Fishing “Minne” One Last Time

As the old adage goes, “All good things must come to an end”. So it is with one of my favorite places here in Indiana; on April 1 of this year, Minnehaha Fish and Wildlife Area will close. If you don’t know anything about the property then this news won’t make any sense to you…nor will it bother you. For those of us who hunt and fish the property…it came as a shock. Large tracts of land with great fishing and about any Indiana animal on it…well, properties like this don’t come along on a regular basis.

Minnehaha FWA has approximately 3,500 acres of rolling grassland and wooded bottomland areas. Approximately 100 acres of the property is water (mostly strip pit lakes).

Minnehaha Fish and Wildlife Area opened on November 14, 1985 and consisted of 12,000 acres of mostly reclaimed surface mine land in Sullivan County. Minnehaha is currently leased from American Land Holdings and provides opportunities for over 50,000 property users annually from all over Indiana.
As you can see by the above DNR description…Minnehaha was a large area of land and was extensively used by hunters, fishermen, campers, hikers, bird-watchers and in general by those who loved nature. I am not completely sure what went wrong with the lease…I was told and later read that much of the money for this lease went to shore up The Goose Pond. I am joyous that GP is back to what it originally was, but don’t blame me for being a little bitter as I have spent many good mornings atop water within “Minne”. Last April I made my way down to the end of Island Pit during a “Blood-Moon”, full moon event and was able to land a nice 7 pound bass…all while the “Blood-Moon” was doing its thing! That will be a morning that I won’t soon forget.

At this point I guess my only option is to mutter a bit under my breath and move on, but before the gavel hits the desk and all is decided by others…I decided it would be good to fish a couple of my favorite small lakes. I gave Frank Terkhorn a call (usually that is all I need to do) and he was up for a trip into some chilly waters. We decided we would meet between 12:30pm and 1pm on Super Bowl Sunday. Given that we both wanted to be back in time to watch the Broncos whoop up on the Panthers (now I can gloat…after the fact) we thought we would fish for a couple of hours or until our feet froze!

Frank and I both threw our float tubes over our backs and a short hundred yard walk found us kicking backwards through water that Frank said was a toasty 42 degrees. I had my 6 weight rod with a type one sink tip line. Tied on the other end was a weighted white clouser that I had tied the night before. My third cast proved that it would indeed be a very good day as I felt a bump and set the hook on a frisky little 12 inch bass. I looked at Frank and he asked, “What color”? “White” I replied.

I would also be trying out a new net system that I had been sent a couple months earlier. This net allows for hands free use and has a nine inch black ring around the top that keeps the fish from thinking about jumping up and out of the net. The entire net floats and is tethered to my float tube, or to your waders if in moving water. I am doing an official review along with a video and you can see it here.

As the afternoon progressed…the fish continued to cooperate. I didn’t catch fish at a frenetic pace, but I did land 13 nice bass and I had to continue to tell myself that I was outdoors on February 7^th and we all know we could have been shoveling a load of snow.
Frank and I moved from our first lake to another lake in less than five minutes, as we were unloading it really hit me…this might be the last time I get to fish this little lake, or any of the many lakes that are so perfect for fishing from a float tube. After I muttered a bit I decided to enjoy it to the best of my abilities. The timing couldn’t have been more perfect for it was about this moment that I heard Frank cut loose with a few expletives; he thought he had somehow lost or let his second fly rod slip down into the murky waters. As I looked up I could see that the second rod was indeed poked in behind him and facing backwards…right where it should have been. “Hey Frank, look behind you”…I yelled from across the lake. We shared a good belly laugh for over a minute and just as I was starting to get my senses back…I felt a tug, set the hook and had hooked up with my first bass of the second lake.

Watch the video we filmed at Minnehaha .. just click here.

Sacre-blue…or so it goes. I guess it was better to have loved and lost than to have never loved at all. Maybe that will make me feel better this spring as I drive past many of the great waters that “Minne” holds. What I do know is simple, this property has given me many good memories and for sure has helped me to better Enjoy the Great Outdoors.