By Brian Waldman
All the frequent discussion on message boards concerning the status of the White River fishery and bass fishing tournaments got me thinking the other day. Now I realize that can be a scary concept, but I wanted to take the time and jot down some thoughts that came to mind. Some you might agree with, and others not. But I’m going to ramble on for a few minutes anyway.
Bass fishing tournaments aren’t new to the White River, especially the Broadripple stretch. I fished my first one back in the fall of 1984 with the International Harvester Bassmasters. At the time, the club was composed of about 18 members, some of which were the best sticks in Indiana. Guys like George Collins and Greg Woods, who were threats to win any big tourney they entered and would each go on to win both Indiana B.A.S.S. Federation and Hoosier division Redman tourneys, as well as qualify for several Redman Regionals. This, back in the day when they only took the top 20 qualifiers from a division while still fielding 150-200 competitors per tourney and all competitors being paired, no co-angler guaranteed use of your boat stuff.
On that first fall tourney, I had the fortune to draw with Greg Woods. Greg ran an 18’ Dyna-Trak with a white Johnson GT150 engine. You can still to this day see some of these engines powering bass boats around the area. But I’ll never forget the feeling of cruising up the winding White River, 45 miles and hour first thing in the morning. A cool, heavy mist in the air, dead calm water, dodging overhanging trees here and there at 6 am as we made our initial run up. That one day probably did more to hook me on bass fishing than anything else I can remember.
And I remember it like it was yesterday. George ended up winning the tourney with a 6-fish limit of greens going 11 pounds and change. Greg took 2nd with a mixed limit of browns and greens over 10 pounds. We ran into George near the end of the day and he and Greg stopped and chatted for a minute. The usual tourney mind games were being played even back then, but Greg figured George might win when George mentioned he had a limit and he caught them all with the long stick. That was back when flipping was first breaking onto the scene, and a flipping limit was all green and probably better than average quality. As it turned out, he was right, and that’s one thing that really hasn’t changed to this day.
Greg and I caught all our fish cranking that day. We fished a few stretches of main river breaks above Keystone Ave. that were stacked with a mix of greens and browns. I remember the fish popping our cranks so hard when they hit, they’d throw slack into your line. We also did some flipping and pitching around the boat garages and seawalls on the outside bend of the river just above Williams Creek. Many of the exact same places and structures I still see guys fishing today. Greg told me about the many big bass that old concrete river garage had produced for him over the years. I imagine some guys still probably tell their partners the exact same thing out on the water.
A few things have changed though. I remember taking his 18’ boat into the little pond behind the island just before the Keystone bridge and flipping and spinnerbaiting the 3-4’ deep water in there. That would be a rarity now days unless the river is way up. And several areas have silted up or at least gotten a lot shallower over the years. But what didn’t change was the winning weight. A weight that is no different than any you might expect to hear win on a given night or weekend even now, 21 years later. The easy fish are gone, you can’t just catch a bunch of bass running a spinnerbait around every laydown or dock on the river, but the river as a whole is still as I remember it; Like it ‘used to be,’ at least to me. 
I remember talk of how the White River through Indy was the best kept secret in the state back then. I still hear guys talking in similar sentiments to this day. I also have articles from the Indianapolis Star and News with George Tilford talking to Dan Basore about the great fishing in not only the river, but Fall Creek and the Indpls. Water Company canal. Even has a picture of Dan with an over 22” 6 pound largemouth he caught on a spinnerbait. Dan says this isn’t unusual and the river has produced fish like this for him for many years. I have another article from the newspaper that also tells of the IDNR shocking results from the main stem of the White River through Indy back in the 80’s. Forget south of Harding St. they say, nothing but shad and rough fish. But definitely hit the west bank just up from the 16th Street dam (Lake Indy), as that was one of the best largemouth stretches in the survey. Also, don’t overlook the Rocky Ripple area through Butler for smallies and rock bass. One of the best stretches for browns by far. Does some of this sound familiar even 20 years later?
But back to the winning weight from my club tournament over 20 years ago, and a little discussion of science. Science can’t begin until something gets written down or documented. Remembering how it ‘used to be’ is stuff of the mind, the good times, the emotions rolled in with the experience. But it’s not science. It’s the eye-balled 5-pounder, not the tournament weighed 3.94 pound fish. It’s your perception of how it was, based on your experiences, which may or may not be correct. And that’s not to fault anyone, that’s just the way science operates. So when I say the river, to me, hasn’t changed much over the past 20 years, it’s because I have the winning weights documented on paper to compare to. Six bass weighing nearly 12 pounds would now be equivalent to 5 weighing almost 10, a weight you might expect to see on any given week out at the river. Maybe the numbers aren’t there, or maybe the fish are more conditioned, I don’t know. I would need records to back that up. But I can say winning weights are the same now as they were 20 years ago despite all this talk of pressure, boats, illegal harvest and tourneys.
