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« June 2012 | Main | August 2012 »

July 31, 2012

Who's Your (Sauger) Daddy?

Mitochondrial DNA Sequence Variation in Saugers
Matthew M. White

Science has gotten to the point where we can now better understand all kinds of things about individuals or animals based upon an examination of their genetic makeup. Fish are no different. For example, we have pieces posted to this site about the genetic mixing of northern and Florida strain largemouth bass down in Florida, as well as the unique lineages of walleye in America. This new study took a look to see if sauger, a close relative of the walleye, also displayed this unique and broken family grouping.

Using mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) sequence variation, the researchers evaluated genetic population structure in saugers. Turns out, saugers aren't walleye when it comes to their family tree.

  • Saugers display little genetic structure, and there is no apparent geographic pattern to the distribution of haplotypes.
  • Most haplotypes differ by one or a few bases (all haplotypes are <1% sequence divergent).
  • The observed distribution of sauger control region haplotypes is consistent with the hypothesis of a single Mississippian refuge and range expansion since the late Pleistocene.
  • Since saugers are known to be great travelers when it comes to spawning movements, they could have rapidly colonized much of the northern parts of their current distribution after the retreat of the Wisconsinan glaciers about 12,000 years ago.
  • Patterns of genetic variation suggested that Great Lakes walleye populations were probably colonized from three refugia: Atlantic, Mississippian, and Missourian). Additional, highly divergent walleye populations have been identified from unglaciated parts of the species’ native range, including the Ohio River, the Cumberland River, and the Mobile River basin. The apparent absence of phylogeographic structure in saugers is quite different from the structure observed in walleyes.

The practical application: Since it doesn't appear that sauger have unique and localized (specialized) populations, biologists can be a bit more liberal with their stocking policies, and not run the risk of diluting or polluting the natural gene pool of local populations.

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July 29, 2012

Underwater Night Lights?

Have you ever wondered if those underwater glow lights really work for night fishing? This video from a fellow Hoosier makes the best case for them I've seen. Check it out...

 

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July 28, 2012

Drought Update

I live and fish in several of the counties now considered as 'exceptional' as to the drought conditions, at least up until yesterday. We finally got some rain, but I'm waiting on the co-op precipitation reports to see exactly how much. Whatever it was was A.) woefully neeeded, and B.) nowhere near enough. The cooler weather this weekend should make for a nice change of pace. Hopefully some of you guys are getting out there and catching some fish.

In less than a week, many of the school systems in my area will be beginning classes, so I'm hoping that weekend boating traffic slows way down. It's part of what they refer to as a "balanced" school calendar, something new this year. I've got a truck down in the shop, so likely no fishing for me this weekend, but hopefully by next.

Drought

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July 26, 2012

FedEx Delivering the Goods

Wish my FedEx driver would bring me a few of these. That's Bryan Johnson sporting the new Aaron Martens look, and holding up the summer chunk from a local pit. I'll have to double check the Bass Pro catalog to see how to order a couple of these for myself :)

BJ

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July 25, 2012

Schoolies

This is what a group of spotted bass looks like when you're sitting over them in 25' of water. The higher riding, more vertical arches are the more active fish, while the longer and lower streaks along the bottom are less active fish. Jacob was able to pick off a couple on drop shot from this school before it broke up or moved off.

Schoolies

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July 23, 2012

USA Bassin Indiana Updates

GEIST/MORSE:

This past weekend we wrapped up the 2012 USA Bassin Geist/Morse division on Geist Reservoir.  I just wanted to take a moment and thank everyone who fished with us this year.  We had a great group of guys fishing with us that made it very easy and fun to run.  Over the course of our 5 divisional events we had a 50 boat average.  I believe this says a great deal about the positive movement USA Bassin has going in Indiana and other states.  If you would like to find out more information about them please find them at www.usabassin.com.

I would also like to congratulate the team of Dick Huffman and Dick Beitman who came from behind in our final event to capture the point’s title for the 2012 Geist/Morse division.   Our division boasted some of the best sticks in central Indiana and this wasn’t an easy task this year for any team.  Well done gentlemen!
I also want to thank Brownies Marine for putting on one of the open tournaments this year on Geist Reservoir.  Without supporting businesses like Brownies, we as fisherman wouldn’t have the opportunities we have in this trail.  If you are looking for a new or used boat, the Massey family at Brownies will take very good care of you.  Check them out at www.browniesmarine.com.

On a side note, for those teams who have accumulated 250 points, don’t forget to go online or call USA Bassin and get your regional entries in.  Slots will fill up fast and you don’t want to miss your opportunity to qualify for the classic next year on Kentucky Lake!!

