(Un)official Hoosiers Thread

[lonnie g]

On ‎3‎/‎29‎/‎2017 at 10:26 PM, KLoell said:

Caught my new personal best Sunday 3/26 in between rain showers.

 

Sitting in about 3' of water on a shaky head.

 

8lbs 7oz! 

 

Shortly after this we had to pull in to shore and hide out under some trees to wait out the rain.

congrats on the PB, very nice fish

[frosty]

1 hour ago, IndianaFinesse said:

Most of them are really nice guys, but there is definitely an inner circle cause many of these guys have known each other for 10-20+ years, and you're either inside it or not.  Maybe I'm overly sensitive to all of the politics, and maybe that's just part of tournament fishing nowdays, but it it still ticked me off.  That said most of the club members are very helpful and good guys, so I'm not slamming the whole group.

I can see being ticked about it, I don't mind being beat but I hate being beat because someone cheats. I don't think you're overly sensitive to the politics, I don't like politics, especially in an environment that's supposed to be a relaxing. 

[IndianaFinesse]

Caught another 23 bass today, but only four were keepers.  One of them was the most disproportionate bass I have ever seen, it had the head of a six or seven pounder but a puny body.  The average 13 inch bass would have been thicker than it was.  When I saw its head coming out from underneath the dock I got really excited thinking I had a hawg, only to realize it only weighed 3.6 pounds when I got it in the boat.  Must have been an old bass on it's way out, but it sure looked strange.  Caught all of them on half of a zinkerz skipped underneath docks on points and just inside coves in 2-8 feet of water.  Water temperature dropped to 51 after the cold front that came through a day or two ago.

The first water skiier of the year was out today, always a sad day for fishermen everywhere when the dreaded pleasure boaters return.

[IndianaFinesse]

Anyone have any reports or information on Morse reservoir?  Which part of the lake warms the fastest but is out of the path of all of the mud this this weeks rain is going to bring in?  How tough is the fishing there, ie what does it typically take to win there? I've got a tournament there next Sunday, but the only time I will have seen the lake will be this friday prefishing.  Any information on Morse would be greatly appreciated.

[Team9nine]

Look for cocktail cove, also called party cove on the lower right hand side above the dam. One of the best protected spawning areas on the lake. Usually tough this time of year. Check out the ILF (Indy League Fishing) website as they've held qualifiers there the last week or two. Might be able to glean some info. Typical winning weights are 11-15 pounds, much lighter than Geist.

 

Speaking of light, did you check out the HL weigh-in? Heard only one limit caught in the event, and that guy won. Tough.

[IndianaFinesse]

Thanks for the info, do you think they'll be up in party cove yet, or would you expect the point and island just outside would be better?  The larger bass are still on points and just inside cove here, and I would expect them to be a little behind us.

 

ILF looks like an interesting group, I hadn't heard of them before. I might look into that next year, i've always wanted to fish a tournament using the MLF format.

 

I stopped in for the weigh in yesterday, low numbers but two nice fish brought in, one weighing 4.6, and the other weighing 5.1.  Good to see someone besides Dayton and tony win, and someone fishing alone at that.

[Team9nine]

No doubt there will be some in both places (back and front). A nice deeper slot that leads into that area as well as a good hole further back, plus plenty of deep water at the mouth by the island. Don't pass up the spawning canal right there either. I could easily see you spending all 8 hours in that area if you fished everything thoroughly.

[BrianMRetter]

Saturday & Sunday are supposed to be 60 & 70 degrees. Im heading to Whitewater or Westwood. Which is better this time of year? I'm most familiar with Westwood but I don't ever catch anything above 1.5lbs there. What can I expect at Whitewater?

[OddChase]

Whitewater typically has some nicer fish. I've heard of people catching 4 and 5 pounds fairly regularly. You'll encounter a lot of 10-14 inchers as well. We're expected to receive a lot of rain this week which typically doesn't hurt whitewater too bad but just something to keep in mind. 

