Along with fishing, one of my passions is baseball. And this day on the water reminded me a lot of a ballgame. There were extended periods without much to cheer about combined with flurries of activity when the bite picked up. Of course, for the dedicated angler or true baseball fan, the wheels are always turning, and the focus remains high as every cast (or pitch) could be a game changer.

Stats
Date: May 8
Location: Lake Storey, Knox County, IL
Time: 9:00am-4:00pm
Totals: 15 bass
Weather: Partly cloudy/windy, 56-73F
Water temperature: Not available
Lure: Z-Man Chatterbait (sexy shad) with BPS Speed Shad (sight fish) – 15 bass
Top Bass: 3-1 Chatterbait
Top 5 Weight: 10-4 (3-1,2-2,1-14,1-11,1-8)

Starting lineup

Tune of the Trip
A Pirate Looks at Forty – Jimmy Buffett (1974)
“I passed out and I rallied and I sprung a few leaks
But I got to stop wishin’, got to go fishin’”
While I did not pass out, I fell out of the boat recently (while it was on the bank, video some other day). I had several lengthy lulls without a bite and did rally at various times for a solid day. And that last line sums up 2026 thus far as I have been able to spend ample time on the water. (Note: I am not a pirate and I am way past forty, but my boat does leak a bit)

12:42pm – Top Bass Runner-Up at 2-2 (16″) on a chatterbait

Notes and Nonsense

Slumps – Three minutes into the outing, at 9:03am, I had my first fish in the boat courtesy of the hot lure of 2026, the chatterbait. It would take me until 10:22am to land my second bass (did have on come unhooked in the interim). Throughout the rest of the day, I would have periods where I blanked for durations of fifty-two minutes (10:22am-11:14am), forty-eight minutes (11:54am-12:42pm), ninety-one minutes (1:30pm-3:01pm) and forty-two minutes (3:18pm until quitting time at 4:00pm).

3:01pm – Top Bass at 3-1 (18″) on a chatterbait

Rallies – Between a couple of the slumps noted above, there were flurries of activity that saved the day. From 11:14am-11:54am, five bass came onboard. Another rally occurred from 12:42pm-1:30pm when six bass were entered into the log. At 11:49am, I landed my fifth keeper to establish a starting Top 5 Weight well before my midway point of the day. While the initial total was only six pounds, the latter half of the day brought bigger bites allowing me to post a double-digit Top 5 for the outing.

 

Complete Game – I am an old school baseball fan and miss the days of a starting pitcher going the distance. On this day, the chatterbait was once again the workhorse in fooling every bass of the trip. I did make casts with several other lures, but a lack of results pushed me back to throwing the chatterbait. And I was glad that I stuck with it as my next to last fish of the trip was a three-pounder. The chatterbait is my 2026 confidence bait for a reason.

Lake Storey has treated me well this spring. My initial goal was to visit once a month from March through October this year, but the bite has been solid enough to rack up three trips in May. And May visits may not be done yet. Talk to you later. Troy

Although I had met my goal of a monthly Lake Storey visit the previous day during a trip with my son, Jayce, I chose the lake again as a destination the following day. Read on to see if I was wearing out my welcome or just getting warmed up.

8:59am – First Bass at 2-11 (18″) on a chatterbait

Stats
Date: May 4
Location: Lake Storey, Knox County, IL
Time: 8:50am-3:35pm
Totals: 20 bass
Weather: Sunny/very windy, 62-77F
Water temperature: Not available
Lure: Z-Man Chatterbait (white) with BPS Speed Shad (sight fish) – 19 bass, Strike King KVD 2.5 Squarebill Crankbait (natural pumpkinseed) – 1 bass
Top Bass: 3-9 Crankbait
Top 5 Weight: 13-6 (3-9,2-14,2-11,2-4,2-0)

Starting lineup

Notes and Nonsense

10:10am – Top Bass at 3-9 (19″) on a crankbait 

Streak Breaker – At 10:10am, I landed my Top Bass of the trip weighing 3-9 on Strike King KVD 2.5 Squarebill crankbait. It was Bass #87 of 2026 and marked the first bass of the year that had not been caught on a chatterbait. I was letting the wind drift my boat along a bland bank with a fairly steep drop as I worked from one target area to the next. I thought, “This looks like a good spot for the crankbait”, tossed it ahead and landed this fish on my first cast with the lure. Any three-pound bass is a winner, but this one was extra cool as it made me feel smart for deciding to shift gears and make a cast. Oh yeah, I then went back to my chatterbait for next sixteen bass of the outing.

