Big Indiana Bass

Open Water Bassin' in February

It might be a common thing in other parts of the country, but it certainly isn't the norm here in central Indiana. Needless to say, I had to get the boat out on open water and take advantage, even if I didn't catch anything.

Friday (2/03) I got off work a little early and headed home, just in time to get 2.5 hours out on the lake. I spent the first hour chasing crappie, but when that didn't pan out, I pulled out the sissy jig gear and tried for bass. Found one good bank holding a few fish, and managed to get 11 in the boat. None were over 14", and several were quite a bit smaller, but I wasn't going to complain.

Sunday (2/05) met with blue post frontal skies, a high temp of 46, and a very light northerly breeze. Got to spend 4 hours (2p - 6p) out on the lake, and this time I spent almost allof it chasing bass. Again, the sissy jig gear was all I threw, as the water was a bit too stained from the recent rains to attempt a jerkbait. Surface temps were running 40-41 degrees, and only 1 other boat was on the lake when I hit the ramp, most likely due to Indpls. hosting the Super Bowl this day.

Thanks to the calm winds, I was able to throw a 1/16-oz. jig all day in deeper water, which is where I found most of the bass. Quality was much better today, and I had one over 3#, and another almost that big. I also had several bass in the 12"-15" range - 20 bass total for the afternoon. Eight feet was about as shallow as I got bit today, and many were out in 10'-15' of water. The biggest one came off the top of a deep point after graphing across the area and noticing several nice fish sitting right on top of it. Got him within 2 casts, which was cool as heck.

Sissy jig gear: 6'6" spinning rod, Shimano Sahara spinning reel, 4# Berkley NanoFil line with a 6# Berkley Sensation leader, 1/16-oz. black/blue jig.

Location: The base of steep dropping rock banks, the deep edge of boat docks, and the deep base of boat lifts. One off the deep end of a main lake point, and two more off deep brushpiles. Boat was positioned in 12'-23' of water, and fish were caught out of 8'-15'.

Chasing Pomoxis

For once, the weather guys got it right. Late last week, the extended forecast was calling for the best day this week, and the last good day to be Tuesday, when highs were supposed to get back up near 50 degrees. As such, I had put in for a half day at work, with thoughts of getting the boat out one last time on open water in January.

As it turned out, everything held together on the weather end of things - a rarity. I had already got my first bass of 2012 back on Sunday (1/08) during a miserably slow day (2 bites). Instead, I've been reading fishing reports about all these guys getting on pretty decent crappie bites during this cold water period. As such, I wanted to try and swing on a few of those for a change on this last voyage before ice-up.

Reports from a few hardy souls earlier in the day had ice at the ramp and covering over half the lake. Turned out to be mostly skim, so the guys that got there late morning were able to break through, forging a path for others. It wasn't until nearly 1PM when larger parts of the lake started opening up as the high blue skies and warming temps started to do their thing to the skim ice.

I finally rolled out of work and hit the ramp a bit after 3:30. Lots of open water by then, and still enough time for me and a good friend to get in a couple solid hours or so before dark. Air temps were a balmy 53 degrees at the time, and winds were light at 5-6 mph from the south. Barometer had recently started to fall, and high cirrus clouds could be seen on the horizon, the start of the next weather system that would/will ultimately put an end to this open water season.

Got tipped off to a good area with biters from another friend who was headed back home shortly after I got there, and was able to wrangle a few nice ones. These fish were coming out of 21' of water, and probably sitting darn near their wintering homes for the next couple months. Water temps were running 39.5, and vis. was decent. Turned out to be a nice couple hours on the water, and a good way to finally call it quits for the year (2010).

With any luck, we'll be looking at ice-out in about 2 months or so. Hopefully that time will just fly by, or at least seem a lot shorter than normal. Days are now lengthening by more than a minute a pop, and fishing shows fill the schedule over the next several weeks. I got to fish hard through the winter solstice period and into the New Year, so the tide has definitely already turned in the right direction.

