While at a family lunch get together, my brother, Brent, and I cooked up a plan for an evening fishing trip. I’d already spent four and a half hours on the water to begin the day but there’s no such thing as too much fishing. So, off we headed to Little John Conservation Club with just over two hours on the clock to fish.

8:18pm – Top Bass at 2-0 (16″) on a Senko

Stats
Date: June 24, 2023
Location: Little John Conservation Club (2 lakes)
Time: 6:40pm-8:50pm (2.00 hours fishing)
Weather: Partly cloudy/breezy
Air Temp: 91-85F
Water Temp: not available
Totals: 8 bass (Troy -5, Brent – 3)
Lures (Troy): 5” Yamasenko wacky rig (natural shad) – 3 bass, Booyah Buzz Buzzbait (white) – 2 bass
Lures (Brent): 5” Yamamoto Senko wacky rig – 2 bass, Mann’s Ghost topwater (chartreuse) – 1 bass
Top Bass: 2-0 (Brent)
Top 5 Weight: 7-5 (2-0,1-11,1-8,1-1,1-1)

Winning Lures

Notes and Nonsense

Guiding The Ghost – The clip below features Brent fooling his Top Bass of the outing at 1-11 on a hollow bodied topwater lure known as The Ghost from Mann’s Bait Company. The lure itself deserves a story but for now that aspect will reside in the “one of these days” files. Obviously, Brent knows what he is doing but, in this case, as I was on rowing duty, I positioned the boat and said, “Maybe hit that other pocket…” A missed strike and a follow-up cast later he had a bass. So, it appears that while I cannot physically land a bass on a frog type lure myself, I can guide others to a catch. Perhaps I need to comb through my 1980s tackle archives to see if I can find an old Mann’s Ghost before I continue searching for a slop bass bite.

Low Water I – The dry year has had a noticeable effect on the smaller bodies of water that I fish. Former shallows are now nearly devoid of water and areas that once held a few feet of water have become solid weed mats, humps are exposed, and underwater points are shoreline. While such conditions dictate shifting gears from tried-and-true areas and presentations, they also afford a chance to learn.

Low Water II – As noted above, the low water conditions offer an excellent chance to expand your knowledge of any body of water. If you have access to any ponds or strip pits, this is prime time to get out there and roam as it can provide unprecedented shoreline access. In many instances, ledges and flats are now exposed allowing you to walk around to areas that were once tough to get to or entirely inaccessible. Shoreline cover is laid bare and offshore targets may be revealed. Pull on your boots, jot down notes, shoot pics and videos, try some new presentations, and learn. You cannot predict the weather and never know when you may get such an opportunity again.

No big bites but always fun to take a shot at Little John, especially as I had neglected the area completely in 2022 for whatever reasons. In addition, Brent is not a member, so it is good to have him along to try his luck. Not only do I enjoy the company but also having a skilled partner in the boat means an additional lure/presentation in the water. With only a couple of hours of daylight, we did a run and gun with a quick lap around two lakes and managed to find a few. Less than a week later, we were back in the little boat together again. But that’s another fish story. Stay tuned and talk to you later. Troy

Courtesy of a couple vacation days, I found myself making some casts on The Canal for the fifth consecutive day. The stretch that I chose had been on my list since I started fishing the waterway two years ago. I’d seen positive reports from a skilled angler on social media over the years, but he also reported that sometimes the spot can be hit or miss. I found it to be a miss and as a result spent vastly more time exploring than fishing before the long day was over. Excuses, stats, and notes below.

9:56am – Top Bass at 2-4 (18″) on a spinnerbait

Stats
Date: June 20
Location: Hennepin Canal
Time: 6:05am-8:50am
Totals: 4 bass
Weather: Sunny/calm to breezy, 58-80F
Lures: War Eagle Spinnerbait (chartreuse/white) with a BPS XPS double tail grub trailer (gold shad) –3 bass, Booyah Buzzbait (black) – 1 bass
Top Bass: 2-4 Spinnerbait
Top 3 Weight (only 3 at 12” or better): 4-10 (2-4,1-7,0-15)

Winning Lures

Notes and Nonsense

Water Conditions – We use a saying around home that “you get what you get, and you don’t throw a fit.” And that summed up my mindset upon seeing the dingy water clarity and abundance of nasty, unhealthy looking surface weeds. But I was there and determined to take my shot at fooling a Top 5. I came up short on that goal as I only managed to fool four bass with three being keepers. A late 2-4 kind of saved the day but I still have some work to do which would require a return trip. If/when I do, it would likely be earlier in the year before the weeds get bad. As far as a fall revisit, I understand that floating leaves make for a hassle.

Frog Saga – The frog futility continues as I had three blowups on the topwater presentation with zero hookups. I even followed up one strike with my “can’t miss” Senko offering and came up empty. I do believe that I may be cursed.

Exploring – My initial thought after struggling on The Canal was to visit the nearby Mautino State Fish & Wildlife Area. However, bright sun and hot temps pushed me to do some on the road exploring for future options on the water. Before the day was done, I had driven the entire stretch of The Canal to the furthest east access I could find at Lock 2 in Bureau Junction. But I wasn’t finished yet. Just across the Illinois River lay a place called “Hennepin-Hopper” (aka the Sue and Wes Dixon Waterfowl Refuge). I’ve seen and read many fish stories about the area and was enthused to see it with my own eyes. I anticipated it being weedy based on past reports, but I wasn’t quite prepared for the vast expanse of lilypads that lay before me as I stood at the ramp. Maybe someday, but not looking like in the summer.

