Tag Archives: lake monroe

Fish Report, Meetings, Meetings 2016

April Meeting going once, going twice……..

Kernal Kevin
Kernal Kevin working his magic.

The April Hoosier Fly Fishers Meeting was a great success.  Everyone had a good time visiting and telling fish stories as well as welcoming some new faces to the group.  There were several of us old faces there for the fellowship and  a helping of  Steve’s awesome cooking but mostly we were there for the Annual HFF auction of good stuff.  The Annual HFF auction helps to fund the club’s activities and any Environmental Projects we support.   As usual, Kernal Kevin was in good form for the occasion and with his quick wit and humor he managed to auction off tons of good stuff.  Among some of the more popular items were fly tying supplies, fly rods, and fly boxes full of one pound bluegill flies.  Kevin worked hard at clearing the tables full of stuff and when the dust settled he had raised over $600 for the club.  Many thanks Kevin for a job well done and thanks to all the members that brought in all that good stuff!

After the meeting, I was standing in the Colorado Steakhouse parking lot talking with club president TimM about all the one pound bluegill flies he had been tying.  All the good stuff had been loaded and hauled away and all that remained was a small car exiting the parking lot. As the car turned south on College I heard a faint voice say “going once…… going twice…….”

HFF Projects: The HFF Club has purchased 500 trees for the Indiana DNR to plant around Monroe Lake.  The DNR plans to plant the trees the morning of May 21st. Fishing clubs and the Boy Scouts have volunteered to help plant the trees but more help is needed. If you can spend a couple of hours with friends and help with the planting you can contact Rex Waters at the Paynetown Office and let him know you are coming to help. Bring a shovel and meet at Paynetown.  PH: 812-837-9546

The club also purchased some fishing line disposal units to be placed around Monroe Lake. More info soon.

Fish and Lake Report: Fishing has been good pretty much everywhere. We have received good reports from North Carolina, Lake Lemon, Griffy Lake, farm ponds, Monroe Lake and a few local creeks. We have had reports of almost every species of fish being caught on flies. Warmer weather has the fish in a feeding mood, Spring is a great time to fly fish, try it.

Monroe Lake is 5ft high and dropping slow, surface water temperature is hovering around 60 degrees and warmer in the backs of bays. Northern Indiana Reservoirs are at pool or below, expect low flow rates downstream from them, southern reservoirs are high and releasing lots of water, expect high water levels if you fish downstream from them. If you fish below reservoirs or in Indiana streams or rivers you can get water flow rates and levels on the USGS website. You can read historical, recent and real-time water data by clicking on a location in Indiana. Some of the gauges even read real time water temperature.  Check it out here: USGS Water Data for Indiana

Events, Fish Report, Meetings, Meetings 2016

Hospitality, Meetings and the Expo.

Talk about Hoosier Hospitality and we’re talking Bobby’s Colorado SteakHouse.  The Club holds it’s regular monthly meetings at their restaurant and the month of February was made special by Steve who cooked us up a fish fry for the evening meal. Thanks Steve it was great!

Jill Vance INDNR Naturalist
Jill Vance INDNR Naturalist

The speaker for the February meeting was Jill Vance, the Indiana Department of Natural Resources Interpretive Naturalist for Lake Monroe. Jill informed us about past and present activities offered by her office around Lake Monroe . Activities range from Nature Hikes in the Winter to Youth Activities in the Summer. Some of her favorite projects involve wildflowers, youth activities, hikes and Lake Monroe Cleanups. Jill is a very good speaker and presents an interesting program about Lake Monroe and the year round activities that are available from her Office and the INDNR. To find out more about Jill and scheduled activities around Lake Monroe for 2016 visit their Facebook Page or the DNR website for Lake Monroe. You can download updated activity sheets and read more on recent events sponsored by Jill’s office.

The second half of the meeting featured Mike Donovan at the fly tying vise. Mike always does a good job showing everyone how to tie traditional flies.  This month Mike demonstrated tying a hair wing streamer.  I’m sure it will catch fish.

Don’t forget your Indiana State Park Entrance Pass this year. The prices have gone up again but if you’re a Senior you get a discounted rate. If you have a boat, registrations are due and you must have the DNR Launch permit on State waters. March will be time for new fishing license, don’t forget.

Indy Fly Fishing Expo: A few of us attended the fly fishing expo at the Indiana State Fair Grounds last week end. Coupled with the Indy Boat Sport and Travel Show, a guy could spend an entire weekend looking at all the GUY stuff they had there. The Fly Fishing part of the show was a three day event. It took us a few hours to visit all the booths and talk with some new friends and some familiar faces. They had a casting pond setup and fly fishing seminars were held all day long, featuring some of the most informative fly fishing experts in the Midwest . Booths were full of fly tackle, guide services, fly tying supplies, fly tying demos, zingers and forceps by the hundreds and free hats for special anglers.

Fish Report: What a weird year for weather and fishing around Lake Monroe. During the mild winter fish were very active up to the end of last year but the fly bite slowed down a little in January as water temperatures dropped into the 30’s. Fishing was slow but with patience fish could be found where there was open water. February sunny days have prompted fish to move a little shallower and they continue to bite on small flies. Fishing will only improve if the water temps continue to rise. Spring is on the way, get out and fish.