2011 Year in Review - Bass Fishing Summary

When I first started fishing, I kept a fishing log/diary. I've thrown the old diary away (wish I hadn't now), but it was started in 1982-1983 or there abouts. Over the years it morphed into a lot of different things, including a searchable card file. I stopped tracking it all back about 10 years ago. Then, when I started this blog back in December 2006, I decided to keep track of the number of bass caught, again. I did it for one year in 2007, more as a way of seeing exactly how many bass I catch in a season. I'm guessing most guys have no clue how many they catch. Thought it would be neat, and at one point in the year, I decided to try and catch 1,000 bass. I ended up falling short, catching 963 bass that year on 93 trips and fishing 259 hours. I caught 2 bass verified over 5 pounds that year.

In 2008, I started another tracking, but gave it up after just a couple months. Didn't bother with it in either 2009-2010. This year, I again decided to track my catch for a year, more out of curiosity as well as for the fact of making some good post material. Ned Kehde over at In-Fisherman wanted the specifics for this year and just reported it recently on the IF site. He also posted their finesse catch totals for the year in today's post. I was very happy to see that my stats were right in line with theirs for 2011. You can't rely too much on state to state comparisons, but styles are somewhat similar, fishing hours are very comparable, and these guys are some of the best when it comes to putting numbers in the boat given their nearly 100% dedication to finesse.

So on to the numbers for 2011. Keep in mind this is all bass caught, whether 5 inches or 5 pounds - they all count equally in the stats. This is also a tracking of "bass only" trips, though miscellaneous bass caught during crappie trips or such did count in the total numbers, but weren't given a trip or hour count. I would love to track specific size and length by waterbody, but that would take some pretty solid dedication and note keeping, or a photographic memory, neither of which is in me at the moment.

• Total bass caught: 2,305
• Number of bass trips: 82
• Number of hours fished: 260
• Average trip length: 3 h 10 m
• Ave. # bass per trip: 28.1
• Ave. # bass caught per hr: 8.9
• Worst hrly trip: April 13; 2 bass in 2.5 hrs or 0.8/hr
• Best hrly trip: June 8; 51 bass in 2h 15m or 22.7/hr
• Most bass caught: May 14; 78 bass

It is also easy to break down the numbers to bass caught by month;

• Jan-Feb: None
• March: 277
• April: 283
• May: 388
• June: 223
• July: 138
• August: 79
• September: 18
• October: 117
• November: 447
• December: 335

Like in 2007, I only had 2 bass that weighed 5 lbs or better on certified scales. They were a 5-08 from Glenn Flint on a frog, and a 5-02 from Heritage on a shaky head. I caught a whole lot of 4 pound plus fish, but whether it's where I'm fishing or how I'm fishing, I simply don't see a lot of legitimate 5 pounders being caught despite what guys claim. That truly is, in my mind, the starting point of a "big bass" in Indiana.

Haven't decided if I'll track anything in 2012 or not. Was a fun challenge to try and catch 2,011 bass in 2011, and the unusual weather certainly helped in that effort, a post on which is coming soon. Also, I didn't chase the crappie bite nearly as much as usual, as well as mostly missing the bluegill spawn bite. When I figure it out I'll let you know. I'm not one to create "New Year's Resolutions" or "goals" for the upcoming year, so whatever I end up doing in 2012, it will be something that just "strikes" me and develops as time moves forward.

2011 - Out with a Bang

Season is coming to a close quickly. Had just 2 days left in 2011 to get out on the water, and the weathermen screwed the forecast up for one of those. Rain moved in Friday, and what was a 30%-50% chance depending on which site you follow, turned into a 100% chance. The strong winds returned, and things were looking pretty bad. Still, even though I'm not an optimist, I watched the radar for a break in the weather pattern, and thought I got it around 2:30 - I was pretty much wrong.

Buoyed by the Silver Buddy bite I found the day before, I really wanted to get out and check on those fish again. Probably should have stayed inside, but launched the boat to wind and drizzle and headed out. No surprise I was the only one out there. I usually won't go in the rain since the customized jon boat has no such thing as dry storage. Nothing worse than soaking everything in the boat and every compartment, especially right before having to put the boat up for the year. Went anyways.

Pulled up on the best bank with blade bait in hand, and spent the next 20 minutes fishing without a bite. Crap. Pulled out the little jig and reworked the bank and immediately picked up 2 chunks. Got to the windblown point on this bank and tossed a Shad Rap up on it and the rod loaded up immediately with a nice keeper. That would pretty much be the pattern for the couple hours I spent out there - jigs on the calm banks for 11 fish, and the Shad Rap on windy points for 2 more. Called it after 2.5 hours all soaking wet, as the break on the radar had now turned into the pic above.

