yugrac

Long range forecast here says no 70 degree temps until the 3rd week of April, still going to try to get the boat out in a couple weeks, river levels wont co-operate to wade. Dont mind fishing in cooler weather, but my body cant take 30 degrees on a lake all day anymore.

3-23-1015, 6:53 PM snowing heavy, 1 inch on ground, 29 degrees. Welcome to spring in mid east Indiana.

I lost a custom painted bluegill squarebill crankbait on the first cast I used it, something with teeth, felt the tug, set the hook it switched directions and "ping" gone. Cost: $25.. I did hit my trolling motor casting a umbrella rig and the line broke as I was throwing it, it flew 1 hundred feed or so and landed in a tree, I ran the boat to the shore and unhooked it and got it back. Had the same thing happen with a Strike King 6XD crankbait, I watched it to see where it landed, thankfully it was a floater, I just went and got it!

Yeah, I bought 3 of the Yo-Zuri craws, one for me, one for my son and one for my wife. Hope to get to try them in a few weeks, a few more things to do to my boat trailer and I will be ready.

any of you Indiana guys who live south of I 70 have open water yet? Am wanting to know about Whitewater Mem State park in particular. ,but info on Brookville or any other in that area helpfull, thanks.

I hold my rod In my right hand and crank with my left, and I am right handed, I have done that since I was a kid, and that was a long time ago. I found when fishing VERY shallow you can start cranking as soon as or even before the lure hits the water, greatly cutting down on hang ups. Try it I think once you get used to it you will see the advantages of it, The Okuma rods are good rods, they feel as good as most of my St. Croix rods. Too many people resist what they dont see as norm, and just because they dont like it does not mean you wont, give it a try.

I was fishing with my son in French Creek near Meadville Pa a few years ago, slow day, he had not touched a fish, I had picked up a few 2 pound bass, but the bite was very slow. I cast a 1/4 oz Joes fly along a tree trunk laying along the bank when WHAM! I thought I hooked a freight train, line starts ripping off my reel. I tightened my drag up and tried to get control of whatever it was, It had my pole bent in almost a complete circle. I managed to get it close to the surface and my son starts yelling "its a musky, dont let it turn its head!" Well I was fishing with a 4foot6 Stcroix ultralight with a small Pfluger reel with 4 lb test stren mono. Needless to say the battle was one sided, but until he went under the boat and took my lure with him it was a awesome feeling having that much power on the end of my line. The fish looked about a 4 footer, the few seconds I saw it.

Dilly07, ya got alota nerve sayin that stuff in front of all us northern half of Indiana folks!! . Just seen that The reservoir a few miles west of me is still covered in a couple of inches of ice.

The baits most have mentioned are what I usually fish with anyway, I used to hate fishing in the wind, but my new boat is much heavier and stable than my old 14 ft V hull. Its always windy where I live, you can tell from all the wind farms, I can look out my front windows and see 12 wind turbines running. You just have to suck it up and deal with it if you want to fish.

Not ready to get the boat out yet, have a few small things I want to do to the trailer, but the ice is off the small pond in the park here. I would love to hit the river for some cold water wading on sunday if we dont get any more rain this week. The water level should be right [safe] if all goes right. Fly rod and smallies is the plan. My plans very rarely work out.

I am super serious about Joes Flies, meps, blue fox ect dont compare, they are hard to find around where I live, but I have bought them at wall mart up around Erie. There really is not anything these wont catch. Great for smallmouth in rivers, I dont even take anything else with me when I go wading.

Joes Flies inline spinners. I have fished with them for many years and there in not a species of fish that will not hit them, stick with the 1/4 oz, easier to cast. My son lives in North west pa and since I gave him his first ones that is all he usually fishes with. I use brown, black and the hackle colors. I have caught Large mouth, smallmouth, white bass, rock bass, catfish, carp, creek chub, perch, walleye, Muskie,crappie, bluegill, all on these lures. I hit a local lake one morning last summer and in 3 cast caught a largemouth, a catfish and a crappie all on the same brown Joes Fly.

