Fairbanks Landing FWA

I've been wanting to check out the Fairbanks Landing Fish & Wildlife Area(NW Sullivan/SW Vigo Counties) for a while now and with this dry weather I figured the roads would be good enough to explore it. I brought the .22 in case any bushy tails crossed my path, but this was mainly a scouting trip.

The first thing I noticed was that most of the farmland is still that; beans and corn. It pretty much looks like any other rural area in Indiana, only it's open to the public. There was some fields close to the river that weren't planted, but most are still being farmed.


When I signed in at the check station I got a surprise, posiedon had checked in right before me! (Unless there was someone with Joe's exact name hunting there.)

I wanted to check out the Wabash and see if there's any bank fishing spots, so I took a "seasonal" road to get there. You wouldn't get down this road without 4 wheel drive if it had been raining.


I parked and it was about a 1/4 mile walk to the river. A great horned owl busted out of a tree right beside me as I was walking and scared the crap out of me. The first thing I saw at the river was a bald eagle fly across. I couldn't get the camera out fast enough for a pic.
This is looking north up the river towards a sandbar.


And here's the sandbar. There might be some decent fishing here, but I'm not sure it would be worth the walk to get there.


There's some HUGE cotton wood trees along the river. This one I couldn't get my arms half way around.


After checking out the sandbar I started working my way back down the river. I almost walked up on a doe that was bedded in some brush and then kicked up 2 more about a 100 yards further.


I should of had my bow instead of a rifle. This gar was chillin along the bank.


These are a little hard to see, but there was 5 huge carp hanging out at the surface along the bank too.


I found a spot on google earth where the bank cuts in and I thought it might be a good bank fishing spot. Wrong! Things look a lot different at ground level.


I see you! I ended up seeing 5 deer and almost walked up to this little one before it took off.


There's a place on the map called "Round Pond" and unfortunately, this pic was taken from the center of it. It's just a little bayou that's dried up.


Checked out another spot on the NW tip of the property where the road runs close to the river, but no good fishing spots there either.
Looking across to a little sandbar in Illinois.


This place looks like a bust for fishing, but should be a great hunting spot. I seen deer, turkeys, and a bunch of coyote sign. I didn't see any squirrels around the river, but did see some on the roads where there was corn. This place is HUGE, 8,000 acres. I'll be back!