Got on some redear Saturday

Went fishin for crappie, couldn't locate any and had a tub of redworms and decided to give the crackers a try. I've got a nice little spot it seems where they're always located, outside of winter weather of course.

We started out in 10-12 of water but quickly realized they were actually in about 6-7 foot. I actually lost a pole but then the bobber floated back up and I retrieved it. Those crackers bite finicky sometimes, some will barely hit the bait and others will absolutely hammer the bait. Anyway, caught fifteen of them, five of which were 10-11 inches, the rest about 8-9, good mess. Needless to say, my crappie days are numbered, I'm zoning in on the crackers.

Wow, you're about as south in the Hoosier as you can get. I'm from the NE corner, been modifying the boat, it's still int he garage and the furnace is running. Can't wait to get out there if we get a break.

You catch those in-state?

I caught them in the Hoosier National Forest, there's some real nice lakes down there. That redear that pulled my pole in the water was a monster, nothing like catching big ole shellcrackers.

I was surprised we caught them in that shallow of water, they're getting ready to hit the beds in a few weeks.

Nice. Long haul from here to fish down there, I've heard the stories, though. About the furthest south I've ventured with the boat is Brookville, and that was a good many years ago. Got kids and grandkids in Indy now, looking forward to camping and fishing with them, it may draw me south again. Around here I got all the natural lakes in Steuben County. Quite a variety of types of lakes, usually if one's not 'on', you can find one that is. Now to chase this cold front and east wind out of here. Give them panfish hell down there for me.

Congrats on the Crackers. I'm anxious to get on some myself.

Sounds like a great day!
Good job!

What's the water temp where you were at?

My depth finder isn't working, but I'd take a guess it is in the mid 50's. It felt cold as ice but I believe the hard rain we got Friday night chilled the lake off. Temp probably in the upper 50's if it wasn't for the rain.

that would tear my nerves up, having one drag a rod in the water, came close a few times tho. always pays to carry at least a tub of worms with ya, wherever there are shellcrackers. I got into them in december one time.

good catch!

Sound's like lot's of fun catching them fish. I would love to get in to some good cracker's like that.

Man I wish I could catch those redears with any kind of consistency. It seems that when I DO get in them, it is quite by accident.

If any of you have any suggestions as to how to locate 'em, I'm really listening.

aj

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Originally Posted by Arkie John

Man I wish I could catch those redears with any kind of consistency. It seems that when I DO get in them, it is quite by accident.

If any of you have any suggestions as to how to locate 'em, I'm really listening.

aj

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Well, I've been ignored before/ Glad I'm mainly a crappie fisherman. IF any of you want to know anything about Lake Ouachita, I'd be glad to assist where I can, but you'll have to pm me, because I'm so outta this part of the forum. :confused:

Three of us went on a public pond on state property adjacent to a penitentiary. We caught our shellcrackers simply by throwing nightcrawlers on the bottom without a sinker or float. I'd always heard this pond was deep, we were in a jon boat without a depth finder, but probed it several times with a paddle and couldn't find any place deeper than 4'. Shellcrackers are finicky, yes, and they wouldn't bite with a floater on, believe it or not.

Congrats on a nice catch of Crackers!!

We were catching a lot of large red ears the past two weeks. They have been mixed in with crappies getting ready to spawn in a shallow channel. All the red ears that we caught were over 10". We were using tube jigs with floats and the occasional night crawler. We were actually there crappie fishing and would catch a RE every once in a while. Or we would see one cruising by and toss a crawler to it. We had seen over 100 RE that day in that shallow channel! It's been pretty exciting lately!