Tippecanoe

[bman5150]

Heading there with my father and a buddy in mid-May. Never been…can anyone tell me where I should launch? We are renting a house on the west side of the lake so My buddy is just going to dump me in the lake and park the truck/trailer at the rental house.

Any special boating rules?

any unmarked hazards I should be aware of?

can I access other lakes on the Barbee chain from Tippecanoe?

what’s the water like? Weedy? Clear?

good bass population? Any smallies or just greens?

Thank you!

[brushsjigs]

When I was fishing the tippy, the tournaments were won on the chain lakes at that time. Traps seamed to be the ticket. . There is a so called lock if you have a 17' or less boat that goes from tippy to the other lakes. I really had to work to get my 17' Bass Hawk thru it. Its been years that I fished it and its just boards that you manually raise, to go up or down. On tippy if the sun is out, skip tubes 1/8oz heads under the docks. All the other lakes are weedy and tippy is clear. Tippy can be good or suck from day to day. Tippy has good fish in it, but they are hard to come by.

[cubswin]

Unless its a narrow boat you can't get thru the lock in grassy creak to get to barbee.

Can launch for free at the grassy creek ramp, or use one of the many ramps around the lake that cost a few bucks. Dance hall has one, think there are two marina ones, and petey's boat ramp. Petey's might not be open, was a bar that is now closed. Think the ramp is still open though.

I always go thru grassy creek, because I enjoy it, even though you have to stay in the channel and in a few spots dodge underwater trees.

Largemouth, gills, white bass, crappie, and muskies are what you are going to find the most of in the lake. If its early may its a great time to fish it, though I like april more.

[bman5150]

Thx guys. Appreciate the info. We are just fun fishing so white bass, largemouth and muskies work for us!

[cubswin]

Thx guys. Appreciate the info. We are just fun fishing so white bass, largemouth and muskies work for us!

james lake, on the far end of tippy has always been good for white bass for me. In mid may most everything will still be shallow. Know in late march and april I had some 20+ bass days, but there will be a tournament on every weekend in may.

Barbee is a easy truck ride away, as is dewart, webster, and wawasee. About 10-20 minutes to any of them.

[bman5150]

Thx cubswin. Do the white bass run decent-size?

[cubswin]

Thx cubswin. Do the white bass run decent-size?

I've caught some good ones there yes. Nothing huge, but got into a bunch of 15-17" ones using spoons last time I fished for them there. Thats been a few years ago when I was on a white bass kick that I've since given up.

[maboyle]

Check out youtube channel Bass Insights. He lives on Tippy and has several good vid's on Tippy.

[bman5150]

Check out youtube channel Bass Insights. He lives on Tippy and has several good vid's on Tippy.

thanks for the tip! Enjoyed a couple of his videos. Gives me some confidence for when I’m there. Seems like there are good numbers in the lake and I did see him catch a few 17” white bass. Excited to give it a shot in May.