Weekend kayak & fishing report

Tom photographed at Brown Co State Park

I took my kayak to the Lake Monroe tailwaters on both Friday and Saturday evenings.  The crappie were hitting like crazy both days on 1/16 oz jigs.  The water level had fallen about 4 ft on Friday, which I think could have been the reason the bass were not too excited about hitting.  I tried a floating Rapala and got several look, but no hook-ups other than small ones.  On Saturday the bass were more cooperative and I was able to land a few on a shallow running crankbait, but still not the big ones I was looking for.  As I was preparing to beach the kayak and crawl up the rip rap bank, an older guy just downstream, asked if I had a dip net to help him land a walleye.  I managed to get the fish in the net and handed to him.  It was about 19" and would make a nice meal.  The weird thing was he was fishing with a small hook on the bottom with a worm trying to catch bluegill for bait.

Sunday afternoon, me and my oldest daughter kayaked a stretch of Guthrie Creek.  The weather was perfect, the stream was clear with a good flow and we kept our face and neck covered with vanilla spray to hold off the gnats.  We saw several deer along the bank, lots of big soft shelled turtles, and two freshly hatched wood duck families.  The paddle took about a hour and forty-five minutes and we had to portage around two drifts up steep muddy banks, but it was great fun!

Freshwater drum - best crankbait ever

Cotton Cordell Deep Diving Big O (crayfish pattern)

The discontinued crankbait pictured has taken more drum than we could keep track of.  Why is it lure companies discontinue some of the most effective lures they produce.  If anyone has one like it they would like to sell, let me know.

Lake and river update

Channel catfish taken with chartreuse/crayfish pattern

Lake Monroe update: this morning the lake is 4.3 ft above summer pool and the Army Corps has shut off the discharge to the minimum flow (212 cfs) due to the greater than 2 1/2 " inches of precipitation in the last couple days.  The East Fork of White River is rising at all 3 locations: Columbus 4 ft; Seymour 11.1 ft; and Rivervale 13.8 ft.  

I visited Bradford Woods north of Martinsville yesterday and noticed bluegill beds along the shoreline.  I thought it was a little too early, but I was wrong.

Redhorse Sucker spawning

Smallmouth Redhorse

I went on a redhorse sucker recon trip Saturday morning before daylight hoping to find large numbers of suckers spawning in the riffles of a small creek that flows into the East Fork of White River.  I walked along the stream shining my flashlight onto several riffles and only saw 1 fish.  Maybe the best time is after sunset instead; I don't know.  I've always heard stories from years ago when guys used to go out after dark and gig lots redhorse suckers in the riffles for the protein.  Not long after daylight the gnats started swarming me and i tried every plant around me to deter them, but nothing worked.  Before I hurried back to the truck I made several casts with a floating Rapala hoping to interest a bass, but got no action at all. Later that afternoon I took the kayak to the Monroe tailwaters for a paddle.  The current was fast (1925 cfs) and I had to cover the cockpit with my rain coat a couple times.  I paddled down to the mouth of Clear Creek and back up to the parking lot.  I threw the Rapala some, but only got a couple bluegill.

Joke fishing lure

How many times have you been fishing with someone that seems to have their lure in the trees more than the water.  They might as well have the right lure, since they're fishing for squirrels.  Enter them into the "Squirrel Anglers Club" with this gag gift.  I hand made the lure from an English walnut; the stand is solid wood with a solid brass hanger and the entire thing is varnished for protection.  If you'd like one, search for "River Rat Craftsman" on Etsy.

Freshwater Drum fishing

Freshwater drum are very willing to hit crankbaits.  The one pictured nearly swallowed the whole lure.  Drum seem to love crayfish and they also eat small freshwater mussels.  Several years ago we caught a decent size drum with a bulging stomach and later found out it was full of Asiatic Clams, an invasive specie of freshwater mussels present in nearly every water body in Indiana.  From the IDNR website: The first record of the Asiatic Clam in the United States was documented in 1924 on the west coast, and it was discovered later in the Columbia River in Washington in 1937. This species was thought to enter the U.S. as a food item by Chinese immigrants. By the 1970s, the Asian clam had found its way into most of the 
Mississippi Basin, the Gulf Coast and on the east coast. By 1990, this species was recorded in New Jersey, Delaware, New York and Connecticut. Most species of freshwater mussels prefer a solid bottom with gravel/rocks and so do crayfish.  Since the drum's forage prefers solid, rocky bottoms, it's fairly easy to locate the most likely stretches of the river to focus on.  We concentrate on outside bends with rock-covered bottoms.  Drum can be caught on the same lures catfish like such as crayfish and shad imitations.  The lure you choose must be in contact with the river bottom bouncing off rocks to be effective.  Drum hit hard and seldom ever dislodge the lure's hooks.  They also fight hard for a short time then usually give up, but they're still fun to catch.  I have also caught several drum on a fly rod with flies I've tied to imitate crayfish.

