Walleyes were sampled from 5 1/2 inches up to 22 1/2 inches. Some 71 percent of the fish sampled were greater than the 14-inch minimum size requirement at the lake. Wisener said even though the longest walleye they sampled was 22 1/2 inches, there is potential for much larger fish.

Anglers there consistently catch walleyes in the 29- to 30-inch range with a few reports of walleyes longer than 30 inches being caught occasionally. Wisener said there was a newspaper story a few years back regarding a walleye caught at the lake that weighed over 14 pounds.

Fall can be a great time to catch walleyes at Brookville. Tag Nobbe is a fishing guide and owner of the 52 Pik-Up store. He has learned to consistently boat nice walleyes during the fall months.

He said the walleyes will generally be around 20 to 30 feet deep as fall begins, but will move deeper as the weeks lead toward winter. “You need a bait to get down there deep and stay in the strike zone.” His preference is to use spoons.

Some people will use jigs or jigs tipped with minnows or night crawlers. Nobbe has used this method, but said the spoons just seem to work better. He said that often the spoons will generate what he terms “a reaction bite.”

Hopkins spoons are his preference, but others will work. “You want to be able to feel the spoon at all times. You have to be able to get the spoon down to the fish, but you also want to feel it,” he said.

Nobbe looks for walleyes positioned along steep dropoffs. He said the fish often like to stack up on drops where they can quickly move up or down from shallower water to 50 feet deep or more.

When fishing depths ranging from 20 to 30 feet deep, he will usually choose spoons weighing from 1/2-ounce to 5/8-ounce. Deeper depths up to 60 feet will require the use of heavier spoons up to 3/4-ounce or 1-ounce.

Tag Nobbe may be reached at (765) 647-3600. Biologist Rhett Wisener’s number is (765) 342-5527.

MONROE RESERVOIR
Hybrid Stripers
Hybrid stripers have been stocked at Lake Monroe since 1983. Stocking usually occurs in June with a targeted number of stripers being 50,000 fingerlings per year in the 1- to 2-inch range. Biologist Dave Kittaka said the fishery is in really good shape with good size structure. Good numbers of fish are present from 6 to 11 pounds.

Each year, the DNR does a fall evaluation at the lake to look at the survival of the stocked fish. They had a really good return in 2006. In fact, it was double that of recent years.

Gill net surveys have yielded hybrid stripers from 5 to 27 inches. The 27-inch range fish are around 8 to 9 pounds, but weight can be deceptive on these hybrids. They become heavy quickly and even a 3-year-old fish can be fat and chunky. Hybrid stripers don’t generally live past 7 to 8 years, but the DNR actually did collect three fish that were over 12 years old.

Fall is a great time to be on the water for hybrid stripers. In the summer months, these hybrid stripers are confined more to the lower end of the lake. Like their striped bass cousins, hybrids prefer the cool depths when the water heats up during summer. However, when the water temperatures begin cooling in the fall, these fish tend to move more and spread out. They will go all the way to the far upper ends of the lake. Kittaka said that anglers who do their homework will be the ones to catch the fish.