The day was exceptionally beautiful and a welcome relief from the hot, humid days that we’ve been having.  Ivan hadn’t fished for a while and it was good to get together with him again after a long absence. 

The fish were cooperating fairly well and this time I tried fishing the surface in the reeds and on top of the weeds.  My working deep lures, i.e., jigs and Texas rigged worms, spinners and cranks had not been doing the job in my search for the bigger bass in the lake (see recent postings).   Ivan wanted some action after a long layoff so, I provided him with some of my baits, ones that I had been successful with on previous trips to River Bend, the Strike King Caffeine Shad in white was doing the job.

Ivan was successful and began catching bass like the one shown and a little larger.  Again, I was searching for the bigger fish.  I decided to try the “Ribbit”, a floating frog by Stanley.  And I was doing alright getting hits but few hook ups.  It was the smaller bass hitting the lure but grabbing the frog by the leg but not engulfing the frog so that I could get a better hook up.

I thought that I should put on a stinger but the fish were small and I was still looking for the bigger fish .   I had recently read an article in ’Bassin’ magazine where this pro was catching monster bass in the weeds  (don’t they always?) so I stuck with the frog.

The frog floats and so I tried laying the frog in the reeds and slowly working the frog out and onto the weed beds.  Once I got the lure on top of the weeds I hopped the frog and then let it sit and then dragged it.  After it left the weeds I swam the frog back to the boat.  This got little results.

I then tried to work the frog a little faster.  The frog has paddle feet and stirs up the water like the “Rage” lures except  that it stays on top of the water. Letting it just sit and float and then swimming it fast got some action.  Pulling the frog faster along the surface got the most strikes but only five hook ups and three of them shook off the hook when they jumped near the boat.  I could see that the fish were barely hooked and putting the net under them was not an option; the fish were small.  I was not catching any big bass.  Then the action stopped.

We started out at about 4:00 pm and now it was getting close to 6:00 pm.  The score was Ivan 5 and Jim “0”.  Yes, Ivan had missed a few fish as well and he was having a good time.  I however, was going to be “skunked!!!”  I couldn’t let that happen so I used the Shad too for a while and caught two small bass.

We crossed the lake to the shady side.  The sun would be settling on the horizon and we hoped the bass would be coming nearer the shore in the shallows.  I tried the frog again but got nothing.  I switched to a crank bait that I had never used before even though it has been in my tackle box for a long time, an Excaliber  shallow runner. 

During the evening, the fish will sometimes come up to the surface chasing minnows or small fry. This got no results as well. I went to my deep diver and managed to catch a pair of small bass. I switched to the Shad again and caught two mere. Ivan managed to catch a couple more as well. We ended the day with Ivan catching seven bass and I caught four. Still, no big bass. Where are they? Tight lines Jim

As you can see the channel cats are still cooperating and so are the crappie to some extent, but the big ones are hard to find.  In fact I haven’t found any for a long time now…where do they go?  This cat hit on a pin spinner with a small Storm paddle tail minnow in perch green and black.  You can see it if you look closely.  In fact I barely hooked him right under his whisker.

My usual Blue Fox has not caught any of the bigger crappie  so I thought I’d switch to this style.  I managed to catch about a dozen crappie with it but none larger than 8”.

I haven’t been fishing much during this hot spell.  The temperature has been in the nineties with a heat index in the low 100’s but the real problem is the very high humidity.  So, I keep my fishing times to after 5:00 pm till 8:00 pm but only if the temps get down into the upper 80’s.

The temperature is supposed to be in the mid 80’ tomorrow, the 6h of Aug and Ivan and I are going to try River Bend again.  Ivan hasn’t been able to get out much this summer, so, I hope the fish will cooperate for him.  I will continue to try for the bigger fish, I’m determined to find one of at least 4 lbs to beat my very old record (5 years) of 3 1/2 lbs on that lake.  As I noted on a previous writing, “ a fisherman had told me that he caught  a 5 lb bass at about the same time that I caught the 3 1/2 lb bass.)  We’ll see.

Tight lines.

