Fishing Report For Cagles Mill Lake, IN

By Rick Seaman

March 8, 2025

Popular Fish Species Reports
Cagles Mill Lake Fishing Video
Available Fish Species
Today's Weather & Forecast
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Fishing Report Cagles Mill Lake, IN

Fishing Reports

Popular Fish Species Cagles Mill Lake, IN

Black Crappie - White Crappie

Current Report: Fair To Good
Outlook: Good To Very Good

Cagles Mill Lake is pretty much void of brush and trees which drives crappie to use other forms of structure as cover. Rocky banks and points become the hangout for these schooling slabs. Rocky shores also warm the quickest, especially on the north side of the lake. Locals report finding crappie inside the coves and pockets once the water warms in Spring. After they spawn there in Spring, they move to the outer corners of these coves and nearby structure. In the heat of summer and the cold of winter crappie fishing is best in deeper water. Locals cast small crappie jigs or live minnows around cover and catch plenty of crappie ranging from 3/4 lb to 1 lb, as well as a few bigger ones. Light tackle with 4 lb to 8 lb line is ideal. Locals report good success using forward facing sonar units and fish finders to locate schools of crappie.

Largemouth Bass

Current Report: Fair To Good
Outlook: Good To Very Good

Reports of quality bass coming out of Cagles Mill Lake, are not as common as they have been in prior years. The lake still has plenty of catchable bass, and they are being caught on a multitude of lures. Vibrating jigs are fast becoming a primary bait in the region and are working well here too. During slow times, when the bass are finicky, a stick worm, rigged wacky style, often teases bass to strike. In Spring bass move into shallow water, especially coves, to spawn. After spawning, they migrate to the corners of these pockets and feed on points as baitfish and sunfish move in and out of the coves. Summer brings ledge fishing in deeper water, as does Winter. In Fall these bass, along with smallmouth move shallow again.

Channel Catfish

Current Report: Good
Outlook: Good To Very Good

Channel catfish can be found all over Cagles Mill Lake. They prefer to feed on flats next to deep water. The big flats about a mile south of the dam often produce good channel cats. Fishing for channel catfish is often productive around any kind of structure. Fishing late in the day until midnight often produces the best fishing activity as this is prime feeding time for channel cats. Spring, and again in Fall, are some of the best time of year. Submerged road beds, creek channels and rocky points are all good places to begin. Reports by locals indicate using a slip sinker or Carolina rig setup with nightcrawlers or cut bait, is popular.

Fish species to fish for...

Guide to fishing for largemouth bass, smallmouth bass, channel catfish, black crappie, white crappie, walleye, bluegill, muskie and striped bass at Cagles Mill Lake in Indiana.

Cagles Mill Lake, also known as Cataract Lake, is a 1,400-acre lake with 37 miles of shoreline. It offers over a dozen fish species for anglers to pursue. There is plenty of area for fishing from the bank. Two public boat launch areas make it easy for launching fishing boats.

Primary fish species to catch

Click images for fishing tips and details about each species.

Today's Weather & Forecast

Public Boat Launch Ramps & Landings

Click here for boat ramps available at this lake.

Fishing License

Click here for a Indiana Fishing License.

Map - Fishing & Access

Rick Seaman is a fishing enthusiast with over five decades of fishing experience, a retired tournament fisherman, author of numerous published articles on fishing, and co-author of the book "Bass Fishing - It's not WHAT you throw, It's WHERE you throw it".