The canoe was fun but a little too cramped and low in the water. I was able to cast my poppers but, being so low , I was unable to see clearly where my popper was and to see hits. So, I shortened my casts to see better and avoid casting and snagging brush and wood in the water. I was probably spooking some fish but still caught a few. Gene is using his floating tube as you can see and he thought it was better suited for casting. In the other pictures you can see that I switched to Theresa and Timm’s raft. It was a little higher and I had more room for my equipment. The canoe was purchased so that when going to those remote walk-in places I could get away from the shore which sometimes is almost impossible to fish. The canoe is also lighter than a raft and will be easier to carry on the trails. It will definitely not be suited for two people to fish from even though it is a two man canoe. I will use it again on those remote small ponds in the future.

My daughter, Theresa and son-in-law, Timm invited me and a coworker of

Theresa’s, Gene Elmlinger, to meet and do some fishing at their place at Little Wolf, a 160 acre area in the middle of the Daniel Boone National Park. It’s a beautiful setting surrounded by mountains and fields and a small pond of about 1.4 acres. The plan was for me to meet a fellow fisherman, get acquainted, and perhaps plan further fishing trips in the future. Well, we did that and I greatly enjoyed it all. Gene is truly a dedicated fisherman, loves the outdoors and is dedicated to the preservation of our natural resources as am I. The weather was warm and humid the first day and hot and humid the second day but fish we did. The last count that I can recall we caught 18 bass and about 20 bluegill during the heat of the day and part of the evenings until around dusk. The bluegill were all about 8-9 inches and the bass ranged from 10-14 inches. No trophies this time but fun anyway. Gene caught 2 more fish that I did but I caught the biggest bass. I fished with my fly rod using a 1/32 oz hula popper and Gene used a road runner with a ribbon tail jig on his ultra-light spinning rod. We did get many more hits but didn’t land the fish. I’m sorry to say that the 1/32 oz hula popper is, I believe, no longer being made by Arboghast (not sure of the spelling) as I believe that it is the best popper ever made. Over the years I’ve caught many bass on it up to 5 lbs. I’ve tried other poppers but haven’t found one yet that can catch bluegill and big bass in the same outing in as good of numbers. Well, I’m certainly looking forward to fishing with Gene again and have invited him to visit me here in Illinois, he is a true sportsman, a gentleman, and a pleasure to fish with. Please enjoy some of the pictures that were taken on our trip.

Today is Saturday the 19th of July and I thought with a nice cloud cover the bass might be more cooperative. I was wrong, not a single hit on the waveworm, crawdad, lizard, or a green and chanteuse tube which sort of resembles a frog. I didn’t use a weight on it and it floated for a few seconds before it started sinking so, I tried to make it imitate a frog kicking along near or on the surface right up next to the shoreline. No takers. The time of day was 3p.m. til’ 5:30 p.m. (suppertime)! I did however catch 3 bluegill, a crappie, and two channel cats. Again, I used a worm under a float in case the bass were not taking. So I had a little excitement anyway. I’m adding a few pictures of the subdivision lake and two of the cats caught today. Enjoy and tight lines.