Indian Lake FLW BFL event

I made it to the lake as the rain started to pour down. The last 2 nights I had not slept well due to dreams of not catching bass. After catching so may fish at Lake Erie the weekend before I should have been having dreams of whacking them. I felt that I could get them on Indian.

Once at the registration I sat in the car for about an hour while the wind and rain pushed through. The rain slowed so I got registered.

I had plans to stay at my friend Chad's house while fishing the tournament but he had to leave town last minute so I decided to sleep in my car in his driveway.

Around 12:30 AM I awoke to a pickup driving by slowly. They came around again this time stopping behind my car. I had my driver's seat leaned all the way back. My fishing rods were in the back window. I was dazed, half awake, half asleep when I heard 2 guys walking up beside my car getting really close, then trying to open the doors that were locked. I banged on the window really hard. They ran back to the truck, jumped in and took off. I'm sure if I would have been sleeping in the house I would have came back out with busted windows and my fishing rods gone.

Needless to say, I did not sleep the rest of the night. It was starting to look like Grand Lake in a lot of ways. Rain at the pretournament meeting, no sleep the night before. Dreams of bass fishing. The bad thing was these dreams were of not catching bass.

At the tournament we started out in a good area that was filled with bass. My boater boxed a limit within an hour. I had fish follow my bait but not hit. I was casting a blue and black monsoor swim jig with a pacu chunk trailer. I also used a senko weightless and caught a short bass right away with it.

After the first pass throught the channel I switched to the finesse worm whacky rigged on a 1/16th oz hook. Finally I cast next to a laydown and felt a bite. I pulled back on the rod but did not set the hook well. He came to the surface in slow motion and opened his mouth also in slow motion. I could see he was about 2 1/2 to 3 pounds. My hook came out of his mouth in slow motion, then the world sped up. A little ways down the bank I hooked into a large catfish, then a short bass. I also missed several fish.

I felt uncomfortable fishing behind my boater. Not that I didn't enjoy fishing with him, I did. I could tell he was judging what I was using and my confidence was going to crap. He made several comments throughout the day about my lure choices.

I usually take criticism as a learning experience but this guy was knocking everything I have had any luck on in Ohio last year and this year. He wasn't harsh about it at all but had me questioning every decision I have made in bass fishing to date. He was doing good and I wasn't. I was missing being in my own boat catching bass. He did re-inforce the original thought that I had going into the tournament. I knew I needed to throw a craw and I didn't try it long enough. Toward the end of the tournament he said, "There were only 2 baits that you threw all day that made any sense to me, that was the chigger craw and the swim jig, and you only threw them for 5 minutes." I just didn't think I had the right craws with me so I didn't throw them that much. Maybe I didn't have the right craws, but I should have gave the ones I had a good effort. I know they work there.

Somewhere in the middle to later part of the day I caught another short bass. Then I brought one to the boat that looked close. He measured a squeek over 12". If he didn't get any shorter in the livewell I would save my points. I really think the boater took me to that area so I could catch a quick keeper fish. As soon as I got him in we went back across the lake to try to get him some upgrade fish. If the boater did go there so I could get a quick keeper, that was awesome of him. That fish got me 110 points for 90th place and kept me in the top 40. I wouldn't have gotten any points without weighing a fish. I am 31st in standings now.

The boater I was with also gave me some advise after the tournament to try to help me get better hookups using the finesse worm whacky style since I love fishing it so much that I cannot put it down. I appreciate all of his advice now that I am off the water and had a chance to see how much I can learn from him from that 1 day on the water.

Saugeye at Indian Lake

A friend of mine, Chad had invited me to see his Father play in a band at a bar in Anna, Ohio. I had another friend, Gene, come with me so we could go fishing the next day.

Leo and I had made it home from the Deer Creek around 6:30 Saturday evening. I had time to get cleaned up before Gene showed up at the house.

We drove about an hour and a half to get to Anna. The band was really good and we had fun in Anna, staying at the bar until it closed. We made our way to Chad's house who lives at Indian Lake.

The next morning came fast and we weren't feeling great. We woke up to rain, so we hung around Chad's and watched a movie until around noon. Then we went to BlackHawk Bar and Grill and had an awesome breakfast for lunch. I had the 8 oz. ribeye with eggs, homefries, raisin toast and several cups of coffee for less than 10.00, and the steak was grilled perfectly.

