(Un)official Hoosiers Thread

[Josh Smith]

Well guys, I finally landed a couple.  I went to the Wabash, found it muddy/filled with clay, and started fishing squarebills.

The first was a gar.  Now, I'd not even mention this except for the fact I've never caught one before.  Another had hooked but threw the lure earlier, and I'd been hoping that I'd not actually land one.  Well, I did, and I didn't have any of the gear I use for walleye, so I shook the hook until it fell off.  Ugly thing.

The last fish was a smallie.  It looked to have been deep/under cover a lot; it was pretty pale.  It wasn't brown yet.  Also, it didn't feel like fighting a whole lot.  Just a run, then a jump, and I reeled it in.

I'm not great with muddy water.  I hope it clears up soon.  Kinda' hoping for a dry summer, not so much crops will suffer of course, but enough to lower the rivers some.

Josh

[IndianaFinesse]

Caught the tail end of the mayfly hatch last night.  Fished for a tad over an hour with a total of sixteen fish between a 12 and 18 inches.  They were all in the same area as last night, except they seemed to be relating much closer to the shoreline, staying writhing one foot of it.  I started with the Ned rig but only caught a couple, then after seeing all of the mayflys on the waters edge decided to try a buzzbait, which I have never caught anything on before.  It turns out that the bass were aggressive enough to eat the buzzbait cranked right next to the shoreline, as it caught the other fourteen bass.  It sure was fun seeing them blow up on a buzzbait, now I can see why there are so many topwater devotees.

[Alan Reed]

Tried a new pond near the house tonight that I recently heard people say holds some big bass. Also figured a smaller body of water would give some confidence because the fishing has been rough.

The water had 2-3 feet of visibility. Started with a jerkbait and I could see the bass were interested in the noise it was making but once they came up on it they tuned away.

I then tried a jig in the rocky areas I could see the bass located around. Again they were interested in the disturbance the jig was making but when they saw what it was they turned away.

I then tried a Texas rigged green pumpkin with a chartreous tip dinger worm. Now I had their interest and started catching them. Caught 7 of them pitching out to the edges of the rocks and hoping it back to shore. They were all in the 1 pound range but at least I was able to make some good adjustments and caught some.

[IndianaFinesse]

Got out fishing yesterday afternoon for a hour and a half.  The bass are moving up on the shorelines throughout the coves.  Caught twenty six bass, but most were only about a pound.  The fish were scattered, so I covered water with a fast swim glide and shake retrieve with the ned and pitched a jig to any shoreline brush I passed.  Most of them were in one to five feet of water.

[Cole Richards]

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 

[BassassinX]

17 hours ago, Alan Reed said:

Tried a new pond near the house tonight that I recently heard people say holds some big bass. Also figured a smaller body of water would give some confidence because the fishing has been rough.

The water had 2-3 feet of visibility. Started with a jerkbait and I could see the bass were interested in the noise it was making but once they came up on it they tuned away.

I then tried a jig in the rocky areas I could see the bass located around. Again they were interested in the disturbance the jig was making but when they saw what it was they turned away.

I then tried a Texas rigged green pumpkin with a chartreous tip dinger worm. Now I had their interest and started catching them. Caught 7 of them pitching out to the edges of the rocks and hoping it back to shore. They were all in the 1 pound range but at least I was able to make some good adjustments and caught some.

If your noticing them following but not biting,  try to dead stick it.  Even as long as a minute of your bait sitting there idle will drive them crazy enough to hit it.  Good luck.  Btw. Green pumpkin chartreuse dip is my go to killer lol

 

Tight lines

[IndianaFinesse]

           Fished for an hour tonight.  The bass are now extremely shallow in less than four feet of water holding tight to cover.  Caught fifteen fish up to about three and a half pounds.  Started out with the Ned rig fishing where they were a couple days ago, but only caught one.  

          Then I moved into the coves and found the majority in the very backs of them holding in brush, weeds, and the edges of docks.  All of the fish were caught on a brown 3/8 ounce jig with a four inch purple/green/brownish Berkley pit boss as the trailer.  Sometimes I just flipped or pitched the jig, but most of the time I casted and gave it a couple short drags until it bumped into something.  Then I let it sit for a few seconds before giving it two short twitches getting it over the rock or limb and making it look like a panicked crawfish.

           I actually saw two female bass getting ready to bed today, good sized ones about three and a half pounds, and both readily bit my jig.

[neocrunch]

Farm pond. Ned rig. Catching fish on nearly every single cast. 

I love days like this!

