Are you sick of hearing about Lake Monroe wipers?

All of our readers (seriously, both of them) are tired of the same old wiper fishing stories.  They've requested more content devoted to craft beer and recipes.  So, taking those critiques under consideration, I'd like to tell you about the wiper that I caught this morning.

It was almost chilly here, in the low 50s before the sun really crested the horizon.  Being a Monday, most fisherman were behaving themselves and going to work, but I decided to stop at the spillway for a few minutes before heading in myself.

I got the "good" spot between the stairs and the spillway itself, which has access to the rushing water and a relatively calmer but deep pool beside it.  I started by casting around my Goture swimbait, but for once, nothing was chasing it.  With my free time running short, I rummaged through my tackle box trying to figure out what to tie on next.  I almost went for a blade bait, which I actually found at the spillway a few weeks ago, but decided to go with my 3/4-oz bucktail jig instead. 

In a half-dozen casts or less, I hooked into a monster.

I could tell right away that this water donkey was a big one.  It was pulling drag like a mofo (as the kids say), and every time that I reeled it in a bit, it would make another run for the current.  This tug of war went on for a few minutes until I finally got the wiper to the surface.  It was hard to tell how big it was while it was still in the water, but when I got him toward shore, I immediately dropped my net.  There was no way this thing was fitting in my admittedly too-small landing net.  Instead, I hooked him by the gills and hauled him out of the water:

I don't have a fish scale (yet), but this was undoubtedly the biggest wiper I've ever caught.  It had to have weighed more than my 8.25 lb personal best, and it was easily longer than 24 inches.  I briefly considered keeping it just to weigh it at home, but work beckoned, and fish wasn't on the dinner menu this week.  I tossed the behemoth back into the water, halfheartedly cast my bucktail a few more times, and then packed up.

So there you have it, another wiper tale from the crypt.  Don't forget to leave comments below, and follow us on Twitter (@WaterDonkeyAdv1) and Instagram (@H2ODonkeyAdventures)!

The Clear Creek rockbass honey hole

After several bouts of my recent surly attitude boiling over, my wife suggested that I take some time to myself Saturday morning to relax and stop acting like a douche.  That sounded like sage advice, so I hopped in my SUV early and headed to the Cedar Bluffs Nature Preserve for a short hike to the southern portion of Clear Creek.

I had recently taken my two older kids to this trail, though they ruined my afternoon by whining about how they wanted to go to the Cedars Preserve instead.  How was I supposed to know that two different hiking trails existed in nearly the same place with nearly the same name?  What, this one doesn't have a waterfall, so now you hate your life?  How would you and your crap attitude like to walk home?

Anyway, I thought it was great.  The first half of the trail runs right along Clear Creek, and I could see fish swimming everywhere.  What more could you want!?!

Now, I don't have anything against catch-and-release fishing.  I think it's great for certain fisheries and certain species.  I generally practice it myself.  That said, I've been enjoying all of my fish meals from the water donkey wipers that I've been catching, so it's a good thing I researched Clear Creek before fishing there.  It turns out that a few decades ago, a Bloomington Westinghouse plant dumped a ton of PCBs into the creek, essentially making all of the lifeforms that live there poisonous.  You can catch the fish, but you really shouldn't eat them...

You know what though?  That took the pressure off.  I could fish and just have fun instead of trying to catch a meal.

I started out by tossing around a worm and bobber, and almost instantly, I started getting bites.  This little guy is the first thing I reeled in:

He's not a water donkey by any stretch of the imagination, but a fish is a fish!  I decided to see if anything else was lurking in his neighborhood and ended up landing the biggest fish of the day next:

A nice little chunky bass.  He hit hard and was fun to catch on an ultralight rod.