Finesse methods, more deep water, drop shot is a goal, I have some big glide baits I want to put on and stick with. Crankbaits and spinners are my staple lures, but don"t always produce.

Have any of you ever drop shot fished with live bait? If so, what bait and what result? I am setting a goal for myself to try more finesse fishing, [i hate slow fishing methods] but I cannot argue with the results I have seen at times. Just hard for me to put the crankbaits and spinnerbaits away, Even though I have boxes of soft plastic lures. I even put together a drop shot rig to use only for that method, my usual stuff has just not been as productive with the cold water temps that have been the norm around here for the last few years. 2014 I did not see temps any higher than 80 degrees, and 2013 I never seen 79, and those temps were late summer. Any thoughts on live bait drop shot?

Its in my photo.

Temps 30 degree plus below normal, record snowfall, wind, ice, just stinks and we are in the first of March. I got to thinking, they say our weather is driven by ocean currents, and the ocean currents are driven by water temps. OK here goes, I have a theory that the fish and sea mammals have heard about our inland fishing, so to help there brethren they are all converging on key points in the ocean, and in one large group they are all peeing at the same time, warming the water and diverting the currents to cause climate shift therefore making spring thaw come late and screwing up all fishing for everyone in the northern third of the U.S. However the Obama administration has counter acted by starting daylight savings time sooner, so now since we will move the clocks up Sunday A.M. we will now have another hour of daylight and that should help it warm up sooner.. OK, so now its on the internet, it has to be true!

You must live in southern Indiana. forecast does not look like that north of I-70!

I have only recently started using baitcasters after nearly 50 years of fishing, and the last 40 years of it with spinning gear. I feel its more a matter of matching rod power and taper to specific types and weights of lures. I have a 7 ft Abu Garcia Vendetta rod with the big Pflueger president spinning rig that I bought just to throw large crankbaits with. It handles 10XD strike kings, and 3 oz catch-em-caro crankbaits just fine. The baitcasters for me are just something new to learn, but they do have times when they may have advantages over spinning gear, but there are times when the spinning rods are better. I think its all a matter of what your comfortable with.

when unloading and tying your boat up by yourself make sure the rope is TIED to the bow eye. If you bring a 4 legged family member with you [ I always do] make sure to bring lots of fresh water in a bowl with a lid. If you bring a two legged female with you always make sure you know where the restrooms are at. No matter how much I try to talk her into it, my wife wont just hang it over the side of the boat.

A cheaper and same idea is available in Livingston lures. I had a square bill crankbait that I did catch a few good fish with until I lost it, I assume to something with teeth. They make a electronic produced noise, much like the hydrowave, but it will attract the fish to the lure. I bought another one, but the weather turned to crap right after that and I have not used it yet. They explain how they work on there website, and they are readily available.

My son-in-law is a biologist, he told me they will try to eat anything they can fit in there mouth. Reptiles are the same way, I have a photo I took of a bullfrog trying to eat a bird.

Putting in at Prairie creek reservoir I spotted a guy on the dock with his hands in the air shaking his head. He failed to tie his boat tightly to the dock and it was floating out into the lake, I gave him a ride to his boat.

I have a Hydrowave Mini, does the same thing as the big one just not as many sounds. Have tried it several times and seen no change in fish numbers or did it ever increase the bite on a slow day. Had to get three of them before I got one that worked, that was a real mess but I wont go into that!

How would any of you guys rate your 2014? [i am speaking of your fishing ] The last 2 years really have not been great around here, mid east Indiana and mid west Ohio. Water temps were very slow coming up and I never seen anything above the high 70 water temps all year, including mid summer. Had a few good days wading, but in the boat on the lakes only had maybe 2 really memorable days. One of them was with my wife, we got on some big bluegill at Whitewater Memorial, then the last time I was out this year was with my son, we put about 60 fish in the boat at Brookville Indiana, but we were on the water for 12 hours that day! I would call my year a C+, hoping for an A this year, need for the ice to go away first! Hey, hootie, yes, yugrac is "carguy" backwards. Hows my spelling?

Sorry, Wayne P. See how easy it is!