Saturday dawns with one last chance at some fish. Forecast is for clearing skies and highs near 50 - they screw it up again. We never make it above 39 degrees, and under completely overcast skies and light winds, wind chills stay right around freezing the entire trip. I had driven nearly 60 miles east to meet up with Jacob and take a crack at some clear water bass in a 38-acre former gravel pit. It was a good call.

We threw little jigs for much of the trip, along with checking jerkbaits and blade baits. The blade bait bite never materialized except for nearly a dozen yellow bass. The jerkbait bite was good on windy flats adjacent to deep water, but most of the fish were small. Still, we managed about 25 fish between us on those, with Jacob popping one real nice fish around 4 pounds.

The rest of the bass, which totaled 108 on this 5 hour trip, came on little jigs, both with and without trailers. I threw 6# line, Jacob tossed 10#, but we both caught our fair share of fish. I had one nice bass pushing 4.5 pounds, and we teamed up for several others in the 3 pound range. The majority of the bass though were smaller, 16" and less.

About 5:30 when things were just getting dark, we realized we were within about 15 bass of reaching the 100 fish mark for the trip. I've never night fished in 40 degree water in December, but we thought we'd try just to see what would happen. Call it an experiment if you will, the results of which were pretty eye opening. We ended up catching 23 more bass in the dark, all on jigs, and the overall quality on a per fish basis went up. Jacob actually popped for what we believe was the biggest bass of the trip sometime around 6:30 PM, and he ended up catching the majority of the fish after dark. We were both using jigs, but he was using what we call an "electrocution stick", a $450 NRX with a Stradic CI4 reel, which seemed to make a big difference - who knows though. That's why he's the pro and I'm not (LOL)...

Called it at 7:00 PM, headed for the truck and cranked the heat. It was a great trip to end 2011, and I'm perfectly fine putting everything up for the year after this trip. I've already sent 6 of my Shimano baitcasters out for repair and cleaning, and need to start inventorying my stuff for the coming year to see what I have and what I need, or don't need. I'll have updates over the next couple days with 2011 stats for my fishing this year, as well as the weather stats for this year compared to last. Stay tuned.

A New Bite Emerges

The final days of this year will also be the final open water days to fish. Big arctic air system is moving in at the start of next week, and that means the lakes are going to freeze - and they're going to freeze quick. They've been running right on the edge of freezing for the past couple weeks, with the local lake I'm hitting again frozen over on the upper end just 2 days ago. That was the same day we got nearly 3 inches of snow.

Yesterday was fishable late, but I didn't get a chance to go. The warmup actually began today, with highs hitting somewhere around 48 degrees. The caveat being that the warmer air is being ushered in by strong southwest winds. Today they were about 15 mph gusting to 25+. Launched into a sea of whitecaps about 1:45. The first thing I noticed is that all the melting snow has again dropped the water temps, now at 40.2 degrees over most of the lake. Wasn't sure how this would affect the fish, but that's why we go fishing - to figure these things out.

I started in a large creek arm and ran halfway back into what had previously been mud. The nice surprise is that the water color was now better. Not clear, but fishable. I started with the smaller jig since that was the best bite when I was on the water last. That's usually my game plan where ever I fish, always start with the best bite you left. It's a rule that has served me well over the years. Sure enough, I got bit on about the 4th cast by a chunky fish - good start. That fish would turn out to be a bit misleading.

I only caught one other fish working down the entire bank, a stretch of about a quarter mile or so. Next move was upriver to see how well it had cleared. Again, nice fishable water. Also another long bank with good deep water adjacent to it, but the fish weren't having it. One more chunk near the end of the bank, and that was it. The story is going quick, but fishing a 1/16-oz. jig into 10'-15' of water down long stretches of bank takes time. An hour and a half had already gone by. Time for another move, still trying to work with the limited amount of water I could fish based on the white-capping lake.

