My third straight day on the water was a change of scenery from The Canal. I opted for the Knox County strip mines as I was headed to Galesburg for a family lunchtime get together. The plan consisted of hitting the water early, fishing for several hours, and being at Mom and Dad’s by 11:00am for the celebration.
Stats
Date: July 25
Location: Knox County public strip pits (two lakes)
Time: 6:35am-9:20am, 9:40am-9:55am
Totals: 9 bass
Weather: Overcast/breezy, 67-81F
Water temperature: Not available
Lures: Spro Flappin Frog 65 (nasty shad) – 6 bass, Booyah Buzzbait (snow white shad) – 2 bass, Nibble Nation Lures wacky rig (gator) – 1 bass
Top Bass: 1-14 (wacky worm)
Top 5 Weight: 7-12 (1-14,1-12,1-8,1-5,1-5)
Winning lures
Notes and Nonsense
6:35am – First Cast Bass weighing 1-4 (12.5″) on a frog
First Cast Bass – My gameplan in the summertime, early morning, overcast, weedy conditions was to hit the bass hard with a one-two topwater punch of a frog and a buzzbait. As always when fishing a topwater, I had a wacky worm at the ready to follow up on any missed strikes where open water permitted. I led off with the frog cast over a weedy flat bordered by a handful of deep-water pockets and was rewarded with a bass weighing 1-4 on my first cast. Some folks view this as a bad omen. I am not saying that I don’t have a bit of a superstitious streak, but this one doesn’t faze me. My outlook to begin any trip is more about confidence than concern.
8:43am – Top Bass weighing 1-14 (15″) on a Nibble Nation wacky worm
Top Bass – The largest bass of the day fell to a Nibble Nation wacky rigged worm and tipped the scales at 1-14. It came off a reliable piece of cover, a submerged tree that runs lengthwise from a flat into deeper water. This was my second stop on the spot as it is always worth a couple of looks. It is also worth a variety of presentations as evidenced by the fact that my frog failed to bring any fish to the surface for a strike. Instead, a wacky rig fluttering down along the dropoff proved to be too much to resist. The catch represented my Top Bass on the locally made bait, topping a 1-8 from July 19, a day after I made the purchase.
9:53am – Last Cast Bass & Top Bass Runner-Up weighing 1-12 (14.5″) on a frog
Last Cast Bass – To end my morning, I opted for a few casts on a spot between my original destination and my vehicle. I only spent about fifteen minutes casting a frog to froggy looking places and a buzzbait to open water amid the matted surface vegetation. I had not seen any activity or mustered any strikes as I reached one last spot on the lake. This area featured surface vegetation with a few scattered openings on a ledge that dropped rapidly into deep water. Right on time, I got a solid strike on a frog from what would be my Top Bass Runner-Up of the morning, weighing 1-12. I opted to make that my final cast of the day and headed for the lot.
It’s not often that I get a first cast bass and a last cast bass as bookends on an outing. In between I also landed a few but couldn’t find any of the larger bites that I know swim in these waters. Still great to get out for the third straight day and I wasn’t done yet as I had a Lake Storey outing lined up for the following day. Stay tuned and talk to you later. Troy