10/23/14 Walleyes after Work

Got out tonight after work to chase some Walleyes for about an hour and a half. Ended up with 2 fish tonight. I got one about 17 inches. Nothing too special but glad to see one anyways as I've gotten skunked the last two times out. The second fish was much larger at 22 inches. It hit right at the furthest point of my cast. It was awesome getting to fight him all the way back. I could tell the whole time it was going to be a nice one. Both fish were caught on lead head jigs and curly tail grubs. Both were released. Hopefully they get some more time to grow but a lot of people have a nasty habit of keeping EVERYTHING they catch from this river. I hope everyone is getting out to enjoy the wonderful fall weather!

10/18/14 Rainbows on a Cloudy Day

Fished for about 7 hours yesterday for trout. I ended the day going 6/11 on Rainbows and I also caught 2 Smallmouth and 1 Largemouth. I lost 4 Rainbows on jumps and I had one break my line. None of the fish were too big. The Rainbows this year have been in the 12-16'' range. They still give a magnificent fight and usually give a few good jumps and take line a few times. I struggled for a while fishing streamers so I switched things up and put 2 sparrow flies on and starting catching fish pretty consistently. I did catch a few fish on a Clouser Minnow but the Rainbows definitely seemed to be really into the small sparrows. The fish also seemed concentrated up in shallow water along the break lines. Mike ended his day with 3 Rainbows to the boat. All in all a decent day. All my fish were released and I only put a few in the net to get decent pictures.

10/14/14 Brief Excursion

Kelly and I hit the river today in search of crappies. We were only out for about 2 hours. Kelly had some rough luck and did not manage a fish. I've been there before and it sucks. I caught 5 fish starting at 10'' and eventually managed a true Fort Wayne giant of 15 1/2''. fish were not extremely cooperative and I had to work to catch what I did. All fish were caught with slip floats and jigs only set about 2 feet down. Water still feels relatively warm and there were a ton of leaves on the water to make things more challenging. The best is yet to come.

Beautiful Fall colors on the River

Slightly better than average...

Measured in at 15 1/2''. A true river giant!

10/13/14 After-Work Walleye

Caught this Walleye tonight after work. I've had to put a lot of work in to catch them this year but they are still around. This fish was extremely dark and one of the neatest fish I've caught. Took my jig right at the bank.

10/11/14 First Taste of Silver

I got onto a northern Indiana trout lake for the second time this season. fishing was still pretty tough but I did see a few trout up cruising around in the shallows. I caught a decent Smallmouth, a couple Largemouth Bass, and eventually one decent 16'' trout. I hooked up while trolling and looked back just in time to see this fish making a 4 foot leap from the water! Felt good to finally catch a trout again. Hopefully better fishing is just around the corner but so far this fall I have had to work for every fish. Beautiful weather and scenery can still make for a great trip though!

 

10/2/14 - 10/7/14 River Fishin'

Kind of a wet, weird start to some of the fall fishing here in town but fishing continues to pick up by the day. All of these fish were caught before or after work for Kelly and I. The first fish is the nicest Smallmouth I have caught out of the rivers in town. It was a pig and fought like a champion giving me several good jumps. Beautiful fish too! You couldn't ask for more spots and nicer coloring on a Smallmouth. The second fish is an 18'' Saugeye that Kelly caught. She had the hot hand that day landing 3 fish to my zero. The third fish was a 20'' Saugeye I caught after work tonight. It hit right at the bank and immediately stripped drag heading back for the middle of the river. Quite the battle and a nice fish to boot. One of my friends caught a 25''er the other day and I've seen some bigger ones come out of there. If you haven't already, get out there and enjoy fall fishing cause it won't last forever.

9/29/14 Scouting Mission

Figured it was too early for trout but though we would try it anyways. It was a 'no go' as the water is still too warm. Nice to get all the gear out and make sure everything was working. Beautiful weather to be on the water. Trout coming soon...

9/28/14 THIS IS WAR!!!

I ventured over to the Tippecanoe River on Sunday to try my hand at fishing for Wipers. I've never caught one and I've always been curious to catch one after I caught some White Bass and saw how hard even small bass were fighting. The water seemed high and more stained than I had imagined but I tried fishing anyways. I fished for quite a while before I caught my first fish. I hooked a nice fish but had it come off after a few minutes and never got to see what it was. I caught a smallish walleye on a crankbait.
The story of the day started off innocently enough. I cast my crankbait into an eddy. I hooked up almost immediately. The fish was taking huge extremely fast runs. It was pulling me all over the river! I thought to myself "at last I finally have a nice Wiper hooked up". After a huge tug of war and about 15 minutes of fighting I was starting to think that this wasn't going to be a Wiper even. I finally got the fish up where I could see it's tail and my fears were confirmed. I had the fish snagged in the tail and it was NOT a Wiper. But what was it??? I only caught a glimpse and my best guess was Paddlefish. The battle continue for a few more minutes and I finally got a look at the whole fish. I have never seen one in person until this day but it was immediately recognizable: Asian Carp! I had him snagged with my crankbait in the tail. I got him next to the boat, grabbed him by the tail, and hauled him into the boat. I got a couple pictures and took him to the bank to discard as is the law. It is illegal to let them loose. I threw him on the rocks and as I turned to leave a group of 5 kids came over. They were hooting and hollering and generally making a big deal out of the fish. One of the kids (I'm guessing about 8 years old) asked me if he could have the fish. I shrugged and told him yes but not to let it go. Two of the kids worked together to pick it up and made off with it. Pretty strange story overall. After cross referencing the pictures with a sign at the boat ramp I determined it was a Bighead Carp. Really in general the carp looked like a very clean, healthy, nice looking fish. It was fun to catch and makes for a good story.
I didn't catch a whole lot else the rest of the day. A couple small white bass and a small drum.

9/27/14 Indiana Kayak Anglers Tourney

I went down to Geist Reservoir on Saturday to fish the Indiana Kayak Anglers bass tournament. The day started out very nicely as the weather was very very nice at daybreak. I'm not  much of a bass fisherman so I must say I struggled to get onto the Largemouth Bass in the lake. I did end up with with 3 smallish bass to enter for the results but overall I was pretty disappointed in my catch. I did however end up boating close to 60 fish on the day including: largemouth bass, bluegills, perch, crappies, and yellow bass. I caught probably 40 or so yellow bass. So much so, that I was having trouble keeping them off my lures long enough to catch other fish. Overall it was a fun tournament. It was good to get to put some faces to names, catch a bunch of fish, and raise some money for Heroes on the Water. This charity takes veterans kayak fishing. Here's a link to their website: http://heroesonthewater.org/  check it out when you have time. Here's a couple pictures of those crazy yellow bass: