 |
IL Fishing |
 |
Articles |
Fishing |
Free |
Events |
Photo |
Fishing |
Tournament |
DNR News |
Site Map |
Home Page |
 |
Hosted By
 |
You Have to Fish This Lake- Part 2
We started the trip on day one with 30 bass, but overnight storms threatened to make us break out the rain suits on Thursday, April 6. The day began with 59 degree air temperatures and 60 degree water at the boat ramp. Wind was 5 mph from the southeast and the skies were dark and cloudy. Since this was supposed to be a trip for crappie and bass, we decided to spend the morning fishing for crappies because the wind was minimal. We headed up the cold arm where our favorite crappie trees are located, on the east side bluffs along the middle third of the arm. We spent the morning fishing a variety of crappie jigs around several trees with limited success, but we caught enough nice crappies and small bluegills to keep us interested until the skies darkened and the wind pickup up about 12:30. We didn't have many crappies to show for the morning of fishing, but they were all nice 11 to 12-inch fish. The wind increased to 10-15 mph and the rain began almost as soon as we started fishing for bass. Since our last crappie spot was at the mouth of the biggest cove in the cold arm, we followed the shoreline into the cove, casting 3/8 and 1/2-ounce white Nichols spinnerbaits with tandem white willowleaf blades.
The spinnerbaits are their color number 40, which is called blue shad. They have white blades with blue sparkle on them. Their skirts have a blue tint to them in the water and I have had good results with them for years, especially in lakes that have a shad forage base. The day was dark so we opted to use the white/white combination, but color number 47 is my choice for sunny days. It has the same white skirt, but comes with nickel blades that have blue sparkle on them. The first secondary point that we came to was a sign of what we were in store for during the next four hours. We caught two scrappy Newton bass, one on each size of spinnerbait. A few minutes later, the first secondary pocket inside the cove gave us what would be big fish for the day, a 5-pound 8-ounce bass. The rest of the afternoon would be one of those times that we live for in fishing. We had no thoughts of all the fishless days and we didn't mind fishing in the rain for the entire afternoon. The fishing was just too good to care.
When we headed to the ramp we had tallied 42 bass for the day, including 8 fish that measured at least the lake limit 18-inch keeper size and seven more that measured between 17 and 18 inches long. It was one of the best bass fishing days that either of us had ever experienced. The bass seemed to be everywhere. They were everywhere in the sense that it didn't seem to matter which pocket or back end of a cove that we fished. However, we did notice that there were many more fish on flat, bare banks than on steeper shorelines and the majority of the fish were not holding on wood structure. We were more likely to catch a bass along a bank between two downed trees or brush than on the wood itself. The bass were roaming and they were hungry. We found out what was meant by the saying that "the big fish were moving up to feed." We had totaled 72 bass during the first two days of the trip, including 10 keepers. All we needed today were white/white spinnerbaits, but tomorrow would be a different day. Coming Soon- Part III- It takes a while, but we adjust to how the fish change. Nichols spinnerbaits are made by Nichols Lures, Inc. and can be seen on their web site at: www.nicholslures.com |