Flathead catfish on crankbait

Here's another one of those surprise catches on a crankbait.  We usually catch a flathead catfish or two every year on crankbaits in the East Fork.  It seems like after dark is the best time, but if you get close enough to them during the day they'll hit a lure hard.  They like both crayfish and shad imitations.

Hand tied lures available on Etsy

My hand tied gar rope lures and crappie jigs are available on Etsy.

Lake Monroe tailwaters and kayaking

Visited the tailwaters Saturday before lunch.  The Corps is still dumping the lake (1960 cfs) and this morning it's down to 5.6 ft above summer pool.  Since the current was high in the creek I found a ditch flowing in with calmer water.  Caught lots of the usual small crappie and one small spotted bass that looked fat with eggs ready to spawn. Saturday evening my daughter and I kayaked the upper end of Sugar Creek cove on Monroe.  We saw lots of turtle, ducks and several fisherman on the shore.  A large beaver surprised us sunning on the shore when it rocketed into the water.  Sunday afternoon we took the kayaks to Fairfax SRA and paddled around the point.  We noticed 3 geese nesting on high ground.  The gnats or midges were annoying when we were close to shore; I guess it's time to start using the vanilla spray.  The weather was great both days.

East Fork White River - watershed

This GIS map gives you a good idea of the land use practices in the watershed of the East Fork I fish most often.  Some people don't understand what a watershed is or that they actually live in one.  No matter where you're standing you're in a watershed.   Here's a good definition: 

A watershed is the area of land where all of the water that is under it or drains off of it goes into the same place. John Wesley Powell, scientist geographer, put it best when he said that a watershed is:

"that area of land, a bounded hydrologic system, within which all living things are inextricably linked by their common water course and where, as humans settled, simple logic demanded that they become part of a community."

Watersheds come in all shapes and sizes. They cross county, state, and national boundaries. In the continental US, there are 2,110 watersheds; including Hawaii Alaska, and Puerto Rico, there are 2,267 watersheds.

I think it's important everyone realizes land use activities in their watershed has an affect, negative or positive, on water quality.  We are called to be good stewards, which to me means wise use. Don't confuse "wise use" with environmental extremism.  I believe you can honestly be an "environmentalist" without being a tree-hugger. 

Spotted Bass "in the roots"

The exposed roots of a tree under the water surface are one of the best locations for spotted bass.  The creeks we fish in Southern Indiana have endured a lot of erosion, so washed out tree roots are not hard to find.  Spotted bass seem to key in on these locations heavily in the spring of the year.  You'll often find them "in the roots" during both prespawn and spawning periods.  The best root systems are in deep water and the more roots the better.  Also, don't forget that drastically changing water levels will have an affect on bass holding in these locations.  If the water level is falling rapidly, you probably won't find spotted bass along the banks "in the roots".

Spotted bass fishing

We took advantage of the nice weather Sunday afternoon and went spotted bass fishing in a tributary of the East Fork of White River.  The river stage was at 7.6 ft and falling slowly.  We tried crankbaits and spinnerbaits without much success and then a topwater chugger.  After trying my usual slow technique without success, a nice bass hit the chugger as I was reeling in quickly to make another cast.  I sped up my retrieve and the bite was on!  I have never used a chugger so quickly before, but didn't mind it, since it was working so well.  We didn't count them all, but it was an action packed couple hours.  The bass were all in good, prespawn condition with the largest one at 13 inches.  On the way home we drove to another tributary of the East Fork to see if the redhorse sucker spawning run had started yet.  Bending over the guardrail of the bridge we saw several large redhorse staging in a deep pool under the bridge.  We also counted four longnose gar in the pool, no doubt, also on their upstream spawning run.

