Most trolling anglers will use small spoons or minnow-imitating plugs when targeting rainbows, but some fishermen will anchor and fish with bobbers. When still-fishing, two of the hottest trout baits are live night crawlers and whole-kernel corn. "Believe it or not, corn works just about as well as night crawlers," LaVigne said.

Neil Ledet, the District 2 fisheries biologist, said that the state continues to stock trout here. "Clear Lake is still stocked with 4,000 rainbow trout annually," he said. "Holdover trout (fish stocked in previous years) are pretty common, too."

Besides rainbow trout, quite a few brown trout have been stocked at Clear Lake recently. LaVigne is one of the officers of the Northeastern Indiana Trout Association (NEITA), and he said that NEITA has been working with the DNR on a brown trout stocking project. "Last year, NEITA stocked nearly 1,000 fish, and we stocked almost 1,000 browns this past April," he said.

For more information on NEITA, check out its Web site at www.indiana trout.com.

PATOKA LAKE
Largemouth Bass
Patoka Lake in southern Indiana is a mecca for bass fishermen. At 8,800 acres, this huge reservoir is the second-largest lake in the state, and it features more first-rate bass habitat than one person can discover in a lifetime. There are flooded creek arms filled with standing timber, tiny weed-choked coves, rocky ledges that drop off into deep water, old submerged roadbeds -- the list goes on and on.

Largemouth bass inhabit all of these places, feeding on abundant populations of gizzard shad, crayfish and small sunfish. It should be no surprise, then, to hear that Patoka Lake is home to some really big bass. After all, once they reach a certain size, there is plenty for them to eat. The amazing thing is that even with all of the food available, they are still quite willing to hit the lures used here by bass fishermen!

According to biologist Dan Carnahan, Patoka Lake really is an excellent bass water. "I consider it the best bass lake in my district," he said. "It's a very good bass lake, especially for big fish. It is not one of those places where you are normally going to catch 25 to 50 bass in a day -- you are going to get quality over quantity."

Carnahan conducted a creel survey at Patoka Lake in 2007, and although the bass harvest did not change much since the last survey in 2003, the number of bass caught and released increased by 18 percent. "Of those 95,923 bass, 22 percent of them (20,752) were greater than 15 inches long," he said. Those are some impressive numbers!

One of the local fishermen who stay on top of the lake's bass movements is Tim Gibson from nearby Paoli. Tim is the only full-time fishing guide on Patoka Lake (812/936-3382), and he said that late summer and early fall are the best times to fish for bass at Patoka.

When asked where he likes to fish for bass when the weather starts to cool down, he immediately pointed to the lake's weedbeds. "I love the main-lake weedbeds," he said. In September, I usually use soft-plastic baits like tubes, worms and frogs around the grassbeds. Many colors will work, but I have found that watermelon and pumpkin are two of the best colors on this lake," he added.

For more information about fishing boat or pontoon rentals, local lodging, or fishing tackle, call Patoka Lake Marina and Lodging at (888) 819-6916.