I think I'm going to hit Oliver Sunday

[taxid]

if the weather isn't too crappy.

I haven't been there for years but there is a break I used to slow sink nitecrawlers over and line mend very slowly through the weeds for rainbows, browns, largemouth, yellow perch, crappie, and carp. All kinds of species down there. Maybe flash a kastmaster over the break too for trout and smallmouth with a second rod.

Anybody else hitting Oliver this weekend?

[staubsaugen]

wish i was, but probably be two more weeks before I can make it back to Oliver...  good luck!

[taxid]

I saw the weather report this evening and it may not be a good day to go.

I hate getting wet especially when temps are low.

[ftwwalleye]

Man I was there recently on a windy day. Gets rough on that lake. Couldn't believe the size if the waves

[taxid]

Man I was there recently on a windy day. Gets rough on that lake. Couldn't believe the size if the waves

Sure can.

Doubt I'll be there tomorrow now.

[taxid]

why not? you dont like a challenge in uncomfortable conditions?     really though, the forecast dont look bad, for an afternoon of stockers.

I guess I'm getting old. Not the diehard I used to be.  

Would have been a beautiful day as I haven't seen a drop of rain yet today. Unfortunately I had to help the wife with some school stuff in her classroom. She needed to tidy her room up for some German exchange students that are coming for 3 weeks on Tuesday. She has back and knee issues so I'm the heavy lifter. I also made the mistake of eating an union with my hamburger at lunch. Onions tear me up. When will I learn? Spending a lot of time in the bathroom!

I wouldn't have been after the stockers. There should be good size holdovers in that lake. Most of the holdovers are near the bottom feeding on invertebrates (especially browns), while the stockers are up high and can be caught trolling and casting. Once you've tied into a 20 plus inch bow or brown the stockers are a nuisance.

I haven't fished the lake chain for some time, but when I did, I fished it often and hard and learned a lot.

The lake is a sleeper for massive northern pike too that feed on the stockers. And there are some nice smallmouth in Oliver.

I'll go out with the flashlight tonight and pick up a bunch of crawlers.  Will hit the lake sometime this week.

Too bad the smelt and cisco are gone. Great forage to grow trophy trout.

[staubsaugen]

taxid--do you think time of day matters this time of year for when the holdovers feed? in summer the bite sure slows down middle of the day.

also i was catching nice holdovers shallow until shortly after they stocked this year and wonder if something about the influx of stockers drives holdovers deeper or is it simply invertebrate hatches?

what do people think about the tremendous increase in numbers of trout stocked in oliver?  is there enough forage to continue to grow them well?

[taxid]

taxid--do you think time of day matters this time of year for when the holdovers feed? in summer the bite sure slows down middle of the day.

Well mornings and evenings are always better for holdovers, but if they're deep and the day is cloudy this time of year it doesn't matter IMHO.

Also i was catching nice holdovers shallow until shortly after they stocked this year and wonder if something about the influx of stockers drives holdovers deeper or is it simply invertebrate hatches?

I think the stockers are more aggressive and will hit your bait first. When I say invertebrates I'm not talking about hatches. I'm talking about critters in the bottom and in the weeds. Trout will even eat snails.

what do people think about the tremendous increase in numbers of trout stocked in oliver?  is there enough forage to continue to grow them well?

I was hoping the browns that were planted in Oliver last year might have been divided up and some put in Clear, but was happy they were able to get a hold of some browns from the feds as the trout club is now defunct. Browns have always done better and reached larger size in the Oliver Lake chain. There was a planting of only 1200 eight to ten inch browns in 1968 and those fish averaged 5 lbs. and went up to 7 lbs. 12 oz. in 1972. Of course there was a healthy population of smelt and cisco back them.

The bows will probably be fished down enough by the folks that just want to load the freezer. I do wonder how many people can tell the difference as they are both silvery this time of year. I'm betting a C.O. may be counting on that. LOL

[staubsaugen]

The bows will probably be fished down enough by the folks that just want to load the freezer. I do wonder how many people can tell the difference as they are both silvery this time of year. I'm betting a C.O. may be counting on that. LOL
[/quote]

I've wondered that myself and have been careful in id-ing fish.  never seen a C.O. there, which really surprises me, though i'm sure they show up.

thanks for the info!

