I�m looking for your input on what you think happened to the decline of this great fishing lake?
I have my theory what is yours?

I'm going to go with fishing pressure.
My second guess is property owners removing structure and development where there once wasn't any.

The sewer treatment plant shut down that fed [censored] creek
The creek would have huge schools of bait during the winter
time. Since the plant shut down the bait fish have cease to exist
No more stripers, big bass or catfish
I�m still catching fish. Just no numbers or quality

No more nutrients in the water, and disrupted the food chain.....Nice!

I was not aware the treatment plant shut down. may explain why i dont see the schooling bass chasing shiners on the surface. I mostly think that when Bassmaster magazine ranked it number 90 in the top 100 bass lakes in the 48 states did a lot to hurt it . i think that was about 7 yrs ago. the local tournaments went wild and fishing pressure increased exponentially. long droughts and low water flows have changed the fish locations and habits. I did see a nice 10+ caught 1 morning about 2 months ago. I have not had much luck myself for the last 5 yrs. the previous 35 yrs was great. I remember when they killed off all the hydrilla and the crawfish migrated to the mill damn. we scooped them up with landing nets. I remember in the 80's when the Crappie would stack up under the bridges every evening in late february when they decided to spawn. so cold the water froze in the eyes of the rod. The "Bubble" . Lilly pads on almost every shoreline. Big flood few years back hit about 5:50 in the morning and virtually wiped out the big river crawfish. used to see them all over the ramp before sunrise. after that flood i have seen none. so a lot of factors go in to why it is fishing the way it is today. I did see lots of shad fry pods all over the main lake on sunday morning.

Sounds like you have fished this lake as long as I have. I have many of the same memories as you do.
I�ve had days of catching 100 plus crappy. Same crawfish stories

Mark,I feel your pain! The area around Dunlap has grown. Seems more and more neighbor hoods are going up as fast as they can build homes. The recreational use on Dunlap and the rest of the river lakes has gone up at least 100 percent over the past five years. Wake Boats have become a major problem for a lake that size. Recreational use including fishing pressure is only going to get worst as years pass by. Dunlap has seen it's better years just like Mcqueeney and Placid.