 

Got out in the nice weather this past week and broke out the fly rod. Caught a few largemouth up shallow in local ponds and destroyed the bluegill on a dry fly. Visited Summit on Saturday and still no activity there. Will be out looking for mushrooms and crappie this coming weekend. 

[BrianMRetter]

Thanks, I'll hit Whitewater Saturday then. If its good I may even go back Sunday lol

[Scratchmo]

Hey fellas. New guy from Avon here. Been lurking for a bit. Has anyone tried bass fishing at Eagle Creek lately?  I have been there in a kayak a couple of times and can't seem to locate any numbers. Any pointers?  Thanks

[IndianaFinesse]

Haven't ever fished it from a watercraft, but I have done well on the causeway from shore.

[HoosierHawgs]

On 4/3/2017 at 5:21 PM, Scratchmo said:

Hey fellas. New guy from Avon here. Been lurking for a bit. Has anyone tried bass fishing at Eagle Creek lately?  I have been there in a kayak a couple of times and can't seem to locate any numbers. Any pointers?  Thanks

Haven't been there recently, but have been doing some fishing around here. I'd have to get to know you more, maybe if you posted some more stuff here but I'd be interested in fishing with ya around the Avon area.

[Scratchmo]

Hoosier Hawgs. That sounds like a good plan. Joined the forums several weeks ago and have been plenty busy with all the great information found here. I will post more and would look forward to fishing with some of you guys. I own a lot at Heritage Lake but haven't fished there in many years due to the wake boats. I used to panfish and want to become better at bass fishing. Reading ain't reeling. 

[frosty]

I got out this afternoon to a new place close to me. It's in depauw university's nature park but has always been closed to fishing until recently I guess, it always said no fishing in the quarry pond, now it just says no swimming? Anyhoo, I caught 4 that were right around the 2 pound mark, a couple more that were around a pound. They all hit on the Ned rig or a weightless senko Texas rigged, in fact they were really slow to hit the senkos but were killing the Ned rig. 

 

A view of the quarry the pond is in, it's a beautiful place to fish, just wish the bank access was better. 

 

[frosty]

Oh yeah, finally got to use my new fenwick hmg today... it's been a long wait since Christmas! Man I am loving that rod, it's a 7' MH fast and I was casting weightless senkos 30 yards. 

[IndianaFinesse]

We had a great practice for todays tournament on Morse on Friday despite the cold front, found a dozen good spots and caught a fifteen pound limit.  Tried up in the bay for a few hours but only caught one dink, the water temperature is only 49-50 degrees (and the water clarity was only 3 inches or so in the clearer areas of the lake) so maybe it was to early.  The causeway was our best area in practice, we hooked three bass weighing 3-4 pounds each in five casts before moving.  We caught the rest on steep dropping shorelines and docks plus the small coves adjacent to them.

 

Then this morning we found out there was 98 boats in the tournament, double what they expected. Between the tourney guys and the locals there was 130-140 boats on the ~1500 acre lake, which was crazy.  In any given ten dock stretch there would be two boats fishing, the amount of boats was made worse by the fact that only the middle 1/6 of the lake was worth fishing because of the cold mud brought in by the rain.

The first area we hit today was the causeway, but 30 other boats had already driven over it and five boats fished it in front of us. No hits, but the depth finder showed them still stacked up there.  Spent the rest of the day hitting the rest of our areas, but we only caught one keeper on the ned and a few dinks.  Never fished behind that many boats or had that tough of a day.  

 

Turns out that only 35 out of 98 weighed a bass, and only two boats weighed three bass.  Three fish for a little over seven pounds won it.  We only had 2.68 pounds, but still got into the top 30.  Not sure exactly what place, we did not stay for the whole weigh in (all of the different flights meant that it took almost two hours) so we are waiting for the results to be posted online.  So far all we know is only 35 weighed fish.

 

How do you guys deal with fishing behind so many boats in a tournament?  When the fish have been pounded to death all weekend how do you still find catchable fish?  I'm sure that must have been the difference, otherwise it should have been better than Friday than today.