This then becomes the greatest reason to keep a fishing log or journal. Not because you’re going to try and discover some secret pattern to the fish over a period of years; A magic formula given this set of water conditions or that kind of weather. It’s the power of documentation that then opens up and allows you to compare facts, it’s where science can step in and arguments can be formulated and supported. It is this collection of observations that allows you to show someone that things truly aren’t what they 'used to be', and give specific reasons as to why not. In the Indiana fishing world, the ideal situation to make that point is Patoka Lake.
Back in the 1980’s. Patoka Lake was gaining national attention as a fantastic bass lake. I still have the Bassmaster Magazine proclaiming Patoka Lake the ‘Best in the Midwest’. Even the National Women’s Bass Trail held a huge 3-day event there that was ultimately won by Chris Houston with a huge sack of post-spawn greenies, nearly a 5-pound average per fish. Anyone fishing those days remembers that it would take 22-23 pounds for a 6-bass, one day tourney to even have a thought of realistically winning a tourney. Back in the days of Kenneth ‘Dusty’ Pine, who would later go on to fish in 2 Bassmasters Classics. The records are there for the bass world to review.
But the lake fell on hard times shortly after that, right around 1990. Things got bad, real bad. I remember fishing an IBF tourney where I finished in 6th place with one fish, just around 5 pounds. Back then, they paid 25 places regardless of the field size, and on that particular day, with some of the best bass sticks in Indiana frothing the water, they didn’t even have 25 guys weigh in a keeper! Back in the days of catching 50-60 bass or more a day and praying that one of them would make the 14” bump.
But listen to all the talk now. Patoka is fishing as well as it ‘used to be’. Where once you could get nearly any weekend tourney slotted you wanted because of everyone avoiding the lake, now you can’t hardly get a permit to fish a tourney there. Everyone wants to fish Patoka Lake because it’s back. And science tells this story and backs it up. Just like back in the heydays when you didn’t think of winning a Patoka tourney unless you had a nearly 4-pound average, the same thing happens today. Patoka truly is fishing like it ‘used to be’, and we have the records and documentation to prove it. 
Science can help with other areas of the river discussion. For example, all this talk of livewells and smallmouth is fact. It has been documented in numerous studies that smallmouth are more prone to both initial kill as well as delayed mortality under tournament conditions when compared to largemouth bass. So there is a documented basis from which to make this argument about protecting the smallie resource. Delayed mortality is another issue. Science tells us that once the fish reach the postspawn phase, and then on through the 75-80 degree summer water temps, keeping bass in a tourney livewell, no matter how well maintained is going to kill some fish due to delayed mortality. I don’t care how many swam off after you dumped them back into the river, several won’t make it. Out of sight, out of mind seems to be the justification of most bassers, but the push for smaller limits is merited, at least through the summer months based on the facts.
Another is the issue of jet boats and hauling smallies from up river. Here again, telemetry tracking verifies that on similar systems with low head dams, the majority of the smallies for the majority of the year will be located in the upper reaches of a particular pool. They’re there for a reason. They could live anywhere they choose on the river but they gather up in ‘jet boat’ country. So when you run upriver into smallie territory and pull them down into the lower, slower part of the pool just above the dam, you are affecting the natural distribution of the smallie population. Some will stay down there and survive, some will try and swim back upriver to live, but others will die due to the relocation. It’s not their niche, it’s more of a greenie dominated world. This is the strongest support of the argument to limit the length of the tourney pool in these events. It’s not like a big event where you have release boats to shuttle the fish back up the river. Those fish get stacked up right near the ramp, and for the smallies that is not the ideal or preferred location.
The river is still as good as I remember it, at least the Marion County stretch. My records and the IDNR records support this conclusion. However, I also know that I can’t speak for the upper stretches for which I don’t have records or experience. When I’m told it is nothing like it used to be, I have to believe that there is some truth to that. It makes sense in light of the fish kill the river suffered back in December of 1999. But I also know that the heart and the mind can be swayed, much like the feeling that still stays with me from my first river tourney.
It ultimately comes down to a balance, trading a little of what you want for a little of what they want. Just like we can’t turn back time and reduce the number of jet boats, tourneys or bass anglers, neither should we ignore the science which hints to us about doing the right thing and properly trying to manage and balance our activities in light of what we know. The tourneys will still go on, a winner will still be crowned and someone will still go home a few dollars richer, but the fishery will be better managed for all to enjoy without too much infringement on our believed rights.
Editors Note: Since originally writing this article I’ve had the opportunity to have some lengthy conversations with some of the long-time ‘river rats’ as well as spending some time on the water with a few, and have gained an even greater appreciation for how personal and important this river and it’s fishery is for some. I’m guessing most anglers have a similar relationship with some special body of water that they’ve spent years upon. I know I have my own.
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