Another steep bank semi-protected from the winds, and one more bass to show for it. I'm just about resigned to thinking the bass are on a major slowdown heading into winter. I finally make it to the deep point at the far end of this bank, but the wind is blowing in a bit too hard to fish the little jig effectively. Could throw the jerkbait, but clarity just doesn't seem quite good enough. Instead I tie on a blade bait and pitch it out over the windy side of the point. First time I go to lift up on it, a fish has already eaten it - nice surprise. I'm thinking white bass, and as slow as it is, I'd gladly take a school of them right about now. I get the fish all the way to the boat and it turns out to be a decent largemouth. Was it a fluke? Hopefully not since a blade bait is one of the standard winter bites on many of our waters.

I work up into the wind and keep tossing the Silver Buddy, and get popped again. Not a fluke. I can see long streaks of what I now believe to be bass on the depthfinder. Looks like they might be stacked into this area feeding on shad. I hang out on the point and start fancasting. Soon another bass, then another. I keep chunking the blade bait for a good hour or more and catch a dozen and a half largemouth on it. When they finally seem to have slowed on the bait, I retie on the jerkbait and start chunking. They won't touch it. Weird. I pick up the little jig and rework over the same bank. They're biting it, too. Final count ends up being 26 bass. What was looking like a slow last few days on the water, now looks like a good final hurrah. Can't wait to get out on the water again tomorrow if the rain will stay away and see if I can expand the new bite. If not, there's Sat. and Sun. still.

One other thing of note to pass along. Have seen where someone recently posted on another forum asking whether crayfish hibernate or not. While hibernation has been documented during the winter months, so has just slowed activity with no hibernation. Instead, craws just move to deeper water where there is no chance of freezing, and they are then perfectly content to live out the winter that way. As proof, check out the "craw wad" one of the bass spit out on my deck when I flipped him in the boat. December 29, 40 degree water, and some bass are still finding fresh craws to eat. I've got a jig that should be just the ticket tomorrow :)

You Must Embrace the Formula

I wrote about it in my article as the #1 reason people don't catch more fish. Call it (the article) the 'Big Indiana Bass Manifesto'; Rule #1 - You must embrace the formula. Even if you don't, you do, unknowingly. Fishing life is just a lot easier when you understand the foundation to success. Today was a perfect example.

Ever since the muddy water moved in, a lot of things have changed. The bite has shifted heavily to a jig deal, and I've been wacking plenty on my standard sissy fare. Today started out like it would be a good day, catching a fish on my fourth cast. But as time went on, I soon found that it was instead looking more like a grind. That's the way fishing is sometimes. Think I had about 5 bass after the first hour or so, but interestingly 2 of those were fish that got hooked on the side of the face either swatting at or reacting to the bait. The water didn't seem any murkier, so I didn't think it was a visibility issue, but I'm not a fish either. However, 40% of anything is more than a coincidence. Enter the formula.

It would have been easy to continue on with the same bait after the success I've been having on it, and just written it off to a slow bite. It also might have been easy to try and rotate on some different baits trying to find one that they would eat better, though that would eat up a lot of time and I might not actually find a better bait type. But the core component to all presentation problems is depth and speed control. The depth wasn't the issue, but the speed apparently was. For whatever reason, the heavier jig just wasn't the best fit for the conditions today.

So I dug in the box and tied on a jig (the "Little Stinger") that weighed half as much, and with a bulkier tie. I also changed up colors to something with a more dramatic contrast since I was pushing more into the murkier water after yesterday's clues. Finally, I downsized to 4# NanoFil line in an effort to maintain good control of the lighter jig, and the light switch was now on. Fish simply wanted a slower fall today, meaning I also had to slow down my overall pace of fishing, but the difference was immediate. I started popping fish on a more regular basis, and when I finally found a stretch of bank with a good concentration of bass, it was one after another. In total, 31 more bass in a little less time on the water than yesterday. Largest fish of the day also increased to a bit over 3.5 pounds. Didn't have anything over 2.7 yesterday, and my next largest today was that big.

Moral of the story - if things aren't going as well as you expect, run through the core variables in order of importance, trying to figure out just what needs tweaking. Chances are the answer has less to do with marketing hype, and more to do with foundational concepts.

Christmas Day Bassin

Trying to take advantage of every day on open water I can get, weather permitting. With a high temperature of 48 degrees today, I really wanted to sneak out again for a few. Did brunch with the family in the morning, then got a pass on doing family house hopping during the day...but there was a catch, as you'll see.

