Author: Troy Jackson

Saturday Flashback – July 6, 2012

Posted on by Troy Jackson

There’s more to a fishing trip than just the casts and catches. In the case of the trip Julie and I took to Emiquon on July 6, 2012, there was plenty to tell from before, during and after the adventure. Read on for the rest of the story as detailed in an original blog entry from July 16, 2012, entitled “One Hot Fishing Date”.

The July 6 visit to The Emiquon Preserve featured a guest angler in the person of my wife, Julie. It marked the first time that we were able to share a boat since May 6, 2010, when I took her fishing at Emiquon for a sort of Mother’s Day gift (kind of an early Father’s Day gift to myself as well). She outfished me on that outing 11 to 8 and I often joke about not taking someone fishing again if they outdo me. As you can see, that is only said for effect as just over two years later she got to tag along again. Truthfully, I’d enjoy her company anytime, but it is a near impossibility for both parents to get away from four kids ranging in age from one to eight. You got the results from the trip in an earlier post but here’s a second batch of thoughts and pictures for a wrap up.

Logistics – How did we pull this trip off? On Friday, our van and our baby, Zac, went to my folks here in Galesburg in exchange for Dad’s truck. Me, Helena, and Carly drove it while Julie and Jayce followed in our truck to Canton for an overnight for all of us with Julie’s mom and stepdad. The kids stayed while Julie and I left for Emiquon at about 5:00am and returned around 2:30pm. Julie and the girls then brought her mom’s car to Galesburg while I brought Jayce in Dad’s truck to leave our truck in Canton to help haul some items home from a weekend trip to Quincy. Our truck was returned on Sunday and traded for the car while I had already taken Dad’s truck back to exchange for our van and our baby on Saturday night. Piece of cake.

Tunes – Me and my girls (Helena age 8 and Carly age 6) had an enjoyable time on our drive to Canton with some classic rock radio surfing. I was enthused as my favorite Bob Dylan tune, “Tangled Up in Blue,” kicked off the trip but even more tickled by Carly’s reaction, “Oh, this is my favorite.” Helena then did a solid version of the chorus of Foreigner’s “Cold as Ice” while learning on the fly. When I informed my crew that Steely Dan performed “Reelin’ in The Years,” Carly blurted out, “He’s my favorite singer!” Occasionally I lost control of the airwaves upon stumbling upon some teeny bopper tune where the girls would sing right along having learned the words to the tunes via the P.A. system at the local pool.

Professional Overrun (aka backlash) – By the way, I did get clearance from Julie to share this item and the above photo, hence there will be no backlash of a different sort that would potentially be much more difficult to clear up. Anyway, Julie inquired about a baitcasting lesson to enhance her angling skills beyond her spinning rig. I provided a brief primer and a casting demonstration but in hindsight should’ve selected a combo with a better magnetic braking system on the reel paired with a more forgiving action on the rod. It didn’t work out so well and she opted to wait for another day to try again. I’m thinking casting plugs in the backyard.

Bass Thumb – This affliction is the norm at Emiquon, and this trip was no exception. However, I got an extra dose beyond my catch as I pitched in lipping and unhooking all of Julie’s bass as well. She is certainly capable of managing the task herself but for me it was part gentleman, part guide. For Julie, who hijacked my rough draft of this posting, she inquired, “Is that angler’s chivalry?”

Rambling Guide – About midway through our trip, Julie said to me, “You’d make a good fishing show host as you are always talking.” She also mentioned that some anglers may be leery of taking their wife fishing for fear of conversation spooking the fish. I informed her that I was chatty due to being nervous under the pressure of putting my client on some fish. Fortunately, the Emiquon bass were listening as my running commentary was all about them and their ability to make a memorable day for a fisherman, and more importantly in this case, a fisherwoman.

We had a great day and have the pictures and stories to prove it. Not everyone would’ve braved the heat advisory conditions and consequently they would’ve missed another productive day on The Emiquon Preserve. Even so, I will admit that it did cross my mind that the only things missing from the photo of Julie and I are a pair of those corny old “I’m with Stupid” t-shirts.

And that folks, is the rest of the story. Talk to you later. Troy

Friday Flashback – July 6, 2012

Posted on by Troy Jackson

With four kids from ages one to eight back in the summer of 2012, there wasn’t a whole lot of date nights. However, Julie and I did manage a fishing date as described below in excerpts from the original July 10, 2012 blog entry.

