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Home › Waters › Indiana › White River (Indiana)
River · Central Indiana · Indiana

White River (Indiana) Fishing Guides

Indiana's main-stem smallmouth and catfish river, running southwest out of Indianapolis past Martinsville and Spencer toward the Wabash.

A dark forest stream running fast over stone
Gauge location. Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Guides on the White River (Indiana)

Claimed profiles take booking requests. Unclaimed profiles are built from public records so the river is never empty; the guide can claim or remove one any time.

About the White River (Indiana)

The West Fork of the White River is the working river of central Indiana. It drains Indianapolis and runs southwest through Martinsville, Centerton and Spencer to its junction with the East Fork and on to the Wabash, and along the way it turns into a genuinely good smallmouth and flathead catfish fishery. Water quality has improved substantially over the last two decades, and the river now supports the kind of fishing that people drive to rather than merely tolerate.

Below Indianapolis the river alternates between long slow pools and gravel riffles, with log jams and rock ledges that hold smallmouth through the summer. Flathead catfish grow large here and are targeted at night from the deeper holes. Kayaks and jon boats are the standard craft; the riffles are too shallow for larger boats through much of the middle river. Fall is the best smallmouth season, and the reach from Centerton down toward Gosport gets the most attention from float anglers.

The Centerton gauge covers the middle river. Roughly 500 to 2,500 cfs is comfortable float water with readable structure. Higher spring readings turn it brown and push fish to the banks, and this river carries agricultural runoff, so clarity lags flow by a day or two after a storm. Late-summer lows expose the gravel bars and make wade fishing the better option.

Indianapolis is upstream, Martinsville and Spencer are the river towns, and Bloomington is twenty-five minutes from the lower reaches. Access is good, with a string of public ramps and bridge crossings along the middle river.

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Read the full license

Version 1.0, dated 6 September 2026. Applies to every photograph submitted to GuidedFloats through the contact form, a species page, or the community board.

1. What you give us

By ticking the box on the form you grant Guided Floats, LLC (“GuidedFloats”, “we”) a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to store, copy, resize, crop and display your photograph on guidedfloats.com, in GuidedFloats’ own social media accounts and mobile apps, and in material that promotes the site itself, in connection with the fish, water or community feature you sent it in for. The license lasts until you withdraw it (section 4).

You keep the copyright. The license is not exclusive, so you can use the photo anywhere else and license it to anyone else. We will not sell your photo, license it on to anyone else on its own, or use it in paid advertising for a third party.

2. What you confirm

You confirm that you took the photograph yourself (or otherwise own the rights to it), that you have the right to grant this license, and that publishing the photo does not infringe anyone else’s copyright, privacy or other rights.

If any person is recognisable in the photo, you confirm that they have agreed to its being published here, and that a parent or guardian has agreed on behalf of anyone under 18. Please do not send photographs of other people’s catches, screenshots, or pictures copied from other websites or social media.

3. Credit

We print the credit name you give us beside the photo wherever it appears on the site, and record it as the photo’s creator in the page’s structured data. If you leave the credit blank we use the name you gave us on the form. Write “Anonymous” if you prefer no name at all. Your email address, phone number and the exact spot the photo was taken are never published.

4. Withdrawing the license

You can withdraw the license at any time by emailing hello@guidedfloats.com, or by using the contact form, and telling us which photo you mean. We will remove the photo from guidedfloats.com within 7 days of receiving your message and stop using it in anything new. Copies that are already outside our control — search-engine caches, social posts that have already gone out, printed material already produced — may take longer to disappear or may not be recallable, and we are not responsible for those.

5. What we may do

We choose which photos to publish and may decline any submission without giving a reason. We may crop, resize, sharpen or colour-correct a photo for display, and we may remove a photo at any time. We will not alter a photo in a way that misrepresents the fish, the water or you.

6. Your details

We keep your name, email address, the credit name, the water and date you gave us, and the network address the submission came from, with the submission record, as our evidence of this license. We hold that record for as long as the photo is published and for the retention period described in our privacy policy. Location data that your camera or phone embedded in the file is removed before the photo is published.

7. Versions

The version of this license you accepted is stored with your submission and printed with the photo. A later version does not apply to a photo you have already sent unless you agree to it.

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Posting to White River (Indiana).

JPG, PNG or WebP, up to 12 MB. We resize it and strip the location data out of the file.

The name shown under the photo. Leave blank to stay anonymous.

Reader photo license v1.0 — the short version:

  • You grant Guided Floats, LLC a non-exclusive, royalty-free license to publish, resize and crop your photo on guidedfloats.com and in GuidedFloats’ own social posts and apps. You keep the copyright and can use the photo anywhere else.
  • You confirm that you took the photo yourself, that publishing it does not infringe anyone else’s rights, and that anyone recognisable in it (or a parent or guardian, if they are under 18) is happy for it to appear here.
  • Credit is printed beside the photo wherever it appears on the site, using the credit name you give us. Leave it blank and we use your name; write “Anonymous” for no name. Your email address is never published.
  • Withdrawing is one email to hello@guidedfloats.com naming the photo. It comes off the site within 7 days.
Read the full license

Version 1.0, dated 6 September 2026. Applies to every photograph submitted to GuidedFloats through the contact form, a species page, or the community board.

