After separate strip mine visits for me (May 6) and Brent (May 13), we were able to team up to try our luck. For a few years now when we get together, I have incorporated some prognostication prior to making our first casts. Directly below are the pre-launch predictions followed by the lowdown on how it all shook out.

Pre-launch predictions

6:40am – First bass at 2-4 on a Mann’s Chug and Spit popper

Stats
Date: May 20, 2023
Location: Knox County, IL strip pits (1 public, 2 private)
Time: 6:25am-2:25pm (6.50 hours fishing)
Weather: Sunny/windy
Air Temp: 50-72F
Water Temp: not available
Totals: 29 bass (Brent – 15, Troy -14)
Lures: 5” Yamasenko wacky rig (perch) – 13 bass, 5 3/8” Bass Pro Stik-O wacky rig (green pumpkin) – 10 bass, Mann’s Chug and Spit Popper – 5 bass, Whopper Plopper 110 (bone) – 1 bass
Top Bass: 3-9 Senko wacky rig (Troy)
Top 5 Weight: 15-5 (3-9,3-4,2-15,2-13,2-12)

Mann’s Chug and Spit

Notes and Nonsense

Public Water – We spent 6:25am-9:25am on a public strip pit landing eight total bass which included seven over two pounds and four of our eventual Top 5 for the day. Sun and a frustrating wind pushed us to relocate after a solid start to our day.

11:01am – Top Bass at 3-9 from Little John on a Senko wacky rig

Private Water – From 10:25am-2:10pm we fished a pair of lakes at Little John Conservation Club (LJCC) landing twenty-one more bass but only one that would boost our Top 5 weight. That 3-9 would be our Top Bass of the trip with thirteen of our haul being “keepers” weighing between 0-14 and 1-13. The day ended tough with only four bass on our second LJCC lake in the final hour and forty-five minutes of early afternoon casting. The LJCC portion of the outing was my first time on these waters since November 17, 2021. Skipping out on 2022 marked only the second year in over thirty-five years that I had not made a visit to LJCC.

Whopper Plopper and Senko wacky rig

Got Pliers? – While fishing at our first stop, a kayak angler hollered at us requesting some pliers. It turned out that he had caught a bass in the three-pound range that had another hook in its gills. Brent and I were able to extract the hook and an attached four-inch swimbait. The angler was surprised and indicated that it was a lure that his partner had broken off on a fish during an earlier trip. Indeed, I had seen what his fellow kayaker was throwing on this trip, and it sure looked like the same deal. Not the first time I’ve seen such a thing but those are tales filed away for my “Believe it or Not” series one of these days.

Final results and prediction winners

Armada or Flotilla – As Brent and I left the public water we were greeted by half a dozen young anglers dragging out their kayaks and a johnboat. One of the anglers spotted our GoPros and asked, “Do you guys do YouTube?” I confirmed the YouTube content as well as a blog and dug around in my tacklebag for a few business cards to pass around. I also gave the angler looking for pliers a couple so who knows, maybe someone else will look at these fish stories. If you guys are out there, I enjoyed chats, and you have some catching up to do as I wasn’t lying when I said that there is a ton of content here on the blog.

 

Another good day on the water and always fun to share it with Brent. We’ve been doing this for a long time but don’t get a shot to do it often enough these days it seems. As reported in this week’s Top 5 Update, we were able to post four bass that helped our 2023 weight. The LJCC addition marked the first private water submission of the year. I dig LJCC, always have, but there’s an added satisfaction when you fool them where everybody can fish as we did to start our day. Talk to you later. Troy