At this point, I made a mistake (first time for everything, right?).  Instead of continuing to fish where I was getting bites, I decided to head downstream to fish a dead fall in the water:

The water was super-shallow, and although I saw a few small sunfish, I couldn't hook up with anything other than sticks and weeds.  At that point, I decided to cut my losses and move further downstream.  I followed the trail a short way to another spot where a dead fall had caught a bunch of brush and detritus.  There was slack water, a bit of current nearby, a bunch of large rocks, and what looked like some deeper water further out in the creek.  In other words, it looked fishy.

I tied on a white spinner bait that I got from Walmart and caught what turned out to be the first of many rockbass:

You've gotta love their huge red eyes and the way they fight like they're pissed off rugby players. 

Anyway, my spinner got stuck on something, and one of the hooks on the treble snapped off (thanks for the garbage lure Wally World).  So, I decided to go back to the worm and bobber.  Now, I saw lots of other fish, but every one that I hooked up with was a rambunctious rockbass:

Some were little guys; some were on the bigger side.  None were monsters, but they were all fun to catch.  By this point though, it was just about 9 AM, and my domestic duties were calling.  I packed up my tackle, hiked back to my vehicle, and headed to the grocery store.  You better believe I'll go back to the rockbass honey hole to catch another mess of goggle eyes though!

Early morning wiper fun

My children hate me.  They stay up late even if I put them to bed early.  They wake up screaming in the middle of the night.  They climb into my bed if there's a moth haunting their room.  In other words, sleep is hard to come by some nights, and last night was particularly cruel. 

After a night like that, I wake up a little...shall we say...surly.  And I'm not talking Surly but more like surly.

Anyway, as I showered away some of my insomniastic rage, I decided to go fishing instead of heading straight to work.  With everyone else in the house slumbering at 6:15 AM, I headed for the spillway to wet a hook.  I found a decent spot near the current and started casting my Zoom Super Fluke but got hung up in the rocks.  As you can imagine, this didn't improve my mood at all.

I searched high and low through my tackle, but I didn't find anything vaguely similar to use.  What I did run across though was an Offshore Angler striper jig (basically, a white bucktail with a pink jig head) from back in my NJ days.

I didn't know how well this 1 oz piece of lead would work in fresh water, but there was only one way to find out.  After a couple of casts to get the feel of it, I tossed the jig into the current and hooked up with a big ol' water donkey!  He was a fighter too.  I would reel him in a few yards just to have him peel line back off, screaming drag as he went.  The tug of war went on for a while, but eventually, I landed the lunker with my trusty net.

I don't know how big he was (I need to get a fish scale one of these days), but he was too long to fully fit in the selfie.

At this point, my day had turned around.  I let the wiper go, dried my hands, and packed up my gear.  I even made it to work by 7 AM.  Not a bad way to start the day after all.

Early evening wiper fun

A while back, I was catching wipers on live shad, and I wondered if they would go for a live bluegill instead.  Well, I recently got my answer. 

After a hard day of parenting and husbanding, I decided to take an hour or so of time in the evening to go fishing.  I headed back to the Lake Monroe spillway and found quite a few people enjoying some late day outside time.  The water was high and rushing out of the spillway again due to some recent rain, and the only decent fishing spot that was open was quite near the spillway and hard current.  Honestly, it wasn't a bad spot, and I'll take what I can get.

I started working my Zoom Super Fluke/jig head combo and was rewarded with a strike after a few casts.  The fish was using the current to his advantage though, so I ended up fighting a wiper and a force of nature.  I managed to work the beast back toward my spot on the bank, but he spit the hook before I could even see him.  My lure was mangled from the fight, but I rehooked it and went back to fishing.

Things slowed down for a bit, but I was able to soak in some of the scenery.  The white water was nice, and occasionally, a fish would jump.  At one point, I saw what looked like an Asian carp, which is bad news because they're invasive and known to ruin fisheries.  I'm old and half-blind though, so what do I know?  I also got to see a wiper chasing a good-sized panfish (probably a bluegill), so that answers my question.  Now, I just need to catch some bluegill for bait one of these days...