[Bronzebacker]

well you definatly should have!!!
and here are all the answers to your questions.
fishing was awesome sun from 12-8pm.  not much wind till 7pm.  spent most of the day bass fishing and doing well on jigs in 8-12fow on all 3 lakes. they were thick on the beds last week but rain and temps knocked them off, mostly small males .. nothing huge or really big but enough to make it fun.  as my son and i worked the breaks wifey cast a small spoon over the deep water and harassed the stockers.  think she hooked the most fish of the day and a solid 10" gill from over about 80 fow!!  wish i could post the pic!
As far as stockers and hold overs for the first week or two they are all mixed in and then the hold overs seem to drop down about 5-10 ft below them.  usually the high rods catch the stockers and get a line down 10'-15 ft below them and thats where the holdovers usually are, windy side of the lake.
As far food sources i do know the browns are a meat source eater.  im sure they eat some bugs here and there but i am amazed at the size of gills they cough up on the deck of the boat.  i know baby gills make up a huge portion of their diet as they are coughing them up when they come in. 
as far as the best time... well when the morning stockers slow usually they have just dropped lower as the sun gets up.  Still in the same areas just down deeper.  alot of times long lines are on fire and then it stops only to have the downriggers start up. 19-20' is a good starting point around 10:30 AM.
as far as hold overs and our best browns, pointer 100's trolled deep.
you can stay on the fish all times of day with the proper electronics and gear to get  the lure there...its really that easy.
as far as trophy fish... the time of day is easy.  find a shallow flat 1-5' and get your stealth on...and do it at night like 11pm-4am!!
we bowfish this lake and the fish you see at night are insane!!  both huge browns and bows up shallow hanging around the rooting carp on the flats.  its crazy also the size of smallies we see.  again all at night while bowfishing...its another world out there in the ultra clear water.  smallies are really taking hold and seem to be doing well. 
i think ith the release of 10,000 trout (clear lakes stocking went here this year)  the bio mass is about maxxed out ...lol but you can find quality fish of all species there just not big numbers.  as for pike...sadly its been a couple years since we have seen one...i mean a BIG one.  i still try to fish it once a week or so as year round as i can.
and another tip, if your boat has a good side finder and you use side planers like yellow birds..... that should be illegal!!  see fish let out line , watch rod bend....
if you see a champainge and burgandy Triton out there just come say hi!   

[Bronzebacker]

NONE OF THE ABOVE..LOL!
that is just my favorite chain to fish and been doing so almost weekly since 1985.  not all because of size but the divsity you can catch.  and there are really good sizes of all types of species  in there.  its never to busy and you can always find something thats willing to pull the line.
i am not sure why clear lakes stocking went in there but when i called curtis creek earlier in the year thats what they told me. 
and yes, there are days we troll with 2 guys and it does take longer to drive there than to limit out on trout.  then you just go find some bass or gills or bowfish or what ever. almost every trout is released we catch unless its bleeding or injured. Sent my neighbor and his son there last week and told him to just troll the windy side with some tint little cleos and they were done in 45 min.  they never trout fished ever, just bought stamps and went.  the boy is hooked and he is 9.
its just a fun place to fish, you can hide from the skiers and i love fishing clear water.

[Panfisher67]

Lack of trout surviving first year and lack of fisherman so the DNR is no longer stocking Clear Lake with trout.

[taxid]

Lack of trout surviving first year and lack of fisherman so the DNR is no longer stocking Clear Lake with trout.

Are you sure? I know the one basin had some  D.O. issues one summer but the other basin seemed to be fine. I always caught my biggest trout in Clear. My biggest rainbow was about 7 lbs.

Oliver rainbows top out in the 3 to 4 lb. range. for the most part. Clear rainbows got bigger due to the gizzard shad and yellow perch.

Are you sure you're talking about the same Clear Lake? The one I'm talking abut is east of Fremont, Indiana almost into Ohio.

[Panfisher67]

Yes there is only one Clear lake with trout in northern Indiana taxi. And yes I am sure. They tagged some last year and asked anglers to put tags in box by ramp because of no fish being caught older than one year. Few tags were dropped so they are not stocking.

