It was easy to pat yourself on the back on the way home from one of those early Emiquon trips.

And don’t get me wrong, you deserved it.

But you were also wise to engage in a little reality check on the drive as well.

Originally Posted 8-29-10

Things have definitely gotten tougher for bass fisherman this year at Emiquon but you’ve still got to be mindful that the place has the potential to spoil you. In my eight trips to the area my fishing partners and I have hauled in hundreds of bass despite being sent packing twice by the wind and once by illness. Even a trip shortened by a frustrating replacement trolling motor wild goose chase resulted in 98 bass for me and Dad. My best outing was a combined 154 bass day with my brother, Brent. The smallest bass I’ve recorded from Emiquon was seven inches while the largest tipped the scales at just over seven pounds. However, those bookends were the exception as the vast majority of bass were in the twelve to fifteen inch range.

But even those results paled in comparison to other anglers who’d reported one hundred bass days for each angler in the boat. Another instance had a lone angler sitting in one spot for seven hours and reeling in 160 bass. Dad stopped at the ramp last year while in the neighborhood for the Fulton County Fair and immediately observed an angler nail bass on four consecutive casts. I’ve seen pictures of two bass on one lure and saw Dad duplicate the feat with a Rat-L-Trap. Anglers also reported eight to ten bass following a hooked fish to the boat as they attempted to get a piece of a perceived meal.

The seemingly tall tales go on and on with a frequency unheard of at other fishing holes. Such occurrences may have diminished this year but if you are in the right spot when the fish turn on, Emiquon can still live up to the initial hype.

And therein lays the final pitfall.

I’ve found myself telling Emiquon stories using the word “only”, as in “we only caught fifty bass.” It might take me several good days on some of my other fishing holes to log fifty bass. So I must bear in mind that my Emiquon results likely say more about the fishery than the fisherman. A 150 bass day is a remarkable thing to behold but I actually felt more of a sense of accomplishment when Dad and I hauled in fifteen at Lake Storey a couple weeks prior.

If you haven’t paid a visit to Emiquon, I would encourage you to give it a shot this fall. Just be very careful. I can’t speak for anyone else but I know that during several rides home I’ve had to decompress a bit and remind myself that I’m really not that smart.

Much has changed over the years at the unique fishing hole. Water levels have risen, fallen and risen again, visible structural landmarks have succumbed to the elements over time, exotics have found a home and the bass have gotten smarter or scarcer.

Oh, but there was a time…

Talk to you later. Troy

Anybody who says that fishing doesn’t give you a workout is somebody who never experienced an Emiquon feeding frenzy.

Originally posted 8-25-10

Potential Pitfall #5 wrapped up with the observation that “the chipped paint and scarred lips are simply the hard earned battle scars of success” in regards to crankbaits. Well, another tangible sign of success on the lake is something we’ve always referred to as “bass thumb.” If you run into a few of the periodic feeding frenzies that can occur at Emiquon, it can leave you with a pretty good (or bad) case of this malady. Similar to slime, it falls under the category of a “good problem to have.”

The sand paper like patches of teeth on a largemouth bass don’t seem like much at first glance but handle enough of these fish and they begin to leave their mark. At Emiquon we’re talking a multitude of 12-15” bass that are rather feisty and often still a bit active when hoisted into the boat. After a while the scrapes start to add up.

Not uncommon to be lipping a “double” when the bite kicked in.

To combat this issue I have taken to bringing along a Boga Grip style tool that I originally purchased to help out with the occasional walleye or muskie that wind up on the end of my line. In comparison these species have “real” teeth, as in puncture your skin, draw blood and inflict pain sort of thing. Anyway, the Boga grip also comes in quite handy as I’m partial to crankbait fishing. Call me a wimp if you’d like but a mouthful of treble hooks isn’t particularly appealing when trying to lip a bass, I got lucky for a long time so now I frequently take the easy way out. Besides, I prefer wimp over wounded, the latter of which can ruin your fishing trip. Once I get a handle on the fish and use my pliers to dislodge the hooks I lip them anyway as I can’t let them go without collecting some length and weight data. By this point the bass are usually a bit more subdued and seem to relax when I tell them that I’m strictly catch and release on their kind. And in the interest of showing at least some remaining bravado, I do land them the old fashioned way when throwing single hook stuff like spinnerbaits or soft plastics.

Of course, the human body and its remarkable opposable thumbs are quite resilient so those shredded badges of courage don’t last forever (a scar from a treble hook can however). Some of Potential Pitfall #3 also takes a look at how long things can last.

