Summit Lake

[Bonkers4Bacon]

Doing some camping and fishing this weekend at Summit Lake State Park. Haven't been there yet, any experience fishing there? Any hot spots you want to share? Going to do mostly night fishing off the bank for cats, hopefully the rain holds off

 

[yote hunter]

Not to sure on cats but summit has some good gills and perch in it... Have a good time and good luck..

 

[GaDawg]

Not much luck cat fishing here. Good blue gill though. Better if u have a small boat and motor to go out in deeper water or into the creek.

 

[bwframe]

Any size to the 'gills? And what about those jumbo perch? Are they abundant?

 

[Bonkers4Bacon]

Any size to the 'gills? And what about those jumbo perch? Are they abundant?

I would like to know as well. Unfortunately I will have to stick with bank fishing. I'd love to get out in the middle though

 

[halfmileharry]

Huge gills and nice perch. Cats I don't know about. Good Bass as well.
Follow the rules as the DNR watch it closely. Henry Co. courts are nice but strict on rules and regs. Don't ask how I know.

 

[hooky]

I've only fished there from a boat, but if you can make it to the dam on foot, you can get into perch.

 

[Mister K]

I've camped there, but I had my 14' jon boat. You can rent a boat, but I'm not sure of the particulars of that. If you choose your campsite wisely, you can fish directly from your campsite. Both camping loops A and B have sites with water access for shore fishing. I think you might be able to change camp sites when you check in if the "good" ones are available. Some of the sites that are close to the water are not as good for tent camping as they may be for R/V camping, so you may want to do a recon of the sites. There is some good fishing in the waters next to the campground, lots of structure, stumps etc. Of course it all depends on the conditions as to how the fish are biting. There are also some nice hiking paths that do have some fishing spots. The trail that is closest to the campground has a pretty cool beach spot you can wade out on. The bigger path which is North East of the campground also has some fishing access spots.

If you go to the campground reservation webpage:
Campgrounds and Camping Reservations - Indiana Department of Natural Resources
Type in Summit Lake as your destination and select your date range and it will show you which campsites are available and even a picture of the site.

Main DNR webpage:
DNR: Summit Lake State Park

Property map:
http://www.in.gov/dnr/parklake/files/summit_lake_tail.pdf

 

[Bonkers4Bacon]

Thanks for the info, I'm looking forward to it. We already have our sites picked out but aren't near the water. But we are willing to walk anywhere for some good fishing

 

[Mister K]

If you're interested, here are some pics I have of fishing spots from shore off of the hiking paths.
These are from the hiking trail next to the campgrounds, This is a short trail, I can't remember which trail entrance is the shortest distance to these spots, but probably the opening that is the Northernmost:

This is the "beach" spot, before this area is another good fishing area.

View attachment 32094
View attachment 32095

I think this is farther South on the same trail.

This cool little spot with the picnic table was on the long hiking trail, this spot I believe was pretty much at the Northernmost limits of that path, so a bit of a walk.


There were other spots along the way of both of these paths, but these were the most memorable, Have fun!

 

[Bonkers4Bacon]

Thanks a lot Mr K! Can't wait