JT Pruett from  Fayetteville IN , tried a little ice fishing on Sunday afternoon 1/10/10 with J & R Guide Service and took a nice mess of Bluegills for Supper on area farmponds in Orange and Lawrence County. Ice was around 4 inches thick and Bluegills were caught on Wax Worms and Crappie Nibblets . 

The slow months of January and Feburary is upon us but there are still some fun things to do while we are waiting for Spring . Rabbit season is in till Febuary 15th and there does seem to be a good population of bunnies this year . We`ve been out several times already and have had good success and run a little fat off of those Beagle Hounds . With these cold temperatures near 0 this weekend coming up , we are looking for our ice fishing equipment and will be heading out on some smaller bodies of water to put some Gills on the Dinner table . 

Bill Reid from Washington IN. , took his first muzzle loader Buck with J & R Guide Service on the cold morning of 12/5/09 . Bill`s Buck was taken in  Lawrence County .

We are happy to report that all of J & R`s Deer hunting Clients filled at least one and many two tags ,  except , one Archer and one Gun Hunter .  We are looking forward to the begginning of Muzzle Loader season as several of our biggest Bucks spotted this fall has not been claimmed . We hope that you had a great 2009 season . Opennings are available for next weeks opener of the 2009 Muzzle Loader Season .   

Andrew Wessell , age 13 , took his first Buck with J & R Guide Service on 11/22/09 . Andrew dropped his Buck with a H & R 44 magnum rifle .

John Hoefling from Indy , took his first Buck with J & R Guide Service on 11/20/09 with a 12 gage Browning Shotgun .

Austin Siever from Vin. IN. , took his first Deer with J & R Guide Service on Sunday morning with his 44 mag Rifle .  Austin`s Doe weighted 140 lbs.

Jeremy Floerke of Bedford IN. ,  took a nice 14 pointer with J & R Guide Service on 11/14/09 in the Rivervale area of Bedford IN .  Jeremy took his Trophey with a 12 ga. shotgun .  The Rut is on .

Jenifer Russett from Avon IN. took her first Buck with J & R Guide Service on 11/14/09 .  Jennifer took her Buck with a shotgun .

James Russell from Bedford IN. ,  took this nice 8 pointer with a Mathews DXT Bow on a depramation permit at the Airport in Bedford IN.

Nic Vlasic from Coatesville , IN  ,  caught a limit of Crappie along with this nice Walleye , on Monroe Reservoir on 11/9/09 . Fish were caught on Southern Pro Jigs and minnows in 8 feet of water near the Fairfax area .  

Archery season is on track with 6 Deer being harvested with J & R Guide Service in 2009 . The Rut is just starting  .  Next week should  be alot more active as far as the Rut is concerned . Fishing has been slow with the recent cold fronts but should be back on track by the weekend  with the pressure stablizing .

The 2009 Archery season for Whitetails is in full swing and gets better each day as we head for the RUT which should start the last week of October . J & R has harvested a few Doe so far with the ol Mathews Bow , building on the winter food storage ,  but are still sizing up the Bucks for my clients . A lot of nice Bucks have been located thus far . Good luck on getting your Buck in 2009 . 

Todd Gowen and friend from Plainfield braved the eliments with J & R Guide Service on Friday afternoon for about 4 hours on Patoka Lake . 20 Crappie and two Yellow Bass were caught on Southern Pro Jigs and Hot Grubs . Fish ran from 7 - 8 inches with a water temperature of 59.7 degrees. Patoka water level is 5 feet above summer pool .

Shane Staples and Pat Buchanan from KY. , caught some nice Patoka Cats with J & R on Tuesday afternoon on shad guts .  Fish were caught on the main lake .

Jim Kiefer from Nobelsville IN. ,  shows a couple of Largemouths that he took with J & R on Wed. afternoon on Patoka Lake . Jim`s Bass were caught on a sinko worm flippin around the heavy weedbeds in Flemming creek . A couple more Bass were caught on a Rage Shad around the Dam Area .
 

