Mike McKee
Outdoors

It may be mighty chilly right now, but some good fishing will still be available on the inland lakes once temperatures return to normal.

I’ve always said the fall side of summer is a better bet for anglers

Get a couple sunny days and ice-free water in March or early April and anglers come out in droves. Unfortunately, fishing results are typically poor as the water is too-cold and the fish still dormant.

Compare that to now, the late-fall, when fish are active in water temperatures that have just recently dipped into the 50s. Bluegills, crappie, perch and bass all seem to go on binges during October.

In addition to fewer anglers to compete with, there are no water skiers, pontoon cruisers and personal watercraft to disturb your fishing pleasure.

Just ask Bernie Hayman of Michigan City.

“I had the lake to myself and the bluegills were going crazy,” Hayman said after an afternoon trip last weekend.

“I mean really nice ones – those big, red-breasted males,” Hayman said. “They were outside of lily pads and over the top of submerged weeds.”

The bite was relatively shallow over those eight to 10 feet depths.

“Basically, I was just two feet below a bobber with a small, plain jig tipped with a Gulp! (brand) maggot in the natural color.”

Hayman added that chartreuse is often his top color for the tiny jigs.

Besides the artificial grub tipped jigs Hayman used, waxworms, redworms and crickets remain top producers until freeze up. Some anglers have excellent success with baited teardrop spoons that are normally reserved for ice fishing.

Small minnows are tops for crappie and perch with crappie often suspended six to eight feet down outside the deep weed lines and perch near bottom in eight to 15 feet this time of year.

Bass occasionally foray into shallows where stickbaits and soft plastics draw strikes, but some really big bass come on jigs in the eight to 12-foot depths every October.

Also, the La Porte lakes usually produce a worthwhile walleye bite from about now through November. No. 9 Rapalas or similar minnow imitators can be good at dusk and after dark when worked above and around submerged weeds.

• Outdoors Report.

The regular, North Zone waterfowl season opens Saturday with ducks legal through Dec. 15 and Canada geese legal just Saturday and Sunday before reopening Nov. 7 to Jan. 17.

Most salmon are in the middle and upper reaches of area tributaries with a few steelhead turning up throughout the streams.

Catches have been spotty as many salmon are near death and not very interested in biting. They’re also pretty well spooked by heavy angling pressure while a steady flow of fallen leaves adds another hindrance to fishing

No Lake Michigan perch reports, although there often is a good October bite if we get three or four consecutive days of stable weather.

• Hunter Ed.

The Indiana Hunter Education Course will be held on Saturday at the Michigan City chapter of the Izaak Walton League (call Garry Adrian at 1-219-325-8011) and the Masonic Lodge in North Liberty (call Ed Bohle at 878-6745).

Class times are 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.

• NRA Friends.

The La Porte County Friends of the National Rifle Association’s annual fundraising banquet is set for Thursday evening, Nov. 5 at the Orak Shrine Temple in Michigan City. For more information, call 872-7957.

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