NW Indiana fishing - I have 3 hours to spend, where to go?

[Spudgunr]

Friday I have 3-4 hours to myself to go fishing. I'm not good at fishing, not terrible. But, I don't get out very often so I tend to go to the same places that I MAY catch a bluegill or two, but likely will catch nothing.

I live in Portage and prefer to stay close (if I have 3 hours does it make sense to spend 45 minutes each way in the car?). I'm debating: Streams for steelhead (haven't caught one since fall, not sure how many are in or how to fish them in the spring), the portage lakefront for potentially steelhead or whitefish (never tried for that), or some place new.

My main goal is to CATCH enough to eat. I would LOVE to have a spot I could go and COUNT on being able to catch at least 3-5 bluegill or 1 keeper bass at least 50 percent of the time. Its not worth it to catch 1-2 bluegill in 3-4 hours. So, can you guys help me maximize my time? Where to go and what to target?

 

[marcum man]

Right now is a great time to head to the river for....... Northern Pike. A nice spinning rod and reel setup with 10-12 lb line. This time of year I fish a larger size suspending rapala, or other crank bait down to the middle of the water column. Remember that water is cold and they aren't going to chase it far. But the big fat females are really hungry this time of year. A steady stop and go in the mid water column will get 'em. Good luck.

 

[marcum man]

I suppose I also should add that this is also effective on sauger, and walleye in the rivers too.

 

[kickbacked]

Right now is a great time to head to the river for....... Northern Pike. A nice spinning rod and reel setup with 10-12 lb line. This time of year I fish a larger size suspending rapala, or other crank bait down to the middle of the water column. Remember that water is cold and they aren't going to chase it far. But the big fat females are really hungry this time of year. A steady stop and go in the mid water column will get 'em. Good luck.

what river is this?

 

[marcum man]

Well it should be most rivers, but I'm in Marshall county fishing the tippy river. Give it a try it does work to catch them fairly consistently this time of year.

 

[marcum man]

what river is this?

. Where are you located?

 

[kickbacked]

near south bend, I fish the st joe a lot.

 

[marcum man]

I fish the Joe for pike occasionally, but seem to catch more walleye when I do..

 

[kickbacked]

I fish the Joe for pike occasionally, but seem to catch more walleye when I do..

catch a lot of walleye, but never a pike out of the river. I hear people occasionally talking about catching them though. What do you catch them on?

 

[marcum man]

I like the large size suspending Rapalas, and bombers. The main objective this time of year is to KEEP the bait around the mid water. Slow retrieve pause slow retrieve

 

[Spudgunr]

Could still use some specific hints on where to go. At the moment I'm leaning towards the portage lakefront to toss worms both under a bobber and on a dropshot type rig near the bottom, hoping for steelhead and/or whitefish. I don't think our calumet river is known for a lot (read, hardly ANY) pike/walleye type fish. I could be wrong, but I've never really heard of it. I don't think it makes sense to go to some random river I've never been too and don't know of a spot I can bank fish when I only have a couple hours. Having been to new spots a few times I know it can take an hour or more just to find the spot that you can actually stand on the bank and make a few casts without getting caught up in weeds/trees etc).