Top Indiana angler's secret weapon takes a byte out of the mystery of catching big 'uns

Good anglers know how to listen to nature for the best fishing conditions and may also have a few tricks in their tackle boxes they believe will guarantee a successful day on the water.

Many of these fishing hacks are unproven, and some are downright confusing. One person may tell you to stay home when cows are lying down, because the fish won’t bite. But someone else may say that’s the best time to head out with your pole.

More: Here's a list of Hoosier fisherman Liu He's award-winning catches, plus tips for beginners

Is the wind blowing in from the east? Well that's when fish bite the least because west is best. Or is that backward? Either way, most anglers have personal preferences they live and cast by, including everything from lucky lures to local folklore.

Liu He of Lafayette has hooked onto his own unique strategy. And it's clearly a winner. By some metrics, Liu might even be able to lay claim to the title of Indiana's best fisherman. After all, the PhD student at Purdue University has reeled in 22 Fish of the Year awards from the Indiana Department of Natural Resources since moving to Indiana in 2019 — including a whopping 15 in 2022.

But that's only part of the story. He also may be one of Indiana's most unconventional fisherman, at least in terms of how he approaches finding and catching all sorts of fish.

Pandemic led him to fishing in 2020

Liu, who hails from China, moved to the U.S. in 2017 to attend graduate school. As a kid, he was keen on putting together model kits of military vehicles, but he also loved being outside. He’d spend time on his bike going for rides in any wilderness he could find and enjoyed playing soccer. Anything to get him outdoors.

But fishing was never a real past-time for Liu, who had only dangled a hook a few times in stocked ponds. It wasn’t until 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic forced people into new routines and hobbies that his budding interest grew into a passion.

Liu moved to Indiana in 2019 after finishing a master’s program in geography from the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. At Purdue, he decided to switch from his geography background to study computer sciences, eyeing career options such as urban planning where he can pull from both skill sets.

As the first year of his doctorate program went by, the pandemic started shutting down social activities. In the spring of 2020, with not much to do, a fellow Purdue student asked Liu to go out fishing.

It was the perfect timing for Liu and his interdisciplinary mindset. He shied away from fishing folklore and instead turned to his computer science and data analysis skills to create his most precious and effective piece of tackle. It isn't a lure or rod and reel.

Liu's secret weapon is a computer spreadsheet.

Liu’s first data entry was May 23, 2020. It started with the basic information he learned to keep while studying geography, such as weather conditions and the like.

“That’s the beginning of it all,” Liu said. “Because I just keep recording every catch on every fishing trip I made. Water temperature, air temperature and (barometric) pressure and the weather and water level. With the computer science background, that’s how I work.”

To a computer guy, data more helpful than folklore

Over time, he began adding more data points from each fishing excursion. Before long, he realized what an effective tool it could be — far superior, in his data-centric mind, to folklore or mnemonic devices.

“I felt like, OK that’s how I did my research, and it also works here,” Liu explained. “When you ask other fishermen, this man tells you this story, another man tells you another story and all the answers are kind of biased, but when you have more than 1,000 fishing trips, you find your own patterns and modify them.”

Now, he uses that growing cache of data on the time of year, weather and fishing methods to find patterns and predict the best times and conditions to catch a specific species. Most of his 15 big-fish winners last year were caught in the months between April and October, according to his data, with some of his biggest catches reeled in either early or late in the season.

Liu's data obviously worked well for him.

He won two Fish of the Year awards in 2020, then five in 2021 and 15 in 2022. The awards are presented for the biggest fish of a specific species caught in Indiana during the calendar year. That determination is based on the length of the fish, not its weight.

“I have like 22 certificate pages in my apartment," Liu said, "and not enough space to hang them on the wall.”

But chasing awards isn’t why he fishes; he just likes being outside.

