Big Indiana Bass

New Toys!

What's the most underutilized piece of equipment on most Indiana anglers boats?

Certainly not the trolling motor, or the bilge pump. Not the built-in coolers or the running lights, and everybody definitely uses and is concerned about their temperature gauges. You could make an argument for either the livewells or the fire extinguisher (LOL-just kidding), but that's going a little far. I'm referring to electronics, in particular your depth finders. Everybody has them, most guys turn them on, but not many guys ever learn how to truly use them. I spent time on the water with some good sticks running high dollar units watching animated fishes go swimming by on their screen...Honest.

I partly blame this on the type of waters most of us fish, that being shallow and turbid reservoirs and rivers. These type waters lend themselves to a pretty decent shallow water bite, and Indiana has some pretty good shallow water specialists. A good majority of our anglers are sight fishermen. By that, I mean that they are fishing water that can be read visually, throwing to visible cover and shallow water objects. Laydowns, docks, emergent weeds, riprap, standing timber. Some guys are good and some guys get lucky. You know who's who by following the names at the top of the standings in the state tournies. I always tell guys to start at the bottom of the tourney results list, where all the blanks reside, and then work your way up the list; not the reverse. You get a different (but very interesting) picture that way rather than just focusing on who won or who cashed a check.

So after 5 years with my current electronics set-up on my Triton, I finally switched out and upgraded both the front and console units. On the bow I installed an Eagle FishMark 320. This replaced an older and much simpler FishEasy unit. Many guys snicker when they saw that Fish Easy unit on the bow, but the old style 600 watt units were/are the best shallow water reading machines on the water. Anyone who tells you otherwise is someone who isn't catching near the numbers of bass they could be around here. Their only shortcoming was their resolution, that being the limited number of vertical pixels they operated with. So this unit is a compromise. Great resolution for not only shallow water but also mid- and deep water reading. Good power but not overpowering. These two attributes combined now let me watch baits bouncing in fish faces while still giving me the shallow water discrimination I desire.

On the console I put a new Lowrance LCX-15MT with GPS. This unit replaces a Lowrance X-70A that I ran going back to the mid-90's. Once you get used to the wide screen units (7" and above) it's hard to ever go back to the smaller screens. This is especially true on GPS capable units where you are typically running split screens with mapping functions on one side and graphing functions on the other. Power remains the same at 3,000 watts but resolution goes well up from the old 200 vertical pixel units (X-70's).

Two other quick thoughts on electronics. First, if you can afford a color unit they truly are the best things going for those learning or wanting to utilize their depth finders to the max. It simply comes down to making the visual interpretation so much easier to understand (a joint operation between your brain and your eyes). In my case, I've used the old monochrome units so much and have set up enough color units for people that I interpret things as if in color even though they aren't. It's similar to visualizing what's showing on your screen in 3-dimensions, even though the picture is only two, and an absolutely critical way of 'thinking' (actually visualizing) if you want to be good at understanding what your units are telling you.

The second point; unless you fish salt-water, the Great Lakes, troll with downriggers or spend a lot of time searching open water for schooling fish species, there is absolutely no need to purchase a dual frequency unit. You are actually hurting your all around performance by having one. Any bass fisherman who tells you otherwise is either trying to justify having spent the extra money for the DF unit or proud of the 'deal' he must have got. In either case he doesn't understand the short-comings of the DF units. This is slowly going to change though as manufacturers alter the packaged frequencies placed into these units from the standard 50/200 kHz arrangement.               

Changing Patterns

Trips: 7     Hours: 17.5     Bass: 143     No. > 5#: 0

One thing I always find interesting is how fast a simple weather/water change will also change what works (the pattern) for bass, often overnight. Earlier in the week I mentioned the water having started to clear and a jerkbait bite starting to materialize. Well, I got 4 hours on the water today, and the plan was to take advantage of that clearing water and sit out on some structure spots and see if I couldn't fish for a big girl. Now the interesting part is the thunderstorm we received 2 days ago. A good heavy down pour overnight, but it came and went and i didn't really think anything of it. Well, I run out and pull up onto a couple of these previously clear water holes and sure enough, they've gone murky again (<12" vis.). These were on the lower end of the lake and I didn't think they'd get affected, but they sure enough did. I tried anyway, throwing both jerkbaits and deep crankbaits in a couple areas. Was only able to manage 2 or 3 fish, and these fish were up on the shallower portion of the structure.So after about an hour I decide this isn't going to work today and immediately head shallow to see what I can put together.

