Just over a year ago, I made my final visit of 2025 to Lake Storey. As the winter then passed into spring this year, the annual fall drawdown remained in effect due to a construction project. In March, I made my first 2026 visit to Lake Storey. At that time, I decided that I’d shoot for the goal of at least one visit per month from March through October as the prolonged drawdown was a unique occurrence. With this outing, I accomplished that goal in the unusual surroundings of the lake at full pool in the fall. I also shared the boat with my son, Jayce, as we had done on a May trip to Lake Storey when the lake was lowered.

1:00pm – Top Bass #4 weighing 1-10 (14.5″) on a crankbait

Stats
Date: October 24
Location: Lake Storey, Knox County, IL
Time: 11:50am-3:35pm
Totals: 8 bass (Dad – 5, Jayce – 3)
Weather: Sunny/windy, 68-73F
Water temperature: 63-64F
Lure: War Eagle Spinnerbait (chartreuse/white) with BPD Double Tail Grub trailer (Houdini) – 5 bass, Bomber Deep Flat A (mad craw or mud craw) – 2 bass, Z-Man Chatterbait (black/blue) with swimbait trailer – 1 bass
Top Bass: 2-2 Spinnerbait (Troy), 1-12 Chatterbait (Jayce)
Top 5 Weight: 9-1 (2-2,1-15,1-12,1-10,1-10)

Winning lures

1:20pm – Top Bass #3 weighing 1-12 (15″) on a crankbait

Notes and Nonsense

Hot Hand – Jayce opted to start out casting a chatterbait while I chose a spinnerbait. We also had a lipless crank and some mid-depth flat-sided cranks ready to go. The chatterbait was the right choice as Jayce had our first bass in the boat less than fifteen minutes into casting. As we moved to a few pieces of rocky structure, we shifted gears to cranking and Jayce proceeded to have me down three bass to zero with a pair caught on Bomber Flat A models. But whose counting? Honestly, probably both of us.

3:07pm – Top Bass #2 weighing 1-15 (15.5″) on a spinnerbait

3:11pm – Top Bass weighing 2-2 (16″) on a spinnerbait

Solo Shot – Jayce opted to split his time in Galesburg between fishing and visiting as my folks picked him up at The Pavilion about two hours into our trip. I remained for another hour and a half and managed to fool five bass before heading out to grab supper and visit as well. Along with Jayce’s two “keepers” (1-12, 1-10), I managed to fill out our limit for a respectable combined Top 5 Weight of 9-1 for the day.

 

Lake Storey certainly was not on fire, but we plugged away and had what I would consider a fair day. Fishing the lake in the fall at full pool is a different look and I have to say that I really miss the drawdown. Part tradition, and part the potential uptick in the bite, I sure hope that the skipping the annual drop in a one-time deal. Not satisfied with the haul, I headed back for another visit the following day. Stay tuned for that report and talk to you later. Troy