We interrupt our regularly scheduled Top 5 Update (will appear tomorrow) to wish one of my co-anglers a Happy Birthday.

(Note: also wish to give thanks to those we honor on this Memorial Day. Much debate over the state of our country these days but no place I would rather live. I found it a welcome sight when driving through a local main street yesterday as it was lined with flags and littered with the lawn chairs of folks reserving a spot for the upcoming parade. I leave the bickering for other social media spots and keep my website dialed into a positive vibe so I’ll just say that it made me feel good and I’ll leave it at that.)

Today marks birthday number 9 for our oldest boy, Jayce, and as always I can come up with an outdoor tale to pass along. In this case, I got a little help on what to post courtesy of a birthday gift that Jayce received from his Uncle Brent during a family celebration yesterday.

The spinnerbait pictured above is the latest version of something that I dubbed “The Emiquon Special” after watching Brent wield it en route to a 98 bass day on his first ever visit to The Emiquon Preserve back on October 7, 2009. While not all 98 of his bass fell to this legendary bait, it caught the vast majority and his final flourish in pursuit of the century mark had me setting down my rod and reel to simply watch the spectacle. Anyway, there’s actually a little more to the story as Brent’s use of this spinnerbait color scheme goes back to the mid-80s and over 30 years later he’ still fooling them on the latest version of the bait, pics and tales for another day.

Don’t know if Jayce realizes exactly what he’s got a hold of with this piece of family fishing history which was handcrafted by his Uncle Brent, the angler who made it famous. Pretty cool and will be fun to watch when we put the new weapon in his arsenal to use. Spinnerbaits have a little bit more of a learning curve than the baits Jayce has already put to work primarily in the aspect that you generally need to get the bait moving shortly after it hits the water. Simply another skill for our young angler to work on and once he gets the hang of it I suspect the Emiquon Special and the bass will take care of the rest.

So, while Jayce and I wait for a chance to get on the water together for some practice, I told him that I’d just keep the lure nice and safe in my tacklebox. For you see, Uncle Brent has never made one of these for his older brother.

Further fishing stuff for Jayce’s tacklebox courtesy of Papa

Happy Birthday to my fishing buddy Jayce.

Talk to you later. Dad

  

A whole different ballgame when kid fishing. Beginning in the late 2000’s it started kicking into full gear and it hasn’t stopped since. Just got a little more crowded on the bank or in the boat.

 

But for today’s flashback we head back to a time when there were only a pair of little girls armed with a Princess or Mickey Mouse pole, slip bobbers, 1/32 oz. jigheads and a couple dozen waxworms. This outing was part of a family camping trip to Little John Conservation Club as described below in the original posting that I submitted to family and friends back on June 15, 2008.

“My haul in the last month consists of three bluegill, one green sunfish and one small bass from Little John’s Well Lake. The bass hit on a Mann’s Baby 1- crankbait while the others bit on a waxworm and jighead hung from a slip bobber on either a Mickey Mouse or Disney Princess pole. Somehow I ended up with the kiddie poles during a fishing lesson for the girls while camping at Little John on June 2nd and 3rd. The girls were more content helping me cast out and then reeling in large masses of moss or leaves in addition to throwing rocks and sticks into the fishing hole. They also enjoyed playing with the waxworms instead of feeding them to the fish. Both did actually ‘pet’ our catch and Carly even tried to grab a hold of one of our bluegills in order to help turn him loose. Fishing, or whatever you would call what we did, was great. We spent a total of 15 hours camping, from 5:00pm on June 2nd until 8:00am on June 3rd when the impending thunderstorms sent us packing. However, in our meager time we were able to cram in playground activities, fishing, building a fire for hot dogs and s’mores, playing in the tent and even a few relaxing beverages for the parents. A good time was had by all despite not getting to follow through on the girls’ much anticipated visit to the swimming hole; maybe next time.”

And over the years, there have been plenty of “next times”; may even see one in a future Friday Flashback as we head into June. In addition, we have our sights set on creating a few more “next times” over summer break. Talk to you later. Troy

Today we look back at who I spent time with in the boat or on the bank during 2017. And these days it’s not too surprising that I happened to be related to every one of them.

