I went out again today but only for about two hours on the pond.  The temperature was 60 degrees and the wind was gusting to about 15 mph.  I followed the shoreline, again using my trusty Blue Fox spinner.  Boat control was difficult with the wind trying to blow the boat into shore.  This made paralleling the shoreline very difficult.  To counter this I moved out from shore, stopped my electric motor and drifted toward shore while casting to the shoreline.  I was using a faster retrieve to get rid of the bow in the line caused by the wind.

This method was the key.  I caught six bass from one to three lbs , six small crappie (hand size) and one bluegill all on the Blue Fox spinner.  I did try my craw and my jig and minnow  (Mr Twister) without success.

I was happy.  Got home for dinner just in time(as usual) and just had a good day.

Tight lines

Jim

The Blue Fox spinner was the winner again today, 9-27-09.  In addition to the YUM Baby Craw that also brought in six nice bass in the 1 1/2 to 2lb range.  The Blue Fox once again proved to be the best all around fish catcher though with a bunch of crappie and a couple of small bass.  A straight retrieve and a moderate speed seemed to be the key.  Trying sort burst of speed or burning the lure was not productive with the spinner.  With the Yum craw I used the hop and pause method; a slow drag did not seem to work.  With the craw, instead of using a worm hook, I’ve been inserting a long shank jig into the hollow body of the craw with the hook just barely penetrating the head of the lure.  Using that method I’m getting a better hook up ratio.  However, the bait easily gets torn up when catching fish, so bring plenty of them with you.  Also, spraying YUM scent into the craws hollow belly seems to make the bait more effective.

Shown here are the two best fish of the day, two channel cats and both weighed in a nearly 4 lbs.  Lots of fun, cats never seem to want to give up.  So let the fish work on the drag, be patient and get them to net. 

Note: I don’t keep the fish and handle them as little as possible.  As soon as possible I just lift the net, put it in the water, and turn the net over to release them.  This helps to ensure that the protective slime on their bodies is less affected by handling and gives the fish a much better chance of survival.

Tight lines

Jim

Today I got up early with every intention to go to River Bend.  The forecast on the weather channel last night called for partly cloudy skies with rain in the late afternoon.  When I turned on the TV this morning the forecast was changed…showers and thunderstorms.  Not wanting to be caught out in my aluminum boat in a thunderstorm I decided to stay home and just fish in the pond.

I’m glad I did.  Shown are a 4 1/2 lb bass and a 3 1/2 lb channel cat both caught on a Blue Fox spinner.  You can see it on the cats mouth pretty well and is is also visible on the bass.  I generally use the Blue Fox for catching  crappie.  I lost count on how many crappie I caught today but it was exceptionally good today.  I also caught five more bass in the 1 to 2 lb class, two bluegill and I missed a bunch.

It did rain a little today and I was in my rain suit.  There were no thunderstorms, no lightening and no strong winds.  Who knows what  my planned trip to River bend would have turned out.  It’s funny but I have never caught a fish on any Blue Fox spinner at River Bend.  It’s a different ballgame there.

I did try using my YUM crawdad, a jig and paddle tail shad, a jig and a Mister Twister curly tail, and my fly rod with a craw fish fly pattern.  None of these worked today.  I tried  to change my spinner pattern to a larger Mepps, in yellow/white, and another blue fox in blue/ white.  The one I was catching all the fish with lost all its tail feathers and wasn’t as effective as it was before.  Well, it’s back to the store to try to find a replacement.

Tight Lines

Jim

Fishing on the pond this week has been improving.  During my last few times out I’ve managed to catch some bass in the 1 to 3 1/2 lb range,  The one shown is the largest.  The bass was caught on a pink jig head with a Shaw Grigsby shad paddle tail  But the majority of the fish have been caught on a YUM baby craw including a big bluegill of about 10”.  The crappie were all caught on the Blue Fox in line spinner except one of an exceptional size that was big enough to grab onto the Baby Craw as did the big bluegill.  Most of the crappie were in the 7” range with a few 9” thrown in.  The only time I’ve spent fishing for crappie is when there is a long period between bass bites.  Sometimes the Blue  Fox spinner will catch a nice channel cat or a bass as well.  There’s a part of the pond where in all my 31 years of fishing the pond I never caught anything.  It’s shallow and there’s no cover.  But, today and the day before yesterday that’s where I caught most of my bass!  You never know…  And the places where I have caught most of my bigger bass, I haven’t caught anything.

