Indiana Kayak Fishing Journal: February 2017

This past Sunday I drove up on a hunch to fish the Northwest Indiana creeks. I was hoping that this warm weather would have the Steelhead on the move and more importantly willing to eat! I didn't exactly get an early start. Upon arrival at 11am, the parking lot was already pretty full and I was worried that there were going to be too many people present to fish. Turns out, ALL the people were literally a stone's throw from the parking lot and by walking 50 yards or so, I was all by myself. I looked at the creek when I first got there. It was a bit high and off color. I figured that it was going to be a tough day of fishing so I ended up leaving my GoPro in the truck. As always this was a mistake. I decided on throwing a bright spinner. On sunny days, even early in the year, I have had good luck with spinners. I fished for 45 minutes to an hour and covered a long stretch of water and all I had seen was one fish that moved downstream past me. I was starting to get discouraged. And just like that it happened. I threw a cast and as my spinner was coming past a submerged log, a Steelie shot out and followed my spinner for a moment before violently smashing it. The battle was short but fierce and before long the nice female Steelhead was in the net! She was absolutely beautiful! I believe that the fish was already spawned out as her tail was pretty beat up and she had a fully developed egg funnel. It was pretty surprising that a Steelhead may have already spawned in mid February. I had to get creative for some pictures. I set the delay timer on my camera and used a log to get a few shots before setting the fish loose. The pictures turned out pretty good for just winging it. Before long I was fishing again. I was casting to a log jam when I noticed a Steelhead come up and surface just in front of the next logjam upstream from me. I though to myself 'I need to fish that log jam pretty thoroughly'. Before I got the chance, the Steelie surfaced again. I knew I had a good chance at catching a fish that active. I carefully snuck into casting position and threw my spinner across the creek. As if on cue, the Steelhead rushed the spinner. It missed its mark and even went slightly airborne in an attempt to eat the spinner. I threw my lure back out and the fish absolutely hammered it. Once hooked, the nice male then proceeded to go absolutely crazy. It swam directly at me and in the blink of an eye jumped and landed in less than an inch of water right at my feet! The fish went berserk and with all of it's thrashing somehow managed to get itself back into the water. After another minute or two of bulldogging the fish finally surfaced and slid into the net. This fish had some amazing colors on it! The pictures never do these fish justice. The different shades of red, white, green, and black all work together to make these fish a true sight to behold! Again I had to be creative with the camera and after a few quick shots I revived the fish and sent it on it's way. Not long after releasing the second fish, I finished heading upstream and began to head back to the truck. I re-fished a few of the more promising looking spots with no luck. I feel very fortunate to have caught two fish. Most of the people I talked to along the way and in the lot had not seen or caught anything. It was an awesome day and well worth the time and effort. I can't believe that the Steelhead are running this early. It's going to be a crazy spring!