I made two Sunday stops on the Knox County strip mines, starting with Brent and finishing with a solo shot. A fast start did not translate into a strong finish, but we got a few decent ones while the early morning bite was on.

Stats
Date: May 25
Location: Knox County public strip pits (3 lakes)
Time: 6:30am-11:50am (4.00 hours fishing)
Totals: 23 bass (Troy – 14, Brent – 9) NOTE: I fished an extra 90 minutes
Weather: Overcast/windy, 53-56F
Lures: Spro Flappin Frog 65 (redear or leopard) – 14 bass, Z-Man Chatterbait (sexy shad) – 5 bass, Whopper Plopper 110 (bone) – 3 bass, 5” Yamasenko weighted wacky rig (blue pearl/black hologram) – 1 bass
Top Bass: 2-9 Troy (Frog), 2-8 Brent (Frog)
Top 5 Weight: 9-11 (2-9,2-8,2-0,1-5,1-5)

Troy starting lineup, all produced except the lipless crankbait

Tune of the Trip
Welcome to the Jungle – Guns N’ Roses (1987)
As we near June, the hike to some of the walk-in strip mines gets more interesting. Taller weeds, abundant thistles, ample ticks, and hidden gullies make for tough decisions when choosing a destination.

7:00am – Top Bass at 2-9 (17.5″) on a frog, edging out Brent’s Top Bass by one ounce

Sent Brent a screenshot of my weight as proof that I had an official 2-9 compared to his 2-8

Notes and Nonsense

Chilling Out – At 6:30am, it sure did not feel like Memorial Day weekend and my fingers were bordering on numb. Overcast skies and wind resulted in the “feels like” temperature reading at 47 degrees. And it never got noticeably warmer. Brent commented that when the wind hit the water surface just right it would cause a warm blast as the water was warmer than the air. This year continues to be odd in terms of weather.

Stop One – My first cast bass of the morning resulted in a bass which is sometimes seen as a bad omen. After all, the bass/cast percentage will certainly not remain one hundred percent. For the next thirty minutes or so, the bite stayed hot, but I only landed one other bass from a total of seven strikes on the frog. Such is frog fishing though as hooksets and the aim of the bass can suffer in weedy water. Brent had better hookup success in landing four bass on the frog in addition to fooling five others on a chatterbait.

7:20am – Brent’s Top Bass at 2-8 on a frog

Stop Two – After hitting a pair of lakes, Brent called it a morning while I stuck around as I had some time before heading to my folks to catch the Cubs 12:40pm start. I ditched the boat in favor of a five-minute walk to a productive lake. The lake is odd, however, as there is an incredible amount of little bass mixed in with the occasional quality catch. As I write this report, my largemouth bass total for the year stands at 132 bass and exactly half of them (66 bass) have come from this lake. Unfortunately, only three of the bass have been “keepers” at 12” or better. Those three bass weighed in at 4-14(20.5”), 3-13 (20”), and 1-3(14”). Every other bass measured between 7.5” to 11.5”. Over the last dozen years, Brent and I have posted an impressive all-time Top 5 from the lake of 22-9 (5-4,4-14,4-10,4-0,3-13). But we’ve had to weed through several hundred small bass along the way.

While this trip did not live up to the quality we were looking for, we did land a decent number of bass. The day ended on a good note as the Cubs staged an exciting comeback to defeat the Reds 11-8. Dad and I were a little frustrated at times, but we hung in there. I had to laugh though as Mom said that if I hadn’t come to watch the game with them, Dad likely would have had enough and turned them off after the first few innings. I suppose being a Cubs fan will never be easy. Stay tuned for an impressive Top 5 Update tomorrow and talk to you later. Troy

On this outing, Brent and I took a bike ride through some old stomping grounds that we’ve been exploring for thirty-five years. As such, this fishing report includes a bit of reminiscing. Read on for the numbers, notes and nostalgia.

Starting lineup – Troy

Stats
Date: May 18
Location: Knox County public strip pits (3 lakes)
Time: 6:45am-10:30am (2.75 hours fishing)
Totals: 23 bass (Brent – 13, Troy – 10)
Weather: Sunny/windy
Lures: Mann’s Chug n’ Spit – 13 bass, 5” Yamasenko wacky rig (various colors) – 7 bass, Lunker Hunt Finesse Swimbait (smokin shad or perfect pumpkin) – 3 bass
Top Bass: 2-4 Brent (Popper), 2-2 Troy (Swimbait)
Top 5 Weight: 8-2 (2-4,2-2,1-7,1-4,1-1)

Troy’s winning lures

Tune of the Trip
Have A Drink on Me – AC/DC (1980)
I recently got a new tacklebag that has a sleeve for a drink. This allowed me to pack two bottles of water, one in the bag and one on my bike. Brent left his drink in his truck, so the spare came in handy.

September 25, 2006 – Strip mine smallmouth, our quest on this trip

6:48am – Found the smallmouth although rather small at the start

7:17am – Getting bigger with a 1-7 on a popper

Notes and Nonsense

Smallmouth Mission – For years, I have read reports about anglers reeling in some smallmouth bass from a few ponds scattered about the Knox County public strip pits. Back in September 2006, I made a point to give one of them a try and reeled in seven small smallies. Fast forward nearly twenty years and I was on a small mouth hunt again, with Brent in tow. Well, we found them again, albeit in a completely different spot than my 2006 trip. For me, little changed as I landed six small smallies. Brent, on the other hand, set a new family smallmouth record with a 2-4 (besting my 2-0 from 2021).