As the saying goes, “Beggars can’t be choosers.” So, despite the recent run of 100 degree plus temperatures it was an opportunity to fish, and I wasn’t about to pass it up due to something called a “heat advisory.” To be honest, I’m always more concerned about the wind when planning a trip to Emiquon. All was well and I was happy to have the company of a fellow fishing fool. Here’s the first of a two-part fishing report detailing how it all worked out.

6:13am Julie on the board with our first catch

Date: July 6, 2012
Location: The Emiquon Preserve
Time: 6:10am-12:25 pm
Weather: Sunny/calm
Air Temp: 80-100F
Water Temp: 90F
Totals: 40 bass (Troy – 26 Julie – 14)
Lures: Booyah Counter Strike Spinnerbait (snow white) – 15 bass, Mann’s Baby 1- crankbait (copper shad) – 12 bass, Strike King Red Eye Shad (sexy shad) – 10 bass, Strike King Red Eye Shad (red crawfish) – 2 bass, 5” Yamasenko weighted wacky rig (rainbow trout) – 1 bass
Top Bass: Troy 2-5 Booyah Counter Strike Spinnerbait (snow white)
Weight (Top 5): 10-9 (2-5, 2-2, 2-2, 2-0, 2-0)

 

Notes & Nonsense

“Helter Skelter in a summer swelter” (quick, name the tune and artist) – I’ve written in the past about Emiquon’s propensity for giving up numbers in the right place at the right time. We hit those windows/spots a pair of times as follows: 6:13am-8:01am produced 23 of our bass and 10:46am-12:22pm produced another 15 bass. That left two bass landed in the gap in these times as we explored a stretch that had produced just a month earlier. Despite similar structure, schools of baitfish and a variety of presentations, the bass just wouldn’t cooperate. Eventually, we wound up back near where we had started in time for the bass in the area to turn on once again.

Hot Seats and More – The calm and balmy conditions made any exposed surfaces of the boat painful to touch. Boat cushions were a must and we even had to put on gloves to load the boat into the back of the truck. Our granola bars were a mess and once the water bottles came out of the cooler, they were nearly instantaneously lukewarm. The truck read 109 when we got in and went as high as 112 before gradually decreasing during the ride. The bank in Lewistown read 108 and while probably a bit of a stretch, does pinpoint accuracy really matter when it’s just plain hot?

100 Degree Bass – A little after noon I told Julie that we needed one more bass just to say we caught one in hundred-degree weather. At 12:22pm I reeled in the fish pictured above to get my wish and then we called it quits a few casts later. My original plan was to fish until 1:00pm but I was satisfied with our effort and results a half hour short of the target. Apparently, Julie was as well for she did not debate the decision and after the work of loading our gear we were even more convinced that we’d done the right thing.

As always with an Emiquon trip, I could go on and on…

And I will go on and on, with a bonus Flashback Saturday post featuring some more notes from this outing. Talk to you later. Troy

New Gear Update

Posted on by Troy Jackson

Since we do not have a Top 5 Update for this week, I am instead substituting a post about new gear. Some of the items may seem less than exciting to many folks but they mean the world to me due to my penchant for record keeping.

First up, I had to replace my tape measure as the tag end of the old red one broke on a recent trip, resulting in the entire tape retracting into the casing. My Boga Grip does have a rusty old tape attached in case of emergency although I have seen enough bass that I really don’t need a tape other than to be “official.” Over the years, I have chosen a cloth tape rather than metal to avoid them rusting out. I grab these from the sewing aisle of the local department store, and they work great. While I am not a tailor, I do hang around with many seamstresses (Julie, Mom, mother-in-law Penny and my girls) so I do know my way around that section.

A more familiar section in stores are the tackle aisles which I visit every time I frequent an establishment that carries fishing stuff. Recently, I was on the road in Tennessee for work and stopped by a retailer to pick up some bottled water and grub. Dropping by the outdoor section of the Mount Union, TN location of a major chain I spied a batch of 5” Yamasenko worms in the natural shad color. This is the greatest Senko color of all-time but has disappeared from anywhere I have shopped in person for many years. I was so happy to see the color that I bought them all (luckily only three packs left on the peg). I gave one to Jayce and kept the other two for myself.

