Author: Troy Jackson

2021 Fishing Recap – Intro

Posted on by Troy Jackson

It was a tall order to top 2020 as it was my BYOB (Best Year of Bass) on record with 418 bass logged. But the annual goal isn’t focused on how many bass I can catch as there are other factors that are just as important. Time on the water, co-anglers, Top 5 weight, destinations, presentations, and “records” all come into play. The posts headed your way in this year’s recap series will delve into each of these aspects.

Grand Totals (bass fishing only)
41 outings (29 outings in 2020)
136.75 hours fishing (107.75 in 2020)
313 bass (418 bass in 2020)
2.40 bass/hour (3.88 bass/hour in 2020)
Comments: The uptick in outings were a direct result of adding a group of new locations along the Hennepin Canal to my fishing destinations. Seventeen of the forty-one trips this year were at various spots along the historic corridor which proved to be a worthwhile destination (details to come in the location portion of the recap). And while I don’t really have a goal for the number of bass catches, anytime I can exceed three hundred bass, I consider it a rousing success.

March 20, 2021 – First Bass

First Bass/Last Bass
March 20 – Snakeden Hollow 3:50pm 15” 1-10 Shad Rap
November 17 – Little John CC 1:42pm 16” 2-7 Spinnerbait
Comments: Annual mission accomplished with a March bass to start my year and a November bass to end it. For the second straight year, the Shad Rap came through with the first catch. Interestingly, a bass weighing 2-7 was the final catch for the second straight year although they came from spots that were 803 miles apart (2020 – Lake Fork, TX and 2021 Little John Conservation Club near Victoria, IL).

November 17, 2021 – Last Bass

Monthly Breakdown
March – 1 trip, 3 bass, Top Weight (3/17 2 bass) = 2-11
April – 3 trips, 50 bass, Top Day Weight (4/2) = 12-4
May – 3 trips, 28 bass, Top Day Weight (5/23) = 8-4
June – 4 trips, 41 bass, Top Day Weight (6/19) = 11-7
July – 11 trips, 41 bass, Top Day Weight (7/21) = 9-4
August – 4 trip, 51 bass, Top Day Weight (8/15) = 7-4
September – 7 trips, 50 bass, Top Day Weight (9/26) = 9-13
October – 7 trips, 46 bass, Top Day Weight (10/10) = 9-15
November – 1 trip, 3 bass, Top Day Weight (11/17 – 2 bass) = 3-6
Comments: As noted previously, I strive to start with a bass in March and end with a bass in November and was able to do so with lone outings in each month. In between, I took what I could get with summer comprising the bulk of my trips as weekends are freed up from school activities and weeknight sunsets are later. Fall was again reserved for the investment of a few days to cover the Lake Storey drawdown and closing time for much of my strip mine waters as they shift to waterfowl ground. Not a great deal of fluctuation on my Top Weights between the bookend trips of March and November. Several good days as any time I can push or exceed the ten-pound mark, I am pleased with the bite.

 

Top 5 Weight
20-0 (4-10,4-4,4-3,3-9,3-6)
Comments: After three straight years of falling short of my goal of a twenty-pound limit, I made it…barely. Heading towards the middle of October, I needed a 4-4 bass to knock out the lightest member of my Top 5 and reach my goal. Believe it or not, a buzzbait cast on a rain soaked morning at Snakeden found just the bite I needed, right at 4-4. You can’t make this stuff up, and I wouldn’t, anyway. Over a handful of trips to close the year, I couldn’t find any more bass that would boost my weight, ending 2021 right on the money.

 

The recap has just begun as I have several more breakdown posts in the works. Next up, will be a look at the lures that got the job done. Talk to you later. Troy

2021 Recap Slideshow

Posted on by Troy Jackson

As the 2021 outdoor year becomes water under the bridge, it’s time for the annual recaps to fend off Cabin Fever. Stay tuned as we kick off 2022 by looking back at the 2021 fishing stats, lures, locations, partners, and highlights. We will also crown our 2021 Top 5 champ along with catching up on some 2021 adventures that got lost in the shuffle. And looking forward to 2022, there are some fishing projects and challenges in the works.

 

Simply a short slideshow today for reminiscing but plenty to come in the New Year. Talk to you later. Troy

Top 5 Update

Posted on by Troy Jackson

Thanks again to Jim Junk as the hits keep coming for the 2021 Top 5. And boy, what a hit with one of his submissions. Read on for a classic fish story that will certainly be told again and again by several on the scene.

