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Muddy Water During The Spawn- Part 2by Kevin Patton
We started at 8 a.m. on a dark, rainy day three. Storms were brewing so we wasted no time in trying to repeat our formula for success from the previous day. The hot arm had been good to us for two days, but a southeast wind was blowing into our best areas. This made the fishing more difficult and we didn't connect with many fish. Several bit a jig, but we didn't manage to get a hook into most of them. As the fishing slowed to nearly a standstill, we tied on some faster moving baits to search for fish in sheltered pockets. Fishing soon improved, but the average size of the fish declined considerably from the previous two days. We caught fish in weeds and reed beds with spinnerbaits, a Bomber Square A in oxbow bream color, and a shallow-running, white Bandit crankbait.
The storm eventually ran us off the lake with lightening and heavy rain after 5 1/2 hours. We ended the day without a keeper, but did manage to boat 17 bass, including three that measured at least 17 inches. We thought that bad weather had finally ran the bass off the bank, but were humbled to find out differently at the boat ramp and the motel. Several other fishermen had caught impressive stringers of keepers in the cold arm by using chartreuse, firetiger, and white Chatterbaits. Evidently, we had just been in the wrong place at the right time. There were still shallow fish to be caught, so we would regroup for tomorrow and plan a visit to the cold arm of the lake. Day four would prove to be very challenging with winds from the south at 20-30 mph and gusts to 40 mph. Much of the lake was unfishable, especially for using jigs and soft plastics.
This was a typical post-front day with bright skies and lots of wind. Thunder, lightening, and nearly three inches of rain overnight had changed the mood of the fish. We still caught some fish in shallow water, but bites were few and far between and you had to fish slowly. The three keepers that we caught came on a five-inch, yellow and black Yum Dinger and a black/blue jig with blue trailer. We only managed 13 fish in seven hours, including smaller fish that bit a yellow/blue splatter-back Bandit crankbait and brown/orange and junebug jigs. We would give the lake a half day of fishing in the morning before heading home. It would be another day of fishing in muddy water and windy conditions, but that's springtime fishing in Illinois. We started at 8:30 on day five. It was another dark day with 15-25 mph winds from the southwest. With a short day of fishing, we stayed in the hot-arm coves north of the boat ramp where we had done well the first two days of the trip.
A couple fish bit a pumpkin, brown, and orange jig with an orange trailer but they threw the hook. So, we switched to the wacky-rigged, plastic stickbaits despite the difficulty casting them in the wind. We only caught four fish in 3 1/2 hours, but none were shorter than 16 inches and two were 18 1/2-inch keepers. They both bit the yellow/black Yum Dinger. There were still fish in shallow water, but you definitely had to hit them on the head to get a bite. This had been another fun Newton Lake trip and more lessons learned. One thing learned was that bass spawn when you might think bad weather would run them away from the bank. They also may be in the middle of spawning at times other than the full and new moon phases. We gained confidence in a new bait and new presentation for shallow, muddy water bass. We realized that, especially during springtime, there seems to be some bass in shallow water nearly all the time in Newton Lake. You may not fish where they are shallow, but you can be fairly certain that somebody is catching them close to the bank.
We finished the trip with 67 bass, 19 of which were keepers. An impressive 55 percent of our bass measured at least 16 inches. We didn't catch any huge fish, but we did boat a 5 1/2-pounder and one that was 4 pounds, 15 ounces. We had endured rain, wind, lightening, and muddy water, but we were there at the right time for some great bass fishing.
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