Been a little lean on the Top 5 front since kicking off the new website so cool to have a two year veteran of the project send me his first contributions for 2017.

Weight: 2-12
Angler: Paul Kessler
Date: April 17
Location: Banner Marsh – Pumphouse Lake
Lure: Spinnerbait (white)

Weight: 2-10
Angler: Paul Kessler
Date: April 17
Location: Banner Marsh – Pumphouse Lake
Lure: Spinnerbait (white)
Angler Comments: First trip of the year was on April 17 to Banner Marsh where I tried fishing Shovel and Pumphouse lakes.  Started on Pumphouse in the morning and caught the two above.  Maybe should have stayed there but wanted to look for some crappie since I have never had good luck catching them at any of the lakes there.  Didn’t catch anything else the rest of the day which was disappointing!

Weight: 3-4
Angler: Paul Kessler
Date: May 27
Location: Emiquon Preserve
Lure: Rapala DT6 Crankbait (Helsinki Shad)
Angler Comments: Forecast was for fairly calm winds but the morning was foggy and waves were up to a foot when I launched.  Managed to do well jigging for crappie but waves were topping out at whitecaps. Decided to go in and take a break at that point.  In the next 30 mins the sun came out and the wind died and things calmed down pretty well.  Caught ten bass but only weighed the biggest one.  Dumb mistake since I would have filled out my top five!  All were caught on a Rapala DT6.  Bought several colors of that lure based on some of your blog posts early last year!  Definitely paid off  for me on that day.
Top 5 Weight: 8-10 (3-4,2-12,2-10)

Appreciate the participation again this year, Paul, and looking forward to the next email as you continue to boost your creel.  Also thanks for the mention on the DT6, that lure was definitely a winner back in my Emiquon days. And always good to know someone reads some of my posts and may occasionally find something worthwhile.  Be careful though, there’s also a few bad habits in those entries from time to time.  Good luck to all, send ’em this way and talk to you later.  Troy