(Un)official Hoosiers Thread

[Alan Reed]

Caught my PB just shy of 5 lbs, yesterday after work on a white chatterbait swimming it down the edge of a channel where it dropped from 2 ft to 4ft out of my kayak. Water temp was 60 degrees. Closing in on the end of my first year fishing and a great start to a weeks vacation.

[IndianaFinesse]

Fished yesterday afternoon for about four hours.  Caught a total of 37 fish, 28 of them largemouth, 5 white bass, and 4 nice crappie.  Water clarity was good with about four feet of visibility, and the surface water temperature was 50 degrees.  A little over half of the bass hit half of a znker-z, a couple of the white bass and about a dozen bass ate the vision 110, and the crappie and the other white bass bit the Bucktail jig.  Biggest bass weighed 3.4 pounds, and most of the rest were about 15 inches, which i would consider pretty good size.  All of the fish were on either a dam or a steep dropping point next to it.  Best day on the water I've had in a few weeks, hopefully today's rain doesn't screw that up to much. 

[IndianaFinesse]

Got out on Thanksgiving, and did about the same in the same areas as Tuesday, except more crappie and white bass and less largemouth.  Then I went out again yesterday and caught about fifteen bass, plus my I caught and released pb walleye at 23 inches long on a jerkbait!  It surprisingly didn't fight very hard for it's size, but nonetheless exciting to have the first walleye I caught out of this particular lake to be my pb.  Later on I switched to targeting crappie specifically instead of just having them as a bycatch.  Ended up with 23 nice crappie (most of them measured between 10-13 inches) and 18 white bass in about two hours of fishing for them, all on small hair jigs. fished close to the bottom.

Fished today, this time fishing for crappie the whole time.  Ended the day with 30 nice fish, about half of them on the hair jig, and the rest were either caught on a crappie magnet or a minnow.  They were on a drop off were it goes from roughly 15 feet down to 30, I was marking the majority of them suspended but most of the fish I caught were within two feet of the bottom.  Must have been that the more active fish were on the bottom for some reason. 

[Team9nine]

Had a friend join me today for his last Indiana fishing trip this year as he's headed to sunny Florida for the winter at the start of the coming week. Launched at 1:15 and fished until 5:45, managing 82 bass today. Water clear and 47 degrees. Sending him south to warmer weather with some sore arms

[IndianaFinesse]

9 hours ago, Team9nine said:

Had a friend join me today for his last Indiana fishing trip this year as he's headed to sunny Florida for the winter at the start of the coming week. Launched at 1:15 and fished until 5:45, managing 82 bass today. Water clear and 47 degrees. Sending him south to warmer weather with some sore arms

Wow, that's a lot of fish!  It's not often I see a picture of bob holding something other than a crappie.  You get them on the jerkbaits, blade baits, or bucktails?

[Team9nine]

4 hours ago, IndianaFinesse said:

Wow, that's a lot of fish!  It's not often I see a picture of bob holding something other than a crappie. 

Believe it or not, he was a bass fisherman before he became a crappie guy...plus he was in my boat, so he didn't have a choice . We actually brought the crappie sticks and checked a few traditional cold water schools, but nothing much doing. Only caught one. You've been sitting on the best group of crappie I've come across this fall.

You get them on the jerkbaits, blade baits, or bucktails?

Yes...plus inline spinners. The area up by your house and beyond was pretty good. Found one area stacked with so many white bass we had to leave  they were messing up our bass fishing - could catch one (WB) on almost every cast.

-T9

[IndianaFinesse]

Got out bass fishing yesterday for about two hours.  Didn't do nearly as well as brian, but still managed 23 bass, the majority hit a blade bait and the rest ate the ned rig.  They seemed to be schooled up on steep dropping points and shorelines, it would be a fish on about every cast for a few minutes then hardly anything until I found the next group.  I also caught two really nice crappie on the blade, one measured 13 inches and the other almost fourteen inches.  Hopefully today's predicted nearly an inch and a half of rain doesn't mess up the water clarity to much, last weeks rain didn't effect it at all so i'm hopefull.

[IndianaFinesse]

Fished for about two hours and fourty-five minutes this afternoon.  Water temperature is 46 degrees with about 3 feet of clarity where is was fishing by a dam at the lower end of the lake, and only a foot and a half at the upper end.  Started out bass fishing, and stumbled across a few good white bass schools while throwing a blade bait for bass so I decided to switch over to targeting the white bass.  They were schooled up close to the bottom in 15-30 feet of water, mostly in this one steep dropping pocket with scattered dying weeds on the shallower parts of it.  The most effective technique was vertically fishing the blade bait, dropping it down to the bottom initially before lifting the rod just far enough and fast enough to feel one or two vibrations and then letting it drop back down to a tight line near the bottom.  Ended with a total of about a half a dozen largemouth and 47 white bass, not what I was planning on catching but very fun nonetheless.  

