Cottonwoods, tulip poplars and willows flourished when the lake bottom flats dried out during the dam repairs. When the lake returned to full pool, trees 20 feet high were flooded and created ideal bass habitat. The growth rates of largemouth bass have been phenomenal as a result, and there is now a good population of largemouths up to 15 inches; they’re growing fast.

Remie fishes the lake with his son and they have had a blast. They’ve had several 25-fish days and on their best day boated 37 bass.

Shad-colored baits are the way to go, Remie said. When the action is hot, use a silver, white or pearl-colored soft-plastic tail on a jig or crankbait. Shad Raps do well, but avoid treble hooks when the action is hot. A single-hook jig can be back in the water much sooner.

The trees that grew on the formerly dry lake bottom have been covered with water and now prove to be bass magnets. This upsurge in bass numbers will last as long as the habitat does.

Mississinewa Reservoir is on county Road 500S in Miami County. The best boat ramps are west of state Route 13.

The lake covers 3,180 acres in Miami and Wabash counties. Bank-anglers can access the fishing piers at the beach and mooring areas and several ramps offer access to boaters. Mississinewa is northeast of Kokomo.

For more information, contact District 4 at (260) 691-3181 or the lake office at (765) 473-6528. Information on where to stay is available from the Wabash County Convention and Visitor’s Bureau at (800) 563-1169 or online at www.wabashcountycvb.com

LAKE WAWASEE
Lake Wawasee is a tried-and-proven bass producer that occasionally yields fish up to 20 inches. Many lakes provide good fishing in manmade channels, but Lake Wawasee’s bass take it to extremes.

“Based on our experience with radio-tracking largemouths in Lake Wawasee about 10 years ago, we found that bass were moving up into the manmade channels right after ice-out to set up for the coming spawn,” biologist Jed Pearson said. “The bass are attracted to the warmer, calmer water where food may be more abundant and easier to find. I suspect that there is a natural homing tendency in bass so that they return to the same channels year after year.”

Pearson found that bass in the channels generally stayed there until the end of May. They moved around some in nearby channels, but once they arrived, they definitely set up housekeeping.

Based on the actual tracking of large bass in the lake, a few of the hotspots this spring are predictable. A 16-inch largemouth was released into Bayshore Channel and then spent time in the immediate area and along the breakline. Among other locations, this bass also spent three weeks in Highland Channel. The same bass left the channel in late May to cruise the south shore in water less than 4 feet deep under docks, swimming rafts and moored boats. The female eventually found her way out into a milfoil bed outside of a small channel and into the center of the southeast bay.

A male largemouth over 17 inches was fitted with an ultrasonic tracker and followed basically the same pattern as the female. It had been released into the Bayshore Channel in mid-April and stayed there until early May. It moved around within the west and east arms of the channel before leaving for deeper water for only a day, possibly because of the application of herbicides, then returned to the channel for the next several weeks.

The moral of the story is that bass stick pretty close to the channels on Lake Wawasee. They’ll leave for short periods of time but will generally return. Anglers should spend time in the channels and if a particularly nice bass is taken and released, chances are good that it’ll be back.

Spinnerbaits, minnow-type lures and soft plastics fished along boat walls, docks and other manmade structure early on are good shallow-water baits. Natural-colored lures with some flash to imitate spring bluegills should be at the top of the tackle box.

Spawning will take place up in shallow coves that warm earlier than the rest of the lake. There’s also a decent population of smallmouths up to 18 inches.

Lake Wawasee is Indiana’s largest natural lake and covers 3,410 acres. The public ramp is on the southeastern shoreline. The lake is halfway between Fort Wayne and South Bend near Syracuse in Kosciusko County. Contact the DFW’s District 3 office at (260) 691-3181. For tourism information, call the Syracuse-Wawasee Chamber of Commerce at (574) 457-5637, or go online to www.syracusin.org

Additional information on Hoosier state bass angling is available on the DFW’s Web site at www.in.gov/dnr/fishwild/