[BassassinX]

Tournament today. Caught fish all day in a channel swing by the mouth of a cove.   Saw tons of buck bass preparing beds with females not far off.  Water temp 60-62. Didn't finish inn the money but caught more fish than anyone else so had a great day!

 

Tight lines

[IndianaFinesse]

          Fished this afternoon for about five hours.  The bass are up extremely shallow in six inches to four feet of water for the most part.  The majority are on there spawning beds preparing to spawn for the most part, with a few still under deeper docks on points.  The total numbers was fifty-three bass, with the sizes being everywhere between under a pound and a chunky 4.1.  Most of the bass were caught on the Ned rig, but about a quarter of them ate a 3/8 ounce black blue jig with a black zoom super chunk trailer.  The jig was dragged along the bottom over spawning beds and the Ned rig was skipped under dock and dragged slowly across the bottom.  It was just an all around fun day with the bass biting so well and the warm weather to boot.  I should be able to get out fishing tomorrow afternoon.

        Several of the fish I caught coughed up crawdads, and one had a large shad tail sticking out it's mouth.  I am surprised the bass ate the big shad, the bass was about fourteen inches and the shad was at least seven inches long.  

         After breaking a trd off in a bush on the shoreline and watching it fall out of the Bush into the water, I retied and and went back to fishing.  A minute or so later, I caught a small bass in the same area that was badly hooked in the gills so I had to rip it out.  I kept the bass as it was legal and would have died anyways, and later when cleaning it I found my trd in the basses stomach!  It must have been mine, since the jig head had the wire keeper that I make.  I have never before caught a bass with a lure in it's stomach, let alone my own. 

[OddChase]

Small creeks and rivers are LOADED with spawning bass. There is a crystal clear creek near my house and I counted somewhere between 20 and 50 bass in a 50 foot stretch of creek. Managed to catch a new personal best at 19 inches and 5 lbs. She was my only catch as I had been down at the creek looking for crappie and did not bring my bass gear. Today will be a different story though! 

[tstraub]

We went up to the campground Friday evening and just got home a few hours ago.  We made a few laps around the lake fishing for bass but could not find active fish.  My father in law did get one 16 inch bass but that was the only bass that made it in the boat.  We all got lots of bites but could not get a hook in them.  So we assumed it was panfish just grabbing the end of our worms.  Then we picked up our panfish gear and filled the livewell.  I think we cleaned about 30 big bluegill and 10 black crappie the biggest was just over 14 inches.   panfish were mostly caught on live crickets under a slip float or arkie brand sexxy shad artificial minnows.

Tyler  

[Rand]

Hey hoosiers. I am looking for some banks to walk as I am a non boater. I live in the Indianapolis area on the NE side. Really looking for some new water to fish. I fish one farm pond in Hamilton County that simply doesnt produce, and some neighborhood ponds around. Any help would be appreciated. I am willing to drive as well to get on some good water.

 

Thx

Randy

[IndianaFinesse]

Decided to do something different and crappie fish at the home lake today.  I limited out in under an hour, although my home lake only has a ten crappie limit, and then kept on catching them for another three hours.  I don't know how many crappie I caught, but I am guessing fourty or fifty good ones between nine and fourteen inches. The crappie were up shallow in three to six feet of water underneath docks.  The fish were sitting tight to the support poles so I used my fourteen foot crappie pole to dip minnows next to the supports.  They were mostly caught at about a foot and a half under water.  A few white bass and bull bluegill were also mixed in.  Although most of the crappie weren't spawning yet, I expect them to start in the next week or so.

[neocrunch]

On Saturday I participated in the kayak tournament at Geist Reservoir hosted by the Indiana Kayak Anglers. The tournament, which had 60 anglers, was very well run and organized. I had a ton of fun and got to make lots of new friends - and I finished in the top 10! I feel like the time I spent consuming information on BassResource this winter is starting to pay off. 

[Josh Smith]

Went after work today. The smallies were jumping. Naturally, I caught a gar.

Josh

[IndianaFinesse]

On 4/25/2016 at 8:24 PM, Rand said:

Hey hoosiers. I am looking for some banks to walk as I am a non boater. I live in the Indianapolis area on the NE side. Really looking for some new water to fish. I fish one farm pond in Hamilton County that simply doesnt produce, and some neighborhood ponds around. Any help would be appreciated. I am willing to drive as well to get on some good water.

 

Thx

Randy

Sorry, I can't help you as I haven't ever fished on your side of town.  I live an hour and a half westish of Indianapolis.  Hopefully someone else here can help you.

