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March Smallmouths at Powerton
Fish or no fish, bites or no bites, you just can't ask for much better weather than I had on March 10, 2006. It was warm, sunny, and calm by Illinois standards, with winds from the northwest at five miles per hour. The air temperature was in the low 40's and climbed to the mid-50's during the afternoon. The downside was that it had rained the previous day as a cold front passed through the area, so this was a stereotypical, post cold-front day with bright sun, no clouds, with a northwest wind. One week earlier I had fished Powerton for smallmouths on a windy, dark, cold, pre-front day with no success, so I didn't have much to lose by fishing on a totally opposite day. Another cold front with more rain was due the next day so, as often is the case during early spring in Illinois , I only had one day to fish between fronts. Powerton is a hot-water discharge lake located in Tazewell County on the southwest edge of Pekin . It offers some impressive smallmouth fishing, but you had better enjoy fishing rocks. Rocks are almost exclusively the only visible cover to fish. Official lake hours are from 8:00 a.m. to 4 p.m. until May 1, when hours are extended to 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. Gates to the boat ramp are sometimes open prior to official opening hours. For information call 309-968-7135.
At times there is a substantial number of shore fishermen, especially near the warm water discharge during spring, so boat fishermen need to find an unoccupied spot. I left the dock at 10:45, having allowed the day to warm up the lower 40's. The surface temperature at the dock was 69 degrees. The areas of the lake that I fished were between 61 and 70 degrees. I declined to stop for live bait at one of the tackle shops in Pekin , but did notice another boat pitching a bait net for shad. If you don't want to cast lures all day at endless stretches of rip rap, you might consider a live bait alternative. Being mostly a largemouth fisherman, I had all the typical heavy line and baitcasting equipment, but I did dust off my old smallmouth tackle box that is full of smaller baits. I spooled 10-pound test line onto two spinning reels and was ready to try some baits that are not traditional lures for meat and potatoes largemouth bass fishing. The 10-pound line wasn't too heavy due to the rocks and the water clarity. I could see a white lure only 1 ½ feet below the surface, so this is not your typical clear-water, smallmouth environment. I started the day like any day fishing. I wanted the fish to make it as easy as possible for me, so I headed to the rocky peninsula point directly north of the boat ramp and started cranking. I worked all the way around the point and back again, throwing small white and chartreuse crankbaits, a small white/chartreuse spinnerbait, and a small hair jig with no success. The prior trip I had worked closer to the hot water discharge, but today I headed to the west end of the lake, farthest away from the discharge because of the deep-water areas that had yielded smallmouths in previous years.
The water temperature was still a respectable 61 degrees in this area, so I paralleled the shoreline, throwing more crankbaits, jigs, Senkos and Berkley Power Shads against the shoreline rocks. I still couldn't get a bite. Apparently, these sluggish post-front fish demanded another presentation, so I decided to fish deeper and slower with some techniques that were new to me. This year I have decided to get away from bass tournaments and fish more for fun. I want to fish at lakes and times that I choose rather than be obligated to fish on tournament lakes and on days that are pre-determined. I also promised myself to fish some different techniques with different baits, so in this spirit I rigged up a drop shot rig with a variety of small baits, such as tubes, grubs, and shad baits. I tried a downsized version of a Carolina rig with floating tubes and grubs, but still couldn't coax a bite. After an hour of slower, deeper fishing, the wind shifted from the northwest to the south. Balls of baitfish started to show up on the sonar and minnows could be seen flipping near the surface along the shoreline rocks. Some cloud cover moved in prior to the next front. It was time to go back to the staples and cover some water. The water was coming alive with baitfish. An occasional feeding predator made its presence known by slashing at minnows along the shore. A small, white Bandit crankbait boated several scrappy smallmouths and a few that didn't make it to the boat. I stopped at the point across from the ramp where I had started and caught a few more before heading to the dock. I didn't catch a ton of fish or any huge ones, but I caught enough to make the day interesting for a post-front day with meager expectations. The old standby small, white crankbait had salvaged the day, thanks to a shift in the wind, the presence of baitfish, and a pending weather change, but I still have the drop shot rig tied on for next time…just in case.  Smallmouths were caught on the peninsula point directly north and across from the boat ramp and along the middle third of the western portion of the lake, along the East bank. |
