OddChase

Caught a good number of largemouth today on some top water on the fly rod. Great time to get out and go fishing.

Spotted some big fish making beds in ponds today on my lunch break. Should be a good weekend for everyone getting out!

Brookville is not necessarily known for their bass - Mostly a crappie, walleye, and catfish fishery. That being said, there are 2 bridges on the lake and the causeways to the sides tend to hold smallies during the day as the sun heats up the rocks and gets the crayfish moving. The North side of the lake sees more bass action (i.e. Hanna's Creek and Ellys Creek) all the way up to the river mouth which has a lot of structure. If you are wanting to catch bass and have a boat with an electric motor, I would opt for Whitewater State Park (it spills into Brookville on the North side), it's a fun little lake and little to no bass pressure.

Hit the Eastern side of the lake, there's a couple points you can throw a jerk along or a jig and it should be protected from the slight winds. If you want to paddle all the way to the North where there are some sunken trees that also might be a good place to throw a jig but not sure how badly you want to catch a fish. Tight lines!

I have not pulled out the ned yet, have been trying to get some fish on the jig. As things warm up and water clears up I'll make the switch during the spawn and post spawn. The ned might be the only thing I throw this summer!

Got out on Sunday in the new boat. Caught a few fish in wind protected coves about 10 foot deep. All buck bass on a gold jerk bait fished as deep as possible. This week's cold front will stall the spawn just a few days and then the fish will make a mad dash to the banks...

Getting reports of local Central ponds and smaller lakes having prespawn patterns. Time to bust out the lipless cranks and jigs!

I had a booth right across the isle from the 7.99 lucky crafts! (It was hard looking at them and not buying them) I was selling my flies and bucktail jigs. Let me know what you need as far as hair jigs and I can tie them up at a good price for you and ship them to your door!

Ice is thick in the central part of the state and north. Fella told me 4 inches of ice in the coves of Summit, Geist, and Morse. Cabela's sold out of ice shanties in about 2 days.

What's up fellow Muncie smallie hunter. Need to be careful with your pictures, I know exactly where you're at. Great fish though! I haven't got out much due to the low water conditions and school.

If you ever wanted to keep some, white bass are excellent table fair. They have a red strip of meat in their fillet and once removed, my grandpa can't tell the different between them and bluegill. This is a man who has been eating bluegill since he could eat anything.

@Cole Richards With the weather lately fishing has been tough for sure. On a side note - Brookville just stocked more rainbow trout in the tailwaters for the fall season if there are any fly fishermen on here.

I caught a few fish on squarebills and chatterbaits in tree tops that were downed in the river on the north side of the lake.

Buddy of mine went to the Tuesday night Geist tournament, paid the $20 entry and was able to find a boater to fish with. Not sure how often it is but its possible. BFL has a co-angler program I believe but B.A.S.S. (at least in Eastern Indiana) requires boaters and coanglers to register together for partner tournaments.

Headed to Raccoon Lake in a few weeks, anyone have suggestions on lures/locations to hit? I'd like to catch some bass for fun and crappie for dinner - staying a few nights at the campgrounds.

At least your story was worth the net in my opinion! Congrats on your catch - trophy for sure. Now you just need to get a bigger reel and compete for that state record spot at 79 lbs.

Sounds like you had a piece of sand get ripped out of the bearing - good news for you!

Headed to Raccoon in a few weeks - can the lake be fished by a kayak or will we get pushed around by pleasure boaters? Also where should we look for bass/panfish? Also hear there is a healthy population of white bass in the lake, any particular area?

Planning a camping trip with some newer fishermen and bringing some kayaks. Any good parks in Indiana or Western Ohio you guys would recommend? I've been looking at the Chain O'Lakes State Park north of Fort Wayne. Prefer a lake that is either electric only or idle only as I don't want to get pushed around in the 'yak. Willing to travel up to 3 hours from Indy.

When fishing by yourself I always advise people to fish up river and then float back down to where you put in (less chance of you getting too tired to get home). When fishing with others, have one person park their car at the take out landing and drive both of you to the put in - float down river until you hit that landing and load up the 'yaks in your buddies vehicle. Also - went fishing with @BigBassLoveSenkos yesterday. Good day on the water despite high winds and the cold fronts that came through. As his name implies, we caught the majority of fish on senkos and a few on jigs/texas rigs. If anyone decides to fish with Mr. BigBass just know he will have close to 25 rods across his deck in the morning but only use about 4 throughout the day.

I'm not so odd there! Just call me Chase.

Best lure I've found has been the Z-Man TRD. AKA Ned Rig. You'll catch smallies, rock bass, big bluegills, and maybe the occasional catfish on it. Glenn made a video about the Ned on a lake, but it is equally if not more deadly in the rivers/creeks. Side note, I work at the local Cabela's. Come in and talk to me, also looking for some local fishing partners as I'm not familiar with Geist or Morse. Also I would avoid Saxony for a while, a fellow drowned there a few days ago.

Talked to a tourney angler today. Patoka is producing some nice bags, 15+ from what I hear. Spooks in the morning and dragging big plastics on drop offs near the islands. I'm talking 8"+ worms and lizards. Post spawn has the bigger girls hungry. Welcome to the forums fellow Hoosier. Message me if you need help with tackle/techniques.

Westwood has a lot of bass in that size range! I've heard of people catching 3 or 4 pounders but could be fish tales. The panfish in Westwood however.... not so stunted.