Feeling better after a good warm meal we drove to the harbor to fish in the rainy windy conditions that the day had brought us. I started out with a rattling rogue in blue/silver. I have had luck with it in Kansas fishing for saugeye near rocks before. I ended up losing it and tied on a white beetle spin. I have never had luck fishing with saugeye of walleye before but saw a guy down the bank casting something similar and thought I would give it a shot. Eventually, I switched to old trusty, a 1/8 oz, jig head with green twister tail. A huge majority of my spawning walleye/saugeye have been caught on this setup.

After having no luck at the Harbor we drove to the spillway. It was a lot different than any other spillway I had seen before. All the water came over a wall, then ran into another wall that funnelled the water towards the center where there was an opening that released the water under a bridge to start the Great Miami River.



We fished the shallow spillway for a bit then walked down the river and tried several spots with no success. We had been fishing for quite a while when we got back to the truck. We pulled out the crappie rods and fished above the spillway for a while for crappie or bluegill while we took a short break and sat on a ledge.

It was apparent that the fish were not going to cooperate in that spot. I had heard that there was decent crappie fishing near the Moundwood boat ramp, so we drove there to check it out. There was a nice channel that ran back to the boat ramp and beyond that looked like an excellent fishing spot.

As we were getting out poles out to go catch crappie we saw a couple guys heave a stringer up in the air and started taking pictures of all the saugeye they had caught. I grabbed my walleye rod with the twister tied to it and started casting away. Right down the bank from us a guy caught a saugeye. I noticed he had 2 twisters tied on and had caught the fish on the top twister. He was using orange for the top twister and chartreuse for the bottom. I tied an orange twister on top and almost instantly caught the first saugeye.

Gene and I continued pulling in suageye after saugeye for about an hour. Then just as we thought we might get our limit the saugeye shut off. We ended the evening with a catch of 7 saugeye. Gene caught 3 and I brought in 4. I had one break my line and another got off after a good battle up to the bank. Gene had a couple get off on him near bank. One of them fell off as he was lifting it out of the water.

Once we arrived home we unpacked, took pictures, then I cleaned the fish. It was time for bed shortly after and as I laid in bed I thought of how much fun I had this weekend. There was quality time spent with my son, time spent with my friends, and I am finally fishing again after a long winter.

First Fish of the Year Family Competition

The family competition of catching the first fish of the year has been concluded. After several years of holding the title I fell short this year to Dad. After a lacksidasical attempt on my part Dad decided to drill some holes in the ice and put forth his best effort to knock me off the throne.

I spoke with him this weekend and he said on the 23rd he was in Northern Kansas visiting my aunts and uncles and him and my uncle snuck off to Norton lake for a couple hours. He said he was using some wax worms my uncle brought and they hauled in a bunch of bluegill and a few crappie. He said that there were quite a few fishermen from Colorado out on the ice fishing as well.

Back in the prime of the lake a lot of fishermen from Colorado and Nebraska use to fish there. The lake must be getting good again since it flooded in 2008 and they left it full this time.

He also said a blue herron came down on the ice near him. He tossed a bluegill about half way between him and the bird. The bird jumped up and he thought it was going to fly away but it flew right to the fish and stabbed it, flipped it in the air and ate it. Wish I was there to witness that.

All of the good fishing reports I have been hearing around here is that Indian lake is producing real well through the ice. Limits of saugeye are being caught along with crappie and bluegill. I was speaking with the head of Team Bass Xtreem and he was saying he has made it up there quite a bit and has had some good luck.

I will probably either make it up to lake Erie to ice fish or wait for the ice out before I go fishing again.

The Twin Rivers Bassmasters meeting is tonight. I really enjoy going to the meetings. After not having one last month, I am ready to see how everybody has been doing. Hopefully I can get a couple fishing trips scheduled with the guys before April so I can get nominated in and be an official club member before the tournaments start.

Winter Saugeye Trip

With the snow coming down outside it makes me want to be fishing now more than ever. I had been dreading this winter and the long stretch of not being able to make it out fishing.

I did make it out the weekend before Christmas to try some Saugeye fishing in a river running out of Hoover lake. There is a little pool that I heard had produced a few years back this time of year. I was bored and couldn't handle being in the house any longer so Mizike, Gene and I decided to give it a try.

We got out of the house late around 2. By the time we stopped by Gene's house and waited on him forever to gather all of his supplies we made it to the river about 3:30. Only a couple of hours of daylight left.

