# Prairie Oaks



## deerfarmer (Apr 21, 2012)

Fished Prairie oaks tonight in the kayak. It was kind of windy and there was a bunch of moss floating on top of the lake. Caught 3 LM all 3 the same size around 15 inches. I also caught 10 or so nice bluegills and a large black crappie. The water is really clear and you could see the crappie in the brush problem is most of them weren't biting. Water temp was 64.


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## bassman51 (Mar 8, 2013)

are you allowed to put a boat in there


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## deerfarmer (Apr 21, 2012)

yes on boats. No motors of any kind.


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## bonacci01 (Apr 27, 2012)

That place has always been difficult bite with the lm. That water is so gin clear, I have a hard time getting them to bite , but I'm no pro. 

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## Deazl666 (Mar 30, 2012)

There's a lake right around the corner, immediately north of the main park entrance, on the other side of the Darby, that has a boat ramp. Lots of inaccessible-by-foot shoreline to be fished from a canoe or kayak. Might suck, might be great - don't know, but it is a nice looking body of water...


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## Smallmouth Crazy (Apr 4, 2006)

I have fished a couple area ponds with moss issues, wonder what is causing them so early in the year.


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## Deazl666 (Mar 30, 2012)

Smallmouth Crazy said:


> I have fished a couple area ponds with moss issues, wonder what is causing them so early in the year.


All the crap farmers put on their fields that drains into the lakes and ponds and is catalyzed by heat and sunlight would be my guess...


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## bonacci01 (Apr 27, 2012)

Deazl666 said:


> There's a lake right around the corner, immediately north of the main park entrance, on the other side of the Darby, that has a boat ramp. Lots of inaccessible-by-foot shoreline to be fished from a canoe or kayak. Might suck, might be great - don't know, but it is a nice looking body of water...


That's beach road, and the lake is Beaver, also part of Prarie oaks. I've had the most luck there our of all the lakes. I had a kid trying to tell me there are gar in it last week...... :/ There is bass, crappie, sunfish, carp and cats. 

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## deerfarmer (Apr 21, 2012)

I fished beaver lake today.Didn't catch anything. It is also a really clear lake but it isn't as deep as the other Prairie oark lakes. There isn't most shore fishing but it looks like it would be a good crappie lake. The deepest place I saw today was 14 feet. I know the other Prairie oaks lakes are 95 feet. I did see a few bass swimming along in the shallows.


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## bonacci01 (Apr 27, 2012)

Really? I for sure thought it was deeper. I've had the best luck there on the back banks for bass with a shaky head rig. 

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## Deazl666 (Mar 30, 2012)

General question: Where do bass hold in deep quarries? I wasted two hours at the big one off Riverside Drive in Grandview. I knew I was dragging baits through empty water the whole time...

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## bonacci01 (Apr 27, 2012)

Deazl666 said:


> General question: Where do bass hold in deep quarries? I wasted two hours at the big one off Riverside Drive in Grandview. I knew I was dragging baits through empty water the whole time...
> 
> posted using Outdoor Hub Campfire


I think it mostly depends on cover and water clarity from what I've read. The waters that this thread pertains to is super gin clear . The clearest I've seen in central Ohio. I've found bass there within 30' of the wind blown banks , and suspending near the bottom to stay cool and out if the sun, usually near points and coves. 

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## BassBlaster (Jun 8, 2006)

I used to work in those quarries before they were ever flooded. Knowing what they look like without water really helps know where to fish. That said I dont fish there. Its a joke these days. Used to be an awesome place to fish before it went public.

There is still one quarry that is private owned and it is AWESOME!!! It has a boat ramp in it but its not accessable anymore. I still have permission to fish there but rarely make it over.

In the park itself there is a little pond that is for kids. That was our wash plant pond. That pond had no other purpose but to supply water to the plant to wash the gravel as it was being processed. That little pond used to be full of monster crappie but Im sure they have all been pulled out of there over the years.

Used to be some great deer hunting there too. In fact, I still have a tree stand hanging there thats actually on what is now a walk path around the pond, lol. You would have thought the parks would have taken that down but its still there. Grown into the tree by now I would think. Ah, the good ole days!!


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## bonacci01 (Apr 27, 2012)

That's pretty cool to hear blaster. I live in PC, and grew up just about 3 miles north of the park on PC Georgesville. I have been going there more lately. I see a lot of people fish there, but not alot getting reeled in. 

I was just walking around it last week, mostly just observing the water and scouting, I saw an enormous school of crappie causing the shade. They don't allow minnows there, and with the super clear water, an artificial presentation has to be spot on. I think that's why I never see people carrying full stringers out . 

There has to be some good fish there, I just think they are so finniky most if the time. 

Any other thoughts? I heard something about they threw tons of Xmas trees in the bottom . Is that true? And if so, would that have hurt the fishing? 

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## BassBlaster (Jun 8, 2006)

bonacci01 said:


> That's pretty cool to hear blaster. I live in PC, and grew up just about 3 miles north of the park on PC Georgesville. I have been going there more lately. I see a lot of people fish there, but not alot getting reeled in.
> 
> I was just walking around it last week, mostly just observing the water and scouting, I saw an enormous school of crappie causing the shade. They don't allow minnows there, and with the super clear water, an artificial presentation has to be spot on. I think that's why I never see people carrying full stringers out .
> 
> ...


