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« July 2012 | Main | September 2012 »

August 31, 2012

A Wet Weekend in Store

The predictions and modeling for anticipated rainfall amounts from the lingering Isaac keep changing. As of 12 hours ago, central Indiana was squarely in the crosshairs, with 7"-8" expected over a big section of the state. As of late this morning, they have now toned that back a bit to a more reasonable 4"-6" in west central Indiana. Apparently the system is either going to stall a bit or fall apart a little faster than expected, but either way we're still looking at a good soaking. Here's the latest from NOAA showing the heaviest accumulations (7"+) now over in western Illinois.

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August 30, 2012

Glenn Flint Greenie

Glad someone can catch big bass out of Glenn Flint, though I think I did get a 5.5# out of there last year. Anyway, Jeff Gale with a real nice bass caught on a football jig from the "Dead Sea".

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August 29, 2012

Life Off Tour, Part II

Monday I posted a video showing some of the white bass action Jacob and I got into while out fishing. In that post I mentioned that we also chased down some crappie after things died  with the whites. Here's a bit more on that part of the trip.

First, and as I've mentioned before, I pretty much do about 90% of my crappie fishing using small jigs on the cast. I've written an article that you can find and read in that section of the website for more specifics. One part of that approach that I don't think I mentioned in the article is finding the fish. While I'm always marking new cover I find anywhere out on a lake for future reference, I almost never stop and actually fish a spot unless I see what I believe are crappie on the screen of my depthfinder. It's simply a matter of efficiency. My time on the water is limited, and I want to catch as many as I can when I do go fishing. This approach is about the best way to accomplish that goal.

Saying all that, here's a couple different screen shots of a group of crappie we got on later that day, and the end result of that effort.

 

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August 28, 2012

Eastside Bassmasters L. Waveland Open

Here's another Waveland Open event (first 25 boats) you can jump into. Download entry form and rules below.

  • Download 2012_Waveland_Sep_Front[1]
  • Download 2012_Waveland_September_Rules[1]

 

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August 27, 2012

Life Off Tour, Part I

What do you do when you're not chasing largemouth all over the country on the FLW Tour? Go fishing, of course. Jacob and I spent about 3 hours yesterday fun fishing on a local lake. We originally were going to target crappie, but when we got to our first spot, we found white bass had started schooling after the storms moved through mid-day. We had some fun and shot some video of the action to share with everyone. After about an hour and a half of white bass action, we did end up locating some crappie. I'll post pics from that part of the trip to the site tomorrow. In the mean time, check out the "less serious" side of fishing.

 

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August 25, 2012

Largemouth Interrupted

Here's a couple nice greenies to interrupt the Lake St. Clair smallie fest...


"Doc" Friedman with a nice 20"+ largemouth caught from a renovated gravel pit. Love the bright line!


Robert Peters with a nice largemouth from the northern part of the state. In about 2 more months that fish should have a much bigger belly from fall feeding.

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August 24, 2012

Billy McDonald Leads the Field After 2 Days

The above screen capture is the story from Day 2 of the FLW Tour Open event being held on Erie/St. Clair. Billy made the big move, but three other Indiana guys also made the Top-20 cut and will fish at least one more day. Those anglers are Tim Wilson, Todd Schmitz, and Ryan Chandler. Finishing inside the Top-50 and getting $9,000-$9800 checks were John DeVries in 27th and Shad Schenck in 45th. Chip Harrison and Jeff Tennell finished out the Indiana check cashers with 52nd and 55th place respectively, and garnering checks for $3500.

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August 22, 2012

Indiana Bass Federation - Lake Monroe; August 19

The Indiana Bass Federation Invitational Trail’s fifth tournament of the year was held at Monroe Reservoir August 19. A beautiful morning started with 45 Anglers and 45 Co-Anglers leaving Cutright at 6:45. It looked like about one half of the field went up stream. Only four Anglers and one Co-Angler were able to complete their 5 bass limit by the 3:00 check in time.

On the Angler side, Doug Ruster won with 5 that weighed 10.34 lbs. followed close behind by Dave Goodman with 5 for 10.24 lbs.  Rob Kelly also busted the 10 lb mark with 5 at 10.06 lbs. Dave Willsey and Ed Bauer rounded out the top 5, each weighing in 4 for 9.34 and 8.7 respectively. 

Chris Wilinkson of Hawg Back Lures had big bass with a 5.12 lb. Monroe mama. His two fish together weighed 8.48 which was good for 6th place.  Mike Quinlin had the last limit of 5 but they were on the small side weighing 8.36 and 7th place. 
 
The Angler of the year race tightens up considerably as Rob Kelly and Chris Burk are tied for the lead with 433 points. Mike Quinlin is only 1 point behind with 432. Statistically anyone in the top 18 positions could win Angler of the Year. The answer will not be known until the end of the Patoka tournament September 23rd.

Tyler Mosier was the only Co-Angler who brought 5 fish to the scales. His five weighed 9.28 lbs.  He was followed by Al Gillum with 2 weighing 6.92.  Third went to Sonny Kennedy with 2 for 6.78. Sonny also had the big bass weighing 4.96. Steven Kincaid and Brody McWilliams rounded out the top five with 5.7 and 5.28.
 
Lewis Mallory all but locked up the Co-Angler of the year award with his 15th place finish. He can only be caught by this event’s winner Tyler Mosier. Lewis has been the model of consistency this year as he has weighed in fish at each of the first five events.
 
We want to remind everyone that Honey Creek Tackle will provide a MinnKota Trolling motor to be given away at a drawing at the Classic. A name will be drawn Ifrom the Anglers and Co-Anglers who have fished at least 5 of the 6 events.

Attached are the complete results and points standings after the Monroe event. Hope to see everyone at the Patoka event Sept. 23rd. Remember to support those businesses that support us. Mention IBF when making your purchase and keep your receipts.

Proud to be your Tournament Director,

Kenny

  • Download Monroe_results-2012(1)
  • Download Standings_8-19-_After_Monroe

 

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August 19, 2012

Best Bass Location in Warm Water Discharge Lakes - Not Always Where You Might Think

Evaluating the Impact of Thermal Effluent on Sportfish Abundance in a Midwestern Cooling Lake
Anthony P. Porreca & Robert E. Colombo

Common belief held by most anglers is that most bass tend to hang in and around the warm water discharge areas of thermally heated reservoirs, especially during the cool water periods. While this is certainly the case in some reservoirs, it is turning out to not always be the situatioin. Researchers electrofished bass at Coffeen Lake, a cooling reservoir in central Illinois, and housing Ameren Energy Cos. coal fire power station.  The sampling was done during fall, winter, spring, and summer, starting in fall of 2010. Areas sampled included 5 separate sites that spanned the length of the reservoir, and covering both warm water and cool water sections. Fish species collected were largemouth bass, bluegill, white crappie, and channel catfish. Results included the following:

  • Catch per unit effort (CPUE) was used to assess relative density by site.
  • Largemouth bass were found in highest numbers (70 fish/hr) farthest away from thermally impacted sites, compared to 22 fish/hr in the cooling loop.
  • Winter sampling resulted in significantly lower numbers of each species caught, presumably because many of the fish stayed in water deeper than could be efficiently electrofished.
  • Spring 2011 sampling produced the greatest relative densities for all species, again what you might expect since most fish are shallow to either feed or reproduce.
  • During both fall and spring, sites farthest away from the warm water dishcharge area had the highest catch rates for bass. Catch rates of bass were found to decrease linearly with increasing water temperatures, regardless of season.

The take home lesson here is that running right up into the warm water area of these cooling lakes, regardless of time of year fished, may not be the best decision for numbers of bass. Not only will you probably have less fishing pressure in the cold water areas, you will probably also catch more bass.

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August 17, 2012

Who's Got Time to Fish?

Hasn't been me, mainly because of the truck issue, but that has been resolved. Plan on hitting some water this weekend if not before, so might have a report or two by Monday. We did receive about 1.5" of rain yesterday, so I expect a few lakes to rise a bit and maybe even stain up. Cooler weather, too, so maybe a shallow bite will be going on. I'll have a topwater tied on just in case.

The other reason for less fishing is more writing. Beside hosting and writing this website, I also now contribute regularly on a couple others. I've been doing a weekly science piece over on Bass Parade for more than a year. That site is owned by Jay Kumar of ESPN and BassFan fame, and also BassGold. He's got a great little newsletter started also, the BassBlaster, you might want to sign up for. A good way to start your day, so grab a coffee and 5 or 10 minutes of your time and read.

The most recent is Bass Fishing Archives, hosted by long time writers Terry Battisti and Pete Robbins. Too many credits to list there. If you like pieces about the history of bass fishing and bass tournaments, want to relive some of those old 'days gone by', or are just a young'un not familiar with all the old baits, tourney trails, magazines and other assundry stuff, you'll want to drop in daily and check out the goods. They even run a contest every Monday about bass fishing tourney trivia where you can win a Gary Yamamoto baits e-certificate. My first piece for that site actually hit the air today.

Of course, all three sites have related FaceBook pages where you can get even more info, interact with the hosts, and post your own stuff. Be sure and check those out as well. In the mean time, if you have any questions, comments or 'stuff' you want to share on any of these pages, just drop me a line either at my contact info (top left) for this site, or via the BIB FB Page. I'm always up for a good idea or discussion.

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