Austin Sievers from Vincennes IN. , hooked up with J & R Guide Service for his first Squirrel Hunt . Austin bagged a Fox Squirrel and two Greys , Austin used a 20 Gage as his choice of weapon .

JT Pruett from Williams IN , holds the limit of Grey Squirrels that he took with J & R on Monday morning with his new Rossi 410 gage shotgun . The woods were a little on the dry side but a little wait beside an old Hickory Tree that the squirrels were cutting on produced a limit if Hoosier Greys .

Kurt Warren and Consetine from California caught their limit of Crappie , 6 Yellow Bass and a kicker Walleye with J & R on Friday Morning in the Sugar Creek area on lake Monroe . Bait Southern Pro jig and minows .

Alex and Kaeman Hughs along with Gary Sinn from Bloomington IN , caught a nice mess of  Crappie on Wed. morning on Monroe Reservoir . Bait - Southern Pro Jigs and minnows fished on the main lake . Water temp. has fallen to 71.5 degrees . Fish were suspended from 12 - 18 feet  in 26+ feet of water .

Adam  and his Brother caught 30 Gills and two Crappie on Tuesday morning with J & R .  The anglers had a nice mess for a fish fry that they had planned during their stay at Patoka Lake . Bait - Crickets . Fish were located on weedlines close to deep water and near their now abandoned bedding areas .

Friday evening on Monroe was a litle rough with the wind but still managed to catch 30 Bluegills on the beds and 11 Crappie . The Bluegill numbers still on the beds are decreasing fast and our Crappie were suspended about 12 feet over a 25 foot brushpile in the FairFax area . Water temperature was reading 78 Degrees and the water was stained . Bait - Southern Pro Hot Head Jigs and minnows for Crappie and Crickets for the Gills .

Arthur Collier from Orleans IN. shows a 6lb. Bass that he took with J & R on Thursday morning . Bait - Srike King Rage Shad . We just ran this Top Water Shad across all the weedbeds on the main lake that we could find .
The bite was good for the first two hours after daylight and then dropped off quickly after that . The thickest patches of weeds seem to be best . Water temp. was reading 80 degrees .
 

Dave Gilbert from Westland MI , joined J & R for two days of Bass fishing on Patoka Lake . Bait - Shaky Head Worms and Jerl Baits on the main lake weedbeds . 14 Bass Sat. and 30 Bass on Sunday made for some exciting Bass Fishing . Dave shown here displaying one of his better fish on Sunday .
 

Dave Gilbert from Westland MI , caught 47 Bluegills , 12 Crappie and 1 Yellow Bass with J & R  on Friday morning on Monroe Reservoir . Bait - Southern Pro Jigs and Crickets .

Mike McGee and friend from Chicago ILL. ,  caught 41 Bluegill and 20 Crappie on Monroe with J & R Guide Service in about a three hour trip. Bait Crickets and Southern pro Jigs . Crappie were foungd in 12 feet of water on deep structure . Several smaller fish were released .

Jojo Yapp and Son from Chicago Ill. , got in on some of Monroe`s Bluegill on Tuesday morning with J & R Guide Service . The Yapps took 37 nice Gills home and released at least that many in a 4 hour period .  A few Crappie made it to the live well also . Water temperature is in the 80s and the Big Gills are hot on the beds . The water is super clear on the main lake .

Andy and Lianna Willhitte from Rockville IN , spent a HOT day in the boat with J & R on Saturday on Monroe Reservoir and still caught a nice mess of fish despite the heat . The couple caught 73 Bluegill and 20 Crappie . Bait - Crickets and Southern Pro Hot Head Jigs . Water temp.  was reading 82 degrees on the main lake .

Stan Salin and Robert Cochrane ll from Westfield IN , show off some of their 7 Patoka Largemouth Bass that they caught with J & R Guide Service on Tuesday afternoon . Robert took his Bass on hard Jerk Baits and Stan caught his on Spinnerbaits . Fish were caught on the main Lake in 4 - 6 feet of water . Water temperature was 77 degrees .