The weather forecast shows the highs for next week being in the low 30's and 20's, hopefully it warms back up but if not it'll be iced up about Christmas time.  At least I might be able to get out ice fishing this year instead of dealing with the 2-3 inches of weak ice we had last year that's to thick to plow threw with a canoe but is to weak to walk on.

[Team9nine]

Almost picked up the blade bait myself, but decided against it. Saw just what was there and didn't want to spend my entire time fishing one spot. They were stacked thick in there though. A bit windier than I like, but ended up with 18 largemouth, 8 whites and 6 crappie - 6 of the whites + crappie came from that spot on crappie tubes. All the bass bit jerkbaits, along with a couple other whites. Hoping to get out Saturday. Haven't decided exactly where yet though. Will probably let weather decide.

-T9

[Alan Reed]

Got out this afternoon. The air temp was 42 and the water temp was 44. Caught 5 good fish on a Texas rigged weightless Carolina Pink chartruese tip dinger. Presention was drag across bottom and deadstick. 

[IndianaFinesse]

Anyone else fish in the freezing temperatures and rain today?  I was alone on the lake which was nice, but the fish weren't cooperating.  caught eight fish in two hours, all on the ned rig.  They were out deep on the 10-15 foot drop off, off of points, and the only productive retrieve was the drag and deadstick.

[Team9nine]

1 hour ago, IndianaFinesse said:

Anyone else fish in the freezing temperatures and rain today?  I was alone on the lake which was nice, but the fish weren't cooperating.  caught eight fish in two hours, all on the ned rig.  They were out deep on the 10-15 foot drop off, off of points, and the only productive retrieve was the drag and deadstick.

Made it yesterday when it was a bit nicer out - 35 bass in 3.5 hrs. Looked like today would have been OK if I could have got on and off by lunch before the rain. Will be out (hopefully) one more time early this week before the frigid stuff moves in and makes life on the water no longer fun. Here's a few pics from Sat.

[Alan Reed]

2 hours ago, IndianaFinesse said:

Anyone else fish in the freezing temperatures and rain today?  I was alone on the lake which was nice, but the fish weren't cooperating.  caught eight fish in two hours, all on the ned rig.  They were out deep on the 10-15 foot drop off, off of points, and the only productive retrieve was the drag and deadstick.

Almost went out before the rain but didn't  make it.

[KLoell]

Hey guys I'm looking for a fishing resort or lake that is good fishing for Bass, Crappie, Bluegill within a 4 hour drive or so from central indy.  I have a group of friends and we go to the sullivan pits every year for a week.  Wanted to maybe explore the idea of somewhere else this coming spring.  Any suggestions are appreciated.  Thanks guys  

[OddChase]

11 hours ago, Team9nine said:

Made it yesterday when it was a bit nicer out - 35 bass in 3.5 hrs. Looked like today would have been OK if I could have got on and off by lunch before the rain. Will be out (hopefully) one more time early this week before the frigid stuff moves in and makes life on the water no longer fun. Here's a few pics from Sat.

Those are looking like some healthy fish! Sounds like a great day on the water. Looking forward to the prespawn already. 

[IndianaFinesse]

 

12 hours ago, Team9nine said:

Made it yesterday when it was a bit nicer out - 35 bass in 3.5 hrs. Looked like today would have been OK if I could have got on and off by lunch before the rain. Will be out (hopefully) one more time early this week before the frigid stuff moves in and makes life on the water no longer fun. Here's a few pics from Sat.

That's a lot of nice fish, we were out Saturday to, but we were crappie fishing.  Managed twenty decent crappie, but sounds like the bass fishing was better.  It would have been a whole lot nicer before the rain came in, but I was at church in the morning so I was stuck with fishing in the afternoon rain.  At least it wasn't freezing rain like it was predicted, that would have been pretty hard to fish in.

[IndianaFinesse]

Been getting out as much as possible the last few days, before our lakes get totally frozen over next week.  Ice is forming in the backs of coves already, had to plow threw some of it it with the boat for the last two days in order to get out.  That's when i'm glad I have an aluminum boat with an extra thick hull.  Water temperature's hanging around 38-39 degrees with the water clarity about 4 feet by the dam.  Went out Wednesday afternoon, ended up with 13 bass caught throwing the ned rig at steep dropping shore lines, and the bass wanted it fished painfully slow along the bottom.  Got out yesterday afternoon again, managed a couple bass on jerkbaits before finding a massive school of white bass while motoring between bass spots.  Caught 39 white bass in just two hours, all of them on vertically jigged blade baits fished with a four second pause between jigging it just enough to feel the vibration.  Got out again this morning for about an hour and a half hoping to duplicate yesterday's bite, but that didn't work out.  We got completely skunked, hooked a few fish but failed to get any of them in the boat.  It's looking like tomorrow might be my last day of open water fishing this year, hoping to make it a last hurrah to get me threw until the ice gets thick enough to safely ice fish.

