Indiana has some great places for catching some trophy size largemouth bass. You can fish the Black Oak Bayou or the Kankakee River and catch your fair share of largemouth bass. You can use the red and black spinnerbait and catch the bass. Keep in mind that Indiana's long cold winters make for some fine fishing in spring. The bass are hungry and it is not going to take much to catch them. In Indiana, there are five hot spots such as Lake Freeman, Crooked Lake, Koontz Lake, Black Oak Bayou and St Joseph River from the Elkhart to Bristol area.



Black Oak Bayou is by the LaSalle Fish and Wildlife area. It is not unusual to catch an eight or nine pound largemouth bass here. The Kankakee River is also located inside the boundaries of the LaSalle. The boundaries end at the Illinois border. Black Oak Bayou has many weeds, standing trees and fallen tress for the bass to hide around. When you first see the area, you will have doubts, but do not let that stop you from fishing for the largemouth in this area, they are there and they will be hungry. It is more of a swamp area, but use a trolling motor on your boat and you will not wreck your outboards.

Lake Freeman is more for smallmouth bass, but worth mentioning because of the popularity of the lake. For largemouth bass, Koontz Lake is located in Starke County and has a good population of largemouth bass. You will find that the fishing is great in the spring and there is little to no noise or traffic around. Fishing will be on the north side of the lake because that is where the water warms first. The weeds also start growing on the north side because of the warming waters. This area has some smaller baitfish, so you would use a smaller crankbaits and tube rigs to catch the largemouth. A popular color would be a green and blue tube and a black and chrome for the crankbait.

Crooked Lake has a good spring catch as well as summer and fall. You will fish the third basin during the spring, the first basin is more for summer largemouth bass fishing and the second basin is for the fall months. In the third basin around the lily pads is where you will find the bass. Because the water is so muddy and murky, you will use a soft plastic bait or a Texas rigged craw. Go right to the bottom to catch the bass. The other basins are going to produce some bass as well. As the water warms, you can move into the first basin that has more home development, but still has some good fishing.