Jim

Last week on Thursday it was a truly beautiful day, the sky had a few broken clouds and the temperature was in the mid 80’s.  The wind was from the North West at about 10mph causing a cooling breeze and a slight ripple on the water.  You’d think the fish would be just jumping into the boat.  Well, they weren’t!  Roy was the first to score with this bass and he was the last to score as well with his seventh bass of the day which were mostly about the same size, (some were bigger but not by much).  We decided that the “hump” would be the best place to start.  It comes up to within three feet of the surface and drops down gradually to about 19 feet.  There are surface and subsurface weeds, mill foil and a kind of tall weed similar to hydrilla.  Out further the depth reaches nearly 40 feet with a weed less level bottom.  We were both using our fish locators and fish were mostly suspending at about 12 feet and just above the weeds.  The hump is fairly large and is about 100 yards long and 40 yards wide.  We were fishing the Eastern point which is about seventy feet from the main shore line.

Roy was using a brown/green  3”tube weighted with a 1/8 oz bullet weight jammed inside the tube and an offset worm hook and braided line with which he could cast a country mile.

I was using crank baits, a bronze Bass master deep diver, an Excaliber medium diver in red/chartreuse, a blue/ white Strike King two bladed spinner, a Senko stick worm, a Strike King pro model jig in brown/green with a green Yum twin tail grub, and a Berkley red watermelon ribbon tail worm rigged weightless.  They all hauled water.  My  line: 12lb Sufix clear.

Roy, during the same period, caught three more bass using his tube, but fishing the shoreline with very long casts.  So, the score was Roy 4, Jim 0. 

I had been searching for the bigger bass at the different levels of the hump and failed to get a single fish.  Roy offered me one of his tubes and I finally managed to catch a bass and I missed two more.  Thanks to Roy I managed to not get skunked.

We decided to move on after about an hour.  We were trolling across the lake when just after starting to leave the hump a crappie hit my Bass Master deep diver.

We fished the northwest side of the lake around some points where the water rapidly drops to 40 feet and is shaded by the high bluffs that surround the lake.  Roy was using his tube and I was using the tube for a short while, but I switched to the jig.  I did hook into a larger than usual fish but it got off in the weeds.  And I believe Roy caught another bass before switching to a surface lure, I don’t know what kind but it had a sputtering action.

I switched to my Excaliber crank and managed to catch two more small bass and Roy did the same with his top water bait.

It was getting close to dark so we decided to start in and hopefully catch the bass surfacing as they had two weeks earlier chasing bait fish near the dock area.

I tried my stick worm and Roy stayed with his surface lure but dragging a black/chartreuse ribbon tail worm and with that Roy caught the last bass of the day . 

Score: Roy 7,Jim 4.

I am determined to try to find the biggest bass in the lake even if I do get skunked, “Lord forbid”.  Well, the name of the game is “fishing” not “catching” and I’ll keep trying.  Remember, the biggest bass that I’ve seen come out of this lake is about 3 1/2 lbs and I caught it nearly five years ago.   Another fisherman told me that he had caught one weighing 5 lbs at about that same time.  So, there must be some big ones in there.  Can one of you readers give me a hint on how to do it?  I’d really appreciate your input>

Tight Lines

Jim

Last evening I decided to go out just for bass.  I took three bait casting outfits with me and my standby spinning rod and reel, the Cardinal, with the Blue Fox spinner.  I would not use the spinner until all else failed.  On my bait casters I tied on a Yum Craw in red speck brown, a Gary Yamamoto stick worm in green/white, and a Culprit 8” ribbon tail worm in red watermelon.  I stayed in one area the whole time, and area where I can usually count on catching something.  For two and one half hours I did not get a single hit.  I decided to go to the spinner.

I did not move the boat, I just got out the spinning rod and started casting in the exact same area.

On my second cast I caught a small bass, about 1  lb.  After a few more casts I caught three small crappie.  Then a second small bass of about the same size.  And one nice bluegill.

