Big Indiana Bass

In Memory of Darrell Lowrance

Carl Lowrance founded Lowrance Electronics back in 1957 along with sons Arlen and Darrell. News just came that Darrell passed yesterday at the age of 80. In memorium, here is one of the very first Lowrance ads, this one from Walco Sporting Goods in an Atlanta newspaper back in 1959.

State Record Smallmouth and Spotted Bass

Not sure how many people have ever seen our state record smallmouth and spotted bass. The spotted bass is the more recent record, coming just over a decade ago. The smallmouth record though, has stood for over 25 years. I tracked down the newspaper reports for both catches.

The Greatest Indiana Bass Tournament Weigh-in Ever!

Where were you on June 10-11, 1995?

If you happened to be one of the guys fishing in the two day State Team tournament on Monroe Reservoir that weekend, then you probably experienced the most impressive weigh-in anyone has ever seen in Indiana...or likely ever will. A full field of 175 boats (several turned away), nearly 100 pounds of bass for the winners, Indiana legends Mel Belt and Gary Hardwick, and over 1,200 bass weighed in averaging nearly 3 pounds apiece (a total of nearly two tons). Ask anyone who was there, and I'd just about bet they'd agree it was the best bass bite in Indiana they've ever seen when taken in its entirety. Here are a couple newspaper write-ups of the event, as well as the recollections of the late Bill Embry who was entered.

Retro Tackle Quiz

Just like now, when I started bass fishing seriously back in the early 1980s, there was a lot of new gear out on the market, all the latest and greatest. Needless to say, I bought a bunch of it - LOL. Here's a quick look at 10 different pieces of equipment I owned at one point (I'll admit it). Can you score '10 out of 10' :)

Paper graphs and flashers (Humminbird, but Lowrance counts, too)

 

Daiwa  Procaster w/ Magforce (any baitcast model)

 

Original Berkley Lightning Rod (100% radial graphite)

 

Original Fish Formula (got 'sparkle scales'?)

 

Roland Martin Polarized Glasses (Bill Dance glasses count, too)

 

Ryobi V-Mag Baitcaster (any model: I had both the 3 and 4)

 

Stren Monofilament Fishing Line (even tried golden - LOL)

 

pH Meter (several pros promoted this)

Pistol Grip Rods (any brand)

 

Plano Drawer Boxes ("suitcases")

 

USGS Gauges - Turbidity

Given the recent heavy rain, and more on the way over the next two days, I thought this might be a good topic. River guys will know about the USGS gauges, but lake anglers may not have paid as much attention as they should.

There are about 262 USGS gauges functioning in the state of Indiana. They give lots of people the necessary information to predict things like flooding events, and to monitor conditions on the ground during storms. Pretty much all gauges are calibrated to read flow and water level. However, about 20 percent of the gauges are also equipped to handle other parameters. One of the more useful ones is turbidity levels.

As anglers, we think of turbidity in terms of clear, stained or muddy water, but scientists have specific criteria for measuring the exact amount of turbidity. These units are referred to as Farmazin Nephelometric Units or FNU for short, but all you pretty much need to know is a higher FNU reading means more turbidity, and a lower FNU means less. On the high end, around 1000 is about the upper range of things, and that would be extremely muddy. To the lower end, you're talking double digits to represent clearer water, with single digits being towards the clearest water.

Since most of the gauges are set up on our rivers, and you can find a gauge just above and below most any of our reservoirs, they act as a good source of information for understanding what type conditions are happening on a body of water without even being there. Those that have turbidity readings are especially helpful following rain events. For example, if you look at the screen capture for the gauge just above Eagle Creek Res. taken about 36 hours after Saturday's 1.25 inches of rain, you'll see a quick spike in turbidity up to around 600 FNU, and then a slightly less steep decrease in the gauge afterward, ending just under 100 FNU when I took it.

In practical terms, the river got very muddy initially as it rose, dumping all that muddy water into the upper end of the reservoir. But over the next 30 hours or so, things started settling out and becoming fishable again. Though it does depend on the type of sediment being transported, a reading around 100-200 signals a good stain, but fishable water, anything above 200 is going to start resembling chocolate milk, and anything below about 100 will starting showing as clearing nicely toward a good stain in the 50-75 FNU range. Refer to the USGS diagrams for a better idea of exactly what these numbers look like in real terms.

There is an impact to the fishery in many cases as higher FNUs begin to change the feeding behavior of bass and other predators, as well as affecting the survivability of juveniles and recently hatched fry. Watching these gauges will also give you an idea of how much sediment is being transported into reservoirs, how long a typical headwater might stay muddy, as well as which lakes might be the better choice for fishing based on local rainfall, expected water drawdowns, etc.

Utilizing these gauges can be a big benefit for all anglers, letting you better prepare for conditions, and helping you make good choices in location, even saving you wasted drive time in some instances.

Let's Go Fishing

If you grew up in Indiana, then you know that there were two very popular ways to get your fishing reports. Long before the Internet and cell phones, most everything was conveyed via the newspaper. Indianapolis Star/News columnists Bill Scifres and George Tilford would give weekly fishing reports for all the major reservoirs in the format at right. This was in addition to their near daily columns.

In the very early 1970s, they also began publishing a book that covered many of the most popular waters in the state. It had a page or two description of each waterbody, along with a coded map on where to find the best fishing locations by species at each lake. The book was called "Let's Go Fishing" and was published for nearly 20 years. The bottom picture is a map from one of the books of Eagle Creek Res.

 

The Greatest Show On Earth

You can try all you want, but I don't think anyone will ever create a show that can match what Pat Galyan created when he began his Fishing Tackle Shows out in Plainfield beginning in 1980. The show had a run for about 10 years, and it was always a "who's who" of professional angling, all packed into four days and including not just the top professional anglers, but most of the big tackle company reps and promoters. It was truly a special show for those that got to experience it.

1980

 

1981

 

1982

 

1989