I was a bit concerned about the wind forecast, and it turned out to be about exactly as predicted. Hit the ramp at 1:30, and no surprise, but I was the only rig there. At that time, winds were steady at 16-24 mph from the west, with gusts to 32. Air temp had just peaked for the day, and launching wasn't a problem given the direction. Temperatures would continue to drop from there, down to 40 degrees when I called it at 5:30 and headed back for Christmas dinner with the family. Barometer had just bottomed out at 30.13 and would start rising all afternoon from that point. Water temp was 41 degrees.

The other concern was water clarity. As expected, I never found anything clear enough to get bit on a jerkbait. But what I did find was that the lake seems to have stabilized for the most part clarity wise, and the bass have made the adjustment and started biting again in many parts of the lake. Even areas with a decent bit of stain, as well as spots I hadn't been able to get bit off of just days ago, were producing a few fish. Everything came on jigs today, both black and brown/orange. Never tried the crankbait, though I might later in the week. Finished the day with 26 bass, and you've probably figured out the "catch" by now. Wife said if I was going to go fishing, I had to show some holiday spirit by wearing a Santa hat today, so I did. Got a few honks from people passing by in cars, and a few waves from people out on their decks. Guessing there were many others I never saw who wondered who was crazy enough to be out running around the lake on Christmas Day, fishing in such a festive manner. Tis the season, and a small price to pay for fishing open water on December 25th.

Winds finally died down as the evening came on, becoming a more manageable 10-12 out of the WNW. That's pretty much what they're calling for most of this week, so hopefully a bit more of the lake will be fishable in the little aluminum.

Got home just in time to catch a great sunset on the Morse Lake webcam.

It Was the Best of Times; It Was the Worst of Times

Thursday was going to be touch and go. According to the weather forecast, rain was supposed to move into the area around 1:00. Detailed analysis put the chances at 37%, meaning there was a 63% chance we wouldn't get it. By noon, after I had gotten a lot of my chasing done for the day, the air temps had hit 40 degrees, skies were completely overcast, but no rain yet. In fact, the radar showed most of it still down toward the Evansville area and moving slowly. I hooked up the boat and made a run for it, figuring any time on the water was better than none at all, the great part about living close to a decent fishery.

Wind was a non-factor as there simply wasn't any. That meant go anywhere and fish anywhere as boat control wouldn't be a problem. The bigger question (or problem) was going to be water clarity. Most lakes and rivers have been trashed by this last rain. Even the crappie guys are struggling mightily right now. It's that double-edged sword thing again. The rain has been partly responsible for keeping all the lakes open and ice free. If air temps had been just 8 or 10 degrees cooler last week, we'd be dealing with several FEET of snow just like those poor people down in the Southwest Plains (NM,OK, TX, AK, MO) got.

Launched the boat at 12:30 and water was stained. Started fishing a few close areas on the lower end of the lake and things were slow. About the best clarity I could find initially was marginal 2' vis. Tried throwing the jerkait but couldn't draw a strike. Did start picking up a couple on the jig, but it was just one per bank. Started moving around and heading midlake. Water clarity started getting worse in most places. Finally rounded a point to a large creek arm and hit mud. No sense in going any further. Turned the boat around and started fishing my way back toward the dam looking for little clear water coves or pockets that might have missed the brunt of the stained water. Actually did end up finding a couple small areas of better clarity, and managed to catch a few more bass off each - still, it was a grind all day. Called it just after 5:30 and only had 13 bass to show for it. Rain started falling 10 minutes after I parked the boat back in the garage - good timing.

Friday was going to be colder, with highs only reaching the upper 30's. Clouds were supposed to start breaking, but I'd never see sunshine for more than a couple minutes. Still, I thought after figuring out the better clarity areas on the lake yesterday, I'd have a better shot by being able to go right to the holes. Wind finally picked up a bit, turning into a light breeze overnight, just 3-5 mph out of the NNW. Wasn't in a hurry to launch, so waited until air temps climbed to about 37 before hooking up and going. Got to the ramp at 1:00 and was the only rig there. Actually had one other guy launch at the same time as me yesterday, but he left early, I presume after not doing well fishing wise.