It was getting dark about this time so I decided to make a few more casts with the spinner on the way back.  I landed my spinner in a low hanging branch and that took me about five minutes to get it out of the branch and untwisted.  Another  reason why I don’t like night fishing especially when the fish are usually laying under low hanging branches near the shore.  And, the fish I did catch were no further than two or three feet from shore as was the seven pounder that I caught a few days before.

I got to where I keep my boat and tried one more cast.  I was just about to take my spinner out of the water when a big fish came up out of the water enough for me to see it was a large fish but I couldn’t be sure of what kind of fish it was as it was almost dark.

Well, just a few more casts…and Whammo!  it was the cat that you see here.  I estimate it to be about five pounds.  Of course I let him go right after taking the picture.

The moral of this story is don’t give up and use the lure that is paying off until it is no longer effective for whatever reason.

I like to experiment and sometimes it really pays dividends but if I’m not catching anything I will go back to my tried and true lures, i.e., the ones that are paying off at that particular time and place.

You’ll notice that I haven’t been using my fly rod lately.  That’s because the fly rod has just not been effective for me lately…but come fall and the fly rod will be out again.  I could be catching bluegill with it and maybe some cats but I really want to focus on big bass this time of year.  There are bass flies that work but it’s been too slow for me.

Tight lines.

Jim

I haven’t been fishing as much as I’d like this last couple of weeks due to the hot humid weather.  I do however, venture out on some evenings after supper.  Those evenings have also been limited due to thunderstorms that have also been prevalent during this period.

When I have gone out between the hours of 6:00 and 8:00 pm the fishing has been slow.  I know that I should stay out after dark but I don’t care for night fishing.  The fish at night will be close to the bank in the pond and I find more than my share of snags due to my limited visibility.  For example, I know where most snags are having fished the pond over a period of many years; I’ve even put many tree limbs and other brush into the pond to provide cover for the fish, but inevitability I’ll miss my mark and catch the snags that I’m trying to avoid.

Last evening I was making my last cast for the evening with Shaw’s paddle worm, I hooked onto a very large fish just as dark was settling in.  I cast right next to a bush that I had buried this spring and sure enough that fish went straight for it and got my line wrapped up in it.  My line broke.  That fish could have been a bass or another big cat, I’ll never know.  The point is that the fish was the only one of any size that I got bit by that evening from 5:00 until 8:00 pm.  I had only had six bites before my quitting time, three small crappie, a bluegill, and two small bass.  So, my quitting time should maybe be my starting my starting time if I want to be sure to catch fish. And, by the way, the River Bend  lake where I fish closes at 9:00 pm.

So, if you like night fishing, I have to concede that your chances of catching the “Big One” during the hot summer will be at night, close to the bank, and with lures that closely match the prey that they’re after.  Example, if crawdads are prevalent in the water that you’re fishing, use plastic or live crawdads.  I don’t use live bait so, I use Yum Craws, (but during daylight hours), and they’re probably more effective at night.  Or use whatever bait that is close to matching their regular diet and lures that move a lot of water and try to match the color of the prey that they are looking for, the fish are searching for what is normal to them.  Yes, I have fished at night when I was younger and have had success, but I still prefer the daylight hours.

Whenever you fish, I hope you have fun.

Tight LInes

Jim

PS:  To Wanda,

Thank you for your input about the older fishing equipment. 

The reason that I have so much older equipment in that because over the many years that I have owned these rods and reels, I have taken care of their maintenance.  I take my reels apart and clean them frequently and always before storing them.  I use a tip that I read in one of the fishing magazines,  “Using Pledge furniture polish helps keep the rod clean, the guides slipperier, and provides some waterproofing, helping to prevent rust or corrosion.”  This is true and I do it.

I was trying to tell my readers that using your old equipment, expensive or not, will only be as good as how well you take care of it.

I don’t buy expensive equipment even though many of the new rods, reels and etc., are far superior to my equipment.  It just doesn’t fit into my budget.  If you can afford expensive fishing gear, by all means buy it, but take care of it and it will last you perhaps a lifetime.  I  also read in an article from and article about fly fishing, “ When choosing a fly rod that is on sale due to closeouts or discontinued models, remember that that rod or reel was the “latest and best” a few years ago,”  I do buy these rods and reels when my budget allows.

