Wabash River
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Wabash River Fishing Reports
Stay up to date with the latest fishing reports from Wabash River. Reports are submitted by local anglers, fishing guides, and our team of fishing experts.
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- Species
Smallmouth BassTechniqueFinesse JigsSeasonSpring (Post-Spawn)StructurePilingsDead of Winter. Fish are not chasing. Anything. Find still water and structure on the north bank of the river with relatively deep areas and you have yourself a potential winter hole. Black finesse jigs excel for me in winter and the Like Clausen finesse jig is as good as they come. Great line tie, great hook, the right skirt. It’s perfect. I have found that smallmouth respond very well to scented baits. The power chunk has a do nothing action and the right profile for what I’m trying to imitate. LOVE THIS JIG & PIG! So did this 19.25” river brute. I put it next to the piling and never moved it. I barely felt the line moving. Set the hook and thought I was snagged.
- SpeciesSmallmouth BassTechniqueHard JerkbaitsSeasonSpring (Pre-Spawn)StructureRock Pile
Smallimouth are currently feeding around hard cover. The baitfish and shad are up shallow. The fish are past the drop looking up and aggressively feeding. Looks for rip rap bank or isolated rock cover in slack water with deep water adjacent to it. The Lucky craft pointer series has a great dart and rolling action. It suspends perfectly. The small size of the 78 imitates the small baitfish they are feeding on very well.
- SpeciesSmallmouth BassTechniqueFinesse JigsSeasonSpring (Pre-Spawn)StructurePilings
Crawfish are starting to get active. Target the eddy's behind pilings. The bass are in deep water looking up at the bank for crawfish entering the water. Cast shallow and work towards the deep water. Slow drags util you hit a rock, then a slight pop, then let us sit for a few seconds and repeat. The bite can be very light so a sensitive rod and braid to leader connection helps a lot. I like. 7’ med/ fast or extra fast spinning rod for this. 12lb braid to a 10lb fluorocarbon leader is my preferred setup. Good luck out there.
- SpeciesSmallmouth BassTechniqueSoft Body Swimbaits (Small/Medium)SeasonSpring (Pre-Spawn)StructureRiver Channels
Right now (March) is a great time to start throwing small Swimbaits. The water temps are in the high 40’s and the smallmouth are starting to roam the river channels in search of food. I find the highest concentration of active fish on the slack water current seam just pass major structure like pilings and log jambs. The Berkley Hollow belly rigged on the Oukast money swimbait head has great action and an incredible body roll to it. Throwing it on med power fast action rod with light braid to a fluorocarbon leader helps in being stealthy but allows for rock solid hooksets. Happy catching!!
SpeciesSmallmouth BassTechniqueSoft JerkbaitsSeasonWinterStructurePilingsTargeting Pilings with significant calm water adjacent to them. Shad were holding in the calm water. The best fish were on the backside (down current) of the pilings waiting for Shad to swim past. I was “free rigging” the flukes. The weight falls fast and allows the fluke to glide down. You slowly twitch the bait until it meets the weight. Give it a pop and repeat. The fish were eating it on the drop. The Free rig uses a free sliding closed eye sinker in front of a worm hook. I like a 1/4oz sinker and a 3/0 or 4/0 hook depending on bait size. Today I was throwing 4” jerk shad and. 3/0 hook. Using the right rod is critical to feel the bite and get a solid hookset. A 7’ medium / fast action rod is is the lowest in power/taper I would go. A 2500-3000 size reel with 12-15lb braid and a 10lb leader works well for this technique.
- SpeciesSmallmouth BassTechniqueTubesSeasonWinterStructureBoulders
Slow dragging the tube rigged stupid tube style in deeper holes. Keeping bottom contact is key.
- SpeciesSmallmouth BassTechniqueTexas Rigs (Pitch/Flip)SeasonFallStructureLaydowns
The Geecrack Bellows Shad on a Gika Rig is a sleeper bait when bass are tight lipped and stuck to cover. I feel like this bait puts out vibrations that the fish just cannot resist. The bait stinks pretty good too. The Gika rig is excellent around all kinds of cover. I am yet to get hung up! Flip around and find out. You can thank me later!
- SpeciesSmallmouth BassTechniqueTubesSeasonIceStructureLaydowns
Flipping tube into a laydown in Indiana in early winter is almost a guarantee for hand to hand combat with a quality smallmouth. The 3.5” coffee tube is the perfect size and I don’t know why but the green pumpkin purple is the color that they love all year long. The stupid tube jig in 1/8 oz is the perfect weight for a slower fall. I like to target big laydown ms in shallow water that are close to wintering holes.