I did try some fly rod fishing.  I thought that a crayfish imitation and a minnow like fly would also work.  But it didn’t even get a rise, go figure.  I much prefer to catch bass, and big gills on the fly rod but there were no takers today.

The forecast is for thunder storms for the remainder of the week.  You might know…  Just when the bass and crappie are beginning the get active again I’ll be shut in. 

PS.  I didn’t take the bass out to the net until I released it immediately after I took this picture.  Catch and release is the way to go guys and gals.  You let ‘em go to breed more of them and maybe catch them again some other time.

Tight lines

Jim

After a very long wait, Ivan and I finally got to go fishing together.  We decided to go three days in a row.  At first we thought we might go south and fish fish Pyramid State park and camp there.  On second thought, we really hadn’t put much thought into it and were not properly prepared.  We both agreed that a three day jaunt might not be long enough to travel so far and really enjoy ourselves.  A day traveling there, a day of fishing in unfamiliar water, and the final day of traveling back does not give one much time to do any serious fishing.  I thought we might need a full week to really explore the lakes there and learn the area with some time to spare.

So, we decided to stay close to home, well nearly.  On Thursday we did travel to Lincoln Trail State Park near Marshall.  We hadn’t fished there together for three years.  We remembered the clear water, the beautiful terrain, and the bluegill fishing was truly excellent.  NOT ANYMORE!  What a disappointment.  The water was dirty, it had been lowered, and you couldn’t see fish like we could before inside the coves.  We found that people had left trash around the lake in areas where the lake could be fished from shore.  That doesn’t say much for fishermen who leave a mess  where ever they go.  There were beer cans, paper towels, and various wrappers and empty worm cans.  What a disgrace.

We decided to leave earlier that we had planned.  The bass and bluegill fishing was definitely poor and the condition of the lake was not to our enjoyment.

The second day, Friday, we went to our local small lake at River bend.  Here the water is clear and deep even though the lake had been lowered approximately 5 feet.  Don’t ask me why because the lake was more fishable and attractive when it was full.  The county park had cut a trench to the river, (Sangamon) to let that much water out and I’m sure, a great many fish to boot.  Great planning and as cheaply as possible for sure.  I would have thought that someone would have thought of saving the fish by putting up a screen before letting out five feet of the lakes water, wouldn’t You?

However, the county did put in a beautiful dock with a large gazebo and ramp system with access for the handicapped.  The boat dock was also repaired. 

The fishing was fairly good.  Ivan and I both caught a few bass and some bluegill.  Most of the fish were  small with the largest bass weighing about 2 1/2 lbs.  They were all returned to the lake as quickly as possible.  The fish were cooperative in spurts.  We might catch four bass in quick time and then nothing for an hour.  Then another spurt of catching.  The day went that way but we really enjoyed the day and had a lot of fun trying.

On Saturday we went once again to The smaller lake in the park.  You can read about our fist foray to Shadow Lake in one of my earlier writings where I said,” It’s not for older guys”.  We were better prepared for our visit there this time, however.

As I had stated earlier, the lake is nearly inaccessible for fishing especially with a boat.  The shore is surrounded by steep drop offs… use your imagination.  There is one very difficult way to bring in a canoe and we had used it before but this time with a much smaller canoe.  I sold my 17’ Grumman and bought a 13’ golden Hawk fiberglass boat.  It weighs abut half as much  as the Grumman did.

The canoe being much smaller  would be easier to manage, right?  Well, it was but not as much as we would have liked.  Having been there before and learned by experience, we did have a much easier time of it.

But, UNLESS YOU ARE IN VERY GOOD HEALTH, don’t try it! 

We had a pretty good day of fishing, between us we caught about sixteen fish with the biggest nearly three lbs.  I did hook up with three other larger fish but they got off near the boat.  But, that’s O.K. because I had fun with them and they would have been returned to the lake immediately anyway.

Think positive but don’t over do it all you older guys, (I’m nearly 73 years YOUNG) and that’s the difference.  Ivan is nearly 64 years young.  We work at trying to stay healthy. 

Our fish were caught mainly with the Gary Yammato stick worm in green/light green, and the Excalibur crank bait, deep diver in silver, black back, and red gill stripe fished in a slow steady manner.   The bluegill were caught on a yellow Betts popper with rubber legs.

Tight lines

Jim