Launched the boat into the 42 degree water, warmed the engine while fishing a couple points next to the ramp, then rolled out to my first area. Started with a jerkbait but immediately saw a problem. What was clearer water yesterday wasn't so today. That slight breeze blew stained water right into the protected areas I had found the day before. Again, no bites on a jerkbait.

Had a friend call me at the ramp as he was ready to launch. He thought he'd have the lake to himself. Instead, we laughed that I was just as crazy as he was when it came to fishing. This was one hour into the day already and I only had one bass to show for it. Today was shaping up to be tougher. The more I moved, the more I realized that all those areas had become really stained overnight. It was looking like it would be another grind.

Ran into my friend on the water an hour later and they hadn't had a bite, not even a white bass - bad sign. Two hours in and I was now up to 3 bass - not pretty. Still, we agreed it was better than working. He said they were going to throw in the towel if their next spot or two didn't pan out. Saw them run for the ramp half an hour later - guess they never did start biting. I hit a stained but decent spot in the mean time and picked up three more; total now 6 in 2.5 hours. Grind on, alone on the lake.

Ran to a new spot I found 2 weeks ago that I'm nicknaming "the money hole". Haven't not caught a fish there since finding it on any trip, sometimes catching as many as 10 or more in this little area. The spot didn't fail me today, even in the murky water giving up a 15" bass on the jig. Jerkbait had long since been retired, but I had been trying a small crawdad crankbait along riprap banks given the stain, but the bass weren't buying it either.

Moved a bit further uplake into some water I hadn't tried the other day due to the stained water. I wanted to see how bad it got in a couple areas that are normally cold water guarantees. It wasn't mud, but it was heavily stained. Graphed a bunch of nice fish stacked up in 15'-17' of water in this area. Threw the jig on them a few times and never got a bite. Probably white bass, but I would have taken a bunch of them just to get some action.

Almost fired it up to head back down lake toward the dam and tough it out in less stained waters, but decided to pop over to one last deep water spot and check on some crappie that had been stacked in this area. Threw the jig in there a time or two and caught a small bass - I'll take it. There were still a few fish around sitting in the hole, but no large groups of crappie like what had been in there just a week or two back. I started moving down the bank a bit and the water seemed a smidge clearer than most other areas up this way.

I'm not one to believe in magic baits, though I definitely think you can, say, have identical crankbaits where one flat catches fish while the other hauls water. Is that magic? Probably not, but it's about as close as you get in bass fishing, unless you count the Alabama Rig - that's a joke, folks. So the question is, can the same thing apply to a jig? I wouldn't think so, but then again what happened next has me wondering.

Don probably has a name for all his jigs. He's the tier, he calls them whatever he wants, but I just renamed this one particular tie of his "Don's Magic Craw". I'm guessing it was some combination of a really good area with lots of fish, combined with a good color for that particular water clarity, and even the proper retrieve if I can credit myself a little. Regardless, it was an hour and 45 minutes of solid winter bass fishing. My measly count of 7 bass grew to 31 before heading to the ramp.

Everywhere I threw, I caught. Nothing giant mind you, but lots of solid pound and a half to two pound bass, along with a fair share of little guys. Every time I hung the jig up, I sweated a little until I safely retrieved it from the hidden object. I checked my knot strength after every fish. As I said, I'm not a big believer in magic baits, but I certainly didn't want to test out another jig on these fish by losing the one I had tied on. Call it superstitious, or probably more appropriate, resistance to change - I'm a creature of habit. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Extended forecast from here on out is back into the low 40's with lots of sunshine. I think I might be able to entice a jerkbait fish or two if I could get some light to help flash the bait better - we'll see. Next day or two will be Holiday gatherings with the family, but I'll be ready to sneak back out ASAP and keep chasing these open water bass. It's a rarity to be able to launch and fish this late in the year - haven't been able to do it in a long time, perhaps as long as 8-10 years. Might be 8 or 10 more before we get the chance again, so I'm going to take full advantage of it. A couple days of light winds and no rain might even help the lake clear a bit, so I'm expecting good things when I head out next...and I still have Don's Magic Craw jig tied on :)

Fishing on the Edge

I'll throw a little Christmas theme into the post since it is the season. The Miser Bros. also are a pretty good representation of exactly what I'm faced with every day on the water right now. There's a battle between freezing up and staying thawed, and the lake is teetering right on the brink of both. A couple good hard freezes at night and we're locked up for the season. A good warm rain or above average temps and we live to launch another day.

The 1.5 inches of rain we got a couple days ago was both a blessing and a curse. The blessing was that it warmed our waters back up a few degrees to give us a little buffer against immediate freeze up. The curse is that the muddy water is moving down lake, and has killed the bite on about 1/3 of the reservoir. Still, the lower end is holding up well thanks to some strong southerly winds that accompanied the front, helping to hold back some of the muddy water and giving it a chance to settle. Still lots of good areas on the brink of being clouded out within days.

Even though we hit 24 degrees last night for the low, the rain warmed water buffered the worst of it and we were safe to launch today into soft water. Air temps were chilly, so I waited until 2:00 to hit the ramp after the temp gauges finally cleared a couple degrees north of freezing. No interest in doing the iced up guides thing. Highs never did top 36, but a lighter 5-8 mph WSW breeze made fishing and boat control pretty tolerable. Water temps hovered at 41-42 degrees all day, and the sun actually made an appearance for 2 hours before disappearing behind the heavy clouds for good around 4:30. I finally called it shortly after 5:30, getting in a solid 3.5 hours on the water.

Today's interesting observation was that the lightly stained water in some areas put the fish back down near the bottom, and right in position to eat the little jig. Most of these fish were in 7'-13' of water and out a ways off the bank. Overall, fish were grouped much tighter today then they've been all month, with just two areas producing the bulk of the fish. If you didn't find one of these type spots, you were doing a whole lot of casting for every fish caught.

Clearer water on the lower end also allowed for a good jerkbait bite again. I'd say the split today of the 38 bass I caught was 60/40 in favor of the jerkbait, but it was closer than I expected. Had a couple decent fish in the mix, though nothing giant. Still, any Indiana bass in soft water in mid to late December is a good fish. Don't let anybody tell you different (LOL).

Time for the Newton Lake Reports to Begin

While it may be in the 50's outside today, it is still the middle of December, and that means that it's time to start thinking about making the trip over to Newton Lake in Illinois. Bob Sturm and company did just that over the weekend and reported catching over 100 bass between the group. They also managed some nice crappie while there, so a very successful trip in general, and they didn't have to freeze their asses off doing it :)

They Were Chowin' Yesterday

We got lucky - some of the lake was frozen, but not all of the lake, the most important non-frozen piece being the boat ramp. Upper end is half a mile of ice, and the largest tributary creek had another 1/4-mile at its back end. Smaller coves everywhere had about 20 yds. of ice in their back ends, but the main lake stayed open through the back-to-back night of mid teen temps. Surface water temps hung about half a degree either side of 41 all day, and water clarity was about the best I've seen it all year, running about 5'-6'+ on the lower end.

I launched the boat at about 1:30 under clear blue skies, 38 degree air temps, and a barometer that had recently topped out that morning at 30.58". Winds were light at 5-7 mph from the south. Our high for the day would only get to 39 degrees, falling to the freezing mark when we finally ramped out a little before 6:00.

Friend Jason Snyder got to the ramp about 2:20, and I had already picked up 4-5 bass, so things were looking promising. We muddled around picking up a fish or two here and there, but finally put the pieces together around 3:30, or perhaps the bass just decided to start eating. Either way, we started cracking them.

This is what life looked like on the upper end of the lake, a scene fit only for a duck...or an ice fisherman.

An early chunk on the jerkbait. With water temps so cold, fish were definitely looking up to feed today. Only 3 bites on the little jigs all day.


Jason getting in on the action while the sun was still shining and keeping us warm.

Largest fish of the day at just over 4.5 pounds and taping out at 20 inches. Got him in the first 30 minutes and thought we might be in for a good day.

Second best fish of the 36 bass we tallied for the day. This one went 4-02 on the certified scale. Had several other nice fish in the 3 pound plus range, along with a bunch of good 14"-16" fish. Some were skinny and others were fat chunks. Was easy to tell who had been eating and who hadn't.