Lake Monroe Tailwaters - walleye fishing

Went fishing this morning at the tailwaters in search of walleye.  I arrived just before 6 am and there were already two vehicles there.  One guy was fishing near the outlet fence, so I fished on the downstream side of the flooded steps.  The high outflow creates quite a significant series of waves crashing the rocks.  I got too close and got soaked to the knees. I landed a male walleye (18") after about a half hour of casting on a Smithwick Rogue.  The old guy fishing near the outlet left just after daylight, so I moved over to his spot and used my cast net to catch a few gizzard shad.  I fished with the shad for an hour without any success and headed home around 8 am.  The Corps  reported an outflow of 1979 cfs today and the lake has dropped 2.2 ft in nine days.

Channel catfish on crankbait

When the water level is low on the East Fork and it's summer, it's usually a good time to catch channel cats on crankbaits.  We first discovered this many years ago during a severe drought.  It seems like the lower the water, the better the fishing.  I recorded the catch and release of 100 catfish (channel and flathead) that summer.  I had to replace the bronze treble hooks with stainless steel hooks on the lures we were using in order to hold up to the strain.  If you have never caught a catfish on a crankbait, it's a blast they aren't very subtle at all and hit the lures harder than most any bass I ever caught.  On any given day we let the fish decide the color pattern to cast, but normally it's either a crawfish or shad pattern.
I put the kayak in at the Lake Monroe tailwaters Thursday evening for a short paddle.  Just as I neared the water an angler pulled in a keeper size crappie taken on a clouser fly.  I floated downstream and paddled back up against the fast current (around 1900 cfs).  I don't recommend trying it unless you know how to navigate safely in fast current.  There were lots of wild flowers on the bank that popped up since my last trip.  On the way home a red fox was walking across the road in front of me until I blew my horn to scare it back into the thicket.

Spotted Bass on crankbait

A photo from last Fall crankbait fishing on the East Fork.  The bass pictured is a good average size fish in the stretch we fish most often.  Last spring was really good spotted bass fishing in the Lake Monroe tailwaters during the prespawn period.  Both the stage and flow were low last Spring, but I believe the Corps will still be bringing down the lake during the same period this year.

Lake Monroe tailwaters catfish

Nice channel catfish before release; caught on a crappie jig in the Lake Monroe tailwaters last summer.

Longnose gar stencil

Made this stencil and spray painted it on the transom of the jon boat a couple weeks ago.  I hope this year to catch one at least 4 feet long. 

Water update: Lake Monroe is 7.4 ft above pool with an outflow of 2006 cfs (from 6am today); Lake Monroe tailwaters -  the stream gauge is being repaired; East Fork is still falling at 9 ft.

Lake Monroe crappie - above average

Couple nice crappie (left one 2 lbs) caught in Lake Monroe on homemade jigs.  Water level update: 7.7 ft above pool and 2012 cfs outflow.

Smallmouth buffalo

You never know what you will snag fishing crankbaits in the river.  This smallmouth buffalo took me for quite a ride snagged by one of the treble hooks.  I hope to actually target this species later this year with information gathered over the winter.  Lake Monroe update:  stage 8.4 ft  above pool and outflow 1708 cfs (as of 6 am this morning).

Smallmouth bass - fly fishing

Smallmouth bass are a blast to catch on a fly rod.  This one was taken during a summer wading trip in a Southern Indiana creek.

Lake Monroe Update:  this morning the Corps reported the lake at 8.6 ft above pool, but they have started dumping the water at 999 cfs (outflow), which has raised the stage at the tailwaters to 13 ft.  Look for the outflow velocity to increase significantly over the next few days as the East Fork continues to fall.

Yakking on the river

I hope to do some paddling when the river gets back down to normal.  This morning it's at 13.6 ft and falling and Monroe is still at 8.6 ft above pool with the Corps still waiting for the river to fall further before pulling the plug.  UPDATE: the Corps started dumping the lake just before lunch with the river stage near 13.5 ft.

Freshwater mussel - East Fork

A live, freshwater mussel in the East Fork last summer.  It's a type of papershell of which there is three different species identified in Indiana: pink, cylindrical, and fragile papershells.  Mussel harvesting ended in 1991 in Indiana.  It is illegal to take native freshwater mussels whether live or dead or their shells from Indiana waters.  The presence of freshwater mussels and their species diversity is an indicator of stream health.

Fly fishing - Williams Dam

                                     
Here's three fish taken at Williams Dam last summer on my fly rod.  The Asian carp was snagged, but the white bass and channel cat were taken legally on a my version of a Clouser imitation.