New modern equipment is superior to the old rods and reels, lines and etc.  I wish that I could afford more.

I have accumulated some nice equipment over the years and when I pass I have asked my executor to give to the Boys and Girls Club whatever my grandkids don’t want.

Tight Lines

Jim

Fishing has been slow for the last two weeks.  My friend Ivan and I went to River end a week ago and fished all afternoon from about 2:00 pm until 7:30 pm and didn’t catch a single bass until about 6:30 pm.  We tried cranking, trolling, and fly casting using a variety of baits. 

I stuck with crank baits for the most part along with my tried and true stick worms and I tried the Blue Fox spinner.  I used the Blue Fox in the pond a couple of days before and caught 17 crappie and two bass and 4 bluegill with it but, I didn’t get a single tick with it on River Bend.  That shows that  what is good in one lake doesn’t mean it will be good everywhere, so be prepared to change your tactics.

Ivan stayed with the fly rod and caught a few nice bluegills.  I used my fly rod as well for a short time and only caught one bluegill.  Hmmm…Ivan’s out fishing me!  I really wanted to locate the bigger bass  at River Bend as I had tried and failed the week before but I did manage to catch some of the average 1/12  -  2lb bass.  But even that was not happening on this trip until we  saw fish breaking water…bass chasing fry and bait fish.  I cast my Yum pearl stick worm as far as I could to reach them and finally caught my first bass of the day.  We began chasing the fish that were surfacing and I managed to land 5 bass altogether in last hour of our fishing day.  They were all about 2 lbs.  Ivan tried a surface plug and couldn’t get one to hook up.

Last week I went out with Roy on the pond for a couple of hours from 6 to 8 pm.  Naturally I brought out my Blue Fox spinner; Roy was using his stick worm.  I had one bite that evening and landed a nice bluegill.  Roy caught a bass of about a pound.  And that was it!

I went out again last evening from 5:30 to 8:00 pm.  I started out using the Yum stick worm, the Zoom trick worm, a popper, spinning rod size and the Blue Fox spinner.  At first I used the popper in an area…no hits…switched to the Yum…no hits…the Zoom…no hits…the spinner…one small crappie.  And that’s the way it went from place to place until 7:30 pm.  That’s when I hung onto this really nice bass and on the Blue Fox spinner.

The fun began.  The fish made several 20 to 30 foot runs peeling line off my old Cardinal light action spinning reel, my old Shakespeare light action 6” spinning rod and 6lb test Stren mono line.  And the fish had only a single barb of the small treble hook hooked on his lip.  When the fish jumped my heart leaped thinking,”I’m going to lose him!”  This is only the second 7 lb bass I have ever caught in my entire fishing life of 67 years and I sure as …. didn’t want to lose him. 

After I got my picture I immediately let the fish go as I always do.  He was out of the water for less than two minutes.  When you let a fish of this size go you are helping the pond retain fish of a superior genetic species and by releasing him as fast as possible.  And I do want the offspring of this fish to continue in our pond for as long as possible.   Wouldn’t you?

About 15 minutes later I caught the cat again, on the Blue Fox spinner and, yes, I did re- tie my spinner as the line had been frayed when I was playing the bass.  Using two minutes of your time to re-tie might just save you from losing a big fish.  So, keep that in mind, “two minutes could save your seven pounder”.

Tight lines

Jim

I went to River Bend again on Thursday afternoon to try to get the big bass to bite in the deep water.  And, once again I struck out.  This time using the Money Minnow and the Yum Minnow.  I tried my time tested plugs, deep divers, and medium and shallow divers all to no avail.  The Money Minnow and the Yum Minnow really move well through the weed beds because of their unique design, with the hook groove along the back.  The Yum Stick Worm also has that feature and also works well through the deep weeds weightless or Texas rigged.  After three hours of striking out I decided to try for some of the bluegills that were nipping at my Yum worm.  I got out my fly rod with a 1/8oz Hula Popper in the frog color in shallow water along some reed/weed beds. 