Good news is that the weather forecast for the rest of the week is highs in the 40's, even reaching the 50's on Wednesday and Thursday, with a bunch of rain moving in starting Tues. night. That means the ramp will remain open for another weekend, and I might get a crack at more of these guys before I have to call it a season, though highs fall back into the 30's after the front clears Friday. I still have my fingers crossed that this is the year we get open water up until New Years, something that hasn't happened up here in a good long while.

Good Weekend - Goal Accomplished

We were fortunate to have three really nice weather days at the end of this week. Since I was still sitting 41 bass away from my goal for the year, I almost took the day off Thu. to get a head start. By Friday I couldn't stand it with the predicted crappy weather beginning late Saturday night. Burned a half day of vacation Friday afternoon and headed home to get the boat. Met up with friend Lee Dilly over at the house, and away we went to get a few hours in trying to cut into the bass deficit.

Lee scored quick on our first stop, and had me down 3-2 after fishing a long stretch of rip rap. Good sign that the fish were going to bite, and the water clarity was holding up well. Surface temps had dropped to 45.5, and I threw a jerkbait for a good 10-15 minutes, but never got a bite. All 5 came on the jig, so that was what I was going to toss for the rest of the trip.

We started moving around fishing good deep water areas where the fish might be moving to given the big drop in water temps since last weekend. We continued to pick up a few here and there, but the numbers weren't adding up too fast. Could be a long weekend, and I was beginning to doubt if the 41 bass target would be attainable.

We ran into another friend who had been crappie fishing later in the day, and we kind of meandered over to that area so Lee could throw on them a bit. That also gave me incentive to pick up a small tube I had had tied on from last week on another rod but had never picked up. It turned out to be a very fortuitous move.

I popped a couple quick bass from the same crappie hole, and then kept moving along slowly, fishing the tube on some steep chunk rock bank. Not sure what the difference was between it and the jig that the bass liked so much, but I quickly started boating bass after bass. Size wasn't great, but I did manage to catch a couple in the 2.5# - 2.75# range, though the majority were less than 2 pounds. Didn't matter though as the count started climbing quick - 4th quarter come back on the way.

We hit the back side of a point and I managed half a dozen more. Then slid back around and 50 yards down to another rock point. This little spot was loaded, and I added another 10 bass as the clock wound down. We had to be back at the ramp at 5PM, so we still had a little bit of daylight left when we pulled off the water. The good news though was that Saturday was supposed to be even better weather, though windier, and I made a sizeable dent in the deficit. For the day we managed 48 bass to the boat, and I was able to garner 36 of them. Lee also got half a dozen or so nice bonus crappie, so things turned out well.

Sunday dawned warmer and partly sunny. Lots of chores to do, so I couldn't make it to the lake until 2:15. Wasn't too worried though needing just 5 more bass. Started up lake in the general vicinity of where we left off yesterday, and went back to tossing the jig right off. Went a good hundred yards before catching the first fish, but then caught several more in a small but steep indent in the bank. Was able to secure 6 bass within the first half hour, and the pressure was off.

I moved further back into a creek arm, still staying along the steeper banks. I hadn't moved this far back yesterday, but water clarity held up well. Maybe it was because these fish hadn't been beaten on recently, not being on the main lake. Came across a nice secondary point and caught a couple quick off the top. Moved to the steep side of the point and started catching more bass on each cast. I made a long cast back over the point into open water with the jerkbait and lost a real nice bass when it rolled at the surface. That would be one of only 2 jerkbait bites for me all day. Kept moving down the steep side of the point and had over 20 before finally leaving that spot.

At that point I just started hopping around to open banks (there were 4 other bass anglers out on the water, all fishing the same or similar areas). I picked up a fish here and a fish there, and finally wound up with a total of 40 bass for the afternoon. I even took about 40 minutes to throw on the good crappie hole from yesterday as the graph showed the fish still stacked in there, though not to the same degree. Wound up catching a dozen or so nice fish, including a couple good bluegill, which was an added bonus.

Any more trips from here on out are just for fun. Might not even throw for bass, instead chasing crappie if conditions allow. I'm guessing the smaller lakes are going to freeze up pretty soon if the extended weather forecast I posted yesterday turns out to be accurate, so there might not even be any more trips. I'll give all the specific stats for my catch total this year a little later in another post, but I'm currently sitting on 2,046 bass for the year.