I tell you, another item that is hard to find is a wire bound, landscape-oriented batch of 4” x 6’ ruled index cards. This setup has been my go-to notebook for a fishing log since 2013. Going into 2022, I knew that I would need a new log if I were to land roughly 250 bass and as of June I was headed in the right direction. After scouring every department store, office supply store, and drug store I could find without success, I had to break down and order online. I opted to order the three-pack as that should keep me going for a while. My current log dates to March 7, 2020, and I have one page remaining (roughly fifteen fish per page) as I submit this post. All told, the current log contains data on nearly 1,000 bass and a handful of other catches. Looks like I won’t need to go on the hunt for a log for a while based on my fishing skills, fishing holes and catch rates.

One of the tapes has already been put into use. One of the notebooks will get dropped into the tacklebag before next week. One of the Senkos hit the water yesteday but came up empty despite being the best color ever. But yesterday, it didn’t really matter what I threw on The Canal as the bass were just not in the mood. That’s another story for next month’s July “Prowl the Canal” series. Talk to you later. Troy

Friday Flashback – July 7, 1987

Posted on by Troy Jackson

Well, here we are at the mid-point of the final year of “Friday Flashback”. Week twenty-one of the forty-one week stroll down Memory Lane. Lots of fish and favorite fishing holes, fishing partners and fishing lures have found their way into the project over the years and today’s post covers all the above.

The spot was affectionately known as “The Ponderosa” and was the site of several fishing trips with my three amigos back between 1987 and 1989. As best I can recall, my buddy, Matt Reynolds, was the ringleader in gaining access to Ponder’s Pond, outside of Knoxville, Illinois. Along with Matt, the Junk brothers, John and Mark, also joined forces in pursuit of some solid bass. The pond was just the right size for a couple hours to get away and the Ponder family had a johnboat along the shore for use. Of course, before launching, it was wise to give it a shake while upside down to rid it of any snakes that took a liking to the cover it provided. However, I seem to remember a mouse going for a ride with us at one point.

The crew circa 1991 – Mark Junk, John Junk, Troy Jackson and Matt Reynolds

Winning Ponder’s lures – Sidewinder Worm, Triple Ripple Worm, Spinnerbait and Zara Spook

Beyond the Who’s Who of anglers, an old school collection of lures proved to be successful on the pond. As noted in the log entry for the July 7, 1987 trip, winners were the Bass Pro Shops Triple Ripple Worm and a classic white tandem spinnerbait. A look at the record book below also shows that the Zara Spook was quite effective in fooling some good bass. The natural frog pattern brings back memories as it became nicknamed “The Pickle” upon endearing itself with its effectiveness. I still have a “Pickle” in my tacklebox, but the original was accidentally launched into a cornfield near the southeast corner or Ponder’s Pond, never to be found.

Zara Spook in the natural frog pattern, aka “The Pickle”

The pond seemed to have a feast or famine personality in terms of landing quality fish. If the first few bass you landed were small ones, it often set the tone for the rest of the trip. In contrast, if you caught a large bass early in an outing, you likely would see some more before the trip was over.

Ponder’s Pond Top 10 Bass list

Only a handful of pictures of those bass reside in my photo album but a picture of the pond remains fresh in my mind. A branch breaking the surface along the dam just out from the “ramp” could hold a good fish when bumping around with a Sidewinder worm. Didn’t matter what color as long as it was black or purple. Some evening shade from overhanging trees along the west bank and a laydown were ideal for a white spinnerbait. A shallow finger to the southwest with a tree was a prime spot for “The Pickle” as was the southeast point. The east bank dotted with lilypads also set up well for various presentations as you finished your initial lap and “pondered” making a second pass.

One of my favorites from a series of action shots snapped by an old friend, Matt Reynolds

Great times with great friends and some darn good fish in those early days of trying to be bassmasters. Often, the trip was wrapped up at a couple other watering holes, The East End and The Green Diamond taverns as they were kind of on the way home. Some of those memories are a little fuzzy. Talk to you later. Troy

Prowl the Canal Lessons-Points

Posted on by Troy Jackson

My third point drawn from fishing The Canal revolves around just that, Points. The illustration below is a prime example of a prime spot and the accompanying video provides proof that these structures produce. Per the available data while prowling the internet, The Canal averages five feet in depth and roughly ninety feet in width throughout most of its linear run. Therefore, any change in either aspect makes for an area to explore. Today, that exploration focuses on Points.