The result was two nice 2 lb bass  that came out of nowhere and grabbed the popper.  So, I continued along the weed beds along the shallow (3-5 feet deep) to try for more.  But, there were no more bass takers.  So, I downsized to the 1/32oz Hula Popper in the same frog pattern,(Arbogast does not make that popper anymore and I wish that they did, it’s a real fish catcher), and I started catching some fairly nice 7-8” bluegills.  I continued that for a while until it was getting close to dark.

In my last outing you’ll recall, the bass were chasing schools of baitfish at the surface and that got me ten bass just before quitting, (the park closes at 9 pm).  I decided to try again using the pearl/black Yum stick worm that I used last time.

The fish did not come up as they did the last time.  There were a few rising but too far for me to cast to and they were very small bait fish schools.  I managed to get two fish on but didn’t get them to the boat.

I plan to go out again this week during the evening when it is cooler with a fishing buddy, maybe he can teach me something.  Apparently, I still need to learn and I am always learning.

Tight Lines

Jim

I fished on the pond with the fly rod this evening for a couple of hours after trying to catch some bass with my stick worms and the Zoom stick worm without results.  Just as before on my last posting, the bluegills were grabbing the tail of the stick worms.  I did manage to catch a couple of small bass on the fly but no luck with the larger bass.  Again, this is after another rain storm.  The weather was hot and muggy.  My guess is that the bass were not in a feeding mood because of the heat or the fish were waiting for dark to feed.  I also tried a  floating frog and missed one strike in the area where I could hear the frogs croaking.  I tried that for about half an hour with no other takers.  The water is very dirty and warm, I’m sure that has a lot to do with the problem.  Next week we’re supposed to have a few nice days with temperatures in the mid 80’s.  I’ll try again then.  You can see the fly still in the mouth of the cat in the top photo a black/white clouser to try to match the bass fry.

Tight lines

Jim

Thursday afternoon I decided to try for the bigger bass at River Bend.  There is, what they call “the hump”, an area that rises to the 3 foot level to deeper than 30 feet of water.  The area is surrounded by weed beds.  There are several open pockets between the beds.  According to all the articles that I have read, these areas should hold the bigger bass.  I’ve tried this area before and have caught bass there, but the bass  still averaged 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 pounds on those occasions.  This time I would try several methods to try to entice, “the big ones” down deeper, graduating from shallow to 30 feet.

I set up my rods beforehand with the following:  Mann’s  hard nose craw, rust colored, rigged Carolina style.  A Yum craw, brown/red specks, Texas style.  A weighted Zoom trick worm , watermelon, Texas style  A Yum stick worm, grey/white rigged drop shot, 8” off the bottom.  An Excalibur in red/chartreuse, deep diving plug to bring along the top of the weeds 8- 10 feet deep, and a Rapala Shad Rap in the bass color, (I thought the bass would possibly be after their fry), also to bring along the tops of the weeds. And the results:  “0” after three hours.  All the lures mentioned above have caught bass at River Bend before.

I did try other plugs including the old Bayou Boogie, Rapala craw diving plug, Rapala suspending husky jerks in two different colors and a couple of other lures, and, oh yes, the old red/white “sonic”; proven fish catchers of the past. 

The day was partly cloudy with a 5 to 10 mph wind and the temperature was in the mid 80’s.  A beautiful day following a few days of heavy rain and high winds.  The water was very high, at least two feet higher than normal.  When I got to the area where there is a drain pipe, you couldn’t see the pipe beneath the water.  I always catch bass in this area.  And, sure enough, I caught my first bass of the day there at 5:10 pm.  I had reverted back to my usual lures, the Zoom trick worm and the Yum stick worm both weightless.  The bass was the usual size, about 1 1/2 lbs to 2lbs.  I tried the drop shot, 25 feet, no takers.  The plugs, no takers,  and all the rest of my set ups, but no takers.