[IndianaFinesse]

Fished in the rain on sunday for about two hours.  A good part of my time was spent looking for ice fishing spots, but I stopped and fished at the schools i found to see what they were.  I only caught five fish, but one of them was a nice channel catfish that measured about 30 inches.  I would have entered it into the fish of the year program, but there wasn't anyone else on the lake to witness the measurement and the rules state that a non-family member must witness the measurement.  More exciting than that is I found the concentration of catfish, so they should stay in that same spot all winter.  The four white bass and the catfish hit the blade bait vertically jigged near the bottom.  The white bass were in scattered schools in or near the channel, and the catfish was in one of the deepest parts of the channel near a brush pile.  I would have tried to catch more catfish from the huge school the depth finder was showing, but by the time I had released the catfish it was dark.  But when the ice gets thick enough to ice fish on in a few weeks I'll go back to see if I can't get some cats threw the ice, something I've never done before.

[Team9nine]

So you found the catfish wintering hole - a blessing and a curse. For years guys have been harassing those big cats every winter before ice up. Typically, about half the channels you catch from there will actually bite, while the other half will be snagged. The big flatheads live there, too, but that ratio is about 90% snagged to 10% that will bite. This year I actually saw very few boats on them for some reason. Maybe in part because several of the guys who usually fish them the most have moved away, or simply weren't on the water this fall. I've always chosen to ignore the hole and never fished for them there because I see no sport in snagging them. Seems a bit unfair to the fish.

-T9   

[IndianaFinesse]

4 minutes ago, Team9nine said:

So you found the catfish wintering hole - a blessing and a curse. For years guys have been harassing those big cats every winter before ice up. Typically, about half the channels you catch from there will actually bite, while the other half will be snagged. The big flatheads live there, too, but that ratio is about 90% snagged to 10% that will bite. This year I actually saw very few boats on them for some reason. Maybe in part because several of the guys who usually fish them the most have moved away, or simply weren't on the water this fall. I've always chosen to ignore the hole and never fished for them there because I see no sport in snagging them. Seems a bit unfair to the fish.

-T9   

This one was actually hooked in the mouth.  And don't worry, I don't keep anything over six pounds anyway.

[OddChase]

Has anyone fished Chain O'Lakes just north of Fort Wayne? Might take a week and go camping up there with a kayak in tow during the summer. Looks like a fun place. 

[Team9nine]

22 hours ago, IndianaFinesse said:

This one was actually hooked in the mouth.  And don't worry, I don't keep anything over six pounds anyway.

Good deal - I don't think there is anything even close to under 6 pounds in that hole. The 20-50# fish would eat them . No way to jig around all those bodies without snagging some, so I'll pass - released or not. Be safe though. Takes a lot of cold hard water to make walking out to that spot safe.

-T9

[The Bassman]

I'm really excited to have come across this thread. I've just recently joined BR and didn't notice this.  I'm a fellow hoosier who really loves our sport.  My biggest difference is that I'm shore bound.  I really envy you guys having such good action so late.  Will look forward to contributing.  I really get going come warmer weather as I love to wade for smallmouth.  By the way, I just realized that a blog I've been following until it was discontinued was run by Team9nine. 

[IndianaFinesse]

17 minutes ago, The Bassman said:

I'm really excited to have come across this thread. I've just recently joined BR and didn't notice this.  I'm a fellow hoosier who really loves our sport.  My biggest difference is that I'm shore bound.  I really envy you guys having such good action so late.  Will look forward to contributing.  I really get going come warmer weather as I love to wade for smallmouth.  By the way, I just realized that a blog I've been following until it was discontinued was run by Team9nine. 

Looking forward to seeing some of your reports next year.  If the "blog" your talking about is Big Indiana bass, then it is still up and running after a short break last year.  I read that site a lot to, I'm pretty sure I've read everything ever posted on there by now.

[Team9nine]

3 hours ago, The Bassman said:

 By the way, I just realized that a blog I've been following until it was discontinued was run by Team9nine. 

Welcome - and yes, that's me/mine. After 10 years, I've officially "closed" it, though it will stay up for at least another year archived as it still gets a lot of traffic. In the mean time, if you haven't figured it out yet, by clicking on the Spoonplugging book icon on the main page, you'll be taken to my latest interest and site.

-T9

On 12/14/2016 at 1:07 PM, OddChase said:

Has anyone fished Chain O'Lakes just north of Fort Wayne? Might take a week and go camping up there with a kayak in tow during the summer. Looks like a fun place. 

I've been to many of the State Parks, but have never been there. Have stayed at Potawatomi Inn at Pokagon which isn't too far away. From what I've read and heard, it's really nice. Cool cabins and great scenery. Electric only lake, so should be really quiet and peaceful compared to many Indiana lakes. We'll expect a fishing report next year if you make it

-T9