Cole Richards

Got out with the best friend last weekend on a small neightborhood pond in my hometown. Fish were on the beds, Caught these two pigs on a texas rigged vile craw and 3/8 oz woo tungsten weight with rattle bead. Caught a bunch of buck bass on spinner baits, and buzz baits. It was fun to fish some small water again ... never overlook the neighborhood pond for quality fish .....

Had a great 2 hrs on the water today , 1st time the boat has been out this year . The bass were bitting and I had about a 10 to 12 lb bag on a rattletrap . Northern Indiana should start heating up soon !

Neko rig could work if you bury the hook , A damiki rig is also good if you can hold over the spot for a vertical presentation. If they want something in a more horizontal presentation then a texas rig or slow rolled swimbait on a weighted hook or weedless jig head can smoke them if you hop it around brush piles. I also do really well on deep brush pile fishing a creeper rig, which consists of a screw lock shaky head with a round head and a tiny craw rigged weedless. I like a 3 in yum craw pappi , or 3 inch rage craw. Put a whole bunch of scent on it and it crawl it around and through the brush and hold on to your rod. It functions just like a Ned rig only comes through cover way better because the hook is not exposed. Plus its small enough to not be to much for the fish early in the year.

That's what I figured , All this rain should help bring up the temps in the lake up pretty quick . Guess I need to get the boat out soon.

What part of the state is this report from , I have not been out and am wondering what the water temps are like in the northern part of the state.

Just got back from a houseboat trip to Lake Cumberland ky , crushed the smallmouth down there . Caught this one on a CR Custom Lures deep crank in Killer Gill . We just got the houseboat tied up in a cove and I saw shad jumping on a secondary point so I grabbed the 1st rod I saw threw it across the point and boom nice smallie. Man it is nice to catch brown bass.

Heading to lake Cumberland for the weekend . Can any one tell me what stage the fish are and and what the water level is like ? Any tips and tricks that might help get the kids on some fish. Thanks

Got some bass and northern today , 8 to 11 FOW with a shakey head paired with a rage tail cutter worm , and a custom spinnerbait . Went through some smaller fish on the worm and felt like I needed to pick up the spinnerbait . Boom 3rd cast it gets smoked by a 33 inch pike that weighed in a 12 lbs , heck of a fighter too. Always nice to get a big one in the boat.

Smallies in a gravel pit , sounds like a win to me !

Got out today in the cold . Water temps were 51 on the windy side and 58 on the sheltered side . Caught 5 total flipping a havoc pit boss in cover , and throwing a shakey head worm along sea walls . Wish we could get some stable weather patterns this year.

Swimbait and tick the tops of the weeds , I like a powerbait ripple shad on a darter head in this situation , yo yo it in out out of the weeds and bass will smash it . Also try a bigger swimbait waked over the top of the weeds , that can really show you what fish hold in that area and you can adjust to what they want . If they roll on the swimbait but don't connect , flip a senko or a weightless fluke in there and usually they will drill it .

Had a family picnic by the lake tonight , decided to take a spinning rod with a shakey head tied on from last trip along just in case . Turns out that some nice fish were on the beds in the chanels tonight . Flipped a shakey head with a z-man hula stick to the beds with some great results . Who new that there would be some pretty nice fish by the shops tonight . It was refreshing to go simple tonight and walking bank got me to some areas I could never take my boat . The little man really loves it when dad catches the big ones !

Went out on the Barbee Chain this morning , had a 40 in musky nail a swimbait at the boat , fought it for 5 mins and realized I didn't have the net , lost it boat side . Bass had total lock jaw from all these fronts comming through. First blank of the year for me.?

That is some crazy water clarity . I would throw a swimbait every day all day. Especially if there are big fish .

Got rained out , he didn't want to be cold and miserable lol . Goin on Tuesday

What were you catching them on

Taking the father in law out for crappie this weekend , anybody in northern Indiana been on them lately. I am guessing they are still shallow in late spawn . Any info would be great .

Yes , savage gear real trout 6 in will smoke fish holding on deep structure anywhere. It's less about color and more about natural swimming action in these situations .

Pulled some nice fish off the bed this Sunday . 65-69 water temps and fish in early spawning stages up here . Nice to fish in warm weather finally .

Went to a small pond last night , caught 10 on a custom chatterbait , and Ned rig. If they missed the chatterbait , I would pitch the Ned rig in and they would nail it . A good 30 mins of fishing. Nothing huge but fun to catch numbers

Great day but full of frustration . Got to the lake backing the boat in and hear a crunch on the ramp , metal pole in concrete thrown in the water =broken tail light . Get the boat in get the first spot boom start smoking fish on a jerk bait . Catch a dink northern and swing it into the boat and end up with 3 treble hooks buried in the hand when the northern flipped out. 10 mins and some blood later back to fishing . Got a few nice 2lb and 3lb bass in the channels, then I decide to run to some submerged pad fields because the big ones were stacked there last week. Pull up on the spot in gin clear water to find a school of at least 50 bass all in the 3-5 lb range sitting on the pad stems in the sun . For the life of me they would not hit a darn thing from jigs to chatterbaits to senkos and everything in between . Ended the 3 hr trip catching 15 total bass and 2 nice northern , 1 sore hand and 1 broken tail light.

Jerk bait , 3 casts later 1st fish

This time of year is not great for ribbon tailed worms , when the water is cold less is more in terms of action on a lure. I fish three or four baits before the fish spawn , jig with a trailer that has little to no action , jerk bait clear colors in clear water , solid colors in off colored water , a rattletrap in red craw , and a Ned rig or grub . Start with horizontal presentations like the jerk bait or trap , no takers go to the jig and Ned rig . Places to fish this time of year, any 45 degree bank close to a bank protected from the north wind . Wood cover holds fish this time of year always pitch a jig at any wood that you see as it usually holds fish in cold water. As the water warms fish will move progressively shallower . Once the water hits 50 pick up a spinner bait and a crankbait like a shad rap or wiggle wart and you will light them up on shallow flats or weedlines before they move into spawn. You were probably fishing to fast this last trip out , they wanted a slow drag on the jig where I was fishing. Where do u fish at . I know the Columbus area well .

Mt. Saint Francis lake , electric only lake maybe 10 acres , tons of wood cover