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« September 2009 | Main | November 2009 »

October 31, 2009

Don't Quit Yet!

Now that November arrives in just a few more hours, it seems like between the cold weather and hunting season, many guys end up calling it a year about this time. My neighbor already winterized his Triton this past week, and boats left out on the lake are getting to be few and far between. However, water temps are still sitting strongly in the mid- 50's thanks to this past week's weather, and with turnover well behind us things are starting to stabilize and the bite is getting good.

Had a little too much wind today to make a run at the crappie, so stayed close and pulled out the bass gear. That turned out to be the right decision. There wasn't a single vehicle in the parking lot when I pulled in around 2:30 and I ended up being the only boat on the water today. Lower end was very clear with increasing murkiness as I made my way uplake due to the nearly 3/4 inch of rain we got yesterday.

Brought just two sticks, a jig and a jerkbait. Started playing with the jig at the docks while the engine was still warming up and caught my first bass. Needless to say the jig got a good workout today. While I did pick up the jerkbait and toss it on some windblown areas, I stuck with the jig for about 90% of the afternoon.

By the end of the day (6:00) I had caught nearly 30 bass. Best 3 are in the pics with the heaviest weighing exactly 4 pounds and the other 2 not much behind. Had several other solid fish along with several that were probably this years spawn - a good sign. One thing you will notice if you look close enough at the pics is the bright line. Everything was caught today using flame green Fireline. Started out with a short leader of about 3 feet but through the course of the afternoon I ended up having to tie the jig directly to the line. It didn't seem to matter either way as two of the 3 biggest fish bit while directly tied. Again, nothing I can really say from a scientific point, but worth noting anyway as this is still a pretty popular subject on other message boards.


 

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October 30, 2009

2010 ILMS Conference Announcement

The Indiana Lakes Management Society is seeking abstracts for presentations at the 22nd Annual Indiana Lakes Management Society Annual Conference "All Lakes Great and Small."

The conference will be held March 26th and 27th, 2010 at the Radisson Star Plaza in Merrillville, Indiana.  The deadline to submit an abstract is Friday, January 18, 2010.  If your abstract is accepted, you will be notified in writing no later than February 1, 2010.

We are looking for presentations covering any of the following topics:

  • Lake Shoreline Stewardship
  • Great Lakes
  • Watershed Management
  • Fisheries Management
  • Aquatic Plant Management
  • Invasive Species
  • Toxic Algae
  • Responsible Recreation
  • Water Quality Monitoring
  • Dam/Water Control Structure Issues
  • Local Lake Management Efforts/Case Studies
  • Legislative Issues
  • Grant Opportunities and Fund-Raising
  • Small Waterbody/Pond Management

If you are involved in water quality assessment, lake community development, best management practice implementation, community water body monitoring, simply enjoy working with your lake association and/or community then consider sharing your experience and expertise at the 22nd annual Indiana Lakes Management Society Conference.

We invite presentations that deal with all aspects of the management, protection, and restoration of lakes, reservoirs and watersheds.  All formats (oral or poster) are welcome with oral presentations being accompanied by a PowerPoint presentation, if possible.  Please contact Nathan Long if you would like to present in a format not currently listed.  Abstracts can be submitted electronically via http://tiny.cc/2010ILMSabstractsub or can be submitted in a Microsoft Word document attached to Nathan Long, PO Box 100, Seymour, IN.  Contact Nathan by phone at (812) 497-2410 x243 or by email at for further information.  Abstracts should contain the following information:

Title: The title should accurately summarize the subject of the proposed presentation.

Author(s): Provide names and an affiliation of all authors (mailing addresses, telephone, fax, e-mail).  Underline the presenting author.

Text: The single-spaced abstract should state the purpose, significant results, and main conclusions of your work.  Abstracts must not exceed 250 words.

Format: Poster, oral (30 minutes).  Please indicate the format(s) desired.

Please note: Conference registration fees are not waived for contributing authors.  Registration forms and conference materials will be sent to you upon acceptance of your abstract.  Please contact Nathan Long at or (812) 497-2410 if you have questions and thank you for considering presenting at this years conference.

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October 29, 2009

White R. B/M Classic Journal - Patoka

We had 14 members show up to the White River Bass Masters Classic, a far cry from our 25 members. Wow...absolutely brutal post frontal conditions. 2 days of blue bird skies and not a lot was weighed in. Oh, the lake was about 5 feet high. This made an impact as you couldn't see the grass.
 
Day 1 - we had 5 guys weigh in. One with 2 fish for 7lbs (1st place) and the other 4 brought in a fish each.
 
