MyFishFinder Forum

MFF US Midwest => Indiana => Topic started by: Spooled85 on Jul 16, 2020, 09:21 AM

Title: Mississinewa
Post by: Spooled85 on Jul 16, 2020, 09:21 AM
The wife and I are going camping this weekend at the State Park planned on fishing the dam in possibly taking the boat can anyone tell me how the fishing has been down that way? we got a lot of rain up here last night I don't know about down there hopefully it didn't make everything a muddy mess...
Title: Re: Mississinewa
Post by: Spooled85 on Jul 16, 2020, 11:25 AM
everything feeding good in NE part of the state.  you should catch something but definitely take the boat.  if you don't you know youll regret it.


Right lol , im sure I probably would. Jsut bought a camper so now Everytime we camp the wife has to pull the boat and she is NOT happy about it hahaha
Title: Re: Mississinewa
Post by: bigr on Jul 16, 2020, 11:50 AM
What state park? Salamonie? Spoke with a friend that lives below the Missinnawa and he say he's been seeing a lot of fishermen and they are catching a mixed bag. Water is very low below both dams but with the rains maybe the corp will let out alittle more. More will help. I know you'll catch fish up in either resi's. I suggest a relaxing way to fish is slow trolling Cranks or jigs. Water is a good color with no algea bloom this year to speak of. Been a lot of boaters and will be busy on the weekends during the mid day but quiet early and late. You should find good channel cat fishing in the coves using shrimp or cut bait especially after dark. If you want a longer day in the boat you might motor up the river and see how far you can get. Fishing can also be good up that far for bass. Wooded country up that way. We got very little rain. Most went north of us and it's dry as bone. Good luck and let us know how you did.
Title: Re: Mississinewa
Post by: Spooled85 on Jul 16, 2020, 11:55 AM
Hey thanks for the feed back big r ! We will be staying at the state park on mississinewa. I will definitely take the boat then. And I will report back what I find with pictures hopefully. We are kid free this weekend and me the wife and the dog are going to enjoy it to the fullest !! Thanks again
Title: Re: Mississinewa
Post by: hounds on Jul 16, 2020, 03:45 PM


Right lol , im sure I probably would. Jsut bought a camper so now Everytime we camp the wife has to pull the boat and she is NOT happy about it hahaha

I have that problem too!!! do they make a Trailer you can put both of those on and take with one Vehicle?  I've seen the guys do the daisey chain and that scares me.  Both of mine are small models.
Title: Re: Mississinewa
Post by: RoeBoat on Jul 16, 2020, 04:03 PM
Hookem together and send it!
Title: Re: Mississinewa
Post by: Spooled85 on Jul 16, 2020, 06:32 PM
You can hook them together in the state of indiana ... BUT ..... It has to be 65 ft or under . And I'm way over that ! Once she gets a few trips in she will be fine I'm sure it's jsut getting to that point lol
Title: Re: Mississinewa
Post by: Spooled85 on Jul 19, 2020, 07:37 PM
Well the spillway was tough I got skunked the wife caught a few crappie and lost something pretty big. We ended fishing the lake and found some decent gills on beetle spins. One after another ! It was fun switched over to trolling after seeing alot of suspended fish in that area . Man we could not keep the drum's off !! Caught a bunch and some big ones too . Not what I was looking for but it was fun. The heat was crazy we fished early Saturday morning and came back to cool off and a mid day nap. And was back at it for the evening man did it cool off nice lake was a sheet of glass and it was a beautiful night. Got off the water at about 11. Fished for cats but no takers. All and all it was a great weekend
Title: Re: Mississinewa
Post by: RoeBoat on Jul 19, 2020, 08:15 PM
Glad you enjoyed your time away.  I'm getting old because the mid day nap in the ac sounds much better than fishing in this heat!
Title: Re: Mississinewa
Post by: Spooled85 on Jul 19, 2020, 09:43 PM
Hahaha , ya I must be too cause I love my naps ! Took one today that went a little longer the planned but oh well lol. Nothing like a good day of okay with a cat nap to follow
Title: Re: Mississinewa
Post by: bigr on Jul 20, 2020, 05:47 AM
Glad you had some fun and it made for a nice weekend get away. Did you take advantage of the clear night Saturday and dark location to see the comet just below the big dipper just after dark. Still going on the rest the month if you missed it. After that you'll need to wait 6800 yrs. Use binoculars for best view.
Title: Re: Mississinewa
Post by: rivereddy on Jul 20, 2020, 07:28 AM
The drum are pretty active on the big rivers as well.  They hit all day long

fish on,

rivereddy
Title: Re: Mississinewa
Post by: Spooled85 on Jul 21, 2020, 05:22 PM
Glad you had some fun and it made for a nice weekend get away. Did you take advantage of the clear night Saturday and dark location to see the comet just below the big dipper just after dark. Still going on the rest the month if you missed it. After that you'll need to wait 6800 yrs. Use binoculars for best view.