We had 2 pairs of hip waders so I waded to an island and took mine off and Gene waded them back to Mizike so he could get out to the island then I got them back and waded to the middle of the stream.

I used a green twist tail on a 1/4 oz. head and cast and drug it along the bottom back to me. After a bunch of casts I tried a white twist tail still with no luck. The water was down a little and it had been a while since they would have let a lot of water out of the dam. I think there were not that many fish in the pool.

It started to snow while we were out there and the view down there was pretty awesome. I could see the guys were starting to get a little ancy so I said at least I usually snag something outta here when I fish this spot. A couple casts later Gene said I got something and his pole was doubled over.

He got the fish to him and lifted it out of the water. He had snagged a carp in the dorsal fin. It had been so long since we had caught any fish Mizike and I were pretty jealous. We started ripping out lures through the water where Gene had released the carp.

It was getting late and I had to take my kids to see Santa so we got ready to leave. I waded over to shore and acted like I was going to leave Mizike stranded on the island. He yelled out "I knew you were going to do that." I took off my waders and slid them down the bank to Gene so he could wade them back across. We were joking about dunking the waders so Mizike would have to get wet anyway but that would have been really mean.

Gene started across the little stretch of water between the island and shore and went to throw the waders the rest of the way. The wader caught the only branch around and landed in the water. Mizike complained the whole way home about his wet frost bitten foot. It wasn't really frost bitten but I'm sure it was cold from the temperature of that water and then the air on the hike back to the car.

It was good to get out even for just a little bit. I am thinking that after this snow melts and they let some water out of Hoover lake the fishing in that spot will really be hot. I might have to sneak back and give it a try if the conditions are right. Ice fishing is probably in the near future as well as Indian lake is getting snowmobile traffic already. I heard a report that a couple guys made it out for 3 hours the other day and both limited out on saugeye.

Camping Trip

It must be getting late in the season. I went camping this weekend and only spent about an hour fishing. The main reason for the trip was to repair the trailer for the trip to Kentucky.

I got to the lake Friday evening after work and set up camp in the rain. It rained all evening. On top of that my wife and kids were going to meet me at the lake and did not show up until 9:30. I was thinking they would be there by 6:30 at the latest.

The rain was pretty anoying after I had set up camp. I was bored anyway so I got a plastic painting sheet out of the blazer. I tied it to each side of a picknick table and the other corners to my boat. I had a 2X4 that I was going to use to repair a boat trailer board that had rotted. I stuck that in the center of the plastic between the table and the boat. It drooped inwards so I looked in my truck and found a couple of stringers. I stabbed them through the plastic and then pulled it outwards until it was tight then stabbed the stringer into the ground. It made a nice little canopy and I was able to sit and wait on my wife to get there.

Her cell phone had died and finally she called from a payphone to tell me she was lost. I asked her where she was at. She was about 1/2 a mile from camp so I drove and showed her the rest of the way. Apparently she had been all around the lake before calling right before she came to the state park sign. I asked her why she didn't use the GPS that was in the van. I saw something click in her head as she picked it up. She had forgotten it was in there.

Saturday I got up and put the boat in the water so I could work on the trailer. I took the carpet off the old board and cut the new board to size. I then stretched the old carpet over the new board and stapled it on. The old board had rotted around a large knot in the wood and ended up breaking to pieces. The boat was sitting on carpet covering the metal. The metal had bent so I hit it back into place with a hammer then installed the new board. One of the tire covers was coming loose so I screwed it back together. While i was drilling it I slipped and drilled the inside bend of my left hand pointer finger. That hurt for a while but I got the trailer back in great condition.

Most of the weekend was spent in camp with the kids. The weather was not great as it rained Friday night, blew hard on Saturday, and Sunday a cold front had moved in. I did get a little fishing in on Saturday. I followed a canal back to some lilly pads. I pulled a rubber worm with a small weight across the tops of the lilly pads until a bass busted the surface. He missed the worm but it was pretty cool to watch. I also saw a small bass jump out of the water for a bug and land on a lilly pad where it flopped around for a while before it was able to fall off the side.

I am looking forward to Kentucky lake where I will be out in the boat most of the day every day.

More Trips and a Glimpse Into the Past

I have finished booking our reservations at Kentucky Lake. We are actually getting a lake house on Lake Barkley. The two lakes are connected close to where the lake house is.

We started looking at cabins and cottages a couple weeks ago. There was one that caught my eye. It was a little more than I was wanting to pay for the week but was a beautiful lakehouse and had everything we would want for a fun filled week at the lake.

