It's a 3,200 acre lake.  There are plenty of spots to fish successfully on the lake with a boat or from shore, without much company.  just sayin'

How can the fish be "overpressured" as you claim, when very few or no people bother to fish in many of the productive areas around the lake?  just askin'

The voice of reason ^^^^^^^^^ tru all dat, just sayin'..

Pens,

I've fished Arthur since it's existence. Some parts of it before there WAS a lake Arthur. I've also been targeting Wipers for 20+ years. I can tell you that the expential increase in "pressure" began long before there was any mention of it on the innerwebs.

Also my point was that when your on a boat its a 3,200 acre lake its a lot more simpler to navigate. And yes some people dont have a clue how to fish/ courteously. its a lot harder being confined to wading. So not sure what your point was about the fish caring?

The excess of people ( and there ARE too d@mned many ) isn't as much a problem as is the lack of brainpower among them.

Man this sounds like an Erie thread......

ORIGINAL: spoonchucker

Depends on one's definition of "reliable". Some areas fished good IMO pretty quickly. Of course during much of that particular time I was more interested in the beer in my cooler, than I was my line in the water. So my viewpoint might be a bit cloudy.

They did stock heavily, and there were several farm ponds, and Shannon lake that were flooded, and had good number of fish already in them. As for Stripers. I'd say that 15 years ago was the peak, and the pressure started increasing at that time ( or shortly afterward ). Bass pressure began well before that.

Thanks spoon', I've never experience the creation of a lake before, and the concept has always fascinated me. Oh, by "reliable" I just meant becoming a place with regular catching patterns.

ORIGINAL: Porktown

ORIGINAL: spoonchucker

Lake Arthur is a close leisure time location for those in the city. Also many have moved FROM the city to the surrounding area. Lake Arthur was going to see an increase in pressure, regardless of any internet postings. You may not like it. I sure don't, but it was gonna happen.

Throw into that equation, during the 80s, the steel industry was hanging on by threads before its eventual collapse.

1) The area is about twice as prosporous now as it was in the 80s and early 90s. There are 20 & 30 somethings with boats now, that many who had 20 years of work experience at that time couldn't even afford, yet 20-30 year olds. There are just more boats in general in the area now. When I was a kid in the 80s, cruising around on my Dad's scanoe with 2hp motor, we seemingly had the entire lake to ourselves... At the launch or at the baitshops, they definitely knew and talked about many specific places to fish.

2) The mindset of many of our families directly affected by the steel industry have moulded us to what we are. Fishing in general as mentioned is a relatively inexpensive leisure activity. If the mills were still rolling strong, I'm guessing a good bit of those on the water now, would likely be on golf courses or other activities that they never would have been introduced into. Our family vacations growing up, were to Pymatuning and Erie, with a trip to the beach maybe once every 4 years. That was the norm of all of my Dad's mill buddies too.
The internet helped, but it was going to happen regardless.

To build on Spoon's point, it isn't only Pgh metro. Toss into that, those from Sharon, New Castle, Youngstown and even Erie. Your looking at 3-4M people within an hour or close to, drive. Much better lakes closer to many of them.

Fer real?!?!! Lemmie get this straight, your point in short is the closing of the mills caused more fishermen? Thas a stretch, just sayin'. The coalition inregards to the innerweb and fishing pressure in undenialble. Trout Run(or any other place in Erie), Shenango, Pymie, Moraine... all these places have gotten HEAVY "discussion" on here countless times over. 9 zillion "Look at me" pics...I mean c'mon.. Postin from a vacation in Belize or a trip to Alaska is one thing. Sorry but a cooler of Crappies or The common Hybrid just doesnt seem relavent. Not to mention the old "meet me at the dock and I'll take ya by the hand" guys. Witnessing this firsthand, I could give you threads and CULPRITS right off the top of my head who couldnt stand but to say "Look at me!!!!"

Maybe I'm outta line here, but I would like to hear why or why not, just askin, just sayin'.....and as always not hatin'.

The closing and downward turn of the mills pretty much crippled about 70% of this region for about 20 years. If your family somehow avoided this, then you were lucky. During the time of the 80s, when guys entered the mill thinking, this could be my last shift, guys saved and didn't buy things like boats ect. There has definitely been a major increase in the amount of boats in the area in the past 10+ years. Probably similar to the 60s and 70s, when the mills were booming. The economy in this area is twice as healthy, during the current MAJOR recession than it was during the localized recession of the 80s & early 90s. Not sure how old you are, but over half of my graduating class of the early 90s is living out of state, only lately have some been returning, due to the market recovering in the area. I too was forced out of state for a few years out of college in search of employment. The area has a lot more disposable income than it did in the 80s and 90s. People buy things like boats with disposable income, they don't with fixed incomes. So yes, the rebirth of the area added to the amount of boat anglers in the area.

Kind of strange that you are listing EVERY water as being over fished now. Do you think the internet has added that many more fishermen? During the time of the internet, technology has provided a ton of other leisure activities as well, which I would imagine has decreased the amount of fishermen, as the license sales data might suggest?

I can agree with some folks giving way too much specific knowledge up to the masses. Fishing reports have always been around, and would bet the PG or Trib still provide more pressure than all of the combined local fishing discussion boards. I'd guess that most of the contributors on here check out the last pages of the sports section as well. Try to dig up an old article from either prior to the internet. I know for a fact the PG and Press used to interview the bait shops for reports. All were more than willing to talk about Walnut Creek, Trout Run, Godfrey Run, Pymy near the dam, Pymie Causeway, Pymie Spillway, Pymie stumps, Shenango celery farm, LA road bed, LA coves, exact point names, ect. All would give their 2 cents into bait and techniques too.

All the baby boomers after 'nam are retiring.

All someone would have to do is post a pic of a fish he caught in a mudpuddle and he'd have a half-a-dozen guys ask him for directions, just sayin'........

I agree with everything pensfan said. Same thing with Pyamtuning...

and I also hate 'em being called byrds. It's definitely the most retarded name ever... just sayin'

the people that use the internet to scout where to fish are the same people that would read the fishing reports in the paper, call local bait shops, listen to talk in the bar and use any other non computer means to get an idea of where they are biting.  it's been that way forever with fishermen.  the internet just made it a little easier because they can get the same info without leaving their home.

hey steve why dont you check the local paper or call the bait shop or just go to the bar to figure out how to fish a harness JUST SAYIN