Weight: 3-14
Angler: Jim Junk
Date: December 9
Location: Banner Marsh
Lure: Lipless Crankbait
Angler Comments: A few casts later got this 3-14. (Note: see next entry for the preceding catch)
Top 5 Weight: 26-0 (6-0,5-5,5-3,5-2,4-6)

Weight: 17-10 (43”)
Angler: Jim Junk
Date: December 9
Location: Banner Marsh
Lure: Lipless Crankbait
Angler Comments: Decided to go to Banner when they opened at 1:00pm. Fished some regular spots for a couple of hours and didn’t even get a bite. Was going to go home and lick my wounds but pulled into another spot (to answer Nature’s Call) where I had never put in much effort and saw a couple guys crappie fishing from the bank. Watched one guy catch a small bass on a minnow and caught my interest. A friend pulled up and said he was going to fish in the area, so I pulled out my trusty lipless crankbait and started making some casts. Within the first dozen casts I had a strong hit. Very cool fight, stripping line and fighting good. One of the guys that was crappie fishing saw the fight and offered a net and my friend heard the commotion and came to assist too. My friend was in the water and landed the fish by hand before the net got there. Besides the pictures, we kept the fish in the net, and water, for length, weight, and release.
Top 5 Weight: 17-10 (17-10)

Folks, that is a fish story. Such tales can be categorized under many headings and this one is no exception. I’ll call this one a “what the heck, I’ll make a few more casts” fish story. Of course, contributing factors such as a bladder, a buddy and a bass certainly came into play as well. Ain’t fishing great.

 

Congrats, Jim, on an impressive catch and let’s not forget that is a darn good December bass as well. Talk to you later. Troy

Top 5 Update

Posted on by Troy Jackson

A shout out this week to our Top 5 leader, Jim Junk, as he’s still out there catching. His outing last Thursday to his regular stomping grounds produced a handful of solid fish with the two submissions below being the largest.

Weight: 3-7
Angler: Jim Junk
Date: December 2
Location: Banner Marsh
Lure: Lipless Crankbait

Weight: 2-6
Angler: Jim Junk
Date: December 2
Location: Banner Marsh
Lure: Lipless Crankbait
Angler Comments: Not much to report recently but did get out to Banner on Thursday from 1:00pm to about 4:30pm. 3-7 and 2-6 and two smaller ones. Also missed what I think was a pretty good one.
Top 5 Weight: 26-0 (6-0,5-5,5-3,5-2,4-6)

Well done, and if these are our final submissions for 2021, they provide a solid bookend to a productive year on the water for our anglers. Looking back, Jim kicked us off with a bass on February 2 and he’s still reeling them in ten months later. Final stats to come after the first of the year when all is officially said and done. Talk to you later. Troy

Friday Flashback – December 2001

Posted on by Troy Jackson

With a final post, this year’s Friday Flashback draws to a close. The string of thirty-nine straight scheduled weekly posts hit the blog without a hitch beginning on March 12 and continued through today. A couple Friday posts were delayed until Saturday for important reasons like birthdays or Mothman but I kept up my end of the bargain to relive some fishing memories.

And here we go for one more week, at where else, Emstrom’s Pond.

December 1, 2001 at 2:47pm and weighing 2-1 on a black and blue jig and pig

It is not often that I have fished all the way into December. Several factors come into play beginning with weather. In the case of the catches in today’s post, some reasonably warm weather pushing into the 50s prompted me to take a shot.

Factor number two is time and responsibilities. Since starting a family back in 2004, I am grateful for the substantial time I get on the water. Thus, once I reach my goal of a November bass, I am content to put away the gear and invest the “free time” as family time. I have never been much of an ice fisherman either. Both factors come into play in accepting that I usually have just over a hundred days between last and first bass.

A third factor is proximity. Emstrom’s Pond was an ideal destination as I could be on the water in a matter of minutes when I resided in Galesburg. This late in the year, that is a definite plus as the daylight fades in a hurry and my aim is usually to make a quick hit on the water. In and out in maybe 90 minutes in the afternoon which is typically the warmest part of the day (just as important for the fisherman as the fish).

A final factor is having some good water with the proximity noted above. We were fortunate to have a prime fishing hole with a prime fishing spot in what we called “The Beaver Lodge.” It’s been discussed before, and you couldn’t ask for a better spot to take your chances and wet a line.

The formula for a December visit was pretty simple. Unload the boat from the bed, drag it down “The Ramp”, row about 50 yards to the northwest, drop anchor and cast a black and blue jig and pig around “The Beaver Lodge” for an hour or so. The formula was also pretty effective.

