Indian Boundary lake hunt

[Crow Terminator]

I had saw some of my friends post pictures from up there a couple weeks ago and saw that the water was lowered. Indian Boundary is one of my favorite places to go fish and swim...and also hunt for rings. It's one of the few national forest places you can metal detect. Anyway I went up there this weekend and to my surprise...they have drained the entire lake. Usually they just drop it 6 feet or so...some times more but I don't think I can remember them draining the whole thing. Needless to say, souvenir hunters and curious onlookers were everywhere. There were 6 people metal detecting the beach area when I got there and I have never seen another person metal detecting it. I was in shock at both the water being gone and the number of people metal detecting. I got in a spot nobody was...didn't want to interfere with people that were already there. And gradually made my way to the hot spots after the other hunters went on. I don't know if they did any good but I ended up with 2 rings and a few coins. One ring is a 10k with diamond....must have been a promise ring or small engagement ring. If any of you are from this area it's worth driving up there to see what it looks like without water.

 

[timberjack86]

Hope they restore and restock it! I was looking forward to fishing in my little Jon Boat this summer

 

[Hduke86]

That's wild

 

[EastTNHunter]

Good finds Crow T. I have fished that lake a couple of times but never caught much, and I'm wondering if there is not much to catch due to heavy draw downs and draining

 

[timberjack86]

Good finds Crow T. I have fished that lake a couple of times but never caught much, and I'm wondering if there is not much to catch due to heavy draw downs and draining

We've always done really good there. Lots of big bluegill and some eating size cats. 5-6 pounders mostly.

 

[EastTNHunter]

We've always done really good there. Lots of big bluegill and some eating size cats. 5-6 pounders mostly.

Well, I'll accept the fact that I'm a sucky fisherman

 

[Crow Terminator]

That's one of the better lakes to fish actually, or was. It was pretty regular to catch 9-10 inch bluegill and it was loaded with other species too. Shellcrackers, yellow perch, catfish, bass. They usually don't drain it like this. I found out they didn't do it on purpose: the flood gate shut off broke. I don't know if they couldn't stop the water and it all drained out or if they had to do that to in order to repair the gate. Or both. Either way, there's no water in it now and the stream behind the dam is loaded with pools of dead and dying fish.