“I don’t want to get so many winners because that’s not the meaning or goal to go for fishing,” he said. “I’d rather just leave the winners for others to share them. I just enjoy being in the wild. I want to spend several hours on the riverbank.”

Liu's 15 award-winning fish last year came out of a variety of waters. A few were caught from his inflatable kayak, others were along the banks of rivers, creeks and ponds around the state.

Tag-along reporter jinxes top fisherman

One of his favorite spots is along the Wabash River. It’s not his honey hole, which he understandably keeps secret, but it’s close to where he lives.

On a hot June day Liu and his girlfriend, Suki, parked at the Tapawingo Park in Lafayette along the Wabash River to meet with a reporter and photographer from IndyStar. (The hapless newspaper reporter, without the guidance of Liu's data, picked a poor time for fishing and jinxed Liu, who was unable to catch anything that day.)

In the rear of the couple's small, black SUV, Liu unloaded all the fishing gear he needed: two rods, tackle box, backpack and then the most important item. A laptop.

Liu and Suki trudged down the sandy bank to the river where a small turtle, the size of a sand dollar, swam close to the shore. He lost a lure and thinks, but isn’t sure, a few fish bit the hook. He apologizes that he wasn’t able to reel in anything. (Our fault, Liu, our fault.)

Liu needed no apologies; his awards are enough to prove he’s a top-tier fisherman in the state.

“He’s a professional," Suki said.

Using 'data-bait' not unheard of, but it isn't common

Rod Edgell, fisheries supervisor at DNR, said that he can’t say for sure if Liu won a record number of Fish of the Year awards in 2022 or not. The department doesn’t keep a full, historic record covering all winners since the program began in 1963.

“I suspect it is though,” Edgell said. “It isn’t normal.”

From what Edgell can tell, it doesn’t look like anyone has topped Liu’s count. The next highest number of awards Edgell is aware of were the 12 that Roy Anderson snagged in 2019.

The department received 139 entries last year, with Liu submitting fish in 19 different species categories. His submissions ranged from an 11-inch rock bass to a 30-inch carp. The details of the conditions surround each catch, along with hundreds of others, are well documented in his spreadsheet.

The awards are part of a DNR competitive outreach program to get people outside enjoying the state’s natural resources. The person taking home the next-most awards for 2022 was Joe Johnson with five.

“This is kind of one of our tools that helps make that outreach program a little more relevant,” Edgell said. “It gets them aware of not only the fish species we have, but also how big they are, and the opportunities folks have around the state to go fishing and enjoy what we have.”

Edgell said he’s seen a few other anglers use spreadsheets like Liu, and even created one himself.

“Timing can be critical when fishing,” Edgell said about keeping and tracking data. “Usually, the people doing that are very hardcore anglers and take it very seriously.”

After striking out in Lafayette, he's off to Alaska

Back at Tapawingo, Liu calls it a day and reels in his last cast. He packs up and heads back up the sandy slope toward a covered picnic table on the park's grassy lawn. There, he grabs a laptop to go over his fishing diary and data set.

The sheet has tracked 51 different species, though not all of them were caught in Indiana. Liu also has taken trips to surrounding Midwest states and into Minnesota. He’s been ice fishing and out on a boat in Lake Michigan.

Highlights included catching big smallmouth bass in Illinois and Minnesota that put up a huge fight. Steelhead, though, are his favorite species to go after and catch.

“They fight like hogs and I always catch them in small creeks,” Liu said. “Waiting and seeing them in the water is quite exciting.”

Liu and Suki left Tapawingo empty handed and soon departed for Alaska where they planned to go deep sea fishing for halibut and other species. He shared photos of his trip holding yellow eye rockfish and Pacific cod.

He eats every species once, to see how it tastes, but his favorite is walleye.

Now, more often than not, he fishes to share the wealth.

“Some friends ask for fish and I give them fish and leave them happy,” Liu said. “That’s also good.”

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Hoosier angler used this hack to win 15 Fish of the Year awards in 2022