Points

No matter where you fish, points are always worth a look, but these structural features are even more important on The Canal. By its nature and construction, most of The Canal is a linear trough that has filled in at varying degrees throughout its length. However, there are several spots that I call “bays” where The Canal widens on one side. As a result, you get a rare pair of points on each side of these bays. Often, these points feature a pronounced dropoff, an oddity along most of The Canal and they are worth working over with multiple presentations to get some bites.

This concludes our three-part ”Prowl the Canal – Lessons” feature for my June wrap-up. However, the video clips have included catches from April through July, proving that these structural elements produce throughout the year on this dynamic fishing hole. And you can bet that there will be plenty more prowling during the open water portion of the calendar as I look to learn some more lessons. Talk to you later. Troy

Prowl the Canal Lessons-Combos

Posted on by Troy Jackson

Here we go with the second post from a trio of lessons courtesy of The Hennepin Canal.

Lots of fishing folks refer to a distinction between “structure” and “cover”. The general concept is that structure is a feature of the lakebed while cover is an object where the bass can hide in or around. I really don’t recall if I ever used those terms separately when I was first attracted to this hobby, but I don’t anymore.

Right or wrong, I call it all “structure” and leave the debate to the forums. For me, structure is a place where I cast and anticipate finding some bass.

So, now that I have that off my chest…

Structure Combos

Like the previous Transitions tip, a combination of structural elements can enhance a spot. In this instance, a lengthy, solid stretch of surface weeds was broken up by some open water channels and a bit of brush in the water. Such a spot screams for a few casts as the structural variety can turn the mundane into a magnet.

 

“Variety is the spice of life” as the old saying goes. And if you can find a variety of structure blended together, work it over.

One more lesson tomorrow so stay tuned and talk to you later. Troy

Prowl the Canal Lessons-Transitions

Posted on by Troy Jackson

For this month’s lessons, I am going to draw on some GoPro footage that I have collected on The Canal this year. I guess you could call this the bass fishing education portion of the blog as it goes beyond Bass Fishing 101. For me, Bass Fishing 101 is learning your lures, lines, and rod/reel combos as well as the basics of when, where, and how to throw them. Therefore, I suppose the trio of posts to follow are Bass Fishing 201 as they delve into three specific spots and/or situations and detail how to get some bites. The clips coming your way for the next three days are 2022 catches from The Canal. But bass are bass anywhere and these techniques are good to add to your repertoire no matter where you are casting.

Transitions

Give some attention to transitions or edges as these can be bass magnets. In the clip below, this pertains to a batch of reeds that breaks up a lengthy stretch of riprap shoreline. It is cool how the clues on the bank can reveal that the associated bottom composition, contours, or changes provide some appeal to the bass.

 

Whether you are a seasoned “bassmaster” or someone just starting out, hopefully you get some entertainment and/or education out of this collection of lessons. Class meets here again tomorrow. Talk to you later. Troy

Top 5 Stats

Posted on by Troy Jackson

After fourteen straight weeks with a Top 5 Update, no submissions arrived for this week (I gave it a shot, but my best bass fell two ounces shy of adding to my total). So, instead of a Top 5 Update, the next best thing is the Top 5 monthly stat update. June provided a solid batch of catches by seven different anglers and boosted our 2022 bass total to seventy-three fish. Read on for the details of our 2022 catches through the month of June.

2022 Totals
January = no submissions
February = no submissions
March = 15 bass
April = 35 bass
May = 7 bass
June = 16 bass

Top 5 Weight by Month
January = no submissions
February = no submissions
March = 14-2 (3-3,2-15,2-14,2-12,2-6)
April = 28-10 (6-9,6-0,5-12,5-4,5-1)
May = 11-9 (2-12,2-11,2-5,2-0,1-13)
June = 16-7 (4-2,3-5,3-3,2-15,2-14)

Boat vs. Bank
Boat = 33 bass
Bank = 40 bass

Boat vs. Bank Weight
Boat = 17-1 (4-2,3-5,3-5,3-3,3-2)
Bank = 28-10 (6-9,6-0,5-12,5-4,5-1)