Anyway, fishing picked back up, and I managed to hook into another water donkey.  It felt like a monster, but most of that was the water current.  When I finally managed to land him, it was just a skinny little guy (compared to my previous wipers):

You can see some of the white water I was dealing with in this picture:

A skinny fish is better than no fish at all though, so I'm not complaining.  I released this one back to go get fattened up and started fishing again.  Eventually, I hooked into another behemoth from the deep and reeled it all the way to my feet, but my line snapped before I could net it.  One of these days, I'm going to learn to re-tie my terminal tackle after a hard fight...

At this point, I was losing the light and didn't have a head lamp.  While others continued to work the water, I called it a day and drove home.  I didn't have any fish in the cooler this time, but I still had fun.

Broiled bass with ginger-scallion oil

Here's another recipe for all of you wiper fans.  Fish tacos are great, but sometimes, you just have to switch things up.  This recipe is heavily inspired by one from Food & Wine, but I'm not going to subject you to a ridiculous story, a bunch of pop-ups, and whatnot before getting to the action:

Step 1    

In a bowl, combine 6 thinly sliced scallions, 2 Tbsp fresh grated ginger, 2-3 cloves minced garlic, and a pinch of crushed red pepper. In a saucepan, heat 1/6 cup vegetable oil until shimmering. Pour the hot oil over the scallion mixture, and stir in 2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice, 1 tsp soy sauce, and 1 tsp salt.

Step 2    

Preheat the broiler. Brush the fillets on both sides with some of the scallion oil. Arrange on a broiler pan skinned side down; broil until just cooked through, about 5 minutes. Transfer the fillets to plates, and spoon some scallion oil on top.

Full disclosure: when I did this, the kitchen started to fill with smoke from the broiling process.  I think that in the future, I'll either grill the fish or bake it in a hot oven instead.  If you're worried about your fish sticking to the grates when you grill, place it on top of thinly sliced pieces of lemon instead of directly on the grill grates.  No muss, no fuss, and adds a little pizzazz to your fish.

How to make fish tacos

The only known reader of this blog is a malcontent who's tired of hearing about wiper fishing.  Why does she keep reading it then?  Much like the number of licks necessary to get to the Tootsie Roll center of a Tootsie Pop, the world may never know.

In an effort to please our reader though, here's something fishing related but entirely different: a recipe.  So, without further ado, here's how you turn your catch into fish tacos.

Obviously, you start by cleaning the fish.  I'm no great hand at filleting, so you can just find a YouTube video for whatever species you're dealing with.  Trust me, it's not terribly difficult, but it will be a lot easier watching it done before diving in.

Once I've got some fillets, I like to soak them in milk.  This will draw out any muddy, gamey, fishy, or otherwise untoward flavors.  Not every fish needs this step, but as far as I know, it can't hurt.  I generally give the fillets (or fish chunks) a good milk bath for a few hours to overnight in a plastic container in the fridge.

I like my fish tacos with a red cabbage slaw that's vinegar-sauced as opposed to mayonnaise-slathered because, let's face it, mayo is as gross as ketchup.  This isn't the exact recipe that I used, but it will get you started.  I can't give you all of my secrets...  Regardless, this is a good step to take care of while the fish mellows out in the milk.

Next, you need to make some beer batter.  This part is super-simple: mix equal volumes of flour and beer until the batter is smooth.  You can use any type of beer that you want, but I went with Corona to be ironic and evoke a Pacific fish taco vibe.  You should also season your batter at this point.  Let your personal preferences guide this step.  You can go simple (salt and pepper), spicy (a good Cajun or creole seasoning), classic (Old Bay), or whichever way strikes your fancy.

At this point, heat some oil in a skillet, rinse off your fish, cut it into inch-wide strips if you'd like, and coat it in the beer batter.  Be careful adding the fish to the hot oil, and start frying!

After 2 or 3 minutes, check the bottom to see how things are going.  When the fish is golden brown, give it a flip and cook the other side.