December 7, 2001 at 1:32pm and weighing 2-6 on a black and blue jig and pig

So long from the Friday Flashback for year number four. The plan was to comb the logs and photo albums for fish stories in any five year increment from the current year. For 2021, those tales covered 40 years from 1976 through 2016. This approach would allow me to run the Friday feature for five years. Hard to believe that the final year is on the horizon as we head towards 2022. The spreadsheet is already completed with just over 40 weeks’ worth of fish stories, hope you’ll continue to tune in. Talk to you later. Troy

Strip Mine Extras – November 17

Posted on by Troy Jackson

A look at the “starting lineup” for the final day of the season.

Every fishing trip that I take gets a fishing report here on the blog. I attempt to cram as much info into the posts as possible while still trying to keep them at a modest read. Time, viewing habits, unending internet content and attention spans have changed over the years in the information age, and many are ready to move on to the next thing before finishing the current thing. All of this leads me to having batches of extra stuff sitting around on my devices and in my brain. So, here’s a few such items from my November 17 fishing trip.

Rain or shine, I was committed to chasing bass and on this day. Conditions dealt me occasional bouts of the rain portion and none of the shine aspect. The scattered precipitation did not discourage or dampen me much, but I still can’t get it through my head to pack raingear after all these years.

During my drive to, from and around my destination, I observed nearly a dozen deer as well as a bald eagle. While the deer were no surprise, it wasn’t that many years ago that it was quite an occasion to spot a bald eagle at any significant distance from a major river system. Nowadays, it is not uncommon around my Knox County fishing holes.

A sure sign that the end of my fishing year is approaching is displayed on the console of the truck. An 8:22am departure is a far cry from setting out at 4:30am to beat the sunrise to the strip pits. This time of year, leaving later allows for a little extra warmth that is often more about the fisherman than the fish. And the heat turned up in the truck is quite different than the windows rolled down (natural air conditioning as the artificial type no longer works).

I suspect that a tiny bass landed at 3:37pm will be the final bass for me in 2021. It was fooled on a Shad Rap crankbait that I found during a family hike around Sylvan Island in the fall of 2020. If it indeed is my final 2021 bass, it will provide a fun bookend on the year as my first bass of 2021 was also caught on the lost and found lure back on March 20.

More miles racked up on the road to the fishing hole during a year when the truck crossed 200,000 miles.

Another year in the books and well over 40 years and counting on this deluxe watercraft

Oh yeah, there’s also tunes to report from this trip but those will have to wait for another day. Talk to you later. Troy

Friday Flashback – November 24, 2006

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November 24, 2006 – Bass #2000

What follows is an original post detailing how it all went down to end the 2006 fishing year and the “Quest for Bass #2000”.

On November 24th at 8:13am bass #2000 came ashore with my jig and pig planted firmly in its jaw. It marked the end of my recent quest and turned out to be my final bass of 2006. I’m okay with that as there were times that my confidence was shaky as I pursued those last few bass. But thanks to some unseasonably warm weather and a prime piece of structure, everything worked out just fine. For this article, I’ll take a closer look at the final push for #2000.

Bass #1 of “the computer age” made its way into the database on March 21, 1997, at 5:04pm. It fell to a blue glimmer spinnerbait on Duck/Deer Lake at Little John and measured eleven inches in length. By November 22, 2006, I had spent over 900 hours chasing bass and stood five fish shy of 2000. Fortunately, me and my girls were headed for Buckheart to celebrate Thanksgiving, the weather forecast was favorable, and I had permission to fish.

On the morning of November 23rd, I spent a fair amount of time wandering around a good-sized strip pit before settling on an area that featured a lengthy stretch of bank containing numerous beaver lodges, probably my favorite piece of structure. After losing a small northern pike on a dew worm hung from a bobber, bass #1996 inhaled my jig and pig as I hopped it around some debris on the bottom. I was unable to fool any others on the lake and was blanked on a smaller pond nearby. While fishing I crossed paths with my brother-in-law, David, who was goose hunting and he suggested that I try a spot where we had success earlier this fall.

November 23, 2006 – Bass #1998 at 2-15 on a jig and pig

His advice produced three bass in less than fifteen minutes. All the fish hit my Rattlin’ Jig (black/blue) with a #11 pork frog (blue) as I worked a beaver lodge. The second of the three fish joined the record book at a respectable 2-15. Another half hour on the lake failed to produce a bite and I headed for Thanksgiving dinner. I couldn’t help but wonder if fate would be so unkind as to leave me one bass shy of my goal. However, I still held out hope that I could entice one more bite the following day.