We started out in Lick Fork where my boater pre-fished and found some fish. No bites, so we headed to Painters Creek. We caught some shorts. We ran in to 2 kids (teenagers) fishing from a jon boat. They asked us what the legal size for a smallmouth was. We told them 15 inches. He pulled out an 18-incher that he caught on a crappie jig. It looked like a football. My boater ended up catching a 15 incher on a crankbait. He finished the day in 5th.

I threw everything at them, buzzbait, spinnerbait, rattletrap, cranks, tubes, jigs. We fished shallow and deep. Since we did not have a pattern, we made the plan to just go fishing on day 2.

Day 2 - We had frost and blue bird skies again. We started in a new area, Fleming, and did not get a sniff. We then headed to Newton-Stewart and nothing there. We went back to Painters where the keeper from day 1 was caught and nothing. At 12:30, we made the decision to go back to Lick Fork, since that was about the time he caught fish prefishing on Friday. I had on a rootbeer/chartreuse crank. We were fishing between the grassline and stumps. I made a cast at a secondary grass point when about 15 feet from the boat I get rocked. I set the hook and I see this fish roll. I didn't even say get the net, I just said "Oh my Lord". My boater was like "I got the net, it doesn't look like a good hook in him so bring him around the boat." I took this fish around the back motor, then she came up again, but didn't jump.

She made another bulldog out, then came straight at the boat. I told my boater, "here she comes"... I'm shaking because I just landed my biggest bass in a tournament. My personal best was 5lb 8oz. I figured she was at least 5, but may go 6. We fished hard for the rest of the day. My boater got 3 more shorts. We headed in.

We had 5 guys weigh in, 2 from Day 1. Those 2, ended 1st and 2nd. My fish weighed 5lb 8oz, tied for my personal best, and she got me 3rd place, Big Bass for Day 2 and Big Bass for the tournament.

-by Dustin Kelso

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October 28, 2009

Fish Stocking Day at the Home Lake



 
 

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October 26, 2009

Heard the News Out of Tennessee?

Click the following news links to get the story that goes along with the picture

Gigantic largemouth bass found at Brown's Creek Lake

New Tennessee State Record Bass caught, Sort Of...


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October 24, 2009

Fall Fishing



 

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October 23, 2009

Online Lake Maps

I've got a couple online lake map websites to share. The first one shown in the picture above is from a company called Angling Technologies. When you click on the link you'll be taken to the main screen as shown. Be sure to watch the 4 minute YouTube video that explains how to use the many features. It's pretty quick and simple after that. As best I can tell, the only lakes covered right now with depth contour overlays are the following:

  • Brookville res.
  • Morse Res.
  • Eagle Creek Res.
  • Raccoon L.
  • Heritage L.
  • Salamonie Res.
  • Mississinewa Res.
  • L. Santee
  • L. Holiday
  • Glenn Flint L.

Hopefully they'll be adding more as time goes on. The second is a company in the links section of this site on the lower right hand sidebar. 2CMaps, LLC provides color coded online/downloadable maps for a small fee. At present they cover a majority of the natural lakes located in the upper third of the state. Years ago we used to buy colored pencils and spend evenings coloring in the contours of our lake maps. It made a big difference, much like color depthfinders do now vs. older monochrome units. Be sure and get the free sample map you can download to see exactly how the whole process works.

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October 22, 2009

New Research On Fish Vision

Another piece of research in the news this week to pass along. This one concerns the adaptive evolution to 'violet vision' from 'UV vision' as recently published in PNAS. We've posted a bit about UV vision before, and fish color perception in general. See the articles section for some discussion in this area also. This new study might lead to further research with other fish lineages as suggested in the article.

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Monthly News Updates

A few other news reports concerning largemouth bass that appear in various media outlets throughout the country you might find interesting. These fall right in line with our overall site co-theme (niche) of science and fisheries management.

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October 21, 2009

Pullin' Water Big Time

For those that haven't been following the Louisville COE daily lake level report, you might want to check out the Cataract Lake level. They've pulled the crap out of the lake the past few days. Plans were to stop pulling the lake sometime today. They were targeting a level of 634.0 which is 2 feet below normal winter pool and 5.5' below normal summer pool. They are doing repair work to the riprap on the lake side of the dam. They needed to drop the lake level to reach the lower apron which is normally not exposed. The contract has already been awarded, and plans are for work to begin as soon as the lake level is stabilized. Once the work has been completed, they will bring the lake back up 2 more feet to normal winter pool level.

It is a good time to scout some areas on the lake that normally don't get exposed on a routine basis. However, if you do go be careful. There have already been reports of several boaters either running aground on some of the longer points as well as tearing up their props when launching or loading.

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