This turns out to be the right thing to do, and in the next 3 hours I put 36 more fish in the boat. Quality as an average continues to go up. The top left pic is of a 3-02 LMB. The lower pic to the right is a 3-06 LMB. These were the 2 largest, but I had a whole bunch of fish between 2-3 pounds today. I must apologize for the "headless" pics, but self-timed picture taking is something I still need to figure out a little better (LOL). I think I'll have to improvise a permanent mount somehow for the boat.

Anyway, the bite was on shallow cranks, and they were really eating it! Was definitely a day to be thankful for long-nosed pliers! Darn near swallowed the bait numerous times. Another interesting thing was how I could not get a bite on the jig. I threw it as a test in a few areas and they just didn't want it. I did talk to a couple other guys out on the lake who did manage a few on both jigs and worms, but they didn't have a lot of bites overall. With water temps continuing to rise, running 59-62 degrees today, despite the murky water the temps have made the fish more aggressive and they just aren't too interested in a slow presentation right now. I also have to add, I believe the change to the moderate action rod has made a huge difference. It's possible they were just more aggressively biting, but the bait was all the way inside their mouth a  lot today. With the spinnerbait rod, while I didn't lose many at all, the bait always tended to be outside the mouth and the fish hooked by a single set of trebles. Not the case today!

The lesson here is to not be too stubborn with any preconceived ideas or patterns before you hit the lake. I know several good sticks who recently finished poorly in some major tourneys in the state this past weekend, and in all cases, they were killing them in practice and sounded like they just didn't adjust (fast enough or properly) to get a good finish. If I had stuck with my original game plan I'm guessing my day would have been a long one, too. But one of my strengths has always been to fish what the lake will give me, not relying on too much practice and willing to cover the water and keep searching for the right deal if things didn't go as planned at the first stop.   

Update and Rod Thoughts

Trips: 6     Hours: 13.5     Bass: 104     No. > 5#: 0

Cloudy, storms early and scattered rain all day, falling temps and ENE winds around 7-10 mph. Stopped at a reservoir for an hour after work and picked up 15 bass, all largemouth and all on cranks. A couple solid fish around 2+ but nothing close to 'Big'.

Have ran the same crank on the same reel and line, but on 2 different rods recently. One a spinnerbait rod with a fast action (tip) and one a more moderate action, what I'd call a good "all-around" rod. Definitely like the moderate action better. Have had quite a few issues throwing cranks on the spinnerbait rod in the past, though I have also learned to adapt my retrieve and hookset to compensate for this, but it can't always be done. There is something to be said for using the right rod for the type of bait thrown. However, style and adaptability can compensate for some of this when viewed in the context of the Rick Clunn: One rod, one reel mentality.   

Reservoir Smallie Science

I first met Melissa Kaintz at the 65th Annual Midwest Fish and Wildlife Conference in Indianapolis, December 2004. At that time, she presented her preliminary data on her work with smallmouth bass. She has since completed that work and defended her thesis, and the full paper is now available online. Entitled Black Bass Tournament Activity and Initial Mortality On Middle Tennessee Reservoirs, it makes for an interesting read. If the .PDF link is acting up, try this .HTML version, though you'll miss out on the pictures and diagrams.

In particular, pay attention to her small tournament observations in Section 1. This seems to be a relative constant that I believe can be applied across the board to many small tourney events being run on our waters every day through the fishing season, from weekend club events to week night jackpots.

In section 2, she has some very interesting data containing radio tracking of smallmouth dispersal from tourney weigh-in sites (of particular interest to Dale Hollow anglers), detailed livewell condition observations, and a few other tidbits such as a significant difference in average size of smallmouth caught in winter tourneys versus summer tourneys. We've always thought or stated that your best shot at a bigger fish is in the winter, now we have some data to back it up!   