Before Picture – Brent from March 30, 2004 with a bass on one of the lakes we fished on this outing, notice the terrrain is highly navigable

After Picture – roughly the same backdrop where the above pic was taken, much has changed in twenty-one years as you can’t even get to the water

Changes – I made my first casts in one of these lakes over thirty years ago. Prior to this trip, my last visit was in August 2011. Over those years, the access to the bank on this lake has changed dramatically. In the 1990s, you could walk right up to the bank on the entire lake and cast without obstruction. Today, the lake is surrounded by a combination of dense brush, trees, and reeds. There are very few access points, and they take some effort to reach. And once you get near the bank, casting is whole other adventure. Luckily, I pack a spinning rod as it was impossible to make a decent cast with a baitcaster.

7:39am – Brent with Top Bass of the outing, a 2-4 smallmouth on a popper

9:53am – Top largemouth bass of the outing at 2-2 on a Ned Rig

Top Bass – Brent had the smallmouth touch in finding the prime spot on one of the lakes along with selecting an effective presentation with his topwater popper. He landed the Top smallie at 2-4, added a 1-7, and fooled a third “keeper” at 1-1 on another lake. I managed to take the largemouth crown for the day with a 2-2 and also posted a 1-4 to round out our overall mixed bag Top 5.

Brent’s winnng lure, a Mann’s Chug N’ Spit

Decent numbers but eighteen of the twenty-three bass came in the first hour and a half and were mostly small smallmouth from a single lake. Beyond those fish, it was a tough bite while biking and hiking. Access from the bank has grown tough on many lakes due to abundant shoreline reeds and expansive shallow vegetation. It was worth a shot though and we found what we were seeking in the smallmouth bass.

More reports to come so stay tuned and talk to you later. Troy

A couple vacation days found me back on the strip mines for a second day battling the ridiculously strong winds. The morning was manageable in the little johnboat but in the afternoon I resorted to hiking. Read on for the results and my mindset in finding some bites under the crazy conditions as gusts were hitting forty miles an hour.

Starting lineup

Stats
Date: May 16
Location: Knox County public strip pits (2 lakes)
Time: 8:05am-10:20am, 2:25pm-4:25pm
Totals: 17 bass
Weather: Sunny/very windy, 69-83F
Lures Whopper Plopper 110 (bone) – 9 bass, Spro Flappin Frog 65 (redear) – 3 bass, 5” Yamasenko wacky rig (blue pearl/black hologram) – 3 bass, Strike King Red Eye Shad (sexy shad) – 1 bass, 7” Berkley Power Worm (blue fleck firetail) – 1 bass
Top Bass: 3-13 (Whopper Plopper)
Top 5 Weight: 9-15 (3-13,1-14,1-12,1-5,1-3)

Only one tick on this trip

Tune of the Trip
Another One Bites the Dust – Queen (1980)
Selected because the 3-13 on this outing knocked out a 3-10 to boost the all-time Top 5 for one of the lakes to an impressive weight of 22-9.

Notes and Nonsense

8:06am – Top Bass #3 at 1-12 (15.5″) on a Spro Flappin Frog (redear)

Presentation 1 – Spro Flappin Frog (redear)
The previous day, on similar water with similar conditions, the topwater frog was a winner. Sure enough, my third cast of the morning to a weedy point got me on the board. Unfortunately, the rest of the bite was not fast and furious with only two more frog bass in the next two hours.

10:06am – Top Bass #2 at 1-14 (18″) on a Texas rigged Berkley Power Worm (blue fleck firetail)

Presentation 2 – Texas rigged 7” Berkley Power Worm (blue fleck firetail)
As I was winding up at my first stop, I elected to slow down my presentation around a beaver lodge and other scattered wood adjacent to a deep weed edge. I wound up with two bites. The first one stole the back end of my worm and missed getting hooked. The aim of the second bite was true and wound up being my Top Bass of the morning at 1-14.

Crazy wind

Midday Break – Tiring of fighting the wind in the boat, I packed up and took a drive around Little John Conservation Club making a few casts in one lake without success. From there I decided to switch approaches and hike into a productive public strip pit. But first I ate a sandwich and took about a forty-minute nap in my truck. I was hoping no one would drive by and wonder if I was deceased but all was okay I guess, as no one bothered.

2:36pm – Top Bass at 3-13 (20″) on a Whopper Plopper (bone)

Presentation 3 – Whopper Plopper 110 (bone)
Refreshed on the heels of the nap, I made the five-minute walk to my next fishing hole. The crazy wind was just pounding a point with a near direct hit which can bode well for a bass in the area. Such wind can stack up the food chain as well as create a mudline in the water that serves as an ambush point. These factors prompted me to try a Whopper Plopper as it creates a noticeable commotion even in very choppy water. The ideal set up worked out just like the magazines said it should to the tune of a nearly four-pound bass.

4:20pm – Top Bass #5 at 1-3 (14″) on a weighted Senko wacky rig (blue pearl/black hologram)

Presentation 4 – 5” Yamasenko weighted wacky rig (blue pearl/black hologram)
I finished off my day near the same point where I had landed the 3-13 earlier. When I could not repeat the big bite with the Whopper Plopper, I opted for something different and deeper to finish the day. The wind factor dictated a change to my Senko wacky worm presentation. With the normal octopus hook, the worm barely sinks as the wind catches the line and basically pushes the worm along at or just below the surface. With the jighead, the worm sinks and goes down to the fish as opposed to the earlier topwater presentation attempting to bring the fish up to the surface. The change-up fooled three bass in five minutes including a 1-3 before it was time to hit the road.

Winning lures

Two days of rowing and walking had me wore out, so I elected to sleep in on Saturday. But on Sunday I was back on the water with Brent to do some exploring. Stay tuned and talk to you later. Troy