West Boggs Creek Reservoir, a 622-acre lake just outside of Loogootee, is producing largemouth bass, bluegill, and channel catfish in unprecedented size and numbers, and the word is out because fishing pressure has doubled in the last 10 years.

"Total fishing pressure doubled from 1989 to 1999. It increased from 124 to 233 angler hours per acre. The estimated total fishing pressure was about 144,848 hours, which is pretty high," explained district fisheries biologist Brian Schoenung in an interview from his Avoca office. The pounds of fish harvested per acre more than doubled in that same time period: 40 lbs. per acre jumped to 84 lbs. per acre.

At the same time, both the size and numbers of panfish and largemouth bass removed from the lake by anglers has mushroomed. In a 1999 creel survey conducted by fisheries workers, anglers reported harvesting 5,000 largemouth. That’s about eight bass per acre harvested.

"That’s pretty close to the production limit. It’s a high rate of harvest. Bass are getting yanked out when they get to 14 inches," said Schoenung. "Normally that would cause us concern, but as it stands right now, it is not that big of a problem."

It isn’t a big problem now for several reasons, but mostly because in electrofishing West Boggs, biologists shocked up 300 largemouth per hour. That is an amazing number of bass, especially when you consider a population level that high is usually considered to be evidence of "stockpiling." Stockpiling occurs when there is both a high density of a species and slow growth rates. There is high density of largemouth there, but the growth rate has not declined. At 4 years, largemouth bass at West Boggs are 2.5 inches over the district average, said Schoenung. The district average at age 4 is 13.7.

"As it stands right now, largemouth bass are number one by numbers and by weight," he said.

The most significant aspect of these phenomenal largemouth statistics is that such high numbers have been achieved at West Boggs where here is strictly a panfish forage base. To Schoenung, the numbers prove that you can we can have excellent largemouth fishing without a shad forage base. Bass fishermen have for years argued you can’t have good bass fishing, especially for big bass, without a shad forage bass. Not so at West Boggs.

Bluegill are the primary prey at West Boggs, and bluegill there are the main attraction for anglers. It is probably the best bluegill lake in the state so far as numbers and size harvested are concerned.

Bluegill were the number one species harvested in the 1999 creel survey. Anglers took 86,000 bluegill from the reservoir from April through October. The average weight of those bluegill was .4 lbs., and the average length was 7.6 inches. As anyone who has been bluegill fishing at this lake can testify, the bluegill are very "chunky." Schoenung says that anglers are harvesting about as many bluegill as the lake can produce every year.

"Overall it (West Boggs Creek Reservoir) is in pretty good condition, as good as it has ever been. It should last for a little while, at least several more years," he said, adding that the "boom and bust" cycle observed in reservoirs after renovation has so far remained in a boom period. "We are five or six years into the boom. We would expect it to have gone downhill by now, but it hasn’t."

This reservoir was renovated by the Div. of Fish and Wildlife in 1992. Renovation entails a draw-down of water, recovery of desirable species and subsequent killing of undesirable species like shad and carp by adding a chemical like Rotenone to the watershed. The flood gates are then closed and the lake is restocked. A boom period of rapid growth in size and numbers typically follows. That boom often ends after about three years. That’s one thing that makes West Boggs such an amazing fishery.

Prior to renovation, the lake had the lowest bass catch rate per hour of any lake in Schoenung’s district. Following renovation, it has the highest bass catch rate per hour of any lake in the district. The doubling of pounds of fish harvested per acre to 84 lbs. per acre is astounding.

Bluegill were the number one fish harvested, and that jumped from 17.6 fish per acre pre-renovation to 54 lbs. per acre in the 1999 creel survey. Before renovation, anglers caught and released 8 sub-legal (under 14 inches) largemouth per acre to 226 per acre in 1999. The catch and release rate for legal fish, those over 14 inches, jumped from less that one per acre in 1989 to 20.4 fish per acre in 1999.

"It is amazing, the change that has taken place since renovation. In our fisheries survey last summer, the longest bluegill was 10 inches and 15 percent of the bluegill were 8 inches or larger. That’s compared to .3 percent 8 inches or larger present just before renovation in 1991," he continued.

As of last summer, the relative abundance of the top three fishes at West Boggs was: largemouth bass, 44 percent; bluegill, 35 percent and redear 12 percent. Channel catfish came in at 3 percent of the total fishery, tied with several other species for fifth place. There is also a growing population of black crappie at West Boggs, although they didn’t turn up in last summer’s sampling. Schoenung said that the bass population will eventually decline and bluegill will become the number one species with largemouth dropping, probably, to third place on the relative abundance list, as is typical in most lakes.

"Crappie were the number two species in our creel survey. We know they are out there. Anglers caught a lot of big, fat crappie up to 14 inches long," said Schoenung.

Last summer’s fish sampling also turned up "a lot of huge channel catfish, up to 30 inches. There were many, many over 20 inches – 70 percent of the channel catfish were over 20 inches."

The popularity of channel catfish as a target species has a lot to say about the success of renovation. According to the biologist, before renovation, catfish were "really popular" among West Boggs anglers. About 12 percent of anglers were specifically fishing for channel catfish then. In 1999, hardly anyone is fishing for them. Only one percent of anglers were fishing for channel cat in 1999. Anglers obviously prefer bass, bluegill and crappie.

As good as it sounds, West Boggs’ fishery lives in a precarious balance.

"West Boggs is in a nutrient-rich watershed. The soils are rich and there is a lot of runoff from sewage lagoons (agricultural). Currently the lake is bordering on being too productive. It is highly eutrophic. We had a small fish kill in the fall turnover last year, because there is so much algae in there. It is something to be concerned about. We want to protect that lake from any more nutrient input. We are trying to prevent sewage lagoon spills that have happened in the past. One of the things we’d like to see is a shift from algae to rooted vegetation. That hasn’t materialized yet. But there are more rooted plants, and they are expanding every year," he said.

When asked how he might characterize West Boggs Creek as a fishing hole, Schoenung said:

"Tremendous is about all you can say about it.