Short Trip Added

Trips: 5     Hours: 12.5     Bass: 89     No. > 5#: 0

Water continuing to clear and another near 80 degree day has things starting to happen. Nineteen more tonight in an hour and a half, all on crankbaits. Water visibility starting to push greater than 12" even in some of the murkier areas. Scattered rain forecasted for the next several days plus a slight cooling trend. Assuming no downpours, things should start getting good before the end of the week.

Mythbusters: Black Bass style

Here is a short quiz, true or false style, courtesy of our friends over at the BFHP and Ralph Mann's. Detailed answers (science!) follow at the end of the test so don't look ahead.

Black Bass Quiz

I Love Numbers

Trips: 4     Hours: 11     Bass: 70     No. > 5#: 0

Data, statistics and numbers of fish. The last one is going to be the tough part for me. As a former tournament angler, I've trained myself to pattern fish and put numbers in the boat. Here in Indiana, numbers more so than size in most all instances will put checks in your hand. Limits are very few and far between when you look over entire seasons, at least for the waters in the southern 2/3 of the state. So it was today that once I figured out a few patterns I kept running the numbers up instead of giving those up for a possible big bite. Thirty more bass in 4 hours, though the quality has gone up a bit.

The mud is still heavy in many places of the lake, and in those places the jig was again the ticket. However, I did find some clearer water that was amenable to both a jerkbait bite and a crankbait bite. Jig bite accounted for better overall quality, but the largest fish bit the crankbait today (see pic). Wind was howling at 15-20 miles per hour making a lot of the main lake, and subsequently deeper main lake structure a challenge to fish. So I fished a lot of areas near main creek mouths and secondary areas just catching a partial breeze and not the full brunt of the wind.

Water temps have continued to climb, with anywhere from 54 to 61 degrees depending on where I was. A whole lot of 56-58 degree water in most areas. From watching the graph today it's obvious that the fish have started to adjust to the murky water. Part of this might also be the warmer temps. Regardless, fish are definitely starting to lock into groups and position nearer the bottom, especially around main cove structures. All the big suspended arches I was graphing last week when the rain and mud first rolled in have largely gone away. I think if I can get a decent day with a 5-8 mph breeze and a little clearer water, bigger fish will be had. It reached 80 degrees today (air temp), but I keep telling myself it's only March. Lots of fish to be caught, and still very early in the season as far as the bass and spawning are concerned, even if water temps are approaching 60 degrees.   

Rain, Rain. Go Away!

Well the ice has finally come off the lakes in the area. Ours left over 2 weeks ago. That has been the good news. The not so good news is the rain that has moved in with the warmer temps we've been getting. In the last 10 days we have received over 4.25 inches with more expected tonight and tomorrow. Needless to say, this has basically trashed the smaller reservoirs around me where I've been trying to get out on. This has also affected the bite for big fish, I believe.

I've had 3 short trips totaling 7 hours in the past week, and so far have put 40 bass in the boat. Unfortunately, none of these have been big fish. I actually had the best fish of the bunch today, a smallmouth going a little over 3 pounds which was a very cool surprise. The smallmouth hit a jig, as have many of the other fish. But with water visibility at 1 foot or less almost everywhere, it seems like only the smaller males have moved up onto the banks and are the ones biting. I'm pretty much having to put that jig right in their face. When I can get it around one though they've been quick to bite. The bigger fish, I feel, are still for the most part sitting out on main lake structure, and trying to drop a jig in front of them in this mud is a shot in the dark. This color water has also precluded traditional baits like jerkbaits and jigging spoons, either because the fish can't see them from a distance to move to them or they're too aggressive or small profile for the mud. Water temps have been hovering around 45-47 last weekend and have moved up to 49-53 this weekend with the warmer rain.

One key thing to understand about mud in suspension in a lake environment is how it settles out. Murky water clears from the top down, and the bank out. That can be a critical piece of knowledge when trying to put together a bite in these type conditions. This is why I have largely been targeting the bank, 3 foot and less in depth and not much more than 5 feet off the shoreline. And it's been paying off with fish, just a lot of 1-2 pounders. 

