As is typical of newly renovated lakes, the fish in Murphey Lake have been growing at nearly unbelievable rates. One factor that has benefited the growing fish population is the lake's shallow water. The average depth here is only about 3 feet, and the abundance of weedy, brushy cover that grew while the lake was drained has provided cover for the young fish and a veritable smorgasbord of insects for them to eat.

According to Jeremy Price, a District 1 assistant fisheries biologist, J.C. Murphey Lake will definitely be a great place for ice-fishermen to try this year. "We were pretty impressed with what we found here," he said. "We started stocking fish in the fall of 2004, and during a fish survey in May 2006, we were already seeing redears up to 9 inches. The biggest bluegill we caught was just shy of 8 inches, too. The majority of the redears that we caught were between 7.5 and 8.5 inches," continued Price. "We caught lots of bluegills over 6 inches, and we also got some smaller fish to indicate that there is natural reproduction. There is excellent size structure already."

Mike Schoonveld is Willow Slough's assistant property manager. He reported that although the fish will likely experience another growth spurt in the fall, they had already grown quite a bit between the May survey and press time.

"Right now," Schoonveld said, "a limit of bluegills includes about one-third bluegills over 8 inches, with the remaining two-thirds of the fish ranging from 7 to 8 inches. Also, redears over 9 inches long are being caught regularly," he added.

"The huge surprise at Willow Slough, though, is pike," Price said. "We stocked pike in June 2005 (fry and fingerlings), and in May 2006, we caught pike up to 23.1 inches long! That's huge growth!"

Price took some scale samples and verified that the fish were only 1-year-old northern pike. "Those fish grew 20 inches in a single growing year," he beamed.

Note that J.C. Murphey Lake has some new regulations that were started in 2006. Anglers may keep a total of 25 panfish per day (a total of 25 bluegills, crappies and redears in any combination). There is also a two-bass bag limit, and an 18-inch minimum size limit for the bass.

LAKE WAWASEE
Anyone who enjoys having plenty of room to roam while ice-fishing will absolutely love Lake Wawasee in Kosciusko County. At more than 3,400 acres, Lake Wawasee is the largest natural inland lake in Indiana. So there are a tremendous number of places to drill a hole and start fishing on this vast lake.