There are a lot of rivers to fly fish in Indiana, if you know where to look.
Indiana isn't known as a fly fishing capital of the world. When you come down to it, Indiana isn't known as a destination state, even in the Midwest. Unless you fish for carp, which we do, the opportunities for all the famed fish of the fly fishing world are few and far between. However, it's the other fish that Indiana does have that you may not be aware of. We posted something a while ago focusing on 5 rivers already. However, there are more. Lots more. Well, at least 8 that we are going to cover if you are looking for rivers to fly fish in Indiana.
When fly fishing in Indiana Rivers, thankfully you don't need to make it complicated. All you really need is a 5wt or 6wt fly rod and a solid fly reel and that will handle just about any fish the Hoosier state can throw at you from any of these rivers below.
Sugar Creek - Crawfordsville
Found on the central-western part of the state, about an hour outside of Indianapolis, you'll find a body of water that is unique. The smallmouth bass fishery in Sugar Creek is pretty nuts. Big fish, lots of them, and they are all eager to eat. 20" fish are common and bigger fish are often seen. One benefit of Sugar creek is that there are lots of access points all along the river so you can take your pick of where you want to fish. On top of that, it's also beautiful. It's easy to forget you are fishing in the middle of Indiana.
Big Blue River - Henry County and South
The Blue is a major watershed of the Mississippi via the White, Wabash and Ohio rivers. Flowing for just over 80 miles, it covers most of the eastern central part of the state, not that far from Indy. What makes the blue unique is that it has great smallmouth and carp action, but it is also stocked with trout every year. Just in 2020, 1125 trout were placed in this waterway. It's not common, but every now and then, some people say there are holdovers and those fish get big.
Pigeon River - Mongo
If you want an opportunity at some stocked trout, carp, bass, and even some northern pike from time to time, then head to the Pigeon River, outside of Mongo. This is one of the better rivers in Indiana to fly fish. Stocked annually with over 6,000 trout, this body of water has opportunities. It located a good chunk away from Indy so much in fact it might as well be Michigan. This location is also a Fish and Wildlife area that offers some pretty incredible carp action in the slack waters that form Pigeon Creek.
Wabash River - Logansport
The Wabash is a big body of water. Barges and flat bottom boats rolled up and down it when this county was just getting its start. Depending where you go, there are just not many
places where wading is very good because of the size and the depth. However, in Logansport, it's pretty shallow and easy to figure out. Multiple bridges cross the river and looking off of them provide some great aerial recon when looking for carp, smallmouth, buffalo, and even shovelnose sturgeon that are found in this water in very high numbers.
Flatrock - Columbus
Smallmouth is the name of the game on the Flatrock. On many hoosier social media pages, quality smallmouth light up the pages all caught out of the flatrock. Crawfish patterns or streamers that look like shad are how you go about catching them. Access can be a little challenging, but when you get on the river, wading is easy as the river just isn't that deep, but the fishing quality is very high.
Oakdale Dam - Monticello
If you want opportunities at large, quality fish of all species that Indiana offers, then fishing the Tippecanoe river below Oakdale dam is the place to be. People catch muskies, pike, smallmouth, largemouth, wipers, carp, asian carp, and just about all other species at this special waterway. There is easy access to get down to the water, but it can be crowded at times. This is also a tailwater so the flows can fluctuate. Be careful here wading, but the fishing can be fantastic.
Wildcat Creek - Delphi
This is a stretch of water with lots of private access, open fields, rural settings, and abundant fish. As a smaller stream in Indiana, you can sight fish most of it, but there are multiple access points owned by the state that allow you many options to choose from when you want to get on the water. A lot of people catch walleye, sauger, drum, and carp from here. However, the smallmouth fishing is pretty great at times as well.
Iroquois River, Newton County
Many people drive over this river on their way back and forth between Indiana and Illinois and don't realize how it's one of the better rivers to fly fish in Indiana. However, if you stopped and fished it, you'd find a lot of very under-pressured fish in the right time and right place. Being a carp hawk, those tend to be the fish of choice and there are a lot of them, especially at the access point just North of Kentland. However, bass tend to be what most people target here.
Even though there are 8 rivers listed here, Indiana still offers an abundance of secret rivers that must be found through hard work and recon to really understand how great they are. Out of protection for the local anglers, those rivers and streams were intentionally left off. However, if you want to cash in on what Indiana offers, these bodies of water above are a great start.