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

A 2012 shot of the family at a windy Emiquon

Emiquon features the tough and potentially dangerous combination of wide open water and a trolling motor only restriction (no gas motors even allowed on boats). This necessitates both some planning and some on the water decision making that can be a real dilemma if the bass are biting.

Originally posted 8-20-10

This one can really ruin your day; been there, done that, twice. My first trip to Emiquon on April 23, 2009 left me disturbed for quite some time as after all of the hype, the new fishing hole threw me a shutout. However, I was more disgusted with Mother Nature than The Emiquon Preserve. Following about an hour of distraction as whitecaps battered our eight foot johnboat and at times threatened to fill it up, Dad and I called it quits and headed home (Dad did catch four bass in the ugly conditions by the way).

A similar situation occurred on Friday the 13th last November as I got blown off the lake with a ten foot borrowed johnboat after landing a solitary 13” bass. On a couple other occasions we were able to withstand winds that were a little less nasty and hung around long enough to load up on the bass that were stacked up by the wave action. It was interesting, however, upon returning home to find that my equilibrium was off and I was still riding the waves as I sat in the recliner and later laid down for bed.

Such is Emiquon, a wide open expanse of water surrounded by virtually no wind breaks. Winds from the south or east get particularly bad as there is ample surface for the waves to pick up steam as they head towards the ramp and the western half of the lake that is open to anglers. A couple of my favorite spots require a roughly (and often rough) ten minute troll. As noted in Pitfall #7 this not only gives your batteries a workout, it also necessitates some planning. The wind can pick up in a hurry down there so you need to decide on how brave you want to be based on your watercraft, either sticking with the bite a long way from the ramp or playing it safe and moving closer to home.

I’ve learned my lesson and now find myself checking the wind forecast while keeping my fingers crossed for days before heading out. If you’re fortunate to find a moderate day, fishing can be a blast on Emiquon (about 12 mph is the limit for our setup). Typically, I get all wound up at home worrying about the wind and wind up changing my mind numerous times about visiting Emiquon. After all, a two and a half hour round trip for forty minutes of fishing gets a bit frustrating. Pitfall #5 also comes into play as part of this dilemma.

Halfway through our list and the Pitfalls keep on rolling into May. Hope you’ll continue to tune in. 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

This pitfall isn’t necessarily exclusive to Emiquon and if you’ve put in enough time on the water, well, you’ll know exactly the guy I’m talking about.

Originally Posted 8-17-10

No, that’s not him in the picture above.

Actually it’s me.

The picture was just the best I had available to represent this nefarious character.

In reality there is no specific individual named Mr. Emiquon. He’s really a collective identity for the unsavory types who ruin things for the vast majority who play by the rules. I’ve used this sort of term for years and simply substitute the appropriate body of water so there’s also been a Mr. Storey, a Mr. Bracken or a Mr. Mississippi.

Sites have limits and regulations set by those with the background and knowledge required to effectively manage and protect the resource. Emiquon is no exception other than having more stringent rules and regulations than most other bodies of water. I’ve never had a problem with any such stipulations. In my opinion, if you are responsible and do your homework, the rules should come as no surprise so grin and bear it or go somewhere else. But I’m not a meat fisherman, rarely use livebait and grew up accustomed to on the water propulsion via a pair of oars. Thus the old school and arguably over protective approach at Emiquon doesn’t really bother me.

Mr. Emiquon, however, usually sees things differently while failing to recognize that he’s part of the problem in the first place. Perhaps you’ve run into him somewhere in your angling adventures. He’s the guy who thinks he owns the lake (hence the name) and that the rules don’t apply to him. At worst he can be a recipe for disaster (exotic species, overharvest or accidents) or at the very least a nuisance to others who respect their fellow anglers and the shared resource.

Dad and I crossed paths with a pair of the latter persuasion last fall as they cut right in front of us in order to fish the end of a ditch. Sure it’s open water to all but we’d been sitting on the spot for well over an hour and there’s plenty of other good water to fish down there. In fact, reports cite as much as 16 miles of drainage ditches running throughout the lakebed. Numerous areas on the lake were hotspots last year so the intrusion within 30 feet of our boat seemed totally unnecessary. We made several casts within splashing distance of their boat which was sitting right where we had been fishing but Mr. Emiquon and his buddy never batted an eye or even acknowledged our presence. Finally, Dad and I took the high road and found another spot; completely ridiculous.

Technically, I guess it doesn’t have to be male anglers as there certainly could also be a Mrs. Emiquon. On that general subject, I did encounter a pair of young ladies this June who could have been in the running for the Miss Emiquon title. I spotted this fit, bikini clad duo a couple hundred yards away as they enjoyed an afternoon of sunbathing and fishing. Unlike Mr. Emiquon they apparently had no desire to fish near the guy with the funny hat although I kept an eye out just in case. As such, I don’t have any photos to accompany this posting. I suppose that’s probably for the best as it saved me having to explain to Julie how exactly these images would enhance my Emiquon Top 10 list.

Absolute proof that you just never know who or what you’ll see during a fishing trip. Some you hope you don’t see again and a couple others, well…

Talk to you later. Troy