Thanks again to everyone!

Brad Ray

____________________________________________

BROOKVILLE:

I'd like to share with the readers about the Brookville Fall division. I would like to grow our fall division. I can get their 2013 memberships and they could get a start on next season by fishing this fall. USA Bassin has several new and neat things starting and by getting a start in the fall would be helpful. Maybe someone is looking for a new trail to fish. We can also get someone new to USA Bassin started.

Here is our Brookville Fall schedule:

  • Sept. 8
  • Sept. 22
  • Oct. 6
  • Oct. 20
  • Nov. 3

Thanks everyone,

Gregg Pigg
USA Bassin - www.usabassin.com
IN-01 Brookville Lake Fall
IN-02 Brookville Lake
IN-03 Summit/ Prairie Creek

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July 22, 2012

Waveland Hi-Res Topo Map Now Available from BIB

If you've followed the site, you know that I've been doing some mapping of several local lakes. The one that has received the most inquiry from readers has been Lake Waveland. I've finally figured out a couple bugs related to offering these maps to readers. You can find the 10' quad map online, but it's not worth much. Similarly, IDNR now has a 5' contour map of the entre lake they did that is available online (search site posts), but it's pretty bland as relates to contours. The map I've been able to generate cleanly is in 2' labeled color contours similar to the picture below, but on a clean white background with color scale. The below picture is actually 1' contours overlayed onto Google Earth, but I can't legally use GE images, and 1' contours makes for a pretty cluttered map unless it is really enlarged. The 2' contour map is a great all-around size that gives you the definition you need, but keeps the map size small enough to easily transfer and manage.

It takes a lot of time on the water to thoroughly map these areas, and has taken multiple trips over the past couple years to get this far. As such, I've only focused on the prime fishing contours on the lower 2/3rds of the lake. To give you an idea of coverage area of this map, see the grid outline below. Everything highlighted in yellow is covered by this map. Non-highlighted areas are largely uncontoured at this point. Most of the best bass spots for a large part of the year focus on the drops and breaks at the ends of flats, and that is what I've tried to capture first. At some point, I'll keep adding to the map to try and capture more areas, but this will allow you to have access to the best existing map of the lake that I'm aware of right now.


The map size lists out at 3434x4658 pixels on my imaging software. It will be sent to you as a JPEG file attached to an e-mail that can be opened and manipulated with most any traditional imaging program, and is less than 1MB in size. You can print, enlarge, zoom and do all other sorts of manipulating of the map depending on what existing programs you have to work with. Best of all, I'll let you determine the value of the map. With pay what you want (PWYW) pricing, you determine the value, but I don't want anybody to pay more than $5 for this map. Simply select the value below from the drop down box, then click 'Buy Now'. You can route this through your PayPal acct., or just use a credit card. Once payment is confirmed, I'll e-mail the map to you based upon the address given as an attachment. If you have any problems, simply contact me at the Big Indiana Bass web address found at the top left of the site ("Contact Us").

If this works out well, I'll look into doing other lakes, or more likely sections of lakes (due to size) here in Indiana. In the mean time, don't be the only guy at the ramp to not have this map handy when you hit the lake next.

 

Pay What You Want

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July 20, 2012

Why Understanding Your Graph Is Critical


Are you paying close enough attention to your graph? The above screenshot was taken from my Humminbird 798 while out on the water this Thursday from a local reservoir. In a matter of just a minute or two idling out on the main lake, you could eliminate a whole lot of water really fast before ever making a cast. Here's a hint...you better not be fishing deep on this lake right now.

Notice almost every single fish on the screen is packed into the top 10'-12' of water. If you saw this, you should immediately plan on fishing less than 12' all day long. But you say, "how do I know any of those arches are even bass/crappie"? Answer: It doesn't matter! There's a reason why those fish are there, and even if not a single one of them is a bass/crappie, I can about guarantee you you aren't going to catch a fish anywhere on that lake depeer than what you are seeing those fish. How do I know? It's time to pull out the high dollar tech gear, which is exactly what we did.

I met up with my friend Doug Clodfelter at about 3PM that day. I had the ClineFinder temperature probe with me, and Doug brought the YSI Dissolved Oxygen meter. We proceeded to take readings of both and jot them down. I created the following table of what we found.

In most cases during the summer, you are either dealing with a temperature issue, or a dissolved oxygen issue. Fish are either relegated to staying within or above the thermocline, or can't go deeper to get to that cooler water due to a lack of oxygen. I've highlighted the level of the thermocline in yellow under the temp column, and the critical dissolved oxygen level similarly on the right column.