[IndianaFinesse]

The results just got in, we placed 22nd out of 98 boats and the winning bag was three fish for 7.99 pounds.  How do you guys fish when there is so many boats that you are always fishing in water that has already been stirred up over and over all day?  Any tips on how to catch bass in way overpressured conditions?

[Team9nine]

Good job ? 

 

my tips:

 

1. Make your first spot count. It's likely to be the only unpressured water you'll get.

2. Get your bait into places or other spots others aren't, or retrieve at angles others don't.

3. Use baits others aren't using, even if they don't seem like the best or most appropriate.

4. Always have some backup stuff that most others likely don't know about that you can go to after a few hours. This is almost always submerged breaks and/or break lines, whether shallow or deep. 

[dsqui]

Just start fishing in the other boats livewells...i have this debate all the time in my boat.  All my friends think I catch more fish because I fish in the front of the boat.  I've offered many times to trade them places it's all about making good casts and good decisions.  Old rather make one good cast a t a dock then 2 alright casts.  Learn to break down cover better then the other guys and never be afraid to slow down.  I find more and more people want to what they call power fish which i call race fishing.  Its always funny because my buddies in the back of the boat always want to cast way in front of the boat to beat me to a dock (race fishing) and instead of making a good cast from a good angle they get two poor casts at a good dock.  I always laugh then make one good cast sometimes two at better angles and usually end up with fish which then I hear well it's because ur in the front I always smile and offer them to come control the trolling motor which always gets turned down.  Just remember with that many boats ur always batting clean up.  Fish it like the guy in the back of the boat should

4 hours ago, IndianaFinesse said:

The results just got in, we placed 22nd and the winning bag was three fish for 7.99 pounds.  How do you guys fish when there is so many boats that you are always fishing in water that has already been stirred up over and over all day?  Any tips on how to catch bass in way overpressured conditions?

 

[BigBassLoveSenkos]

Well said dsqui and 99

[IndianaFinesse]

Thanks for the tips T-9 and dsqui, I will try those in the next tournament.  

Heading to Brookville for the next tournament on April 23rd, does anyone have any reports out of there or know what the water temperature is?  Will the be spawning yet, and if not what depth would you expect them to be in, and is the upper end for largemouth or lower end for smallies usually better?  Any general areas or hot techniques for Brookville would also be greatly appreciated.  Pm me if you guys have any info, thanks.

[dsqui]

Not sure about Brookville but up here in NEcorner the walleye aren't done yet so it'll be a bit before the bass start our water temp here today was 49.2º  not sure if that helps at all but I'm not sure where Brookville is so I'm assuming it's not close to me.  On a side note went out in the wind and light rain this morning and managed 3 bonus  walleye can anyone say lunch time

[IndianaFinesse]

24 minutes ago, dsqui said:

Not sure about Brookville but up here in NEcorner the walleye aren't done yet so it'll be a bit before the bass start our water temp here today was 49.2º 

South east side of Indiana, only a few miles away from the Ohio border. Water is 63 degrees on the west central side of Indy, should start spawning here soon.  Brookville is very deep, so it will warm up slower than other lakes.  Looked around but haven't found any water temperature reports out of there online.

[OddChase]

23 hours ago, IndianaFinesse said:

Thanks for the tips T-9 and dsqui, I will try those in the next tournament.  

Heading to Brookville for the next tournament on April 23rd, does anyone have any reports out of there or know what the water temperature is?  Will the be spawning yet, and if not what depth would you expect them to be in, and is the upper end for largemouth or lower end for smallies usually better?  Any general areas or hot techniques for Brookville would also be greatly appreciated.  Pm me if you guys have any info, thanks.

Brookville is still two or three weeks away from the bass spawn. With the warm rain coming in it should help a little. I've been fishing the area this past weekend, temps around 45-50 F.

 

If anyone here likes to fly fish for trout, the Brookville tailwaters are on fire right now - incredible midge hatches and lots of healthy fish being caught.