# Lake fishing for catfish!



## SouthernOhioElite (Jan 27, 2009)

Is catfishermans paradise(pay lake) as good as Ive heard? Ive been told that you can catch atleast 30 fish a night. And decent size ones as well. If anyone has any info on this place that would be great!


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## LJACKSON36 (Jan 4, 2006)

UH OH.................

SOE, I know you mean well. The Paylake and catfishing thing can really touch the nerves of a few of the true catfishing people on this board. So just to warn you, be prepared for a few adverse response to your question. The members That catfish are hardcore catfishermen and women and feel that paylakes have no place in the catfishing world. Mostly due to the fact that they take fish from other waterways to stock there ponds for which they in turn charge you to fish in. They are well within there rights permitting they have the proper licenses to harvest and transport fish from one body of water to another...........But it is still a touchy subject around here. So they mean well as they are looking out for their end of the angling world. I understand where you and them are coming from. Not here to express my opinion. i too love to fish for catfish, there are other that are more hardcore than myself and a little more vocal on their stnce on the issue.


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## fishdealer04 (Aug 27, 2006)

If you are talking about CP2, you can catch 30 fish in a night. Good size ones...no The reason you can catch so many is that the owner James Reed puts in thousands of pounds of catfish every month, there is no food in those lakes for the fish to eat so the moment you put something in there they will eat it up. The fish are not taken care of one bit, people are dragging them on the gravel, if you walk by the dumpster or trash cans its full of dead fish. They put a 70 pounder in the lake last year and within a couple months it was down to 58 pounds (it is tagged). 

I have fished it 3 times, and I have a lot of friends that fish paylakes that will not go there anymore, just because of the poor quality of the fish and that it is full of so many small fish. I dont even paylake anymore since buying my boat.

If you are going to go, do not go on a weekend, it is so rediculously crowded, and definitly not around a holiday, go during the week sometime.

If you want to go to a paylake try Williards or Hickory Grove, they actually take care of their fish, that and Hickory Grove is the only place that has 7 fish over 100 pounds in terms of paylakes.


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## pendog66 (Mar 23, 2005)

fishdealer04 said:


> If you want to go to a paylake try Williards or Hickory Grove, they actually take care of their fish, that and Hickory Grove is the only place that has 7 fish over 100 pounds in terms of paylakes.


add springwater in lewisburg to that list, you can go there and have a great night or go and catch nothing. Its like fishing a natural lake and you can even catch bass there. Havent been there in years but Catfish Billy still holds it in high regard


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## ClickerCrazy (Feb 4, 2006)

I live just a few miles from CFP 1. I can say that the conditions there are the same as CFP2, even though the same guy that owns 2 no longer owns it. I hate even driving by there do to the overwhelming stench that radiates from it. I used to love that lake when I was a kid, used to be great bass and bluegills in there. My dad grew up in the first house on the hill above it, and I've even got pics of him and my uncle riding there bike in it when it was just a big hole that was dug to build the new rt. 7. I dont hate paylakes, heck I work at a fishery\paylake\hatchery. But I have beef with the owners that think of nothing other than putting money in their pockets without regards to how they run their business. There are some nice paylakes out there, just depends on weather you want to catch good healthy fish that fight great, or catch a worn out halph starved fish for a chance of making a 100 bucks to catch a tagged fish.


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## SouthernOhioElite (Jan 27, 2009)

Thanks for the advice guys but yeah I was kinda iffy on whether or not to make the trip because I heard they stock thousands and thousands of pounds into some of those lakes so the fish must be starving and unhealthy and im not really up to making the trip that far to have a bad experience.. I heard that Cast Away paylakes are the best in Ohio? Is this true?


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## fishdealer04 (Aug 27, 2006)

Everyone is going to have their own opinion on what the best paylake is. CP2 has a lot of diehard people that love that lake and will fish it. Just like Springwater will or Castaway, or any of them. I have never fished Castaway personally but I have friends that have. A lot of them like the lake, but tend to drift to Hickory for the bigger fish. Anything is better than CP2 in my mind..


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## Carpman (May 18, 2005)

Just go to the great miami man, seriously. I don't know how much those people charge to fish, but you can buy bait for cheaper than what they charge and still catch fish!


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