Fishing a private lake with a friend in the morning on our kayaks.  He says it doesn’t get fished much so hoping to get on a bunch.

Well yesterday was a bust. Every place we looked was frozen over. Really surprise because it didn’t seem like it had been that cold down here in the southern part of the state.

Went looking for some open water today. All my spots are iced over.  Funny, thirty years ago I would be getting restless waiting for safe ice.  Drove down to IPL low head dam on White river with the hare brained idea that I might get some white bass or walleye action.  Had the place to myself.  Now I know why.  The river was really pristine and peaceful, though.

Feel sorry for you guys with ice already. 45 and rain here today. Supposed to be in the 50's this week here.

See a chance by week's end except for the fact I have to work everyday and it gets dark so early.  I wrote this season off  over a couple of weeks ago but I don't want to take no as an answer.

Just got back from a trip to see family in Nebraska and Colorado, and of course I couldn't leave my rod home.  Got some bass out of a Nebraska strip pit on jerkbaits, but nothing real noteworthy. 

 

Colorado was a different story, we got on some giant rainbow trout and average sized kokanee salmon, and I even caught my first golden trout.  The golden trout was only 13 inches long, but was fluorescent bright orange and gold with a vivid pink strip lengthwise through it's center.  Prettiest fish that I have ever caught.  We caught 9 rainbow trout in total, the two outlying smaller trout measured about 10-13 inches and the rest in the 20-25 inch range.  The two kokanees were about 23 inches long each, but we didn't measure them.  Caught them all on a drop shotted 3" chunks of nightcrawlers, fished along the dam of a sand pit used for drinking water storage.

 

It's always fun to catch different species, especially with fish that fight as hard on light tackle as big trout and kokanee do, plus those kokanee and some of the trout smoked up real nice the next day 

Got the opportunity I had hoped for this afternoon.  Caught six with one almost 3 lb. slow hopping a blade bait.  Also got one decent crappie.  If it's not too rainy I'll give it one more shot tomorrow.  After that I think we're done for a long time.  To quote Bullwinkle the moose, "This time for sure!".

This afternoon was almost a carbon copy of yesterday.  Caught eight with again one just shy of three lbs.  Picked up a cheap digital scale on E-Bay a while back to keep me honest.  Most came on a blade with the bigger one and an eater crappie on a TRD.  Everybody have a safe and merry Christmas.

Just heard there was good ice on salamonie res last weekend.  Heard a couple fellas got there limit in crappie.  Had no idea there was that much ice.  

14 hours ago, IndianaOutdoors said:

Just heard there was good ice on salamonie res last weekend.  Heard a couple fellas got there limit in crappie.  Had no idea there was that much ice.  

Yeah there were some guys out last weekend that did decent as well farther NW. The ice didn't leave the lakes in my area so by the end of next week it should be pretty good.

Got out yesterday on the kayak. 55 degree in December I couldn’t turn it down. Last time on the water this year. Water was 40-42.

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. 

I’ve started to see a couple of my fishing buddies posting up very successful fishing the past couple days. One guy and his dad caught 65 in 3 hours!

4 minutes ago, OddChase said:

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. 

 

11 hours ago, OddChase said:

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. 

Got 4.5" of crystal clear ice over the whole lake here, got out ice fishing but it's been strangely slow.  Terrible really, I eaked out a couple but it was bad.  Not completely sure why, this has been a strange late fall/winter just in general here.  Clearest water that this lake has seen in many years (could have something to do with it, plus the huge amount of weed spray may have negatively effected it), and the fish have been acting very differently than normal.

KVD will be at the Indianapolis Boating/Outdoor show, one day only, 16th of February.  I'm going to try to be there to listen to him and hopefully ask him a question and get a picture.  Freaking can't wait!  Also Jacob Wheeler will be there 24/25 of February.  

 

Does anybody know if KVD hangs around after his presentations and lets fans ask questions and get pictures?  

 

February is coming up!  

 

https://indianapolisboatsportandtravelshow.com/speakers/

2 hours ago, hoosierbass07 said:

KVD will be at the Indianapolis Boating/Outdoor show, one day only, 16th of February.  I'm going to try to be there to listen to him and hopefully ask him a question and get a picture.  Freaking can't wait!  Also Jacob Wheeler will be there 24/25 of February.  

 

Does anybody know if KVD hangs around after his presentations and lets fans ask questions and get pictures?  

 

February is coming up!  

 

https://indianapolisboatsportandtravelshow.com/speakers/

I hope to be there for one of Jacob's appearances, but I'll have to wait and see what my schedule looks like then.

 

BTW, we've got 9 inches of ice here, but I and everyone else on the lake can't seem to figure the fish out.  Tons of guys out on the ice, but they all say the same thing, that they're either catching nothing at all or a few little gills.  Best day yet was 13 tiny bluegill and pumpkinseed between 4-7 inches.  It's bad when you're excited over catching a bait-sized fish.

4 hours ago, hoosierbass07 said:

KVD will be at the Indianapolis Boating/Outdoor show, one day only, 16th of February.  I'm going to try to be there to listen to him and hopefully ask him a question and get a picture.  Freaking can't wait!  Also Jacob Wheeler will be there 24/25 of February.  

 

Does anybody know if KVD hangs around after his presentations and lets fans ask questions and get pictures?  

 

February is coming up!  

 

https://indianapolisboatsportandtravelshow.com/speakers/

I know I’m not quite too that level, but you can come see me at the Fish Expo in Franklin at the Pro Tungsten booth.

Hey guys, I'm new to the site from down in Evansville. I mostly fish in a smaller 3-4 acre family pond, but looking to make it out to some new lakes this year now that I have a boat. 

1 hour ago, SouthernIndianaBassin said:

Hey guys, I'm new to the site from down in Evansville. I mostly fish in a smaller 3-4 acre family pond, but looking to make it out to some new lakes this year now that I have a boat. 

I'm from around evansville too. About 25 minutes from the east side to my house. Maybe we could do some fishing this spring. Welcome aboard!

You fish much in bluegrass? Bank fished there a couple times but never had much luck. My boats just a 10 foot jon boat but at least it will get me on the water

1 hour ago, SouthernIndianaBassin said:

You fish much in bluegrass? Bank fished there a couple times but never had much luck. My boats just a 10 foot jon boat but at least it will get me on the water

I never have, but I've scouted it a bit. Plan to get out there this year. 

Had a chance to meet back up with my team from last years tournaments at a fishing show/seminars, we (our team was 1st in the state) were invited to do a short talk explaining how our year went and how we caught our fish in the state championship, which was kind of cool.  Then afterwards I got to talk with Brent Ehler for a bit which topped things off.  Really down to earth guy, just seemed like a regular nice guy who happens to be an awesome fisherman.  Had a fun day, and looking forward to hopefully doing even better this year!

 

BTW, can't wait till this ice comes off.  Haven't had my boat out in 5 weeks and three days, not that I'm counting or anything...

We are starting to ice off here. 51 today and 57 tomorrow with rain should do the trick. Just got my New jig rod in, can't wait to whack one with it.

Going to try to get out tomorrow. Got a jerkbait tired on to my new speed spool. First decent baitcaster I've owned. 

Hopefully gonna get a little time to go on Sunday. Jerkbait, dropshot, jig is what I hope they want