Salamonie fishing report

[treepotato]

Went out on the ice this morning on the Salamonie reservoir at daybreak. The ice was about 4'' thick and I setup in 12' of water. After drilling some holes and setting up my shanty, I dropped three double rigged minnow offerings , one at the bottom ,middle and top of the water column. After just a few minutes I pulled in a nice 10'' crappie from the top rig. I rebaited and instantly hit another 10'' crappie on the same rig. I then adjusted the other two rigs to the same depth as the first one and all three were now just a foot or so under the ice. After catching and releasing about a dozen small fish around 8''a real nice 12'' crappie hit one of the rigs! This would be the last keeper fish of the day . As the day wore on the small crappie were going crazy but the keepers seemed to move out of the area or just quit feeding. Ended up giving my 3 keepers to some other anglers and called it a day around 1:00 oclock. It was nice to finally wet a line again. The temperature really warmed up and the ice was leaving in a hurry. The weather report is calling for temps in the fifties with rain which will really mess up the reservoir. Some of the anglers I talked to today said they limited out on fish from 10'' to 13'' a few days ago with one fella catching two that measured 16" apiece. Seems like im always a day late and a dollar short.LOL. Oh well , It was a fine day and hopefully the weather will cooperate for another trip real soon. Good luck to you all!........treepotato

[Moose1am]

did you get a chance to measure the water temp? I suspect that this warming spell has warmed the waters under the ice and or brougth more life to the upper reachs of that lake.

Did you find out how deep the other guys caught their crappie?

Sounds like you had a good trip though. I need to get out and catch some more fish pretty soon. I am running out of crappie filets.

Thanks for the report mate. We need more Hoosier to start chatting in here. The more we help each other the better we all will become. There are plenty of crappie in IN to go around. There is no way we can catch tham all.

Went out on the ice this morning on the Salamonie reservoir at daybreak. The ice was about 4'' thick and I setup in 12' of water. treepotato

[Team9nine]

Good report Tree...

Had a buddy who got out to Cataract for a couple hours today and caught 10 crappie and 4 white bass. Only 4 of the crappie were keepers and ranged between 9.5 and 12". Two of the white bass were keepers. The lake had absolutely no ice that he could find and was very clear. He reported water temps between 36 and 38 degrees.

-Team9

[treepotato]

did you get a chance to measure the water temp? I suspect that this warming spell has warmed the waters under the ice and or brougth more life to the upper reachs of that lake.

Did you find out how deep the other guys caught their crappie?

Sounds like you had a good trip though. I need to get out and catch some more fish pretty soon. I am running out of crappie filets.

Thanks for the report mate. We need more Hoosier to start chatting in here. The more we help each other the better we all will become. There are plenty of crappie in IN to go around. There is no way we can catch tham all.

[treepotato]

Hi Moose, No I wasn't able to get a water temp reading but I suspect what you say is true because the water was fairly muddied up under the ice which was probably from the melting snow and ice bringing muddy water with it in the runoff, so I too think the water was warming up bringing action to the top. As far as the other anglers , I was set up maybe 5 feet from where they were catching the keepers a few days before. I know you don't care much for the cold but have you ever tried icefishing from a heated shanty? It is alot of fun and a great way to get rid of the dreaded cabin fever! You guys probably don't get much ice that far south but if you ever get a chance I think you would really enjoy it. Good luck to ya!..........treepotato

[treepotato]

Good report Tree...

Had a buddy who got out to Cataract for a couple hours today and caught 10 crappie and 4 white bass. Only 4 of the crappie were keepers and ranged between 9.5 and 12". Two of the white bass were keepers. The lake had absolutely no ice that he could find and was very clear. He reported water temps between 36 and 38 degrees.

-Team9

Hi Team9nine! I remember some trips in the past where we got into some white bass. Man , they can be a blast! I remember throwing a 1/4oz. White rooster tail up close to the bank one time and by not paying very good attention almost lost my rod @ reel due to such a tremendous strike from a nice white bass! It was all I could do to keep it from pulling my rod out of my hand on the initial strike. I believe pound for pound they have got to be one of the hardest fighting fish for they're size, especially if your catching them in a current...........treepotato

[Moose1am]

Have not tried fishing in the winter on the thick ice from a heated shanty but it would be something I would do if we had thick ice more often down here.

Having good ice would be nice as I could walk around the lake with a portable depth sounder and really get good information on the lake.

Here lately it's not getting cold enough to give us any thick ice. I blame it on the Global warming thing.

Hi Moose, No I wasn't able to get a water temp reading but I suspect what you say is true because the water was fairly muddied up under the ice which was probably from the melting snow and ice bringing muddy water with it in the runoff, so I too think the water was warming up bringing action to the top. As far as the other anglers , I was set up maybe 5 feet from where they were catching the keepers a few days before. I know you don't care much for the cold but have you ever tried icefishing from a heated shanty? It is alot of fun and a great way to get rid of the dreaded cabin fever! You guys probably don't get much ice that far south but if you ever get a chance I think you would really enjoy it. Good luck to ya!..........treepotato