Public vs. Private
Public = 73 bass
Private = 0 bass

Public vs. Private Top 5 Weight
Public = 28-10 (6-9,6-0,5-12,5-4,5-1)
Private = not applicable

The Baits (* = new 2022 record)
Plastic Worm = 17 bass (Top Bass 5-12 Jim Junk)
Lipless Crankbait = 15 bass (Top Bass 4-6 Jim Junk)
*Chatterbait = 13 bass (Top Bass 6-9 Jim Junk) tops 5-15 Jim Junk 6/22/20
Spinnerbait = 8 bass (Top Bass 5-4 Brent Jackson)
Crankbait = 5 bass (Top Bass 2-12 Troy Jackson)
Jerkbait = 4 bass (Top Bass 2-5 John Kirkemo)
Jig = 4 bass (Top Bass 3-9 Brent Jackson)
Buzzbait = 2 bass (Top Bass 2-11 Troy Jackson)
Propbait = 2 bass (Top Bass 2-3 Jayce Jackson)
Swimbait = 1 bass (Top Bass 4-3 Jim Junk)
Grub = 1 bass (Top Bass 0-13 Troy Jackson)
Underspin = 1 bass (3-12 Jim Junk)

Monthly Top Bass
January
No submissions
February
No submissions
March
3-3 Jim Junk
April
6-9 Jim Junk
May
2-12 Troy Jackson
June
4-2 John Kirkemo

2022 Top 10 Bass
6-9 Jim Junk 4/4/22
6-0 Jim Junk 4/15/22
5-12 Jim Junk 4/21/22
5-4 Brent Jackson 4/24/22
5-1 Jim Junk 4/4/22
4-7 Jim Junk 4/4/22
4-6 Jim Junk 4/19/22
4-3 Jim Junk 4/21/22
4-2 John Kirkemo 6/13/22
3-15 Jim Junk 4/19/22
3-12 Jim Junk 4/13/22

Angler Weights
Jim Junk 27-13 (6-9,6-0,5-12,5-1,4-7)
Brent Jackson 17-6 (5-4,3-9,3-3,2-11,2-11)
John Kirkemo: 15-11 (4-2,3-5,2-14,2-11,2-11)
Troy Jackson 14-14 (3-5,3-2,2-15,2-12,2-12)
Jayce Jackson 4-10 (2-3,1-4,1-3)
Helena Jackson 1-3 (1-3)
Zac Jackson 1-0 (1-0)
Carly Jackson 0-14 (0-14)

Other Species – Trout

John Kirkemo 12” (12”)

Great to see some movement in the standings as Brent and John leap past the guy who writes this stuff while Jim remains firmly entrenched at the top. Definitely fun to see my offspring contribute as well and perhaps we can get their mama a “keeper” over the summer. As we currently sit at seventy-three bass for the year, I am officially setting our goal at reaching the century mark before all is said and done. Keep on casting, catching, and send them my way at troy@troyjacksonoutdoors.com. Talk to you later. Troy

Prowl the Canal – June Stats

Posted on by Troy Jackson

June marked an anniversary of sorts as my first ever bass from The Canal was landed on June 4, 2021. As such, I have passed the one-year mark in terms of canal experience and the learning just keeps moving forward. Read on for the statistics from the June 2022 prowls.

Stats

June 12 Top Bass on a spinnerbait

Date: June 12 (two sections)
Time: 8:50am-10:50am, 11:20am-1:05pm
Totals: 9 bass
Weather: Partly cloudy to sunny/breezy to windy and 71-80F
Lures: Special K Spinnerbait (bold bluegill) – 6 bass, Special K Buzzbait – 1 bass, Bass Pro Shops Stik-O wacky rig (candy corn) – 1 bass
Top Bass: 1-6 Special K Spinnerbait
Top 5 Weight (only 4 at 12” or better): 4-4 (1-6,1-0,1-0,0-14)
Comments: A slow bite on one of my better spots led me to expand my exploration on another nearby stretch. More of a tough bite but did enjoy seeing some new water. The clarity on these two stretches was darn near crystal clear. Quite unusual compared to prior visits, and teamed with bright sun this provided my excuse for the challenging day.