We ended up reserving it for 695.00. It has a complimentary boat dock and a 1000 square foot covered deck that will make a great play area for the kids and relaxing spot for us. The deciding factor was that I could not find anything that looked close to as nice even at the same price. Especially on the lake.

They seemed really nice when I spoke to them on the phone and their web site was nicely worded unlike some of the other sites I looked at.

I also booked a campground for this weekend on Indian Lake. I have only fished it once and barely did that time. The first time we went there we realized that the state campground was one of the best in the state. It has channels running through the campground so you can leave your boat in the water overnight.

Indian Lake also has some slightly larger bass and has many docks and lily pads to fish. It is also a very good lake for crappie and is the states #1 lake for saugeye fishing.

The main reason I got it is to leave the boat in the water while I fix one of the boards on the trailer. This week one of the boards that was rotting finally broke and I need to get everything ready for the Kentucky trip. I also need to install a hummingbird fish finder/gps unit. I am moving my smaller older unit to the front of the boat.

I am getting excited about both trips. I could easily live at the lake.

In fact, a couple years after college my wife and I were living and working in Omaha, NE. One of our landlords had not paid the city rental fees for the house we were living in. We came home one evening and they had posted a 30-day eviction notice on our door. I called the city and they told us what had happened and said not to pay him rent until he paid his rental dues. He came to our house later that day and said we needed to pay him rent so he could pay the rental dues. I would not give him his rent due to what the city had told me.

The next morning we woke up with a 24 hour eviction notice from him on our door. He had pulled some crazy things in the past and I knew if we did not get our things out of the house he was going to end up with some of them. He had already spent lots of time in the house while we were not there. One time he came in and started staining the hardwood floors in the living room. He did half the room and after a week I finished the other half because I could not take it any longer. He had also lit our candles in the bathroom while we were gone one weekend. Apparently he had a girl over while we were gone.

So with 24 hours to get out I called off work rented a storage unit and a moving truck and had everything out of the house by the end of the day. It hit us after our last load to the storage unit that we were now homeless with nowhere to go.

We drove back to the storage unit and I dug back to our camping supplies and loaded them into the car. We made our way outside of town to a place called 24 lakes near Freemont, NE. We set up camp. For the first week while we were looking for a place to live we camped at the lake in a little tiny tent with a great dane and 2 fish from the aquarium.

We had a hard time finding a place that would accept a great dane. We finally found a place that could get us in after a month and a half. We would have to stay at the lake until then.

I ended up talking to a guy at work that was wanting to get rid of his motorhome. It was a little older but had low miles. He could not get it to start and said the air conditioner quit working years ago but said if I could get it to start he would sell it to me for 1300.00. I went to take a look and the outside of the 28 foot motorhome was in great condition. On the inside you could see it had been used for some crazy partying. There was beer spilled everywhere and trash everywhere. The carpets were matted down and black and sticky. The fridgerator had meet left in it for who knows how long and had maggots crawling around. It was a mess.

I came back the next day and started to work on the motor to see if I could get it to start. Around dark it fired up and I had it running. The next 2 days I cleaned the insides of it with many different cleaners and carpet cleaners, spot removers, smell good things. I got everything really clean. The refrigerator was even clean but still had a foul odor. Finally on my day off I paid for it and drove it to the lake.

Once we had it to the lake I crawled on top and took the cover off the air conditioner. A wire had came disconnected and once I plugged it back in the air conditioner was up and running.

After that point we had to move once a week to a different lake still within the same park. Every evening I would go swimming and fishing and we would sit outside and barbecue. My wife even sat on the beach with the dog to watch fireworks on the fourth of July. It was only about 7 or 8 dollars a night for electric camping and showers were pay showers. We got good enough to take a .50 cent shower.

That was also one of the worst storm season's I have seen. We had heavy winds that broke tree branches down all over the campground and seemed like it was going to roll the motorhome. There were tornado warnings in the area quite a few times. One time during a hail storm we heard 30 miles south of us they were getting volleyball size hail. It had put holes in people's houses so big they could stick their kids through the holes in the roof of their houses. We spent a bit of time in the shower houses waiting out bad weather.

It was a great 2 months overall though. We saved money on rent and were outside living it up every day. When the apartment finally opened up we were both pretty upset. Not long after that we found out my job was ending and that we would be moving to Ohio. I sold the motorhome to my Grandmother who still enjoys it.