Big Indiana Bass

End of Year Open Water

December 28, and we are back to fishing open water again. Been a fun December, catching crappie out of a reservoir that was 90% iced over, and that we had to blaze a quarter mile trail just to reach the only open water on the lake. Then there has been the smaller ponds, where I've been casting my baits onto the ice, and then pulling them off and having bass eat them on the drop...then fighting them while they run under the ice sheets, trying not to get my line cut by the rough edges.

Crappie have all been on small jigs, sometimes cast, often times just fisher vertically or pendulum style at best. The bass have been biting the Ned Rig, a nice change from my usual mini blade bait fishing. Some cold weather and snow still inthe forecast, but looking more and more like open water at the start of the year. Would love to get that January bass out of the way quickly :)

 

Bass Bite Still Going Down

Water temps have now hit the low 40s, but the bass are still biting pretty decent in the cold weather and water. I've hit both a couple local ponds, as well as a couple reservoirs this past week, and managed to catch several bass at each. Water clarity has been pretty good most everywhere due to the cold water, and bass have been biting jigs, blade baits and jerkbaits. Here's a few fish from the past week.

Been a "Crappie" October

Seven trips so far this month and over 750 crappie landed. Best afternoon was 280 in a single trip. Been asked a lot how we manage to catch so many. Pretty straightforward answer;

• We fish structure
• We're always looking for the big school of fish

We're Still on the Crappie

Crappie bite is on

We’ve managed over 200 crappie in just the past two weeks. The fall bite has started, and with water temps still hovering around 80 degrees or higher, the bite should only get better.

 

Spot'em and Drop

Had a fun trip recently spotting nice bass on the depthfinder hanging around shad schools and then dropping AirRigs on their head - and they ate it up.

The Struggle Is Real

Headed out to Raccoon Saturday for some crappie fishing. Graphed loads of them on the main lake, but struggled to get them to bite. Finally went a little shallower and put something together. However, recent reports the past few days appear to suggest we were on the wrong end of the lake, as lots of nice limits of what appear to be good size fish are being posted. Not a fan of big idle zones, but might have to reconsider next time...

Back On Geist - Finally

Looking back at my records, I believe the last time I fished Geist for bass was December 2015 with Jacob before he moved to Tennessee. So when I got the oppotunity to tag along with Josh Ray, it seemed like a good excuse to make the drive over there. The lake was pretty stained, if not muddy in some areas, and water temps seemed pretty consistent from 51-53 degrees about everywhere we went. There had also been a lot of chatter in the news about an apparent fish kill going on over there, so I wasn't sure exactly what to expect. It turned out better than I thought.

First spot I pull up to, second cast, and a small keeper comes to the boat. Next area, just a handful of casts in, and something near 4.5 pounds or so also comes aboard. We'd go on to catch several other solid keepers to go along with a couple Josh had already boated before I got there (I arrived just after 1:00 PM).

No surprise, I'm sure, but Rat-L-Traps, shallow cranks and jigs all caught fish. As usual, there was quite a bit of traffic on the lake, many guys practicing for events that were happening this weekend. We also managed to snatch a couple bonus fish; Josh with a big channel and me with an oversized carp I struggled to hold for a shot.

Was a fun trip, and it was also neat to see everything that had changed since I last visited, as well as the many spots I used to catch fish from that hadn't.

Crappie On

Picked up just over 50 this afternoon. Water temps 51-53, about 4" of visibility. They had 3 gates open and pulling hard. Could see vortices behind our buoys on the main lake. Should get better quick once things settle down a bit. About 10 rigs in the lot when we pulled up at 1:45PM. Stayed until about 6:15PM. Back to bass fishing later this week.

Snuck Out This Afternoon

Weekend isn't looking that great from a weather standpoint, so took half a day off from work and hit the lake. Launched a little after 2:00 and spent 4.5 hours on the water chasing bass. A lot of sun and a decent breeze at times, though nothing too terrible. Water was okay but still not as clear as I'd like to see it. Surface temps were running around 48 degrees, and these cold nights and sunny days seemed to slow the bite down, at least for me. Managed right around 15 though, including half a dozen keepers. Here's a few pics: