Big Indiana Bass

I certainly hope not, but with this polar front, no telling if the weather will break for the better before things freeze up. With that thought in mind, I burned another vacation day to fish Monday, what was predicted as the last 60 degree day of the year. I ended up going to EC with buddy Lee Dilly. Problem was, the warm temps were there because they were being ushered in by strong south winds - not a good thing in a jon boat. They were already steady at 18 mph when we launched, with the beginning of whitecaps appearing. Things only went downhill from there as winds increased to 23 mph with gusts to 27. It was nearly impossible to hold in position and fish effectively in that wind, and the fish didn't seem to be biting in the few protected coves we fished later. We finally found some fish late in the day and grinded it out in the breeze, managing about a dozen and a half nice crappie. Let me tell you, it was a chore fishing 1/16 and 1/8-oz jigs in that kind of wind, but we persevered.

Water temps were just over 50 on the lower end, but a couple degrees cooler north of the causeway in the shallower upper end. WIll we get another crack at the fish somewhere in weather warmer than freezing? It's a wait and see game at this point.

The boys were cracking the crappie out at Geist this weekend. One example of that is the first picture below. You'll have to look close at the line, and it still might not be apparent. The fish in BJ's left hand sucked in his jig so hard, it went out/through the fishes gill cover and ended up outside its body, where another fish took a swipe at it and got snagged - Two slabs on the same cast. That doesn't happen every day. The other way to tell they were biting is by the double limit in the cooler in the second picture.

First time out all year, I believe, with good buddy Bryan Johnson. Decided to make a fall crappie run, and we were able to catch between 100-110, I'd guess. Ended up boxing nearly a double limit. My counter said 48, so we stopped in case I missed one or two in the heat of the moment. Actually, it was a lot slower than the numbers would suggest. Most came from 7'-10' of water, and all on jigs. Water temp was 63 degrees. Here are a couple pics.

So you'd think with all the wind and rain and low pressure, yesterday would have been the better day - not so. Maybe I wasn't fishing in the right area or with the right baits, but for whatever reason, white bass were about the only thing that seemed to be biting. Today dawns clear and cold, with widespread frost warnings. Light breeze and mostly sunny skies - and the bite was a lot better than expected. Go figure.

Didn't actually fish for bass too terribly long today, but managed nearly a dozen including a 16", a 17.5" and this 19.25" fish, all on the Kahara micro jig/pig.

Surprisingly, the crappie bite was pretty good. They normally shut down after a front, but I landed 60 today up to 12".

Haven't got out much, but when I have, I've been catching quite a few fish, and several nice sized ones, just nothing big in the way of largemouth. Here's a few other nice fish though to look at.

Several nice crappie on Thursday afternoon over 12 inches. The fish on the bottom went 1.2 pounds.

A couple shots of a nearly 28" hybrid striped bass caught Saturday afternoon. Water was pretty clear with visibility to 3.5 feet, and surface water temps at 60 degrees.