[taxid]

oh ok, then your more "in tune" than the biologists, on this lake. lol  i used to fish clear like you fish oliver bronze.  i stopped going when he trout crashed several years ago.

  my theory on the trout crash is based on corn.  a year or two before the crash, several boats took to chumming corn.  these guys started chumming by the buckets! literally!  i watched it all the time.  one boat even had a rubber made garbage can in the middle of the boat.  he would chum scoops at a time and usually stayed past everyone else.  i know he had to have caught his limit because all the other boats did.  maybe he was a fish hog also? i didnt know them or talk to them.  we started catching trout that were packed full of corn.  i mean packed all the way to the vent!  everyone single one was like that too!  then all the sudden the trout crash and all you get are tiny stockers.  i contacted the DNR and they told me corn dont kill trout.   now i know studies have shown trout can starve full of corn, because it has no nutrition.  i know i read that in in-fisherman many moon ago.  i watched it happen though , IMO.  

taxi, can you elaborate about this mold or whatever you spoke of earlier?  you said you seen what it can do to the bottom. what does it do.  i can imagine it turning to black gooey yuk, but thats just a guess from on land. lol  

As far as the excessively chummed corn doing in the trout, I have my doubts about that. But it does go to the bottom and become an anoxic moldy gooh, which I believe is like throwing garbage into the lake. I just skinned out a 25 inch rainbow that was full of corn and still seemed healthy. Not a part of their diet that will provide much in the way they need, but I don't think it's a killer. I think just like people the corn is mostly passed. I've read articles that say there is no evidence it kills trout.

I think the most plausible explanation for the lack of returns of the trout in Clear is probably reduced water quality. Over time all lakes eutrophy. It's a natural process but of course manmade activities hasten it.  Many of the wetlands we now see were lakes long before the white settlers arrived. Eutrophication is not an immediate death blow to fish. It just means the fish community becomes more optimum for cool and warm water vs. cold water fish initially. And the water becomes more fertile which enhances fish growth.  

A good example is the rapid extirpation of the native cisco over the last few decades that have similar requirements to trout. Many northeastern Indiana lakes that had healthy populations no longer can support them. Our deepest lake in the state, Lake Tippecanoe once had a healthy population. They are now long gone as the depths in that lake just don't have the oxygen later in the year to support them. Even the shallower lakes in the Elkhart River drainage once had cisco populations but no longer do. I read a INDNR report and was amazed at all the lakes that had cisco back in the 1940's! Lakes like Attwood Lake!

Other thing I wonder about is the use of the rainbow eggs from Trout Lodge by the INDNR, which is a commercial egg producer on the West coast. Probably to streamline costs and make things more efficient which makes a lot of sense.  It's my understanding the the INDNR went with this egg supplier vs. keeping brood fish and all the hassle that entails. I think on paper that's a great idea. But it may have a downside.

The way it works is the eyed eggs are typically shipped overnight Fed Ex and places in hatching jars etc. The thing about these eggs are they are manipulated under pressure as mitosis takes place to produce an extra set of chromosomes. Hence they are called triploid vs. diploid. They are primarily used for food production, as the fish are sterile females, and don't expend energy on gonad production. However the downside is they have larger red blood cells, which means fewer red blood cells, and can have issues in conditions where oxygen isn't optimum as they don't have as many red blood cells to take up the oxygen. So it's possible if a lake is having dissolved oxygen issues or becomes marginal late in the summer, a normal diploid rainbow may be able to sulk on the bottom and wait it out, but it may do in a triploid.

I will be hatching brook, brown, and tiger trout eggs on my farm this fall. I had the option of diploid or triploid eggs. Since my trout will be going into an earthen flow through pond with a dense population, the supplier talked me out of the triploids.

As far as returning tags I can see a lot of anglers too lazy to do so. But I do know some excellent trout anglers that wouldn't hesitate and they  have noted a marked decline in the trout returns so there had to be more to it than returning tags. And there's a possibility the steelhead they put in decided to swim out.

These are just thoughts on my part, and I could very well be off on it. It may be a combination of a lot of things. And I am in no way criticizing the INDNR. It's easy to sit back and Monday morning quarterback the INDNR when we don't have to make the decisions and or under pressure from politicians to cut costs.