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!