An nice walley anywhere, but especially in central Indiana!

It was apparent that this wasn’t going to be a wilderness adventure.

Between the burned-out truck hulk on a sandbar and the general odor of industrial solvents, our fishing trip seemed more like a ride through a environmentalist’s nightmare than a charming day on the water.  However, appearances (and smell) can be deceiving.

We were careening helter-skelter upstream on the White river near the Indianapolis south side.  My friend John was running his jetboat at full throttle as we skimmed through inches of water, deftly weaving between downed trees as we winced when the occasional rock bounced the boat and undoubtedly damaged the jet-drive outboard intake.

A chunky White river largemouth bass

I had previously written about my introduction to jet-boating on the White in 2007  (click here for story).  Not for the faint of heart, it is imperative that you careen full-speed upriver in order to ride a cushion of water over the small rapids.  This become interesting as small rapids are the natural home of small sharp rocks.   Occasionally, they are the home of large sharp rocks.  The bottom of a new jet boat doesn’t stay pretty very long.

We would be fishing the area between the Marion-Johnson county lines and the dam at the Elmer W. Stout Generating Station (the large smokestacks seen from I-465 near Kentucky Avenue).   Before making plans to fish this stretch, there are two major problems you must solve before wetting a line: 1) you need a jet-boat in order to travel this section of river and 2) there are no public access sites in the area.

A very small boat could navigate this section but it would rapidly grow tiresome motoring long pools and then pulling the boat through narrow, rocky and sometimes swift channels.  There is also the issue of no public access; my host John is fortunate to know someone who owns considerable river frontage that offers a large gravel bar from which to launch.

Another great White river walleye

The river itself is quite different than one might suppose at the back door of the 14-th largest city in the U.S.   There are many spots where the water flow is quite rambunctious and if you ignore the ever-present signs of human abuse, the watercourse is actually very scenic.

I had heard stories about the great fishing on the White after the massive fish kill a decade ago that wiped out nearly everything from Muncie to southern Indiana.  The Guide Corp eventually agree to a $14 million dollar settlement that mostly went toward rehabilitating the ecosystem and stocking fish.  Most would agree that the restoration was a huge success.

One great surprise on this stretch of water was the number of birds,  including a pair of bald eagles that have nested for several years in the area.   Add ospreys, cormorants, egrets and a squadron of great blue herons to mix and you have a birding paradise.

Of course, the reason the birds are here is because the fishing is incredible.

My first trip to this section of the White proved to be the best day of walleye fishing I have ever experienced anywhere…as in “anywhere”!  On that particular early September day, we couldn’t keep sauger and walleye off our lines.  Even better, almost every fish was a “keeper” and some flirted with a trip to the taxidermy shop.

Of course, we didn’t keep any fish because of the reputation of the river for pollution.  In fact, we carried a bottle of hand sanitizer for use whenever we put our hands in the water or ate lunch.  We’ve seen bank fisherman keeping their catch but we aren’t so brave.

Playin' the drum!

Aside from the amazing, surprising walleye fishery, the river is chock-full of nice smallmouth bass, stout largemouth bass, loads of big channel catfish, sauger and on our last trip, truckloads of large drum.

The fish are eager to bite, too.  While plastic swim baits probably account for the most fish of every species, everything from jig-n-pig to crankbaits prove effective.  There are lots of fish, big fish, and they are all hungry!

In fact, I’d probably nominate the “new and improved” White river as one of the most outstanding fishing streams in the state.

How you get there is your own problem.

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