Lake James, IN

[Duke]

Met up with Rufus Thursday and he took me out on this chain and we had a great time! The wind was blowing like mad out of the east. And we all know the fishermen omen with east wind.

The water temp is much colder there than my neighborhood (South Bend). My water temps are in the mid to upper 50s while Lake James was 41-44 on the main lake and 50 in the channels. Only 90 minutes away and such a difference. We began throwing silver buddies and he caught a 3'7 smallie on his 3rd cast. Then that place died. We then found a school of greenies on a windblown area. We caught nearly 10 there on a jerkbait. The biggest being a 16.5" largemouth. We tried some other spots in the wind with the jerkbait & silver buddy and caught some small ones and a few keepers as well. We tried some channels and I caught a 4'9 largemouth on a trap (pictured below). We headed back on the main lake and he caught a 2.5# smallie on a silver buddy again.

Altogether we boated 20 fish and 6 were keepers. We estimated our best 5 would have weighed about 14# This is better than either of us expected. Great to catch some jerkbait fish. Before long all fish will be shallow and gorging!

Duke