at the weigh in. The conditions of indian must be prime because there are all sorts of sized flats from 1-32lbers being caught.


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## icetester (Feb 16, 2015)

TomC said:


> Don won the tourney, he is a huge cat guy and fishes the st marys year long cat tourney over there and constantly places. They either need to do two different categories or make a separate pot for the flatheads. Its crazy thou how many flatheads were turned in at the weigh in. The conditions of indian must be prime because there are all sorts of sized flats from 1-32lbers being caught.


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## icetester (Feb 16, 2015)

Wow....yeah, the lake is turning into flat head heaven...I guess that great in one way...I caught some decent channels this year, a few 7s, 8s, and one 9 in 5 days of fishing.... The 9 went back in early Friday knowing it wouldn't place...I'm not doubting the guy that one, takes a good stick to get two that size in that timeframe. Really enjoy the event, but it's tough getting motivated when 25 pounds is leading after day one.....it's more like a vacation now, with lots of work and no sleep.


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## fiona (Jun 10, 2015)

nice post


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## Cobe24 (Sep 14, 2007)

Hi guys! I am not a catfisherman, but I have a number of close friends that fish this tournament. These guys almost always win money in the Indian Lake tournament (top 5 again this year), but also do very well on the St Marys Circuit. My point is that these guys fish the exact same way in both lakes, and win money by catching channels in one and big flatheads in another. 

I guess I don't understand what splitting the pot will do other than provide an opportunity for the top cat catchers to take both pools? It seems to me that most catfish fans would prefer to catch a 20 pounder over an 8 or 9 pound fish? The tournament also has divisions for the kids, so I don't understand the "unfair" complaint. Help me understand, because it seems that this tournament presents a great opportunity to test your skills against the baddest fish in the lake.


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## Salmonid (Apr 14, 2004)

In the catfish world channel and flatheads are two completely different animals and techniques are completely different from one species to another. Flatheads are fished with live bait at night while channels are typically fished furring days with cut baits. Not too mention the flathead game is a sit and wait while channels is a run and gun effort by continually moving trying to locate them. Then there is the trolling drifting and dragging used for channels. 
I do all the local tourneys as well and its unlikely that someone would win both pots as that would be like having a walleye and a bass tourney and saying the same person would win them both. These two species are very different!! I am strictly a channel cat guy and at least a dozen of my buddies are too they will not come back fir this tourney as they all skipped it this year. ( myself included). I do agree that the kids part is still there and is fine
Salmonid


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## TomC (Aug 14, 2007)

Mark said it well, its two different fish with two complete different styles of fishing, yes it is possible to catch a flat here or there while fishing for channels but its rare. I haven't fished it for some years now. Sure you can put a 100 channel cats in the boat during the 3 day event but whats the use, if you got to have a 20+lber to win. Don was fishing the back water by moundwood up in the lilly pads.


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