What you'll see is that on this lake, you have great oxygen through the first 8 feet of the water column, but as soon as you start going deeper, the oxygen levels plummet. At 10 feet you've cut that in half. By 12 feet, you have a marginal survival level of just 1.5 ppm DO. At 14 feet, for all practical purposes, you have a situation where a fish can't live for more than a few minutes in the nearly hypoxic (no oxygen) water. Those near zero readings extended all the way to the bottom of the lake, which was nearly 30' where we were at.

So guess what we did? Found a nice mainlake point that topped off as a flat in 7'-10' of water, dropping off into nearly 20'. I sat on the downwind deeper side, keeping the boat in 12'-17' and throwing upwind onto the shallower flat and swimming little tubes along the bottom headed toward the drop - and we caught a bunch of nice crappie that shallow, in 84-85 degree water, in the middle of the day.

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July 19, 2012

IBF Invitational Trail Results: Tanners Creek

The results are checked and tallied from the IBF Trail Invitational this past Sunday July 15, at Tanner's Creek  Lawrenceburg Indiana.

With all of the other tournaments being conducted this weekend including the BASS Federation Nation State Finals. I was pleased to have a 40 boat tournament.  The Anglers and Co-Anglers were even in numbers and I had two Co-Anglers that were available at a moments notice to fish if we had more Anglers.  Between the extreme heat, occasional storms and high humidity I was worried about the welfare of the anglers out on the water. But I have not heard of any problems.

Congratulations to all of the fisherman who weighed fish and moved up in points as the points race now tightens.

Below is listed the top finishers and complete results are attached along with the standings.

We closely watching the water levels at our lakes including Geist Reservoir in Indianapolis which was the planned location of our Classic. As I understand it there is currently a plan to shut down the ramp at Geist in the next few days. Obviously it is unknown what the future holds for rain and water levels. If Geist is unavailable for the Classic I will have to consult with DNR about what is available.

I look forward to a great tournament at Monroe on August 19th. I hope the numbers are back up. We will do our meeting at the Shelter House on Tournament Point,  Cutright.  Saturday August 18,  3:00-5:00 Indianapolis Time.  A Summerhouse Inn will be the official lodging headquarters. Make sure to mention to them you are fishing the Indiana Bass Federation for a discount 812-332-2141.
     
BOATERS:

  • Jason Roberts; 5 fish, 10.76 lbs - $1680.00
  • Paul  Jolly; 5 fish, 9.88 - $1050.00
  • Curt Cox; 5, 8.34 - $ 630.00
  • Rich Fye; 5, 8.08 - $ 504.00
  • Jason Howery; 5, 7.56 - $ 336.00

Big Bass: Angler, Mark Dove; 4.58lb - $400.00

Co-Anglers

  • Darren New; 5 fish @ 9.84 - $840 + $200 BB (4.5lb.)
  • Al Gillum; 5 @ 8.34 - $535.00
  • Lewis Mallory; 3 @ 7.46 - $315.00
  • Tyler Mosier;   3 @ 6.46 - $252.00
  • Steve Kincaid; 4 @ 5.48 - $168.00

Remember to support those who support us. Stop in and visit, mention IBF, make a purchase and keep your receipts.

Proud to be your Tournament Director,

Kenny

 

Tanners_Creek_7-15-1277

Download Results, Tanners Creek 7-15-12

Download Standings_after Tanner's Creek

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July 17, 2012

Loyd McEntire Passes

LoydOne of Indiana's early tournament pioneers, Loyd McEntire, passed away this week after a lengthy illness. McEntire fished the Bassmaster tourney trail from 1972-1981, including 3 Classics. In his 48 events, he had 5 top 10's and 13 top 20's. His highest finish was 3rd place in the 1974 Arkansas Invitational on Beaver Lake. He was also a final day contender at BassMaster Classic V, in third place after Day 2 (link to video; see 24:22). In later years, he fished the Hoosier Division of the BFL's between 1998-2002, and won a Rocky Point event in 2000. McEntire had one of the first franchise stores for Bass Pro Shops in the early 70's.
 
FLW and Lucas Oil pro Billy McDonald remembered Loyd this way,  "Loyd was a great friend and a great guy and was always willing to share. He was always upbeat and always willing to help others at a drop of a hat.  I met him when I was 14 years old and he was always a legend to me. He will be greatly missed."

Here's a mention from Roland Martin about Loyd in his book, 101 Bass Catching Patterns:

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