1. What you give us

By ticking the box on the form you grant Guided Floats, LLC (“GuidedFloats”, “we”) a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to store, copy, resize, crop and display your photograph on guidedfloats.com, in GuidedFloats’ own social media accounts and mobile apps, and in material that promotes the site itself, in connection with the fish, water or community feature you sent it in for. The license lasts until you withdraw it (section 4).

You keep the copyright. The license is not exclusive, so you can use the photo anywhere else and license it to anyone else. We will not sell your photo, license it on to anyone else on its own, or use it in paid advertising for a third party.

2. What you confirm

You confirm that you took the photograph yourself (or otherwise own the rights to it), that you have the right to grant this license, and that publishing the photo does not infringe anyone else’s copyright, privacy or other rights.

If any person is recognisable in the photo, you confirm that they have agreed to its being published here, and that a parent or guardian has agreed on behalf of anyone under 18. Please do not send photographs of other people’s catches, screenshots, or pictures copied from other websites or social media.

3. Credit

We print the credit name you give us beside the photo wherever it appears on the site, and record it as the photo’s creator in the page’s structured data. If you leave the credit blank we use the name you gave us on the form. Write “Anonymous” if you prefer no name at all. Your email address, phone number and the exact spot the photo was taken are never published.

4. Withdrawing the license

You can withdraw the license at any time by emailing hello@guidedfloats.com, or by using the contact form, and telling us which photo you mean. We will remove the photo from guidedfloats.com within 7 days of receiving your message and stop using it in anything new. Copies that are already outside our control — search-engine caches, social posts that have already gone out, printed material already produced — may take longer to disappear or may not be recallable, and we are not responsible for those.

5. What we may do

We choose which photos to publish and may decline any submission without giving a reason. We may crop, resize, sharpen or colour-correct a photo for display, and we may remove a photo at any time. We will not alter a photo in a way that misrepresents the fish, the water or you.

6. Your details

We keep your name, email address, the credit name, the water and date you gave us, and the network address the submission came from, with the submission record, as our evidence of this license. We hold that record for as long as the photo is published and for the retention period described in our privacy policy. Location data that your camera or phone embedded in the file is removed before the photo is published.

7. Versions

The version of this license you accepted is stored with your submission and printed with the photo. A later version does not apply to a photo you have already sent unless you agree to it.

Flow alert

Tell me when the White River (Indiana) cfs

Now: 1,010 cfs, read 3:00 am CDT, Mon Oct 19, 2026 (USGS 03354000, WHITE RIVER NEAR CENTERTON, IN).

We never use this address for anything else and never share it. See the privacy policy.

Access

Broad Ripple and the Indianapolis reaches: upper river urban access.
Waverly and Centerton: middle river ramps near the gauge.
Martinsville: town access and boat launch.
Henderson Ford and Gosport: lower middle river access points.
Spencer and McCormicks Creek State Park: lower river access and camping.
Bridge crossings along State Road 67: informal put-ins for kayaks.
Flathead fishing is mostly a night fishery from the deeper holes.

Seasons

April and May: high water, prespawn smallmouth, catfish moving.
June through August: the main float season, topwater smallmouth and night fishing for flatheads.
September and October: the best smallmouth weeks, clearing water and cool nights.
November through March: cold and high; limited fishing outside of warm spells.

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Questions

What is the current flow on the White River (Indiana)?

As of Oct 19, 3:00 am, the USGS gauge WHITE RIVER NEAR CENTERTON, IN reads 1,010 cfs, the 75th percentile for this date, with water temperature 60.6 F. Conditions update every 15 minutes.

What species can you catch on the White River (Indiana)?

Anglers target Channel Catfish, Flathead Catfish, Largemouth Bass, Smallmouth Bass, Walleye on the White River (Indiana) in Indiana.

Are there fishing guides on the White River (Indiana)?

GuidedFloats lists 1 guide and outfitters on the White River (Indiana). Claimed profiles accept booking requests; unclaimed profiles are built from public records and link to the business.

Where can you access the White River (Indiana)?

Broad Ripple and the Indianapolis reaches: upper river urban access. Waverly and Centerton: middle river ramps near the gauge. Martinsville: town access and boat launch. Henderson Ford and Gosport: lower middle river access points. Spencer and McCormicks Creek State Park: lower river access and camping. Bridge crossings along State Road 67: informal put-ins for kayaks. Flathead fishing is mostly a night fishery from the deeper holes.

When is the best time to fish the White River (Indiana)?

April and May: high water, prespawn smallmouth, catfish moving. June through August: the main float season, topwater smallmouth and night fishing for flatheads. September and October: the best smallmouth weeks, clearing water and cool nights. November through March: cold and high; limited fishing outside of warm spells.

Where are the fishing regulations for the White River (Indiana)?

Regulations change by season and section. Read the current rules on the Indiana agency site: https://www.in.gov/dnr/fish-and-wildlife/fishing/fishing-guide-and-regulations/