Hotspots on Blue Lake include Horseshoe Bay and the northwest corner of the lake. These areas are shallower than the main-lake basin and have good weed cover all year long. Another top crappie location is the long point that tapers out onto the weed flat. The crappies will move up onto the flat to feed.

Bluegill fishing happens during the daylight hours. The crappie fishing is a different can of worms, Bailey said. He generally goes out onto the ice about a half hour before sundown and stays out until a couple of hours after dark.

There is also the likelihood of tangling with a largemouth bass even in the dead of winter.

"I've seen some nice bass come out from under the ice," Bailey said. "Most guys are catching them with Jig-n-Raps near the sunken islands. I've even seen a couple of bass anglers on the area with tip-ups, though I don't know how well they're doing."

The public access ramp is on the southern end of the lake off E. Harold Place, a separate road from the connected E. Harold Road. Ice-anglers can access the lake from this point, though it's a quarter-mile walk out to Horseshoe Bay. Both the northwestern corner of the lake and Horseshoe Bay tend to freeze over first. Blue Lake gets very little safe ice, so always check before venturing out.

The last DNR angler creel survey was several years ago. It's notable that well over 1,200 anglers were interviewed, and of these, 88 percent of them said that the fishery was improving, according to fisheries biologist Ed Braun.

Hotspots on Blue Lake include Horseshoe Bay and the northwest corner of the lake. These areas are shallower than the main-lake basin and have good weed cover all year long.

Not surprisingly, many anglers were fishing exclusively for the lake's bluegills. Many were fishing for panfish in general and several were looking for largemouth bass along with the bluegills and crappies.

Blue Lake covers 239 acres in Whitley County. It has an average depth of 26 feet. For more information, contact the District 3 office at (260) 244-6805. Fort Wayne tourism information is available by calling (800) 767-7752.

SCALES LAKE
"Scales Lake in Boonville is a good ice-fishing destination," fisheries biologist Dan Carnahan said. "Down here during a cold winter, we usually only have two weeks of safe ice, so most people are fishing the farm ponds and smaller lakes. The good thing about the short ice-fishing season is that we're always fishing either first or late ice, so the fishing is pretty good."

Several Division of Fish and Wildlife (DFW) surveys have been conducted on this Evansville-area lake since 1963. The bluegill fishing has been good for years and the most recent survey shows that the lake still offers good angling.

What Carnahan found was a lake loaded with bluegills and redear sunfish. The largemouth bass weren't bragging sized, so a 12- to 15-inch protected slot limit was instituted to increase the sizes.

The bluegill fishing is excellent. Fish in the 9-inch range were sampled during the survey with plenty of frying pan-sized fish to go around.

Biologists found redears that were over 10 inches. These tackle-busters came in second place in terms of species abundance behind bluegills. Black crappies and channel cats are in the lake but not nearly as numerous as the other panfish. A minnow under a float might take a crappie, or maybe one of the bonus winter bass.

As a rule, the fishing is pretty good year 'round, said park employee Cheri Ellis. The crappies, bluegills and redear sunfish are usually accommodating.

Access around the lake is good. The lake is part of the Scales Lake Park in the Warrick County Park and Recreation District. It's close enough for Evansville anglers to make a day trip of it and the fishing is good enough to make the trip worthwhile.