Hamilton City Reservoir

Hamilton City Lake (90 acres) offers good potential for nice-sized largemouth bass and  hybrid striped bass (white bass x striped bass). Electrofishing surveys conducted in 2022 collected fish over 20 inches for both species. Unfortunately, the number of largemouth bass in the lake appears to be in decline with electrofishing catch rates trending down since 2016.  Several hybrid striped bass from 7-8 inches were observed which suggests good survival for the fish stocked in 2021.  One hybrid bass over 23 inches was observed.

Largemouth bass concentrate near shore to spawn in the early spring and then orient to submerged structure or deeper channels other parts of the year.  Obvious brush piles are limited in the lake so a boat equipped with a sonar unit is very helpful to find bass.  Shore anglers should target fallen trees, over-hanging brush, and edges of aquatic vegetation. Hybrid bass are often caught by casting and trolling in open water areas (where schools of shad occur) with larger jigs, spinners, crank baits, and other active lures that mimic baitfish.

Panfish species tend to be small in this lake but the 2022 surveys showed some recent improvement with a few white crappie at more desirable sizes (9-12 inches).  Bluegill remained small (less than 7 inches) due to competition for food with an extremely abundant population of gizzard shad.