While not much of a fish story from the time on the water, my drive and walk tour of unexplored stretches of The Canal was enjoyable. I made notes and took pics and video for future reference as it looks like there are plenty of fish stories just waiting out there off the beaten path. Maybe someday, but for now one more report to post from the Knox County strip mines, hoping for a fishing hole reunion tomorrow, and plenty of stats and recaps to come. Stay tuned and talk to you later. Troy

The new water theme continued as I took another shot at establishing a Top 5 on a stretch of The Canal I had only seen when iced over. Back on New Year’s Day, I took a walk along this portion, and it looked to contain some appealing wood structure along its length. Of course, things look a lot different in June than in January, primarily aquatic vegetation. Read on to see if I was able to coax out any bites.

Stats
Date: June 19
Location: Hennepin Canal
Time: 6:50am-11:20am
Totals: 9 bass, 1 green sunfish
Weather: Sunny/breezy, 64-82F
Lures: Booyah Buzzbait (black) – 5 bass, 5” Yamasenko wacky rig (watermelon cream laminate) – 3 bass, Berkley Power Blade Spinnerbait (coleslaw) – 1 bass
Top Bass: 1-14 Senko
Top 5 Weight: 8-2 (1-14,1-11,1-9,1-9,1-7)

Winning Lures

Notes and Nonsense

Weeds and Wood – If given a choice between weed and wood cover, I would choose wood for reasons that would best be covered in a post of its own. For this outing, however, I had to work a combination of the two types of cover for a few bites. Several fish came off the ends of laydowns or overhanging trees that were lengthy enough to reach the edge of the abundant shoreline weeds. The weapon of choice in these cases was a buzzbait. It is always fun as you anticipate an explosion when the lure nears a suspected ambush point while your mind says, “There should be one right here…”

Buzzbait Pattern Video 

Lost and Found – Another lure was added to the collection as I found a topwater frog on a snag along the way. Typically, these discoveries end up in the tacklebag of my oldest boy, Jayce. The Canal has contributed a solid batch of additions to the rest of his gear received over years of birthday and Christmas celebrations. However, the frog tempted me to keep it for myself. You see, me, The Canal, and frog fishing have never seen eye to eye for some reason. As mentioned in a previous post on the blog or social media, I am the self-proclaimed “worst frog angler on The Canal.” I mean, the place is custom made for the presentation and I see plenty of reports of others having success, but I continue to struggle. Thus, I thought that maybe the frog find was an omen, but I have yet to put it to use. I did use one of my own frogs and had a couple blowups but still 0-2023 in landing a bass.

Was this discovery trying to tell me something?

Fatigue – This trip took place on a Monday after an enjoyable Father’s Day weekend camping trip with plenty of fresh air and fishing. Couple that with rising at 4:30am after about five and a half hours of sleep and I was feeling rather beat. As the years roll on, I have begun to find that fatigue has an adverse effect on my fishing, Primarily, I observe this effect in my casting. By virtue of forty plus years of practice, a guy gets pretty accurate with his presentations. But when I am tired, I pull some casts, get lazy and leave others off to the right, and my touch and distance are suspect. The result was catching many more trees, vines, roots, and weeds than normal. It all makes me realize that I am not getting any younger and why the pro tournament trail is mainly a young angler’s game.

I got my Top 5 from this new stretch of The Canal although I came up short of the ten-pound mark at 8-2. The upside of doing a lot of fishing is self-explanatory. The blogging aspect, however, suffers a bit as it can be tough to find time to put together the “fish stories.” One more report down, and a handful to go. Stay tuned and talk to you later. Troy

During a Father’s Day weekend camping trip, I managed to get away for a few hours while the rest of the crew were sleeping or lounging around the campsite. Turns out that they missed out as I was able to find a handful of cooperative bass as I prowled the bank.

Not quite Bigfoot, but a white squirrel is an unusual sighting (plenty of gnats, too)

Stats
Date: June 17 & 18
Location: Hennepin Canal
Time: 10:30-11:30am & 6:30-8:30am
Totals: 4 bass and 4 bass
Weather: Sunny/breezy, 70-75F
Lures: 5” Yamasenko wacky rig (watermelon cream laminate) – 8 bass
Top Bass: 1-11 Senko
Top 5 Weight: 6-11 (1-11,1-10,1-3,1-2,1-1)

Winning Lure

Notes and Nonsense

Senko Sweep – All eight of the bass I fooled were landed on a Senko wacky rig. Beyond success in casting to appealing targets, a pair of the catches were what I call “spotting.” As I wander from target to target, I keep an eye on the water looking for any cruising bass. If I am fortunate enough to spot my quarry, a Senko pitched in the vicinity is often a winner. I shot videos of such catches over the weekend and intend to post more on the technique in a separate post.

June 17 at 10:56am – Top Bass at 1-11 (16″) on a Senko

Fellow Prowlers – During my walks, I crossed paths with several fellow Canal anglers. Four were boating while another angler was walking (spoke to him three times in two days and had met before). It’s always entertaining to compare notes and I am all ears having only two years of Canal experience on my resume. The main takeaways from the brief conversations were that I was fishing good water and I was tossing productive lures. Plenty of room for improvement though as I am still not worth a darn on my topwater frog approach, and I could stand to slow down with a Texas rigged worm or creature bait.

Lots more to come as the family did get out on the water for some quality fishing time. I also invested in a couple vacation days to explore new Canal water in search of an initial Top 5 on those stretches. Stay tuned and talk to you later. Troy