[brookid]

...I guess I'll start this forum on its maiden voyage....any of you fly fisherman know of any decent trout streams in NW/central Indiana??? is there such a thing in Indiana??? I know they do some yearly stocking...just wondering what the prospects are...I did explore some streams/rivers last summer and came up empty for trout...plenty of creek chubs and a few bass...but....

I called the Indiana DNR not to long ago with the same question and after being transfered to 3 different people heres what I got..."you can catch steelhead in the St. Joe"...hey thanks for the tip guys...your tax dollars hard at work!!!

...come on Indiana fly fisherman...what am I workin with here



Brookid

 

[goggleye57]

Here is a listing of put-in-take trout fishing sites in 2004-

ALLEN COUNTY Spy Run Creek 500 BROWN COUNTY Jackson Creek 700 ELKHART COUNTY Cobus Creek 250 Little Elkhart River 3000 Solomon Creek 1000 FRANKLIN COUNTY Brookville Reservoir Tailwater 1500 FULTON COUNTY Mill Creek 600 HENRY COUNTY Big Blue River 1125 LAGRANGE COUNTY Curtis Creek 200 Little Elkhart River 1000 Pigeon River 7000 Rowe-Eden Ditch 800 Turkey Creek 600 LAPORTE COUNTY Little Kankakee River 900 PARKE COUNTY Harden Reservoir Tailwater 750 PORTER COUNTY Crooked Creek 600 ST. JOSEPH COUNTY Potato Creek 800 STEUBEN COUNTY Fawn River 600 Pigeon River 2000 All trout waters are stocked in the spring except Oak and Pine Lakes and Bethel Pit, which are stocked in October.

 

[brookid]

Thanks for the info Goggleye,

I based my exploring last year on that same information...I hit 4 or 5 streams mentioned...granted I hit 'em late in the season...but at least a couple that come to mind (Cobus and one other) based on the DNR coordinates I couldn't image them even stocking in these areas...I've fished some small creeks and streams but these were inches deep and inches wide...now granted I could have got my bearings screwed up not knowing the area and all....

I hit a couple sections of the pigeon that looked promising but found more suckers and smallmouth than anything. I guess I'm more curious if these put and take's are pounded so hard on the opener that within a month they're picked clean...or if there is a stream/river/creek ect that through out the summer may may hold some fish! or am I dreaming???

If you don't want to broadcast it feel free to shoot me a PM. I'm not lookin for specifics...any hints will do...and I'm not lookin for a place to pound every weekend...it would be nice to find a closer option than the usual haunts in Iowa,Wisconsin and Michigan...

Thanks for any and all info

Brookid

 

[lip]

Brookid, I'm not a fly fisherman but I have seen guys working the upper stretches of trail creek in Michigan City for steelhead during the winter months. jim

 

[brookid]

Jim thanks for the info...I'm aware of both salt and trail...but I'm looking more for
stream resident browns & rainbows not necessarily lake run fish. I'd love to try steelhead but I'd need another fly rod with a little more backbone...I have 3 trout rods and the little misses would snap if I brought another one home..."you don't live in Montana, why do you need 4 fly rods??"...blah blah blah...

Brookid

 

[ice dude]

trout

come to stueben county, fawn and pigoen both hold some alright trout fishing. curtis creek in lagrange is also home to some river trout. if you lake lovers you can try clear lake they have lake and rainbow.i dont use a fly rod but i do catch some good times on the rivers and streams.

 

[pigeonflier]

Bring it to the top:cheeky-sm

 

[JL]

I'm surprised no one mentioned Oliver Lake in Lagrange County or Lake Gage in Steuben County...both hold some very nice trout.

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[410]

tri-county and little crooked lake also has trout.

 

[woodsyowl]

The kind of fishing you are looking for doesn't really exist except in the spring after DNR stocks rainbows in streams and lakes. Even then, the trout fishing isn't likely the experience you are looking for, at least that's the case for me. There is some good small stream trout fishing in Michigan, IF you can find a place to fish. Same for Wisconsin's northern counties. Frankly there are just so many people fishing and so few places available, I just forget about trout fishing until next year's trip to Wyoming. There is supposed to be decent small stream trout fishing in Great Smokies NP, but you go there blind, just like you have to do in Michigan. You can hire guides at $400 a day, but they don't want to take you to where you want to go.

 

[DaveP63]

http://lectu.org/

Little Elkhart River.

 

[oralce10]

Well as far as streams and creeks are concerned i know nothing but if you are want some really nice rainbows and lakers.I would suggest airplane lake at Sullivan-green state forest.although they are not supposed to be there some nice rainbows in resivour 26.

 

[Doublegun]

As far as I know, the only river that holds decent populations of trout that can be fished with a fly is the spillway below Brookville resevior. I've never fished it (only because I really don't have time to fish when I'm passsing through). From the spillway downstream to the park the water is supposedly wade-able and there are resident (although planted) browns and rainbows.

As for Oliver Lake, I've fished it several times but it's not flyfishing water. The fish tend to be down deep. I've even tried trolling streamers with a sinking line - no luck.

 

[fiveweight]

The guy who said the kind of trout fishing you look for isn't here was right. I searched for years, checking out everything I could find and just recently gave up and got a boat and decided to focus on different species. Your only hope is the Brookville tailwater as someone mentioned - TU stocks browns and DNR stocks bows so treat them gently. You have the Little Elkhart, up in NE Indiana which is very blah. You can venture up into Michigan. Get a map of their trout stockings. There are resident browns in the upper Dowagiac but the water is so muddy it's hard to pursue them with a fly rod. There are a few very small creeks in southern Michigan that are stocked, and Michigan law allows you to walk in the creeks but landowners don't always care about or even have a good understanding of the law so be careful. Other than that, you have a bunch of marginal water with put and take stockings here and there in Indiana, and some stocked lakes which are alright. The steelhead thing has its merit but is tough to get into and the creeks are pretty disgusting. Not to mention you have to deal with people who are used to fishing some of the worst combat fishing in the country and keep their guard up. East European poachers come in from Chicago to take eggs for caviar are everywhere in the fall from Milwaukee to Michigan City. They will walk right through your line to net or snag fish right in front of you. It's enough to make a person swear off steelhead and salmon for the rest of their life.

Don't beat yourself up too much over finding trout in Indiana. Go find some smallies and white bass in the warmwater creeks and you'll be a lot happier.

 

[oralce10]

If you could handle unhooking them and not beating them to death(with a passion)i could put you on the most productive carp fly fishing anywhere its like freshwater bone fish and they spook easy.I hate carp there are soo many of them.

 

[fiveweight]

What flies do you use for carp, oracle? Seems I've caught them from time to time on this fly or that but never anything consistently. Once a size 18 ant dry, another time a bead head prince under an indie, another time on big floating salmon flies but never on the flies they are supposed to take like wooly buggers and crazy charlies. I just don't get them.

 

[oralce10]

Well i use a lot different bugger patters and if they are feeding on the surface i love to catch them on parachute adams my favorite fly.You got to bend to how they are feeding that day watch them for a few and see what the do if they start eating stuff off the surface throw on a dry and cast out ahead of them and let it float to them and do that till they take it.It is just a matter of if they see the fly or not they dont have very big attention spans and are scared easy so don't take your time and they will take it.good luck out there