Taylor Dixon and Dillion Lewis displaying one of their 6 Cats that they caught with J & R on 6/12/09 . Bait - Shrimp . Fish were caught in 4 - 7 feet of water on a Zebco 808 slip sinker reg .

Marc & Kathy Paustian from Cincinnati OH , enjoyed nonstop action for 4 hrs. catching bedding Bluegills on Monroe Reservoir on Tuesday morning . Marc and Kathy caught well over 100 Bluegill on crickets . Some were kept for the freezer and alot were released . Fish averages 8 - 9 inches .

Our last day running our Cat Lines on Monroe was a little weak but still we could not complain . We`ve had a great time the past 4 - 5 days enjoying catfishing with the family .

Here is a mess of Channels that we caught before dark on 6/3/09 . The fish cleaning station at Payentown camp ground on Monroe Reservoir , sure got a work out the last 4 days .

The boys had a slow night on 6/1/09 and only found a couple of Cats jiggling their limb lines the next morning . Shown here with a nice 18lb. Flathead on 6/2/09 .

JT Pruett and Rusty of J & R Guide Service caught a 35lb. Flat Head  , a 28lb. Flat Head , a 18lb. Flat Head and 15 Channels between 4 - 10 lb. Bait - Green Sunfish and Shrimp . All fish were caught in the middle fork area of Monroe Reservoir .

Lenny Pruett , Jeremy Floerke , Dave Dawson , John Peets and JT Pruett caught 15 nice Channel Catfish with J & R Guide Service on Sunday morning . Bait - Green Sunfish and Shrimp .

Jt Pruett , Jeremy Floerke , Leny Pruett and John Peets shows part of their catch of a 43lb. Flathead , a 23 lb. Flathead , a 15lb. Flathead  and 10 Channelcats from 4 - 10lb that they caught with J & R Guide Service on Saturday Morning .  Bait - Green Sunfish and Shrimp . Fish were caught on Limb Lines and Handlines .  

John Peets of Bedford , IN. , shows off a Nice Flat Head Catfish that he caught with J & R Guide Service on Friday afternoon . Bait - Green Sunfish .

A sheet of plywood full of Big Gills and Red Ears that we caught off the spawning beds on Sunday morning 5/24/09 . Water temperature has reach the magic 72 - 75 degrees which has put the Big Gills into spawning action . Bait - Crickets . One secret to catching a cooler full of these Big Bluegill is to cruise the back of bays and cuts in the shoreline especially where a little pee - gravel is present and locate the bowl shaped beds before you start fishing . Back your boat off a little and start filling your cooler . Try and use a little common sense about the amount that you keep . Keep only what you need to eat and save some to catch another day . These Gills on this day averaged between 10 - 11 inches .
 

Bobby Robertson and Sherry Banks from Springville IN , caught 41 Crappie , 2 Bluegill and 3 Walleye with J & R on the main lake of Monroe on Monday morning . The upper ends of the lake are muddy but pretty good shape west of the causeway .  All fish were caught on Southern Pro jigs in 4 - 8 feet of water . Water temp. was 69 degrees .
 

Rick Cox , Mike Facker , Tony Cox , Jim Griffin and Sammy Allen from KY , caught some nice Crappie with Tommy of J & R Guide Service . 6    12 - 15  inch   Crappie with alot of fish below 12" . Bait - minnows , caught in the Paynetown area .

Del Tatum , Roosevelt Tolbert and Friends , from Saginaw Michigan , had an unusual catch with Phil of J & R Guide Service on Patoka Lake on Monday afternoon. Shown here displaying a 5.15oz. Dog Fish . They also caught about 60 Crappie . Bait - minnows .