No I didn't pay any attention to the sky the only time I was looking up at the sky was when I was draining a Miller lite LOL
Title: Re: Mississinewa
Post by: Spooled85 on Jul 21, 2020, 05:23 PM
The drum are pretty active on the big rivers as well.  They hit all day long

fish on,



rivereddy

A lot of people have told me that those are pretty tasty I've never tried one. Has anyone else tried one? I always considered them a junk fish but I also did the same with suckers until I tried it and in my opinion suckers are darn good table fair
Title: Re: Mississinewa
Post by: Piggyn on Jul 21, 2020, 05:54 PM
A lot of people have told me that those are pretty tasty I've never tried one. Has anyone else tried one?

I haven't personally tried them, but they get mixed reviews.  Freshness, water quality where they were caught, and the amount of red meat left in the fillets probably all have a lot to do with that.

https://www.canr.msu.edu/news/freshwater_drum_are_fun_to_catch_but_can_you_eat_them (https://www.canr.msu.edu/news/freshwater_drum_are_fun_to_catch_but_can_you_eat_them)
Title: Re: Mississinewa
Post by: rivereddy on Jul 21, 2020, 07:22 PM
I have eaten small drum - less than 12" or so and they were decent table fare.  As others have said
one must consider the quality of the water where they were taken.  Most rivers in the midwest carry
some kind of pollutant load, which would steer me away from larger fish.  One also needs to remove
the "red meat"  stripe from the fillet.  This tissue is rich in myoglobin, a blood pigment, which gives
a gamey taste to the meat.

BTW... They can get huge

fisah on,

rivereddy
Title: Re: Mississinewa
Post by: Spooled85 on Jul 21, 2020, 08:29 PM
Yeah I also remove the red meat off all my fish that have it. Thanks for the feed back .... RiverEddy we have caught them on the big lake close to 20 lbs and man do that put on a fight and they always hit so hard they could break a rod !!
Title: Re: Mississinewa
Post by: abishop on Jul 22, 2020, 07:45 AM
Yeah I also remove the red meat off all my fish that have it. Thanks for the feed back .... RiverEddy we have caught them on the big lake close to 20 lbs and man do that put on a fight and they always hit so hard they could break a rod !!
They have the toughest mouth I noticed also.
Title: Re: Mississinewa
Post by: rivereddy on Jul 22, 2020, 09:22 AM
I couldn't resist doing a little poking around on the in-ter-net and learned the following.The Indiana state record is 30# even
and was set in 1963.  It was caught out of White River down in Martin County. It is one of the oldest records.  The all tackle
world record is 54# 8 oz.  It also holds a unique position of being the fish with the greatest north/south distribution.  Its found
from from southern Mexico to northern Canada in rivers that drain into Hudson Bay.

Back in the day, young fishermen would save the "ear stones" or otoliths from heads of drum and carry them for good luck.  A
few years back on Kentucky Lake we came upon a huge specimen washed up on shore. ( At first sighting we thought it might have
been a dead deer)  We paddled over with the intent of harvesting the biggest ear stones ever.  As it had been dead for some time
and was fairly dried out the smell wasn't too bad, but with that first cut the smell helped me decide I didn't want those stones anyway......

fish on.

rivereddy
Title: Re: Mississinewa
Post by: Spooled85 on Jul 22, 2020, 10:03 AM
Thanks for sharing ! Pretty interesting. I can see how they get so big . They eat about anything and everything in all water columns . The ones I was catching I had a good size crank on and they had it swallowed ! You couldn't even see the bill of it
Title: Re: Mississinewa
Post by: kevs on Jul 25, 2020, 10:11 PM
 Over the years I've had several people tell me the best way to fix drums/sheephead is to remove the intestines, scale them, place them on bed of salt and cover with salt/spices. Bake at 375-400 degrees for 45-60 minutes, remove salt/spices and eat. I've never tried but just to pass on info relayed to me from Mexicans and Burmese I have fished with.