River Bend (Illinois) 7-1-10
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
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