Lake Monroe - crappie fishing

Fishing is the correct word, not catching.  Dad and I went crappie fishing last Friday afternoon around the Fairfax SRA area and the weather was great. We tried various depths, locations and methods, but didn't get a single hit.  We did end up rescuing a couple dry land terrapins we found stuck in flooded debris several hundred feet from shore.  Th top pic is a side view of the newer Fairfax ramp and floating dock. I later read several articles on how difficult crappie can be to catch when the water level is rising quickly, which is exactly what happened last week with the level rising nearly 8 feet.  This morning the lake is at 8.5 ft above pool and the Corps has not started dumping the flood water yet, but probably will soon since the East Fork has fallen below flood stage (20ft).

River fishing - crankbaits

One of the most enjoyable parts of fishing crankbaits at the river is you never know what species of fish you'll catch.  Here's a small flathead caught on a Bandit crankbait.

Gar fishing

Gloves are pretty important when handling gar.  Not only can their teeth cut you, but their ganoid scales are also quite sharp.

Lake Monroe crappie - 2lb vs average

Quite a difference between a 2 lb. crappie and an average Lake Monroe crappie.

Lake Monroe - water level update

This morning the lake is 8 ft above pool at 546 ft.  A call made to the lake office 812-837-9546 found that all ramps are open with the exception of Cutright where the high water ramp must be used.  The National Weather Service predicts the lake will be at 546.6 ft by April 12th; not sure how accurate that is; time will tell.

Kentucky Afield - Asian carp filet instructions

Top 5 Boating Violations | Indiana DNR

Crappie - caught on bass spinnerbait

Decent size crappie caught on bass spinnerbait during low water period in fall on the East Fork.

Channel catfish - caught on crappie jig

Nice channel catfish caught on homemade crappie jig (1/32 oz white) just before dark at Monroe.

Water levels update

The East Fork has crested near Bedford really close to the predicted stage of 30.4 ft.  Lake Monroe is 7.1 ft above pool.  If we have no other big rain events, the lake could probably be back to pool by the end of May, but..................  As of yesterday the Corps was releasing only 228 cfs from the lake.

Carp Fishing

 Carp taken at Fairfax; I haven't found a fish that fights harder!  We use an oatmeal and creamed corn pack bait.

Heavy Rain

The Bloomington airport has measured more than 3 1/2 inches of rain in the last 2 days.  The East Fork near Bedford is rising and currently at 21 ft (floodstage is 20 ft) with a discharge of 18,300 cfs.  Upstream, both the Columbus and Seymour gauges report rising levels as well.  The Army Corps report for Lake Monroe: 541.8 ft (3 1/2 ft above pool).

Crappie jigs

A box full of homemade crappie jigs ready for the fishing season.  The 2 compartments in the upper left are seldom used plastics.

Monroe - above pool

My daughter paddling through flooded timber at Monroe a couple years ago.  We may be in for the same thing this spring,

Yakking

With all this rain it might be good yakking conditions this weekend on the small creeks after the flow decreases somewhat.

Longnose gar - length weight chart

Stren & Berkley fishing line rebates

Don't forget to take advantage of the fishing line rebates available now:

   Stren -  http://stren.com/5-mail-in-cash-rebate/

   Berkley - https://www.berkley-fishing.com/Rebates-Promotions/Berkley-rebates-promotions,default,pg.html

IDNR Free Fishing days 2014

That's right, believe it or not Indiana is finally getting with the program and having multiple free fishing days in 2014.  Hmm, maybe allowing more people to experience fishing would result in more fishermen or women; what a concept.  Advertise the dates widely:  April 19, May 17 and June 7 & 8.

Asian Carp

Here's an Asian Carp I shot last August in the tailwaters.  I hope to get a big one this year, since I've heard they are great to eat.

Skitter Fishing

A couple of the skitter fishing spoons I made from looking at the Eric Fare version (Fishing History - Skitter Fishing ad).

Poor quality pic of an nice LMB I caught on a skitter spoon last summer.

Crappie Jigs - Home made

A few of my favorite hand tied jigs from the winter tying sessions.  We've caught 2 pound crappie with the 2 jigs on the bottom at Lake Monroe.  The upper left jig is 1/32 oz; my favorite.  I've caught crappie, channel catfish, yellow bass, bluegill, largemouth bass, and wipers on this particular pattern.

Gar Fishing - Rope Lures

Here's a few rope lures I made over the winter.  Can't wait to try them out!