June 15 Top Bass Runner-Up on a buzzbait

Date: June 15
Time: 6:05pm-7:50pm
Totals: 9 bass
Weather: Sunny to overcast/windy and 85-92F
Lures: Special K Buzzbait – 6 bass, Special K Spinnerbait (bold bluegill) – 3 bass
Top Bass: 1-12 Special K Buzzbait
Top 5 Weight (only 2 at 12” or better): 3-7 (1-12,1-11)
Comments: Gotta dig The Canal for a quick trip after getting home from work as there are plenty of access areas within a twenty-minute drive. This outing got cut short by some lightning and thunder sending me packing even though the bite had kicked up a notch. Safety first, the bass will still be there when I show up next time.

June 17 Top Bass on a wacky rig

Date: June 17
Time: 7:15pm-7:45pm
Totals: 1 bass
Weather: Sunny/breezy and 81F
Lures: Bass Pro Shops Stik-O wacky rig (candy corn) – 1 bass
Top Bass: 0-15 Stik-O
Top 5 Weight (only one at 12” or better): 0-15
Comments: A quick evening walk after arriving for a Father’s Day camping trip on The Canal produces a bite and avoids a shutout. That’s always the goal when I have a few minutes to cast, fool at least one bass. Mission accomplished.

June 18 Top Bass on a Whopper Plopper

Date: June 18
Time: 9:00am-9:30am, 1:00pm-3:00pm, 6:00pm-6:45pm
Totals: 4 bass
Weather: Sunny/calm to breezy and 72-85F
Lures: Bass Pro Shops Stik-O wacky rig (candy corn) – 3 bass, Whopper Plopper 90 (I Know It) – 1 bass
Top Bass: 1-3 Whopper Plopper
Top 5 Weight (only 2 at 12” or better): 2-3 (1-3,1-0)
Comments: Camping along The Canal afforded three separate prowls on this Saturday. A family hike where I primarily focused on playing “guide” was sandwiched in between a couple short walks to begin and end the day. The rest of the family posted an additional ten bass, but those results deserve their own post later this month.

June 24 Top Bass on a spinnerbait

Date: June 24
Time: 6:50pm-9:05pm
Totals: 14 bass
Weather: Sunny/calm
Lures: Special K Buzzbait – 9 bass, Special K Spinnerbait (bold bluegill) – 5 bass
Top Bass: 2-15 Special K Spinnerbait
Top 5 Weight: 11-3 (2-15,2-10,2-3,2-1,1-6)
Comments: My standard one-two punch of a buzzbait and a spinnerbait comes through again with four bass between two and three pounds. Gotta dig The Canal for a quick getaway of a couple hours, especially when the bite is on and establishes my best Top 5 outing on The Canal (see Record Book Data below).

June 26 lone bass of the evening caught by my son, Jayce, on a Whopper Plopper

Date: June 26 (with Jayce)
Time: 5:45pm-7:30pm
Totals: 1 bass (Jayce – 1 bass, Dad – 0 bass)
Weather: Partly cloudy/windy
Lures: Whopper Plopper 90 (Terminator)
Top Bass: none at 12” or better
Top 5 Weight: none at 12” or better
Comments: For the second straight outing with my son, Jayce, he outfished me. In fact, I’ve been shutout 3 bass to zero. He said, “I must be bad luck.” I told him that it was good luck if he caught fish, just one of those things and that I would probably take him again anyway. Top 5 angler John Kirkemo offered up the possibility that, “Maybe you are spending more time coaching and less time fishing.” Indeed, plenty of advice and explanation along the way but I am pretty sure that I made more casts than Jayce as he took a break here and there. I hit it just as hard as normal, and my partner simply came out ahead. That’s cool and looking forward to one of these days when I can put him on more and larger fish.

June Totals
Six outings covering five different pools
11.75 hours and 37 bass (3.15 bass/hour)
Top Bass: 2-15 June 24 Spinnerbait
Top 5 June Bass Weight: 11-9 (2-15,2-10,2-3,2-1,1-12)

 

RECORD BOOK UPDATE
Hennepin Canal (2021-present)
Top Bass: 3-6 Troy Jackson 7/21/21 Plastic Worm
BEST TOP 5 DAY NEW RECORD
11-3 (2-15,2-10,2-3,2-1,1-6) on 6/24/22 tops 10-8 from 4/23/22
All-Time Top 5 Canal Weight: 16-2 (3-6,3-5,3-4,3-2,3-1)
Comments: One monthly highlight is topping my best Top 5 day with 11-3 on the June 24 outing. This haul tops the old mark of 10-8 from April 23. It still takes a bass over the three-pound mark to enter the all-time Top 5 list, as the best I could fool this month was a 2-15, a few ounces shy of displacing one of my all-time Top 5 Canal bass.