I decided to try my fly rods with the wooly buggers and the cclouser minnow in the pockets of weeds near the shore: no takers.  I moved on to start back along the shore line at about 6:00 pm casting with my weightless stick bait and the Zoom trick worm, usually a sure way of catching bass at River Bend if you’re happy catching the normal size bass there.  The shore line on the west side of the lake is covered in shadow at this time.  But, no takers!

Moving along I spotted some surface activity; the bass and the crappie will coral the schools of bait fish or fry to the surface.  This was happening 100 to 200 yards off shore.  I put my trolling motor on low speed to try to get as close as possible to the disturbed areas but could get no closer than 50 to 60 feet before the fish would disappear.  So, when I did get to within that  distance I cast just off to the side of the commotion and landed my second bass of the day, about two lbs.  When I hooked a fish the rest were spooked and moved off to another spot where  they would surface again.  The areas were small and their next location was unpredictable but, I remained patient, spotted the disturbances, moved in to within casting distance, and caught ten more bass and missing that many more with poor hook ups.  I use a offset worm hook.  I’ve used a wacky style hook before but I get better hook ups with the offset hook. 

By that time it was getting on toward dark so, I headed in before it was too dark to see what I was doing when I was putting my boat on the trailer and packing my gear.  The park would be closed in another hour anyway.  The park closes at 9:00 pm.

So, no big bass, but fun, and I’ll try again next week for the big ones and with different lures and methods until I succeed.  I’m a believer that “where there are small ones poppa and grandpa will be there too”.  Not to mention mama and grandma.  I let “all” my fish go anyway.  I’ll have my camera ready.  So, stay tuned for the next chapter. 

Tight lines

Jim

PS. When I had moved off shore, two fishermen in a boat were fishing along the shore line.  They called to me, “Hey, are you fishing for bass?”  I yelled back,”yes”. They must have thought I was crazy fishing in over 40 feet of water and moving out deeper.  They didn’t know I was chasing the fish at the surface and I didn’t tell them.  I wonder if they caught anything.  I did and was happy doing so, crazy or not!. 

And, I should mention I had my” Eagle” fish locator with me.  With it I could determine the depth and locate the open spaces of the weed beds.  I also spotted humps on the hump and gradual underwater banks varying in depth along with sheer drops.  All these areas should hold bass.  That’s why, next time I’ll try again with different set ups.  There were fish there, I could see fish on the graph, but they didn’t want what I was offering for one reason or another.  Got any suggestions?

I was about to go to fish at River Bend but thought I’d check the weather on the computer first: “40% chance of thunderstorms and high winds for the afternoon”.  I looked outside and didn’t see a cloud in the sky.  But, knowing Illinois weather, I decided to stay home and fish the pond instead.  I’m glad I did because 40% turned into 100% by six Pm.  And the winds were very strong.  I got off the pond pronto.  When I fish at River Bend I like to stay until dark around 8 Pm so, I would have been caught up in a very bad storm on the far end of the lake where I like to fish for bass.

And I had a good three hours on the pond anyway.  I caught four bass, two of them were dinks, but I’m glad to see them; it means that there is some spawning and there are some healthy survivors.  I also managed to catch 10 nice bluegills, eight and nine inchers on my fly rod using a #6 black and white clouser minnow.  In fact three of the bass were caught on the clouser .  The one shown however, I caught on the Yum craw, you can see part of it in the picture.   This fellow is about 2 1/2 lbs.  The bass and the bluegills were all in the same area.  Where I usually catch  bass I zeroed. The Yum craw, for those who read my web site, used to be my favorite lure on the pond.  Then suddenly, they quit hitting it.  This was the first bass that I caught with it in a long time.  I think that maybe, just maybe, the pro’s are right, “After  a bass has been caught on a lure they tend to recognize it as “not to be eaten by fish”!  as the bass grocery package might say.  I rigged the craw Texas style with an offset worm hook.  I’ve tried to rig it with a jig hook but, I find I miss many strikes that way or get bad hook sets.  Texas style is better for me.

Now they seem to be going after it once again…new generation of bass?  You decide.

Tight Lines

Jim