Fairbanks Landing

2010-09-03T11:49:00.000-07:00

Fairbanks Landing is an 8,000 acre Fish and Wildlife Area in south-west Indiana that is being operated under an agreement between Indiana Michigan Power and the Indiana Division of Fish and Wildlife.

Even though this public land is only 35 minutes from my back door, I had never taken the oppurtunity to visit until just recently.

The first thing I noticed was that most of the farmland is still that; beans and corn. It pretty much looks like any other rural area in Indiana, only it's open to the public. There was some fields close to the river that weren't planted, but most are still being farmed.

I wanted to check out the Wabash and see if there's any bank fishing spots, so I took a "seasonal" road to get there. You wouldn't get down this road without 4 wheel drive if it had been raining.

I parked and it was about a 1/4 mile walk to the river. A great horned owl busted out of a tree right beside me as I was walking and the first thing I saw at the river was a bald eagle fly across.

This is looking north up the river towards a sandbar.

And here's the sandbar. There might be some decent fishing here, but I'm not sure it would be worth the walk to get there.

There's some HUGE cotton wood trees along the river. This one I couldn't get my arms half way around.

After checking out the sandbar I started working my way back down the river. I almost walked up on a doe that was bedded in some brush and then kicked up 2 more about a 100 yards further.

This gar was chillin along the bank. I also noticed several carp hanging out near the surface.

I found a spot on google earth where the bank cuts in and I thought it might be a good bank fishing spot. Wrong! Things look a lot different at ground level.

There's a place on the map called "Round Pond" and unfortunately, this pic was taken from the center of it. It's just a little bayou that's dried up.

I see you! I ended up seeing 5 deer and almost walked up to this little one before it took off.

This place looks like a bust for fishing, but should be a great hunting spot. I saw deer, turkeys, and a bunch of coyote sign. I didn't see any squirrels around the river, but did see some on the roads where there was corn. This place is HUGE at 8,000 acres and I'll definitely be back!

Troy Bell

First BB&B Blog

2010-08-18T06:34:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the first ever Bell's Bucks & Beards Blog and thanks for having a look! The BB&B website is going through a total make over and this blog will be a feature of the new site. This blog will consist of hunting and fishing reports, as well as news from the outdoor world and BB&B.

We finally got a small break from the HEAT here in SW Indiana this week, so I decided to try Shakamak State Park's Lake Kickapoo yesterday.

The plan was to fish the old road bed in Kickapoo, drop shotting red worms. A lot of guys fish this deep water when the ice is on, so I figured it might be a good place when the fish go deep during the summer. Marked a bunch of fish at 22' in 28fow(feet of water), but couldn't buy a bite.

Moved over to a neck that has trees in the water and caught a few redear in 20fow.

Moved to the north end where the water flows in from Shakamak Lake and had something big on twice. The first time it wrapped up in a tree and the second time it got off in some lily pads. From the way they faught I'm guessing they were channel cats. I did manage 1 keeper gill at this spot.

I moved down to the south end and started marking a bunch of fish at 31' in 35fow and again, I couldn't get them to bite. I'm wondering if they're not yellow perch? I've read creel surveys from Kickapoo and it shows that perch are in there, but I don't think anyone around here fishes for them. Might have to drop some minnows down next time.

I ended up catching 5 keepers and 6 or so dinks. At least it was a beautiful morning!

Thanks for taking a minute to check out our first blog, that's all til next time!

Troy