Fishing Line Analysis

Tackle Tour just came out with an article documenting the results of their Fluorocarbon Line Shootout. They don't state any particular winner or loser, but have a lot of interesting graphs for comparison among the 14 tested line brands. An interesting read regardless.

Big Fish, Big Shad Study

I'd like to thank Tim Smith from the Illinois Natural History Survey for the following informative information:

The question of whether or you need to use big lures to catch big fish seems to be a favorite. I've been meaning to dig out this old data for some time to contribute to that discussion.

The data presented here are from Smith and Wahl 1993, Development of Reservoir Shad Assessment Methods (IDOC report). The graphs show largemouth bass diet data (collected with smooth edged acrylic tubes without harming the fish) from boat electrofishing in

Lake Shelbyville, Illinois. The comparisons are all total length of the bass (x-axis) vs. total length of gizzard shad found in the stomachs of the bass (y-axis).

This graph was from data collected in electrofishing runs near Bo Woods (station 3) at the upper end of the lake where the three year average CPUE (catch per unit effort) for gizzard shad was about 9 fish a minute.

This graph was collected in electrofishing runs near the COE boat ram at the dam (station 6) where gizzard shad CPUE was around 4 fish a minute.

This graph is from data collected throughtout the lake in 1988, the big drought year with a lakewide annual gizzard shad CPUE of 3 fish per minute.

This graph is from data collected throughout the lake in 1989, a year with an average gizzard shad CPUE over 10 fish per minute.

There are actually quite a few nice trends in these graphs, but look first at the big bass in the 500 mm area. In years and places with abundant shad forage, big fish ate both big prey and small prey. When shad were not as abundant, big fish took only big shad.

Other data show that big bass also had fewer alternative diet items in their guts when shad were abundant. When shad were less abundant, they had higher proportions of bluegill in their diet, probably indicating a shift in foraging strategy and search patterns.

So the answer (in this case) to "Do bass prefer larger prey" is "Yes, but less so if there's a strong foraging focus on one specific prey type."

The main thing to look at here is that prey size increases more predictably with predator size when the prey are abundant. Focus on the bigger bass...400mm to 500mm (16-20 inches) and up. Look at the sizes of shad that were in their guts in the low shad abundance graphs (1988 and Station 6) vs. the high shad abundance graphs (1989 and Station 3). There aren't any or many small shad (i.e. <100mm) in the guts of big bass in the low shad abundance years. You can also see the pattern of stronger linear relationships between prey size and bass size in the R2 values. When those are higher, the stronger the relationship.

Trends can be suggestive, but without a controlled experiment, it's all guessing. Certainly there are good guesses and bad guesses and clearly impossibly wrong guesses, but at the end of the day, there are assumptions buried in these interpretations and they're still guesses. You can comb through data and find things that are pretty obvious (for instance, in 1989, you can see the 1+ gizzard shad in the largemouth diet by the gap between the smaller and larger fish), but other things are more speculative.

Maybe the large bass would have eaten small shad if they could in '88 and at the dam, but the small shad were all offshore (there's no data to support that idea, but it COULD be true). Maybe feeding on shad in schools in open water makes this trend unique. Maybe this, maybe that...The exact processes that led to these trends aren't known. This kind of data lends itself to hypothesis formation, but my "interpretation" (and all observational data) is only that, a hypothesis. You could make your own as well.

In general, fish would try to optimize your energetic intake, but balance that against exposure to predators, breeding status, and habitat requirements such as temperature and oxygen. Their level of hunger will also influence their foraging choices.

I am guessing that in this case the bass were pursuing a hunting strategy that included things other than gizzard shad when the gizzard shad were less abundant. In those conditions they were less likely to initiate an attack on smaller, less profitable prey because they had search images or habitat use that focused on different prey. It took a stronger inducement to get them to attack smaller gizzard shad. When the shad were abundant, the bass shifted to a forage strategy that focused specifically on shad and their "opportunistic" nature kicked in. The smaller shad were closer to their search image or habitat use and they didn't hesitate to take them.