I gave The Canal a break and headed down to Knox County for an afternoon/evening hike on the strip mines. Feeling spry, I elected to hit several lakes that I had not fished since 2021 which required considerable foot travel to chase those bass.

5:56pm – Top Bass Runner-Up at 1-5 (14″) on a swimbait

Stats
Date: September 7
Location: Knox County public strip pits (4 lakes)
Time: 1:30pm-7:35pm (5.00 hours fishing)
Totals: 45 bass, 1 crappie
Weather: Sunny/breezy, 64-55F
Lures: Spro Flappin Frog 65 (natural red) – 18 bass, 3.75” Strike King Rage Swimmer Swimbait (pro blue/red pearl) with a Twist Lock Flashy Swimmer jighead – 16 bass and 1 crappie, 5” Yamamoto Senko (natural shad or blue pearl/silver flake) – 8 bass, Rebel Pop-R (purple shad) – 3 bass
Top Bass: 1-6 Senko
Top 5 Weight: 6-5 (1-6,1-5,1-4,1-4,1-2)

Winning lures

Notes and Nonsense

Twin Lake – Back in April 2014, I landed a 4-6 bass from this spot but the largest catch since has been a 1-10 among 167 total bass going back to 2013. So, I have been pursuing another big bass in this lake for ten years and still can’t find one. This outing once again produced numbers with twenty-one bass but the only “keepers” came in right around a pound. Now the question is, do I continue to visit this spot or invest my time on better water?

A bonus “accident” crappie at 0-15 (12.5″) on a swimbait

Horseshoe Lake – A pair of quality catches continue to convince me to make a return to this spot. Brent posted a 3-13 and a 3-8 during 2014 to put this lake on the radar. Like Twin Lake, we have not caught anything worth a darn since. That trend continued this afternoon as I landed ten bass with all falling under twelve inches.

With my daughter in the NIU Huskie Marching Band and performing at the game, I will always remember right where I was when this went final.

Cottonwood Lake – This lake is loaded with small bass, but I still hold out hope that some of them will grow up. Over the years, I have recorded fifty bass from this lake but only nine have been “keepers” and the Top Bass weighing a mere 1-1. This outing produced five more bass between nine and ten inches. But the highlight of this stop was following the Northern Illinois-Notre Dame football matchup. My daughter, Carly, is a member of the NIU Marching Huskie Band and was onsite in South Bend, IN and got to perform on the field. She also witnessed an impressive upset that will be talked about for a long time. My cell reception was spotty, so it kept me on edge waiting to see the result of what was the game winning field goal attempt.

7:03pm – Top Bass at 1-6 (14″) on a Senko

Strip Mine Lake – My finale for the evening was a spot where I have not invested much time fishing over the years. My previous Top Bass among the seventeen bass caught in my brief stops is a 1-15 but I did observe another angler with a five-pounder earlier this year. My results on this day were nine bass (and a quality crappie) in just under two hours of fishing including seven “keepers” but a Top Bass of only 1-6. Encouraging, but tough, steep bank access makes the lake a challenge. Unlike the other three lakes on this trip, I am eager to give it another shot before the year is out.

Plenty of steps and most of them aren’t particularly easy

Wear and Tear – Each year, I intend to get in better shape so that these strip mine hikes aren’t quite so taxing. Yet again, I failed to do so just like every other year going back to 2019. I pushed my hike well off the beaten path and wound up with two sore heels, a twinge in my right knee, and a sore back. And it did not take long for an ongoing case of “caster’s elbow” to start nagging my right elbow. In the middle of the night a cramp flared up in my left calf but fortunately I was able to move around and fend off a full-blown instance.

 

In the end, a particularly good haul in terms of quantity but could not find the big bites. Was it worth the effort and the sore muscles? Well, I was back for more the following afternoon. Stay tuned and talk to you later. Troy

The Labor Day holiday afforded me a chance to get away for my September kickoff of what I view as the home stretch of the 2024 fishing year. Read on for the results and stay tuned for plenty more fishing on an expanded collection of waters over the next couple of months.

8:20am – Top Bass at 1-14 (15.5″) on a buzzbait

Stats
Date: September 2
Location: Hennepin Canal (2 pools)
Time: 6:55am-11:05am
Totals: 13 bass
Weather: Sunny/breezy, 52-72F
Lures: 3.8” Keitech Swing Impact Fat Swimbait (electric blue and chartreuse) with a Twist Lock Flashy Swimmer jighead – 5 bass, Booyah Buzz Buzzbait (snow white shad) – 4 bass, Spro Flappin Frog 65 (natural red) – 3 bass, War Eagle Spinnerbait (white/chartreuse) – 1 bass
Top 5 Weight: 7-8 (1-14,1-11,1-7,1-4,1-4)

Winning lures

Notes and Nonsense

Taking Notes – I encountered two other boats with three total anglers as I rowed around this morning. A pair in one boat reported less than double digit catches and no quality fish. In contrast, a lone angler that I spoke with around 7:30am stated that he had landed and released his five bass “limit. He added that all were between fifteen and eighteen inches and all on a buzzbait. By the end of my morning, I finished somewhere in between the two reports but I must say it was encouraging to hear of quality bass in the pools.

A decent “one that got away” just left me with a pile of weeds at the boat

Two That Got Away – Not long after I spoke with the angler who had his limit, I got my best bite of the morning on a buzzbait. I was unable to keep the bass out of the subsurface weeds but got it to the boat along with a mass of weeds as I observed it still thrashing under its accompanying vegetation. Unfortunately, one of the thrashes was the bass coming unbuttoned as all I wound up with was a buzzbait and several pounds of salad. Later, I had a heavy hookup on a swimbait but never got a look at the fish before it let go of the lure.

A new Species as it looks like someone emptied the fish bowl in The Canal

 

New Trick – Once the sun gets above the tree line in the morning, the topwater bite typically subsides and on this morning, it wasn’t really fierce anyway. Limping along to the home stretch, I had eight bass in three hours. For a change of pace, I decided to try my luck with a swimbait, as I have long thought that I needed to invest more time on the presentation. As an added wrinkle, I had recently picked up a swimbait jighead that featured an underspin spinner. Much of The Canal that I have fished this year features murky water so I figured that the extra flash could hold added appeal. I was pleased with the results as I landed five bass in just under an hour.

9:41am – Top Bass Runner-Up at 1-11 on a frog

Top 5 Update – One of the pools that I fished already had a Top 5 weight of 10-2 so my primary aim was to boost the 9-5 Top 5 Weight from the second pool. My two Top Bass of the day weighing in at 1-14 and 1-11 did the trick in pushing my weight for the pool to 10-3.

 

Decent numbers, just enough quality bites to hit my Top 5 goal, and positive feedback from a fellow angler all made for a successful outing on The Canal. September always raises those first thoughts that time is running out on another year of fishing. While I try to push into November, these next couple of months just seem to speed by and limited daylight after the workday ends also get me anxious to get in as many casts as I can. Time to invest in a few vacation days to supplement the weekends. Stay tuned and talk to you later. Troy