Gage and JT Pruett are still working on their J & R Guide Service Apprenticeship . It took Gage about 20 minutes to land his big Channel . Fish was caught on a cricket . Jt shows a nice Bull Head Bluegill that he caught off the beds .
Monroe Reservoir water level is reading 540 feet , two feet high . Patoka Lake water level is reading summer pool at 536 feet as of 5/11/09 . Water temperatures are 66 degrees - 68 degrees . Good fishing for Catfish , Bluegill and Largemouth Bass at both Lakes . Largemouths are on the beds as are Bluegill and late Crappie .
 

Gary and Dan from Lou. KY beat the rain on Friday and caught 150 + Crappie , 2 Channel Cats , 2 Bluegill and a Walleye . 50 Crappie went to the freezer . Water temp. was 67 degrees on the main lake . Bait  - Southern Pro Hot Head Jigs and Grubs .  Fish were caught in 4 to 7 feet of water .

Bluegills will be hot on the beds at Monroe next week . I already seen signs on Tuesday where the nesting areas are showing some activity . The full moon will be on the 10th and this is primetime for Bluegill Fishermen . J & R will be limiting their Charters for nesting Bluegill to 4 hours and a limit of 25 adult Bluegills per client . Two people would be able to take home 50 Bluegills . If the limit is caught , the remainning time can be spent putting some Crappie in the boat . As you know , if you are on the Bluegill beds the limit can be achieved pretty quick .

Dwight and Pat Brzinski from Pierceton IN , caught 200+ Crappie on Monroe with J & R on Monday .  38 were kept and one Channel Cat . Alot of small ones were released . The spawn is well underway with the buck brush loaded with male Crappie . Several Catfish are being caught in the same areas indicating that alot of the eggs have already been dropped .

John and Bobby Carson from Norris PA , chose Patoka Lake as one of their destinations to fish , and include in John`s book , that he is writing , soon to be published . He has caught a fish in every State in the US and is writing a book on his experiences . He came to Patoka for Crappie and caught 141 Crappie with Rusty of J & R Guide Service on Sunday afternoon . Bait - Southern Pro Jigs in 4 - 7 feet of water . Water temp. was 68 degrees . John and Bobby shown here with a couple of their catch .
 

EJ Martin and EJ`s friend ( Dip Net )  joined J & R  on Monroe on Saturday and caught the limit of Crappie and 4 Channel Cats . Water temp. was 64 degrees and stained . Fish were caught in the Middle Fork area . Bait Southern Pro Jigs .

John and daughter , Tammy Hoefling cash in on the Crappie Spawn at Monroe Reservoir with J & R Guide Service .  The Hoeflings took home a limit of 10 - 14 inch Crappie . Bait - Southern Pro Hot Heads and Kalin 3" Grubs . Water surface temps reach 71 degrees by afternoon .

MONROE - We fished Monroe on 4/27/09 with Bill Jenner and friends from Madison IN. and found the water to be warming up a little from 61 - 64 degrees . The group caught around 60 Crappie with 25 around 8 - 10 inch range , 3 Bass and one 15 " Walleye . With the extreme windy conditions , not a bad four hour trip . Bait - Southern Pro Hot Head Jigs and Grubs . The Crappie spawn is on . Water was stained down around the Fairfax area . Water Level is 541.3 feet and falling fast with the gates open up at the discharge .

Rusty of J & R Guide Service took a little time off on Sunday to bag a 26lb. Gobbler . This Gobbler had 28mm spurs and a 10" bheard . Back to fishin on Monday .

Doug Skiner from Greenwood IN bagged a nice Gobbler with Rusty of J & R Guide Service . Doug`s bird had a 11 1/4 " beard , 15 mm. spurrs and weighed 19 lbs.  Two Toms came in , in full strut to within 25 yards of the blind . What a show .

Jacob Orbin from South Bend IN. bag a nice Turkey with Rusty of J & R Guide Service at 7:00am on the first morning of the Youth Turkey Season ,  Jacobs Bird weighed 16lbs. with 8 mil. spurs . Congradulation Jacob .