I reached the beaver lodge at 8:12 am on the 24th and quickly retied my jig and pig as I eagerly awaited my first cast. I didn’t have to wait long as only seconds after my jig hit the bottom, I felt the familiar tap of a hungry bass. I reared back to hammer the hooks home on #2000…and missed. In the seconds that followed I felt the despair of potentially missing my shot, possibly uttered a few uncharacteristic and colorful words and began to reel in my lure for another cast. To my surprise, a bass suddenly appeared out of nowhere and slammed the jig as it rode inches below the surface. I’m not sure exactly what happened next, but I would have to give the bass credit for hooking itself as I think I kind of went on autopilot before winding up with a firm grip on the lip of #2000.

Looking at my watch, I recorded the time at 8:13am. I proceeded to measure the length of the bass and it was documented at 13 inches. Having met my 12-inch minimum criteria for a weight measurement I reached for my scale despite already knowing the result before making it official. I’ve seen a few bass in my day and can usually give a reasonable, fairly unbiased estimate. In this instance, I was right on the money. The fish weighed in at 13 ounces. You see if I had to pick a favorite number, it would be 13, which I would admit to inheriting from Dad. It’s on my license plate and Dad’s. He sported the number on various athletic jerseys over the years, as did I when it was available. Therefore, it seemed fitting that my quest would end upon landing a 13-inch, 13-ounce bass at 13 minutes after eight o’clock in the morning.

After snapping a couple of photos of what would coincidentally be (believe it or not) my 113th 13-inch bass, I decided to work the area for a few more minutes. I managed to get one more bite but busted off on the hookset despite retying after #2000. Following a few more half-hearted casts I decided to head back to the guesthouse. I’d spent fifteen minutes on the lake and left satisfied upon having reached my goal. The 2006 season had been good to me, and I didn’t care if I had to wait until 2007 to begin the pursuit of my 3000th bass.

Another shot of Bass #2000, complete with the beaver lodge in the background

Well, the pursuit of the 3000th bass is well in the rearview mirror as I presently sit 112 bass away from #6000. But that’s a chase for 2022 as there’s more Friday Flashback and plenty of other stuff before we bid farewell to 2021. Talk to you later. Troy

An Inside Look At A Fishing Outing

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I’m a simple guy so a look inside the cab of my truck is a bit embarrassing due to the amount of stuff packed along for the November 17 fishing trip. However, it is all absolutely necessary as shown and described below.

1. Lucky sweatshirt and flannel that are probably older than my high school senior daughter. It would be interesting to see how many fishing pics that sweatshirt and it’s twin have appeared in over the decades.

2. Cooler containing the standard sandwich, a couple bottles of water or tea and a Ziploc baggie of ice.

3. Chocolate in my favorite forms. M&Ms and a Cosmic Brownie.

4. My fancy GoPro bag containing two cameras, two chest mounts, a zipper case and two extra batteries.

5. Stocking hat as a balding head can get a bit chilly this time of the year.

6. Utility box that hadn’t made it into my tackle backpack in my lazy, last-minute packing.

7. Unsweetened iced tea, a steady companion on any drives. I can last about an hour until I need to make the resultant pit stop (this morning in the parking lot of The Victoria Pheasant Habitat Area).

8. Masks, although my smalltown drink stops along the way have apparently eradicated COVID.

9. Floppy hat as a balding head is not a good match in the event there is sunlight and warm weather. Neither applied on this day.

10. A bag with a bag of chips, another component of the standard fare on a fishing trip.

11. Backpack which contains my “just in case I fall in the lake” change of clothes. Overall, the balance is still there but feeling it slip a bit and always wise to be prepared in the event of a swim.

12. Boots come in handy when launching and loading the little boat. In addition, they are good at keeping the feet warm when paired with some decent socks. Unfortunately, those socks were at home in a drawer resulting in a mid-morning truck break with the heater turned up.

13. A clipboard for notes seems odd when you’ve got a smartphone in your pocket (or baggie when on the water). But ever since making a clipboard in Churchill Junior High shop class, we’ve been tight.

There you go, every item important. Perhaps someday we’ll take a look inside the tackleboxes and the horde of “can’t leave home without” lures. I use about a dozen of them. But you never know when you might need that certain bait. Talk to you later. Troy

Strip Mine Report – November 17

Posted on by Troy Jackson

I have stated many times that my annual fishing goal is to start with a March bass and end with a November bass. The first half of the goal was accomplished on March 20, and I set out on November 17 in search of the bookend bass. Details below on how it turned out.