Now, when I initially thought back on 2017, I found myself thinking that I had been rather selfish in my fishing with nearly all of my fishing time spent flying solo chasing those darn bass. There’d been plenty of requests to tag along from the kids which didn’t materialize for various reasons, such as a reluctance to get out of bed at 4:30am. It is also a tough sell on a long day as I selfishly like to put in more than a few hours, particularly when hitting my old stomping grounds as they require about a two hour round trip.

Okay, enough of the excuses, gonna look to boost time on the water with some fishing partners as part of the Resolutions posted for 2018.

And, actually, when looking back there was a lot more of that quality family time than I initially thought, just look below.

May 27 and May 29
Got the kids out on these two occasions on a pothole of a pond near Coal Valley, IL. Aquatic weeds and limited bank and casting access provided some challenges but we reeled in a decent amount of fish.

June 2 and 3
A family camping trip to Little John produced the regular multi-species quest and our brood have taken to the hobby like a fish to water. A good bunch and fun to watch them practice and hone their skills. Next up, consistently baiting your own hook and talking off your own fish.

June 25
Went exploring with Carly and Jayce for a change of pace after our Coal Valley spot let us down. They were all about a change of scenery and we found some cool access and a handful of fish on the Hennepin Canal in Colona, IL.

July 8 (3.5 hours, 17 total bass, 5-0 and 3-5 Top Bass, 12-4 Top 5 Weight)
The lone trip with Dad for 2017 produced a decent quantity of bass and though it took a while we also posted two real solid catches. This outing was featured in a return to a retro fishing report entitled Lake Lowdown. Look for a revisit to this format at some point in 2018.

July 8
After the “serious” bass outing for me and Dad, we were joined by my boys, Jayce and Zac, for some panfishing amidst some goofing off. A great time with lots of good photos and some video footage that I hope those two youngsters will appreciate more and more as they get not so young.

July 15 (5.50 hours, 15 total bass, 7-3 Top 5 Weight, 1-6 Top Bass)
On the heels of the successful outing for me and Dad, I did the brother fishing trip with Brent to see if we could pull off another one. We struggled a bit as can happen during the “Dog Days” of summer, fishing longer but still coming up a bit short on quantity and a bit more short on quality.

September 17 (6.75 hours, 27 total bass, 8-3 Top 5 Weight, 2-9 Top Bass)
A very comfortable and successful fall drawdown day on the “home lake”, Lake Storey, with my brother, Brent. Even wound up with a toothy fish as can happen, just another reason that this is probably my favorite fishing hole. We even made a pact to split time in both ends of the boat so nobody could claim they got “front ended.” 27 total bass was a very good day and you’ll have to ask Brent who wound up on top despite equal time in the generally advantageous front of the boat position.

That does it for another look back at 2017 as I await my next shot in 2018. Plenty of fun with some fishing buddies but must say that a couple are missing on the list. Definitely need to get my wife, Julie, out there as well as our oldest daughter, Helena, who is content to observe her younger siblings getting it done. However, I got some inspiration from an NCAA football stunt last season to provide a little competitive incentive in 2018. Stay tuned for the reveal in a future posting once spring kicks into gear.

But wait, I am not yet finished with 2017, as once I get on a roll talking fishing…One final project headed your way. Talk to you later. Troy

So, Black Friday found our family in Quincy, IL visiting with Julie’s mom. Never one for shopping on a regular day, let alone the biggest shopping day of the year, I was game for Julie’s suggestion that we get some fresh air along the mighty Mississippi River. Besides with lunchtime temperatures in the mid-70s, who in their right mind would want to be cooped up in a mall? An outstanding bit of nature, The River did not disappoint during the few hours we spent roaming and exploring.

First stop was a stretch of river walk just north of the Route 24 bridge between a couple dining establishments called The Pier and The Dock. This area featured several docks and a boat ramp. Along the way we skipped rocks, threw logs and found a pumpkin floating in the river. After fishing the pumpkin out of the water we had a great fun rolling it down the boat ramp back to its watery home.

