Through no real planning, I decided to cut my Indiana fishing this year and fish one pattern in Indiana this year to prove a biological point. Because of the extreme downturn on plus sized fish in many streams, I consolidated to a few stretches of a few streams this year. It paid of handsomely I'm happy to say. So, I've had my best year ever, while ignoring 90% of stretches on rivers and creeks that WERE incredible fisheries and have become...not. Great, but still worrisome.
The other tactic I fell on was because of my remote work status. I can work from anywhere as a BI developer. But have basically never done before. In July, I worked from hotels in the UP of Michigan and Northern Wisconsin for 22 days. In October, I spent 9 days on vacation and remote work in the Susquehanna river valley in Pennsylvania. I had never travelled out of state due to a strange idea on exploring Indiana rivers FULLY. That. Was. A. Mistake. I went to WI 3 times and PA once. 37 of my 77 fishing outings were out of state. Since many of those days I had to work, the average day has been just over 5 hours fished. I also found on those huge rivers, being alone in a kayak meant I couldn't do 8 mile floats as I had to return to launch (even with Newport motor). Up or down a couple of miles was about it.
There are wonders across our beautiful country. I really am turned on mentally by exploring rivers for smallmouth bass (Pike and Musky too). Indiana had become stagnant and because of the two major issues of otter population explosion and cast netting all fish in our creeks. These issues had become a detriment to my mental health while trying to enjoy being the best I can be. So I resigned as President of Indiana Smallmouth Alliance after 2 years of reestablishing that organization. Bryce Clendenning is leading going forward.
So numbers for 2025. Last three trips have added 20's to the totals.
Wisconsin and MI time was insane. One in 3 bass were at least 18". I caught close to 60 pike and musky. The scenery and exploration was beyond. 87 SMB over 18 and 11 over 20". 21.5", 2-21", 2-20.5", 2-20.25", 3- 20".
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| 21" Whopper Plopper 75 WI |
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| 21.5" |
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| 20.25" Wake Crank WI |
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| 21" Weighted fluke WI |
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| 20" Whopper Plopper WI |
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| 20" Fluke WI |
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20.25" Whopper Plopper 75 WI
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| 21" Whopper Plopper MI |
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| 31" first Musky WP WI |
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| 31" Northen Pike WI |
The time following the Indiana pattern has been the best here. A 22", 21.75", 3-20.5", 7-20" in about 200 hours fished here. 10 20"+ caught a 20.5 and 18.75 on one lure!
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| 21.75" Sammy 100 Indiana |
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| 20.5" Mini Buzzbait Indiana |
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20" Crankbait Indiana
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| 20" Choppo 105 Indiana Wabash |
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20.5" Trace Swimbait, double with 18.75" Wabash
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22" Big TRD Indiana
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20.5" Nikko Ned Indiana
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20.5" Crankbait Indiana
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| 20" Took Whopper Plopper off another bass Indiana |
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20" Crankbait Indiana
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PA was terrible conditions in October, I got an infected tick bite, winds were up to 30 mph on at least 3 days, grass was often all throughout the water column, I felt anxiety I should be doing better. Loved both of those rivers in every way. Again fishing alone limited the amount of distance from the ramp I could cover with low fast water making some riffles drag over miles of unproductive water proposition.
I did catch a couple of nice thick Susky 20's, Juniata was cool too. So dynamic of a fishery. A million words would not describe it. Didn't match WI, but not the same time of year.
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| 20" Whopper Plopper PA |
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| 20" Nikko craw PA |
