Big Indiana Bass

Fall Crappie Madness

Another afternoon on the water chasing crappie before things freeze up. Water down to 50-51 degrees with an inch of snow on the way along with four days of freezing weather. Fish were fat and healthy, and we managed about 75 of them fishing from 1:15 until 4:45.

The 'Hotel Alumacraft' Swimming Pool

Science: Sponges, Pool Noodles and Livewells

If you're looking for the ultimate in livewell care for your fish, here's one you might not have heard much about: pool noodles and sponges.

A 2011 paper looking at smallmouth bass compared untreated livewells to those where 2" thick sponges had been stuck to the front and back sides of livewells (livewells were elongated and situated front to back for the study, which does differ from traditional bass boat orientation, being more square and centrally located).

Findings included the following;

• Smallmouth bass can experience hundreds of impacts (with livewell side walls) in a 60 minute span.
• An increase in water activity in a livewell will increase the mean number of impacts a Smallmouth bass experiences per minute.
• Collisions between smallmouth bass and the walls of (unpadded) livewells were shown to have caused a significant amount of cellular disturbance.
• Fish transported in padded livewells showed no significant elevations in cellular disturbance.
• Inverted fish impact with the walls of a livewell at a significantly greater frequency.

And while I haven't heard of any anglers using this sponge technique yet, some professional anglers have started using pool noodles to help in this regard when fishing large smallmouth waters such as the Great Lakes, the St. Lawrence R., and lakes like Champlain or St. Clair.

Here's a Bassmaster video which talks a little about that newer trend.

Another similar study from 2005 also compared how fish fare in livewells during extended runs in various water conditions, but this time it was walleye and largemouth bass. Interestingly, walleye fared significantly worse than largemouth because they were unable to orient toward the direction of the moving water in the livewells, and subsequently got banged against the sides of wells considerably more. Largemouth, on the other hand, "worked to adjust their orientation and face into the direction of the physical movement of the water. By reducing activity level and orienting themselves to face into the direction of wave action, largemouth bass may reduce the amount of energy expended during violent movements, and rely on their pectoral fins to stop their forward movement, generate forward thrust and counteract their movement in the water. As a result, largemouth bass essentially work to remain motionless in the livewell and stay free of contact with the sides of the livewell..."

From The Vault: Eagle Creek Reservoir

THE 1,300-ACRE EAGLE CREEK Reservoir will open to fishing July 1, too, and Gene Pottgieser, recreation maintenance supervisor, says there will be bank fishing at designated areas. This column had reported Wednesday that there would be no bank fishing at Eagle Creek Reservoir, but this was an error. Pottgieser says generally that fishing will be permitted almost any place an angler can get to the water between 56th Street and Traders Point, but anglers should be cautious about trespassing beyond that point. This applies to both east and west sides of the reservoir, he says. Also on the west side of the reservoir will be an area along Shoal's Creek at about 42d Street and on the east side an area off Dandy Trail at about 34th Street.

June 26, 1970 Indpls Star

Raccoon Res. Crappie Trip

Area Reservoirs: Turnover Complete

 

Buck Sez: Fishing Water vs. Trolling Water

Over the years it has become apparent many fishermen do not completely understand what is meant when it is said that STRUCTURE must be our guide as to where the fish might be! Most misunderstandings are largely due to the fact that NUMEROUS fishermen do not know what the term "structure" truly means. In recent years we have seen and heard many references to the word "structure" being made. Most of the time those talking (or writing) are not referring to STRUCTURE but, in actuality, are talking about "breaks" and "breaklines..." They couldn't be farther from the truth when they say, "I am a 'structure' fisherman."

Buck Perry: Fishing Facts; Feb., 1978