Keeping up with my 2026 goal to hit Lake Storey at least once a month from March through October, I was able to work in my April outing last weekend. For years, I have primarily fished the lake in the fall but after the results on this trip, it seems like I have been missing out.

10:49am – Top Bass #3 weighng 2-5 (16.5″) on a chatterbait

Stats
Date: April 25
Location: Lake Storey, Knox County, IL
Time: 9:55am-3:55pm
Totals: 24 bass
Weather: Sunny/windy, 60-71F
Water temperature: Not available
Lure: Z-Man Chatterbait (white) with BPS Speed Shad trailer (sight fish) – 24 bass
Top Bass: 4-5 Chatterbait
Top 5 Weight: 12-6 (4-5,2-12,2-5,1-11,1-5)

Starting lineup

Tune of the Trip
“I said, rock, rock ‘til you drop, rock, rock never stop”
Rock! Rock! (Till You Drop) – Def Leppard (1983)
On this day, I found a productive bite when targeting spots on the lake that featured rocky cover. Rockpiles, riprap shoreline, gravel bottoms, and areas with scattered debris were winners.

12:43pm – Top Bass weighing 4-5 (20″) on a chatterbait

Notes and Nonsense

Fellow Anglers – Not surprisingly, the lake was a popular place on a pleasant Saturday morning and afternoon. On the water, I spotted one other boat and a flotilla of close to a dozen kayaks. Among the latter, only a couple were fishing. And I wasn’t the only angler catching as I saw the boater land a few crappie, one bank angler real in a big carp, and another bank angler releasing a quality catfish.

Winning lure as the chatterbait once again lands every fish on this outing and 76 of 76 bass in 2026

Talking the Talk – Last week I was texting fishing stuff with my friend, John Kirkemo, as we are wont to do. One of his texts noted that he had to replace one of his favorite lures, a Rapala Floating Minnow, as the plastic lip had fallen out of the balsa bait while fighting a fish. As I like talking fishing, I offered up a trio of my top fishing tips that would later come into play on my Lake Storey outing. Those tips were as follows:
1. Check your line regularly and when in doubt, retie.
2. Never wonder if you should make some casts to a spot, just do it.
3. Always pack along spares of your favorite lures.

2:27pm – Top Bass #2 weighing 2-12 (17.5″) on a chatterbait

Walking the Walk – On this trip, I put each of the above tips to work. In one instance, they all took place within a few minutes as noted below.
1. After catching a bass, I checked my line and found a few worn spots, so I retied.
2. After retying, and reluctant to fight the wind, I debated whether to row over to a piece of offshore cover. But, when in doubt, check it out, so I moved to the spot.
3. On my first cast to the target, I had a strike, set the hook, and broke off my highly productive chatterbait. It was a clean break, so the issue was not the knot, and my thoughts point towards a toothy muskie. Fortunately, I had plenty of identical spare chatterbaits and had another one tied on in less than a minute.
I then rowed back to the target and made two more casts. While retrieving the second cast, I observed a shad shoot out of the water nearby indicating that it was likely fleeing a predator. As a result, I made a follow-up cast in the vicinity and was rewarded with a bass weighing 1-5.

Always pack a spare of your favorite lure

 

I led off today’s post mentioning my general aim for Lake Storey but there are other goals and milestones on the radar for 2026. As such, I have a supplemental post covering additional aspects of this outing coming your way next. Talk to you later. Troy