Saturday afternoon water temperature read 56 - 58 degrees
around the Fairfax - Ramp Creek area . Water was stained a little and is a little over  5 feet high . Jacob & Keith Orbin from South Bend joined J & R and caught 30 Crappie , 1 Yellow Bass , 1 Wiper and 4 Bass . Fish were holding tight to newly flooded brush and willows in the back of the bays . Bait - Southern Pro Hot Head Jigs and Chartreus Crappie Critters . Most Crappie were in the 10" range with a few over .

Rusty and Phil of J & R tested the Crappie on Patoka Thursday afternoon and finally got into some nice fish above Walls Ramp from 3pm - 5pm . Not much luck before 3 and when the wind died around 5:30 the fish shut off for us completly.
We caught 38 fish total with 9 real nice fish . Bait - 3" Grubs on Southern Pro Hot Head Jigs and a few on NotHead Jigs .
Fish were caught in 2 - 7 feet of water on wood and the water temp. was 54 degrees and stained .

Phil Bartlet of J & R Guide Service , shows a Monroe Channel Cat that tried to kill his Crappie Jig . He must not have known that the jig will bite back . Its not uncommon to catch several of these Cats while Crappie Fishing and they fry up pretty good  to .  Water temp. 55 degrees and murky .

J & R Guide Service as had such a demand for advice on Patoka Lake and Monroe Reservoir that I have added a new service for new Fisherman to the sport and for Fisherman on a budget visiting Patoka or Monroe for the first time .

$ 50 -  Send J & R Guide Service a Hot Spot Map of Patoka or Monroe Lake and I will mark your map with some proven good locations to fish for Crappie , Blugill , Bass , Catfish , Wipers and Yellow Bass and White Bass .

$100 - I will include with your Marked map a detailed letter explainning how to fish these areas in relation to which kind of baits , depth of water to fish , live and artifical , bait color , boat positioning , lure retrieval rates of speeds , fish locator use , how to fish the available structure in the area , time of day to fish and more .

This new service will mostly help the Fisherman new to the sport or for the Fisherman visiting Patoka Lake or Monroe Reservoir for the first time that is on a budget . There is no substitute for actually being with a Guide in his boat , but this new service is alot better than going it alone on a new lake .

Send your Hot Spot Map to :

J & R Guide Service , 2188 Vinegar Hill Rd. , Bedford IN  47421 

Make money order payable to James. R. Collier .

Joe Cross and his Father-in-law from Lou. KY , tried Patoka Crappie on April Fools Day and got fooled a little . The fishing was very slow with the water temp. dropping to around 51 degrees after the cold front on Sunday . About 30 crappie were caught and two Bass , all on the small side . Maybe 6 keepers but still a fun day on the water . Water was stained after the rain .

Greg and Austin Sievers from Vin. IN, had a great day catching 150+ Crappie with J & R Guide Service . 46 of them going to some hot grease .
Fish were caught on Southern Pro Jigs and dobbing minnows next to wood . Looks like this week coming up is going to be hot for Crappie fishing . Fish all came from shallow water .

Aaron & Stacey Salinas from Texas , show off a nice Patoka Crappie that Aaron just caught on a Southern Pro Hot Grub with J & R Guide Service on Saturday afternoon . The couple caught 100+ Crappie . 25 went to the freezer and the rest were released . Water temp. was 58 degrees when we quite at 6pm .
 

Ed Ackerman from Bloomington IN caught 60+ Crappie with J & R Guide Service on Friday morning . Its was extremly cold after the cold front with water temp. starting off at 50 degrees and warmed up to 53 degrees by 2:00pm . 18 Crappie were kept and the rest were released . Bait - Southern Pro Hot Grubs in Chartrues . Water depth fished 5 - 7 feet on wood .

Patoka Crappie are feeding up getting ready for the spawn in a few weeks . We caught 100 + Crappie today and four 14" Stripers .Crappie were all sizes up 13 " . Water temp. ranged from 53 - 56 degrees . Fish were caught in 3 - 5 feet of water on Southern Pro Jigs and Hot Grubs .