We (The Olen Corp, dont work for them anymore) reclaimed all the land before metro parks took over. We didnt put any trees in and by the time the parks moved in the quarries were completely flooded. They may have sunk structure after we moved out but I have no idea. I dont know how that could be bad for fishing though except the structure would be very deep. Those places are deeper than people realize. I dont know what the depth worked out to be once the water levels leveled out but I can tell you, the quarry on the left, we were mining 85' of stone below 35' of sand and gravel. The big quarry in the far back on the right was allready flooded when I worked there. The other guys said they were mining 120' but I ve never had a depth finder out there. There is another small quarry on the right as you come into the park that they connected to the old large quarry. That was the last one mined and if I remember correctly was only about 50' deep or so. Theres a total of 5 holes there. One is private. The one on Beach Rd with the island in it was the first mined so I would think it has the best fishing of the 4 that are public but I havnt spent much time there because you really need to fish it with a boat.

Fish cranks along the high walls and edges of weed beds for bass. That will produce large numbers or atleast used too but they were all smallish. If you hit the woody structure in the shallows on top of the high walls with a tube jig, you can get bigger fish.


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## bonacci01 (Apr 27, 2012)

What your saying is basically confirming what I suspected. Beaver seemed most full of life, all around . I just put a finder on my yak this spring, I have to get it registered and ill be out there. Thanks for the history lesson! Pretty cool to know 

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## MassillonBuckeye (May 3, 2010)

Yep, thanks for sharing BassBlaster! Good stuff.


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## deerfarmer (Apr 21, 2012)

Fished there saturday morning. Caught 2 nice crappie and 9 rice nice blue gills and 3 bass. I was kayak fishing and you could float right to the crappies. The large blue gill were in about 8 foot and were caught casing a fake minnow.


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## mevers (Sep 26, 2009)

I've encountered the owner of that private pond after coming across it one day while fishing the Darby. He's not fisherman friendly and called the police. I was able to talk myself into just a warning and the officer told they're out there a couple of times per week running people off.


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## bonacci01 (Apr 27, 2012)

mevers said:


> I've encountered the owner of that private pond after coming across it one day while fishing the Darby. He's not fisherman friendly and called the police. I was able to talk myself into just a warning and the officer told they're out there a couple of times per week running people off.


People are such arseholes sometimes... I'm not suggesting that he should be OK and let people trespass and fish when unwanted, but he could have the property sufficiently posted private and juat ask people to leave if they wander onto it. There is absolutely no need to call the police and waste all of our taxpayer dollars on their time, unless there is a hostile confrontation . There never will be, 99% of people that are asked to leave a private property apologize and leave immediately because they know they are in the wrong, even if unknowingly. 

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## crittergitter (Jun 9, 2005)

Maybe the metro park should stock them. Just a thought.


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## bobditty (Jun 2, 2006)

Bass blaster, my son and I have been kayak fishing with some success. Where is the private quarry lake located? Would like to see if I could ask for access.


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## Marshall (Apr 11, 2004)

bonacci01 said:


> People are such arseholes sometimes... I'm not suggesting that he should be OK and let people trespass and fish when unwanted, but he could have the property sufficiently posted private and juat ask people to leave if they wander onto it. There is absolutely no need to call the police and waste all of our taxpayer dollars on their time, unless there is a hostile confrontation . There never will be, 99% of people that are asked to leave a private property apologize and leave immediately because they know they are in the wrong, even if unknowingly.
> 
> Sent from my DROID X2 using Tapatalk 2


You would feel different if it was your pond and have to ask people to leave every day. posted or not people will still try to fish it.


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## Rainer Wolf (Apr 11, 2004)

So beaver has a ramp?
No trolling motors?


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## shwookie (Jun 15, 2007)

Marshall said:


> You would feel different if it was your pond and have to ask people to leave every day. posted or not people will still try to fish it.


Not to mention people create posts here bragging about how they tear down no trespassing signs.

As for the fishing, several years ago I personally saw an 8.8# LM pulled out of the Beach rd pond the week it opened. I have not seen anything close to that since.


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## MassillonBuckeye (May 3, 2010)

shwookie said:


> Not to mention people create posts here bragging about how they tear down no trespassing signs.
> 
> As for the fishing, several years ago I personally saw an 8.8# LM pulled out of the Beach rd pond the week it opened. I have not seen anything close to that since.


Yeah that gets me every time lol


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## Duffman (Mar 29, 2014)

Blaster I saw you said that there is a pond on Prairie Oaks that is still private. Is the pond you refer to south of the others, in between Patterson and Morris roads?


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## Duffman (Mar 29, 2014)

Can anyone tell me how to post a new thread? I'm new to this (obviously).


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## Mr. Basskisser (Oct 18, 2005)

The first year they opened we took our row boat with a fish finder. In the lake far back to the right we found water that was 144 feet deep. It was 80 feet deep 15 yards off shore. Not the kind of water I am comfortable fishing. We ended up rowing to the front pond and fished where we had fished from shore the day before.

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## rkierner (Jun 17, 2013)

Mr. Basskisser said:


> The first year they opened we took our row boat with a fish finder. In the lake far back to the right we found water that was 144 feet deep. It was 80 feet deep 15 yards off shore. Not the kind of water I am comfortable fishing. We ended up rowing to the front pond and fished where we had fished from shore the day before.
> 
> Sent from my SCH-I535 using Ohub Campfire mobile app


How do you fish something like that? If the lake is spring fed like it is, do fish live really deep? I have se scuba friends that say that when they are down 70 ft, they regularly interact with big bass and trout.


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