Stats

Date: November 17, 2021
Location: Little John Conservation Club (3 lakes)
Time: 10:20am-4:00pm (3.5 hours fishing)
Weather: Overcast/windy/light rain
Air Temp: 47-48F (felt like 41F per weather app)
Water Temp: no reading
Totals: 3 bass
Lures: Strike King Red Eye Shad (sexy shad) – 1 bass, War Eagle spinnerbait (chartreuse/white) – 1 bass, Rapala Shad Rap (shad) – 1 bass
Top Bass: 2-7 (Spinnerbait)
Top 5 Weight (only 2 bass at 12” or better): 3-6 (2-7,0-15)

Winning Lures

Notes and Nonsense

Plan – Having a few vacation days remaining for the year, I opted to invest one on a day with forecast high temps in the mid-50s. The only problem was that the high occurred somewhere around 3:00am and then proceeded to drop from there. In addition, the wind was substantial and the mid-morning end to rain showers continued to be pushed further out past noon. Let’s just say it was less than ideal conditions but at this time of the year, you get what you get, and you don’t throw a fit.

10:29am – Mission accomplished on a lipless crankbait

Bass #1 – Catching only three bass, I figure that I might as well provide details on all of them as they are likely my final three bass of 2021. Nine minutes into my morning, armed with a Red Eye Shad, I had my November bass in hand. While I was confident that I could fool at least one bass in the cold front conditions, it sure felt good to get an early catch and achieve my goal.

1:42pm – Top Bass at 2-7 on a spinnerbait

Bass #2 – After an hour and half and one bass on my first stop, I sat in my truck with froze toes and pondered my next move. Stop number two was a shallower spot with a fair amount of wood cover and expanses of submerged vegetation in three to seven foot of water. A reliable collection isolated laydowns in a shallow bay was once again a winner as it produced my best bass of the trip, a healthy 2-7 on a spinnerbait.

3:39pm – mystery solved, barely

Bass #3 – With about an hour of daylight and maybe 30 minutes of energy and cold tolerance remaining in this fifty-something angler, I decided to do a little exploring. First, I took a walk around a small lake to investigate access due to some landscaping over the last several years. All looked well but I moved on without making a cast, opting instead to check out one more lake. My final stop has intrigued me for decades as I have driven past hundreds of times wondering, “does that spot support any bass”, “how deep is the water” and “is there any significant structure”? The answers as follow: Yes, roughly eight feet and not really.

Another good year of fishing, time to ride off into the sunset for 2021

All’s well that ends well. And I suspect that this is indeed the end of casting for 2021. It’s been a great year with ample opportunities to get on the water and good results in terms of both quantity and quality. Stay tuned for a follow-up post with some peripheral stuff from this latest outing. In addition, there’s plenty more outdoor and fishing related content to come here on the blog as we near the end of the year. Talk to you later. Troy

Friday Flashback-November 17-18, 2001

Posted on by Troy Jackson

Since the inception of Friday Flashback, we’ve spent a fair number of Fridays looking back at Emstrom’s Pond. Indeed, the first post in the series, back on March 18, 2018, featured the legendary fishing hole.

After all those posts, what more could there be to say about the pond?

Well, thanks to the log entries in the photo above from November 17 & 18, 2001 there are several things to say.

Both entries note that I fished for a brief period. This conveys that the proximity of the pond to where we used to store our little johnboat at my folks’ house made the spot ideal for a quick visit. On November afternoons that is important. In the case of the November 17 entry, I was able to get off work at 3:00pm, run by my parents’ house, grab the boat, and start casting by 3:45pm. It doesn’t get much better than that. Well, except for those years when Lake Bracken was my backyard. But that’s another story.

Of the dozens of Emstrom’s pics, this is the best I could find that showed “The Beaver Lodge”

When you only have an hour or so to fish like these two log entries denote, it pays to have a good spot. And in the case of Emstrom’s Pond, there was a good spot on the spot. As the log shows, that spot was what we called The Beaver Lodge. Such a structure is a good spot about anywhere. But that’s another story, too.

Not sure if this is the Pearl pattern Baby 1- or the Gray Ghost (the latter of which is “another story”)

Finally, the successful lure scribbled down in the log is the Mann’s Baby 1- crankbait. I have to say that it is odd for the bait to be so dominant in November. However, the conditions noted in the log show that the weather and water conditions were anything bug typical mid-November. Air temperatures at 60 degrees or above on consecutive days and water temperatures in the upper-50s are a late season dream. As always, the bass will tell you what they want, or don’t. And if I don’t have to slow down my presentations, I don’t.

November 18, 2001 – another winner from Emstrom’s Pond

The picture above provides solid feedback that I was in the right place on the right water at the right time with the right lure.

That’s the puzzle that is fishing. And occasionally, I get it right. Talk to you later. Troy