11:49am – Top Bass Runner-Up at 2-14 (17.5″) on a chatterbait

Healthy Bass – I term any bass over 12” in length as a “keeper”, even though all are released after the catch. I also record the data on all the bass that I catch, whether “keeper” or “short.” From 1997 through 2025, I have data on 586 largemouth bass from Lake Storey. Of those, 319 bass measured 12” or better for a “keeper rate” of 54%. On this trip, 15 of my 20 bass were keepers for a whopping 75% keeper rate. Thus far, for 2026 the keeper rate stands at 71% (45 of 63 bass). Body shape is also impressive as the fish are robust and have average to above length to weight ratios. Obviously, a small sample and a hit or miss sampling method but my conclusion is that the Lake Storey bass are doing well.

Co-Angler Blues – I had fished the previous day with my son, Jayce, and we had a productive day in combining for thirteen bass and a solid Top 5 Weight of 10-3. However, the bass were overachievers on this follow-up outing, and I sent my wife updates as I have been known to do. As she teaches where our boy, Jayce, goes to school, she was able to share with him as noted in the text snip above. While there is a popular fishing adage stating, “You should have been here yesterday”, I later told Jayce that this was an amended version. As in, “You should have been there tomorrow.”

Winning lures

Top 5 Notes – The 13-6 Top 5 Weight for this trip represented my third best Lake Storey Top 5 of all-time (best is 14-5 from 9/30/2007). It is also the third straight double-digit Lake Storey Top 5 of 2026. A double-digit Top 5 is one of my statistical goals for each outing so it has been a very good spring on Lake Storey.

 

And spring fishing on Lake Storey ain’t over yet. Stay tuned and talk to you later. Troy

Keeping up with my 2026 goal to hit Lake Storey at least once a month from March through October, I was able to work in my April outing last weekend. For years, I have primarily fished the lake in the fall but after the results on this trip, it seems like I have been missing out.

10:49am – Top Bass #3 weighng 2-5 (16.5″) on a chatterbait

Stats
Date: April 25
Location: Lake Storey, Knox County, IL
Time: 9:55am-3:55pm
Totals: 24 bass
Weather: Sunny/windy, 60-71F
Water temperature: Not available
Lure: Z-Man Chatterbait (white) with BPS Speed Shad trailer (sight fish) – 24 bass
Top Bass: 4-5 Chatterbait
Top 5 Weight: 12-6 (4-5,2-12,2-5,1-11,1-5)

Starting lineup

Tune of the Trip
“I said, rock, rock ‘til you drop, rock, rock never stop”
Rock! Rock! (Till You Drop) – Def Leppard (1983)
On this day, I found a productive bite when targeting spots on the lake that featured rocky cover. Rockpiles, riprap shoreline, gravel bottoms, and areas with scattered debris were winners.

12:43pm – Top Bass weighing 4-5 (20″) on a chatterbait

Notes and Nonsense

Fellow Anglers – Not surprisingly, the lake was a popular place on a pleasant Saturday morning and afternoon. On the water, I spotted one other boat and a flotilla of close to a dozen kayaks. Among the latter, only a couple were fishing. And I wasn’t the only angler catching as I saw the boater land a few crappie, one bank angler real in a big carp, and another bank angler releasing a quality catfish.

Winning lure as the chatterbait once again lands every fish on this outing and 76 of 76 bass in 2026

Talking the Talk – Last week I was texting fishing stuff with my friend, John Kirkemo, as we are wont to do. One of his texts noted that he had to replace one of his favorite lures, a Rapala Floating Minnow, as the plastic lip had fallen out of the balsa bait while fighting a fish. As I like talking fishing, I offered up a trio of my top fishing tips that would later come into play on my Lake Storey outing. Those tips were as follows:
1. Check your line regularly and when in doubt, retie.
2. Never wonder if you should make some casts to a spot, just do it.
3. Always pack along spares of your favorite lures.

2:27pm – Top Bass #2 weighing 2-12 (17.5″) on a chatterbait

Walking the Walk – On this trip, I put each of the above tips to work. In one instance, they all took place within a few minutes as noted below.
1. After catching a bass, I checked my line and found a few worn spots, so I retied.
2. After retying, and reluctant to fight the wind, I debated whether to row over to a piece of offshore cover. But, when in doubt, check it out, so I moved to the spot.
3. On my first cast to the target, I had a strike, set the hook, and broke off my highly productive chatterbait. It was a clean break, so the issue was not the knot, and my thoughts point towards a toothy muskie. Fortunately, I had plenty of identical spare chatterbaits and had another one tied on in less than a minute.
I then rowed back to the target and made two more casts. While retrieving the second cast, I observed a shad shoot out of the water nearby indicating that it was likely fleeing a predator. As a result, I made a follow-up cast in the vicinity and was rewarded with a bass weighing 1-5.

Always pack a spare of your favorite lure

 

I led off today’s post mentioning my general aim for Lake Storey but there are other goals and milestones on the radar for 2026. As such, I have a supplemental post covering additional aspects of this outing coming your way next. Talk to you later. Troy