By Louie Stout
Pine and Stone lakes continue to rank right up there with some of the best lakes in northern Indiana.
The two lakes within LaPorte city limits turned up big pike, bass and bluegill populations and a walleye fishery that remains worthy of attention.
An Indiana DNR Fisheries survey, conducted last summer and during the fall, indicates a very healthy fishery.
District biologist Courtney Weldon was there last fall to check survival of walleye stocked the previous fall. While the results weren’t great – similar to the previous year – those stocked in the early 2020s seem to be doing just fine.
“Growth still looks good and we caught several adult walleye during the survey,” she says. “The walleye population seems to be doing fine.”
Adult age groups were “all over the board,” she says, with a lot of fish in the 4 to 5 age group.
The summer survey was conducted in June. Nets were placed 6-foot-tall nets in water depths ranging from 8 feet to 20 feet where they captured numerous sportfish.
It produced a good spread of largemouth bass up to 19 inches.
“It’s interesting,” says Weldon. “Bass (size) growth in those lakes is slow the first couple of years and then it takes off to be above average after they hit age 4. We kinda see the same thing with walleyes.”
Pike numbers are high, she adds, noting that they caught more than they expected. The largest caught in nets was 37 inches “and we rolled another that was probably bigger.”
The bluegill and redear populations also are very healthy. The survey turned up a lot of 6 ½ to 8 ½ inch bluegill and the redears averaged 7 ½ inches.
“Bluegill is the most common species in the lake and redear is second,” Weldon says.
She speculates that the quality panfish population can be attributed to the strong predator population.
“When you have a strong predator population, you see bigger panfish,” she explains.