Now, this is hot work, so don't forget to stay hydrated:

Place your fried fish on a paper towel-lined plate to blot off the excess oil, and then start building your tacos.  I like wheat flour tortillas instead of the more authentic ones made of corn because I'm from Pennsylvania.  I generally top the tortilla with a piece or two of fish, a splash of hot sauce, a scoop of slaw, and a dollop of homemade lime crema.

And there you have it.  You can go from a morning catch to a delicious dinner with a few ingredients and some prep time before lunch.  Stay tuned for our next post, which will be another recipe that doesn't involve frying but is equally delicious.

Fishing for wipers with live bait

It's been 8 days since I've gone fishing - yard work and family obligations trump free time shenanigans - so I decided to hit the Lake Monroe tailwaters again this morning.  It's been hot (80+ degrees) lately, so I didn't know what that was going to do to the wiper bite.  There was only one way to find out...

I started out by casting around with my Zoom Super Fluke/jig head combo from last time.  On my third cast through the steadily drizzling rain, something hit my rig hard and started peeling line.  I had my drag set tight, but it wasn't stopping this water donkey.  The fish fought like a wiper, and sure enough, I could see that's what I was dealing with the first time it surfaced.  After a fun fight, I got the fish near shore and managed to get my net around half of it (I need a bigger net!), and it's a good thing I did.  My line snapped basically as soon as I netted the fish, and I surely would have lost it and my lure like I did with the walleye a few weeks ago if I didn't have a landing net.

This fish was my personal best wiper, weighing in at 8 lb 1 oz.  You wouldn't think that an extra pound worth of fish would make it fight so much harder, but I guess that's more than a 10% increase in size.  If you added that much muscle to me, I'd be on the Brute Squad too.

Anyway, as you can tell from the picture above, I ended up catching another 8-lb wiper.  That one took some work though.

I jigged around with my soft plastic for a while but I wasn't getting any bites.  Actually, I kept snagging some busted fishing line on the bottom of the creek, so it's probably no wonder that I was catching any fish.  After I got bored with that, I decided to dip into my tackle box and try some other lures.  I had a lipless rattling crankbait on top, so that's where I started.  I cast it through the current a few times and eventually felt something small take it.  I reeled in a foul-hooked gizzard shad:

I was just about to throw him back when my old man brain finally realized the obvious.  I've been catching wipers on shad imitations, so why not try to catch a wiper on an actual shad?  I quickly tied a 1/8 oz jig head onto my line, nose-hooked the shad, and tossed it into the spillway current.  Almost immediately, a huge silver shape hit it and left me with an empty hook.  That was fun to see, but it would have been more fun to catch that water donkey.

I tied my crankbait back onto my medium action rod and added a silvery spoon to my ultralight and went shad fishing.  I managed to hook two more (one on each lure) and then rigged up my jig head again.  After nose-hooking the first of these shad, history repeated itself: cast, water donkey attack, empty hook.  Now, I'm not the sharpest knife in the drawer, but even I could tell that this a good way to feed wipers but a poor way to catch them.  So, I took a different approach with my last shad and hooked it through the back.

I cast my bait into the back corner of the spillway, and mid-retrieve, a big fish hit it!  Not only that, but it felt like I'd hooked it good too, which was necessary because this guy was right in the thick of the current.  I eventually fought it into slack water and managed to coax it toward shore while it zig-zagged back and forth to try to get rid of me.  I managed to land him though, and ended up with my second personal best of the day: 8 lb 4 oz!

I had my limit on the stringer but was having so much fun that I went about trying to catch another shad.  I snagged one on my spoon, transferred it to my jig head and hit the raging water again.  This time though, the shad either came off or was snatched off.  When I reeled my line back in, I noticed that my hook was bent, and I decided to call it a day.  I'll definitely try fishing for wipers with live bait again.  I wonder if they'd go for a bluegill...