Another good month of getaways on The Canal. July is off to a solid start as well and four more weeks of prowling to go before the totals and highlights head your way in the July edition of “Prowl the Canal”.  In the meantime, stay tuned for some further notes and data on the June prowls. Talk to you later. Troy

Friday Flashback – July 1, 1987

Posted on by Troy Jackson

Original log entry from July 1, 1987 on what is now known as Snakeden Hollow’s Lake McMaster

No pictures were taken from the July 1, 1987 outing referenced in today’s title, so the only evidence of this trip is my old fishing log and some memories. Both aspects and plenty more on the “fishing guide” for that trip are covered in today’s ramble.

Original log entry from July 1, 1987 continued

Best I can tell, I met Larry Smith in the late 1970s while tagging along to a few meetings of the Galesburg chapter of the Furtakers of America, a trapping organization. He was acquainted with my dad and my uncle through this hobby, and they also noted that he was a good fisherman.

Lake Storey topographic map procured for me by Larry

In the mid-80s, I began working summers for the Galesburg Park Department where Larry was also employed and struck up a friendship largely due to our shared interest in fishing. Along the way, Larry invited Brent and I to fish what was then known as “The Big State Lake”, which would later become Snakeden Hollow’s Lake McMaster. Our July 1, 1987 trip pre-dated public access to the site by three years. All told we landed close to 120 bass in the crystal-clear waters amidst what looked like a flooded forest above and below the surface. Besides the fish, it was an amazing experience as visibility on the lake easily extended beyond twenty feet deep.

As the years passed, I would cross paths with Larry at Lake Storey from time to time whether he was fishing or assisting fisheries biologist Ken Russell and crew with sampling surveys. Speaking of Ken Russell, Larry hooked me up with Ken on several fishing surveys around the area. I thoroughly enjoyed manning the front of Ken’s electrofishing boat and scooping up the stunned fish before they regained their senses and swam back into the depths. Larry passed along a favorite compliment of mine as he related that Ken had told him that I was “the second-best fish dipper he’d ever had in his boat.” Of course, Larry followed that statement up by adding that he was ranked number one. No problem in being runner-up to that guy.

I was sworn to secrecy on some of the info on a public area fishing hole

Beginning in 2012, Larry and I struck up an email conversation that would span the next nine plus years and cover more fishing and trapping stories than one can imagine. I can only guess that the ongoing communication consisted of well over a thousand sends and replies as we rambled. Many “secrets” were swapped from our shared experiences on Lake Storey, Lake Bracken and Little John going back to the 1980s for me and beyond for Larry. He provided me with a topographic map of Lake Storey and some prized photos from a completely drained Lake Storey back in the 1960s. From my end of the conversations, I was quite proud to reveal a piece of Lake Storey structure to Larry that he did not know existed. And, trust me, there wasn’t much that he didn’t know about that fishing hole.

Top Secret Lake Storey communication from Larry with insider info from the 1960s

Larry was an outstanding multi-species angler and a master when using the Berkely Gulp Minnow. On August 19, 2021, he sent me an email relating, “Two days ago, caught a musky at Lake Storey to complete my catching every species of fish that swims there on a Gulp minnow. Caught a bullhead, a redear and a flathead this year prior to the musky. Me thinks this is a very good bait much like your sexy shad.” Larry also inquired about getting my cell number to send some pics and texts regarding the muskie and some other recent catches.

Dedicated a portion of a September 2021 trip to Larry’s favorite, the Gulp Minnow

Later that same day, August 19, 2021, Larry texted me a batch of his latest multi-species catches including the muskie pic below. Sadly, that was the final correspondence from our decades of swapping fish tales as Larry passed away on August 28, 2021.

August 19, 2021 – Larry and his Gulp Minnow muskie from Lake Storey

Sure do miss the man and those fish stories. Talk to you later. Troy