Hillenbrand FWA

The skies were angry…overhead it had become very dark; I trained my ear to the west listening for a rumble of thunder as I made yet another long cast with my Winston 3-weight fly rod. On the other end of my fly-line was a shad popper-as it settled down upon the blackish water I watched as from behind a wake appeared and just like in the movie Jaws…a fish was moving towards my fly. As the water boiled up from beneath the popper I reflexively strip set with my line hand (left) and raised the rod with my rod hand (right)…success!

The first 30 minutes I had been using a white streamer beneath a Rio sink tip fly-line and had only caught one smallish bass but when the weather turned dark I took the opportunity to switch to top water. There is something special about sitting in my Creek Company float tube and have a bass smash a fly just feet from the tube. If you’d like to see a five minute video of me and my buddy Frank Terkhorn as I land several bass from Horseshoe and Island lakes…then click here for the video entitled Hillenbrand FWA.

Some of you may not know and be asking where Hillenbrand is located; the FWA is north of Linton, south of Jasonville and mostly east of highway 59. If you want to take a nice drive and see the area and its wonderful wildlife then head south on US231 to Worthington, turn right on highway 48 and follow it all the way to highway 59 at Jasonville. Next, take a left and head south on 59 for a few miles until you hit the small burg of Midland…turn left just after you slow down to 45 and before the brick church on the left. In a half mile you will be directly north of Midland Lake. I might add that Midland was the recipient of 1200 rainbow trout back in Mid-March. I took advantage of the state’s generosity and caught two limits back in the first week of April.

The rest of the lakes in the FWA are south and east of Midland. Island is another lake that I really like and have had some nice bass days upon it. Usually by mid-summer the lake is clogged with milfoil and other weeds but this past trip was quite surprising as the weed growth wasn’t too bad. I am hoping that the cooler summer might have helped even though I know that the DNR often sprays to kill the weeds; this time it didn’t appear to be that way as there wasn’t a lot of dead/brown vegetation in the water.

Horseshoe is about ½ mile south of Island and is shaped…you guessed it, like a horseshoe. The odd thing about this lake is that the part of the ‘shoe’ furthest to the north remains clean and clear all year long-no matter how much rain the area gets and no matter how dirty the other lakes are. The other half of the shoe-to the south, can and usually does get dirty and muddy. I was there earlier this spring when I watched as another fisherman and his father landed and then released a nice 6 ½ pound bass.

Later in the afternoon Frank and I loaded up our float tubes and in less than five minutes were kicking our way backwards on Island Lake. I once again switched to my 6-weight rod and a big, white streamer. I caught a few by casting and stripping quickly away from the shore then allowing the fly to sink/drift slowly downward. I have found that in the warmer months the bass like to see a baitfish imitation that appears to be dead or dying and will move up and make the attack. Let me add one more quick tip that should apply to you regular bait-casting guys as well…if you get a hit and don’t immediately make a connection, let the fly or lure sit, leave it alone and the bass will usually come back and suck it in.

This mid-August Sunday afternoon was just another perfect example that it doesn’t take a fortune to have an enjoyable day in nature. I turned to Frank and said, “Didn’t cost us much today to have a great time”! Frank was quick to reply, “Yep, just a dab of gas…these lakes are almost in our back yard”. Now we might not have caught any giants…truth is that in mid-August in the middle of the afternoon…well, you probably aren’t going to catch any of the big fish but that doesn’t mean you can’t have a great time.

Hillenbrand like the other smaller lakes in and around the Linton area are electric motor only. If you have a boat and are looking for a spot that is close, won’t break the bank and has a nice population of all kinds of fish-then Hillenbrand, Minnehaha, Greene-Sullivan and the West Dugger Unit are all built just for you…and me…and all of us. Get off the couch, grab your gear and get going as we all Enjoy the Great Outdoors.