Next up was Quinsippi Island which was accessible via a one lane bridge and featured a log cabin village, playground area and “secret trail” through the timber to the river’s edge. My boys called the river bank under the towering railroad bridge, “The Beach” and we enjoyed writing in the sand and discovering interesting animal tracks (some real and others imagined).

The road to Quinsippi Island

Toss in imagination…and some hot lava, or snake pit, or alligators…

And how about these raptor and T-Rex prints Zac “found”

Cool view of the “Mighty Mississippi”

Fun to watch the river do it’s thing

Zac points the way to some deer prints on “the beach”

The final bit of sightseeing was the Villa Katherine, a “Castle on the Mississippi” built in 1900. We were just in time to work in a tour of the site which proved to be quite interesting.  Further information on this landmark on the National Register of Historic Places can be found here.

Villa Katherine overlooks the Mississippi and is the current home of Quincy’s Tourist Information Center 

A look at the interior reflecting pool from the second floor balcony

Mississsippi River view from second floor of Villa Katherine

Quincy River Ramble Rating: 5.0 Marshmallows (scale 1-5 Marshmallows with 5 being tops, rating is average of six family member votes)

Location: Along the Mississippi River in Quincy. IL
Attractions: Bonansinga Drive River Walk, Quinsippi Island, Villa Katherine and “the beach” which was actually just a stretch of sandy bank exposed by low pool conditions.
Hiking/Trails: paved riverside trail off Bonansinga Drive, auto/pedestrian bridge to Quinsippi Island and unmarked river access on Quinsippi Island

Family Poll: What did you like most about Quincy’s Mississippi River stops?
Helena: “Walking on the dock, the pumpkin roll and Grammy showing me how to skip rocks.”
Carly: “The random pumpkin floating in the river and the log cabins.”
Zac: “The beach where we wrote our names and saw raptor and T-Rex prints.”
Mom: “The Quinsippi Island cabins, wish they were open for a better look.”
Dad: “The various river views and watching the kids simply enjoy some fresh air via a combination of random objects and imagination.”
Jayce: “I liked the beach and hated the part when we had to leave.”

Definitely a worthwhile bit of outdoor activity on an unseasonably warm Thanksgiving Friday. Much different than what thousands of others were up to as evidenced by encountering maybe ten people along the way. It was rewarding to hear my boy, Jayce, ask if we could come back after being told it was time to hike back to the vehicle from “the beach.” I told him that we have one of these, meaning a river, back home. Same mighty one, in fact. Talk to you later. Troy

July is crazy in a good way as today we celebrate the second of four family birthdays, featuring our younger daughter, Carly. The following is an excerpt from an original posting back in the early writing days before officially becoming a blogger.

“Our top story is the latest addition to our family. Weighing in at 6-13 and measuring 19” in length, Carly June Jackson arrived at 6:28 pm on July 9th. Mom and baby are doing just fine. Big sister is also adjusting fine so far. Papa Jackson has again seen to it that she left the hospital with a fishing pole. This one is a Disney Princess model to go with Helena’s Mickey Mouse combo.”

Early bluegill on sister’s pole                                 Camping and air mattress destruction

Cheesing over bluegill                                                          Typical windy day at Emiquon, typical Carly 

Carly called this shot on a Senko                                                           Carly the cook enjoying camping cuisine

So, these days Carly has left the kiddie combos behind for a standard fishing rod received as an early birthday present as reported here a couple weeks ago. She has always been quite proficient wielding a fishing pole and possesses the best drive and dedication among our bunch when it comes to chasing some fish.

May 2016, me and my girl taking in our favorite girl band

She also lets me listen to “my” music on the way to the fishing hole as it has now become “our” music with a girl who can ID acts by ear such as Led Zeppelin, Stevie Wonder, Heart, Journey, Ozzy, ELO, Pat Benatar, David Bowie…you know, good music. She can also tell you which Beatle is on vocals most of the time without three or four guesses. And how many other eleven year olds know who is generally regarded as “The Fifth Beatle?”

Love you, Miss Carly, and talk to you later. Dad