Friday Flashback – June 30, 2003

For this week we take a look back at an outing that featured a personal best from a small West Central Illinois fishing hole, Gladstone Lake. The following is an excerpt from the original June 30, 2003 report shared with family and friends.

June 30, 2003 – new lake record 3-8 on buzzbait

Today I decided to give the bass one more shot for the month of June and they didn’t let me down. The lake of choice was Gladstone Lake in Henderson County, located, oddly enough, just west of Gladstone. In the past, this lake has produced large quantities of bass although the quality leaves much to be desired. Fishing with Tim (former brother in law) or Geek (aka Mark Junk) on a few occasions has resulted in sixty to seventy bass days. Dad and I have hit the lake a couple times in recent years with much less success. Therefore, I left him home today and went by myself (actually he had a golf outing). My records indicate only 9 of 137 bass I’ve recorded at Gladstone from 1997-2003 were 12″ or longer. Of the 128 fish less than 12″, 87 were clustered between 9-10″. Much of the same today with two notable exceptions.

Original log entry from this outing

The less impressive exception was a 6 1/2″ bass that was barely longer than the lure I caught it on. When I catch one of these, I pass them off as “Pygmy Bass” in an effort to hide my embarrassment when I haul it into the boat. You see, “Pygmy Bass” usually run in the 4-5″ range so this was actually what could be considered a trophy specimen. I’ve yet to weigh one of these fish and I speculate that my scale may not even register a weight unless there is a stiff wind. Actually, catching one of these tiny bass is all right every once in a while. It speaks volumes for the aggressive nature of a hungry largemouth bass and they are kind of cool, miniature versions of their grownup brothers and sisters.

Former Gladstone Lake personal best of 2-4 from October 2, 2001 on a Blue Glimmer spinnerbait

The other exception was a 19 1/2″, 3-8 bass that nailed my buzzbait around 6:00 am as I retrieved it across a weedy point. This is the largest bass to come out of Gladstone Lake, besting a 2-4 from October 2, 2001. It also turned out to be Big Bass of the Month (barring any last-minute reports). Grand total for the day was thirteen bass in around four hours of fishing from 5:30 am-9:30 am. Ten bass fell to a buzzbait (blue glimmer), two to a Mann’s 4- crankbait (red shiner) and one on the latest rage, the Rebel Ghost Minnow, which barely drew attention unlike last week’s Little John adventures. Prime spots were the series of mid-lake humps that dot the lake. Final weight of all bass over 12″ was 4-2 from two fish.

Second shot of the top catch

A solid outing and admittedly a much larger bass than I really anticipated catching, a pleasant surprise. Shows that you just never know what might turn up when you hit the water. As always, fun to reminisce and definitely an instance where a fish story brings several other fish stories to mind. In the case of Gladstone Lake, there’s a job offer, cheap beer, Mr. Harvey, a long walk, DOC work, Keith Whitley, a muskie at Hardee’s, Bo and Sonny, lizards, and a flat tire. Stories for another time, got hundreds of ‘em.

Not sure what became of Gladstone Lake after some Mississippi RIver flooding, effect shown in my May 2010 photos above

And then there was a Mississippi River flood. Not sure what the story was on that one though as the last time I drove through the area the lake was off limits. Of course, that was back in 2010 so unsure on what the IDNR elected to do with the lake. Should anyone out there have any input drop me a line. Talk to you later. Troy

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