         I bass fished this afternoon for three hours.  They are up shallow in full spawning mode, so I was basically sight fishing in the backs of coves. Twenty one fish were caught with the biggest weighing 4.2 on the jig, most on the Ned but also five or six bigger ones on a jig.  I caught the majority of the fish on a half of a zinkerz with a 1/16 ounce jig and a small treble in the back of it to catch the fish that just pick the tail up.  Tons of crappie fisherman out today, and it looked like the crappie bite was just as good as yesterday.  Unfortunately it is supposed to rain for the rest of the forecast, it won't keep me off the water but it will turn the water color to chocolate milk.

[OddChase]

11 hours ago, IndianaFinesse said:

Sorry, I can't help you as I haven't ever fished on your side of town.  I live an hour and a half westish of Indianapolis.  Hopefully someone else here can help you.

         I bass fished this afternoon for three hours.  They are up shallow in full spawning mode, so I was basically sight fishing in the backs of coves. Twenty one fish were caught with the biggest weighing 4.2 on the jig, most on the Ned but also five or six bigger ones on a jig.  I caught the majority of the fish on a half of a zinkerz with a 1/16 ounce jig and a small treble in the back of it to catch the fish that just pick the tail up.  Tons of crappie fisherman out today, and it looked like the crappie bite was just as good as yesterday.  Unfortunately it is supposed to rain for the rest of the forecast, it won't keep me off the water but it will turn the water color to chocolate milk.

Do you still use Ned in zero visibility water? Just curious as I'm getting the parts to make the rig soon and with the incoming weather, lakes won't be clear for a week or two. Also the white bass are going to be running in full force this weekend and I'm not sure how the dirty water will effect the bite. 

[Cole Richards]

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 .  

[IndianaFinesse]

59 minutes ago, OddChase said:

Do you still use Ned in zero visibility water? Just curious as I'm getting the parts to make the rig soon and with the incoming weather, lakes won't be clear for a week or two. Also the white bass are going to be running in full force this weekend and I'm not sure how the dirty water will effect the bite. 

I still use the Ned in muddy water, but I switch to the coppertruse color with a red or chartreuse painted jig.  Another good trick for muddy water is to insert one of those cheap crappie glass rattles into the bait to give it a little noise.  A bulky black and blue jig or a spinnerbait with an oversized Colorado blade sometimes works better in muddy water though, and I have been doing well with a jig lately anyway.  Problem is the muddy water is going to make it impossible to see the bass on there beds..

 I'm not sure how the muddy water will effect the white bass bite, but I would just use a little bigger, brighter and noisier bait like a 1/6 ounce yellow roostertail and reel it slow and steady as they have a tendency to miss an erratically moving bait in muddy water.  I was catching tons of white bass on roostertails a few weeks ago when they were running here.

[IndianaFinesse]

Fished for about two hours in the rain today.  The bass that weren't spawning were up six inches from the bank feeding on all of the food getting washed in.  Often a bass would blow up on the bait as soon as it touched the water before it even got a chance to sink.  Caught a total of twenty six bass between a pound and a half and 3.6 all on the half of a zinkerz.  I also caught a nice bonus fourteen inch crappie.  For all of you guys who like to throw spinnerbaits, this weekend is going to be a good time to do that.

[BassassinX]

23 hours ago, neocrunch said:

On Saturday I participated in the kayak tournament at Geist Reservoir hosted by the Indiana Kayak Anglers. The tournament, which had 60 anglers, was very well run and organized. I had a ton of fun and got to make lots of new friends - and I finished in the top 10! I feel like the time I spent consuming information on BassResource this winter is starting to pay off

Maybe I ran into you there,  I was fishing a club tournament.  I saw many of the yakers out and about.  Nice finish good luck to you.  If you ever see me in the old red Stratos, give a shout.

Tight lines

[Sir Real]

On 4/25/2016 at 8:24 PM, Rand said:

Hey hoosiers. I am looking for some banks to walk as I am a non boater. I live in the Indianapolis area on the NE side. Really looking for some new water to fish. I fish one farm pond in Hamilton County that simply doesnt produce, and some neighborhood ponds around. Any help would be appreciated. I am willing to drive as well to get on some good water.

 

Thx

Randy

Sent you a pm.

[Cole Richards]

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 . 

[IndianaFinesse]

2 minutes ago, Cole Richards said:

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 . 

I don't know about northern Indiana, but in central IN where I live the crappie are just starting to spawn with most of them still under docks in three to six feet of water feeding heavily.  Depending on how far you are willing to drive, cateract lake is a great crappie lake, when we fished there last week we caught 213 crappie in about eight hours.  if you do go there, try in stump alley. If you don't know where that is and you are planning on going there, shoot me a pm.