Hands down the old Emiquon Preserve deserved a well-earned thumbs up. Talk to you later. Troy

Fishing is one of those hobbies that can be as expensive and time consuming as you choose to make it. And when you find a crazy fishing hole there’s a little more leeway in making the investment.

Originally posted 8-22-10

This pitfall is twofold; time and money, both of which I typically have little to spare.

The two and a half hour round trip cuts into my time on the water and can make for a long day when I have an opportunity to leave early and stay late. Don’t get me wrong, I can still fish all day; it’s the next day where there are some occasional technical difficulties. I’ve also gotten spoiled by the proximity of my regular spots (roughly 25 minutes to Little John Conservation Club or Snakeden Hollow and less than ten minutes to Lake Storey). Sure, exotic locations have beckoned over the years but as far as day trips this distance is probably pushing my limit. And was it not for the insane bass fishing that took place down there last year I might not have made multiple visits (but that’s a discussion for another Potential Pitfall).

Travel also translates to money in fuel costs so even if I had routine chances to fish Emiquon I’d still spend most of my time closer to home. I usually pack a lunch but the occasional stop at the convenience store can also run up the tab. Of course, having complained about cost, I will admit that Dad typically foots the bill when we fish Emiquon together (once to the tune of nearly $300 for a replacement trolling motor as detailed in my April 22nd entry “Emiquon – Three Dollars A Bass”).

Finances can also be an issue if you prefer soft plastics. I’ve had days where the bass have run me through a fair amount of baby brush hogs, wooly hawgtails, wooly curltails and such. My Senko setup allows me to catch multiple bass on each bait before it eventually gives out but the dollars still add up on a good bite when paying around eight bucks for a ten pack. My advice is to find a knockoff imitation and see if it will work so you can save the pricey stuff for somewhere else. Along those lines I also leave the tungsten weights in my tacklebox and stick with brass or lead. I once calculated that while the tungsten weights were roughly ten times more expensive than conventional weights the naïve Emiquon bass of 2009 were easily ten times dumber than normal bass. Thus I still hauled in numerous fish and did not have to shed a tear when busting off on the occasional snag.

I enjoy fishing creature baits, finesse presentations and definitely a wacky rig but if I had my way I’d just as soon run into a crankbait bite at Emiquon like we did last fall.  As long as you check your line for abrasions, retie when necessary and keep an eye on your hooks you can just keep casting and catching at virtually no extra cost in time or money.  The chipped paint and scarred lips are simply the hard earned battle scars of success; which oddly enough leads right into Potential Pitfall #4. 

Having added another hour and a half to the round trip in moving to the Quad Cities back in 2014, the cost has outweighed the reward over the years. Maybe someday, but for now reminiscing will have to suffice. And speaking of, Friday Flashback coming your way tomorrow. Talk to you later. Troy

Did I ever mention that Emiquon is a unique fishing hole?

Sure I did, nearly every time I wrote about it I referenced that fact. But it wasn’t only unique in regards to the phenomenal bass fishing. If you read the rules and regulations prior to hitting the water (as you always should), you found that it was also unique in different respects. Today’s pitfall explores one of those aspects.

Originally posted 8-19-10

As I worked my way through the list it made sense in my mind to have juice follow slime. But in this case, juice refers to the electricity needed to power a trolling motor. Most places I’ve fished over the years prior to encountering Emiquon rarely made me think twice about using up a battery. On farm ponds and strip pits I usually relied on a pair of oars anyway as it was often unnecessary and inconvenient to have to haul the extra gear. And when using Dad’s Bass Tracker on larger trolling motor only waters we typically have an extra battery, a spare trolling motor and the gas outboard in case of emergency.

Of course, the gas motor plan is out the window at Emiquon as they are not even allowed on your boat. On one outing last year we also discovered that our trolling motor was broken prior to launching which was frustrating at the time but really good timing in the big picture. That situation led us to routinely taking the repaired motor as a backup to the new motor that Dad purchased after a wild goose chase that day. In addition, we also take a spare battery.

The vast expanse of water can tempt you to wander a long way from the lone ramp. Throw in some wind and weeds and your setup can get a real workout. Thus it is important to make sure you have plenty of juice before setting out. I’ve seen several boats limping back to the ramp or even being towed and have worried at times that I was going to wind up in the same boat, so to speak. If all else fails, make sure to invest in a good set of oars in case you need to resort to manpower. However, by the end of a long day on the water I’ve often found that to be in short supply as well.

The next Pitfall is one of the major reasons you need a lot of juice. But before we get to that item we’ll take a break for another Top 5 Update so stop on by tomorrow for your fishing fix. Talk to you later. Troy