Here is your chance to directly help in fisheries management. The information you provide is essential in understanding this valuable species and helps the Department of Natural Resources monitor harvest and catch data.
Division of Fish & Wildlife staff collect reports as time permits. During winter months, angler effort is lower, and fewer fishing reports are received, so the reports may be updated less frequently than during other seasons. Additionally, with changing weather conditions and delays between receiving past reports and the public reading them online, ice reports may be unreliable
| Waterbody | Fishing Reports | Date |
|---|---|---|
| Lake Michigan (boat) | Some bait has started to show up, but the fishing remains somewhat slow. A few coho are being caught with dodger/fly combos in the top 30 feet of the water column. A few steelhead are also being caught on spoons and body baits. Most of the catch recently continues to be lake trout in 50-90 feet of water. With bait arriving, and better water conditions, hopefully the salmon fishing should pick up. | 5/8/2026 |
| Lake Michigan (shore) | A few early skamania are being caught on spoons, and bait under a bobber at Portage and Michigan City. A few bass are being caught near breakwalls in East Chicago, Hammond, and the Port of Indiana. Try using ned rigs or plastics on the bottom | 5/8/2026 |
| Lake Michigan Tributaries (Trail Creek, Little Calumet River, Salt Creek) | A few early skamania are likely around the creeks, but anglers will have to cover a lot of water and get lucky. It will probably be a couple weeks before decent fishable numbers arrive. Please respect fellow anglers, private property, and please do not litter! For links to stream flow, see the links below the report tables | 5/8/2026 |
| St. Joseph River (below Twin Branch Dam) | Look to catch walleyes and bass on jigs/minnows, swimbaits, or other slow moving presentations along current seams and in deeper holes. Ned rigs with slightly heavier jighead weight are great multispecies baits. Channel catfish are starting to become active with the high water and warming water temps. Nightcrawlers, fresh cut bait, or stink bait are good options for catfish. Pike are biting in slower and weedier areas on spinnerbaits and live bait. In impounded and slower current areas, crappie and bluegill are shallow and biting on live bait. | 5/8/2026 |
| Northwest Indiana Lakes | Most action is shallow now, with panfish and bass in various stages of late pre-spawn or active spawn. Try using red worms or minnows for bluegill and crappie, and jerkbaits, soft plastics, and spinnerbaits/chatterbaits for bass | 5/8/2026 |
| Northern Indiana reservoirs | Crappies and catfish are biting. Tube jigs/minnows are good bets for crappie, along with fresh cut bait for catfish. | 5/6/2026 |
| JC Murphey (Willow Slough) | After the recent renovation, anglers reported catching some 6-7 inch panfish this winter. Fish are growing fast and are thick bodied. Some may approach 8 inches this year. An abundance of smaller bass in the 8-12 inch range, along with some 12-16 inch channel catfish are also available. Some larger fish are available after being held in salvage ponds during the renovation, and released back into the lake after it filled up | 5/8/2026 |
| Wolf Lake | DNR biologists recently conducted a survey for northern pike, and observed quite a few pike along with a healthy number of walleyes | 3/31/2026 |
| Bass Lake (Greene-Sullivan State Forest) | DNR biologists recently performed a survey for Muskie. A total of 13 muskie up to 34 inches were collected. A healthy number of Black Crappie in the 12-15 inch length group were also collected, including 2 fish greater than 15 inches and 2 pounds. Channel Catfish up to 12 pounds and multiple Largemouth Bass over 3 pounds, including one over 5 pounds, were also observed. Water temperature was 52 degrees at the surface. Anglers headed to Bass Lake should be mindful of potentially flooding and/or water movement across the roadways headed to the boat launch. | 3/19/2026 |
| Dogwood Lake | DNR biologists recently performed a survey Dogwood Lake. Healthy numbers of quality Redear Sunfish and Bluegill Sunfish were observed. Water temperature was 50 degrees. | 3/19/2026 |
| Eagle Creek Reservoir | Biologists recently completed a crappie survey on Eagle Creek Reservoir and collected crappie up to 13 inches. Crappie are just starting to move shallow and bigger crappie were seen on the upper end of the lake. Water temps around 50F | 3/21/2026 |
| Loon Pit - Bluegrass FWA | Biologists finished a crappie/muskie survey today at Loon Pit. Nets were ran last week and today (3/16 to 3/25). Nets were set between 3 and 5 feet deep so all fish were caught shallow. Surface water temperature was 50.1° F last Monday and was 57.0° F today. A total of 368 crappie was collected. Both Black and White Crappie were present. Crappie ranged in length from 5.6 inches to 14.9 inches with the largest being a Black Crappie that weighed 2.02 lbs. Five total Muskie were collected which ranged in length from 20.1 to 31.0 inches with the largest weighing 7.42 lbs. Other notable species collected were multiple 5 lb Largemouth Bass, many Channel Catfish over 5 lbs, big Spotted Gar, and an 8 lb Bowfin. | 3/25/2026 |
| Plover/Sandpiper Pit (Driftwood Public Fishing Area) | Biologists recently completed a crappie and muskie survey on Plover/Sandpiper Pit at the Driftwood Public fishing area. A good number of 9–12-inch crappie were seen along with a few muskie up to 40 inches. Quality Bluegill and Channel Catfish were also observed. | 4/17/2026 |
| Trout lakes (statewide) | Designated trout lakes were stocked in the past several weeks throughout the state. The trout stocking plan is viewable online at https://www.in.gov/dnr/fish-and-wildlife/files/fw-trout-stocking-plan.pdf | 4/16/2026 |
| Northeast Indiana Lakes | Crappies are biting on minnows, along with bass on jerkbaits and chatterbaits. The crappie bite has really turned on with the warm water, look for dark-bottomed bays and emerging vegetation. | 4/16/2026 |
| Starve Hollow | Starve Hollow: anglers are catching quality Black Crappie and Redear Sunfish | 4/22/2026 |
| Lake Monroe | High water levels continue, but the Army Corps has been letting a lot of water out lately so the lake level is coming down. Anglers are starting to catch Walleye and Hybrid Striped Bass in the tailwater. | 4/22/2026 |
| West Boggs Lake | Bass fishing has been very good with multiple tournaments posting high numbers and weights of fish being caught. DNR biologists are currently performing a Largemouth Bass survey and have collected healthy number of large fish over 18 inches and 3+ pounds, including a couple over 20 inches and 5+ pounds. Fish are mostly concentrated around areas of shoreline structure, including fallen trees and riprap. DNR biologists also observed healthy Channel Catfish and Redear Sunfish | 4/22/2026 |
| Southern Indiana streams | Smallmouth bass and rock bass action has improved with warmer water temps | 4/22/2026 |
| Statewide trout streams | Trout stockings have been going on recently, and April 25th is opener. Find the trout stocking plan here https://www.in.gov/dnr/fish-and-wildlife/files/fw-trout-stocking-plan.pdf | 4/22/2026 |
| Patoka Lake | Wipers are biting. Try chicken liver, lures that imitate shad, or live bait | 5/8/2026 |
| Lake Freeman | Biologists recently conducted a survey on Lake Freeman near Monticello. They saw a lot of white crappie in shallow water. Most crappie were great eating size, 10-11 inches. They also observed several very large flathead catfish, and lots of quality bluegill in the 7-9 inch range. Try worms for bluegill and minnows on small jigs for crappie | 5/6/2026 |
| Eagle Lake (Noble County) | The lake is giving up steady bass action, mostly in waters less than 15 feet deep. Most bass are on the smaller side, but the action is great. Try using soft plastics, jerkbaits, or small jigs as the bass move up to spawn | 5/7/2026 |
