For this week we take a look back at an outing that featured a personal best from a small West Central Illinois fishing hole, Gladstone Lake. The following is an excerpt from the original June 30, 2003 report shared with family and friends.

June 30, 2003 – new lake record 3-8 on buzzbait

Today I decided to give the bass one more shot for the month of June and they didn’t let me down. The lake of choice was Gladstone Lake in Henderson County, located, oddly enough, just west of Gladstone. In the past, this lake has produced large quantities of bass although the quality leaves much to be desired. Fishing with Tim (former brother in law) or Geek (aka Mark Junk) on a few occasions has resulted in sixty to seventy bass days. Dad and I have hit the lake a couple times in recent years with much less success. Therefore, I left him home today and went by myself (actually he had a golf outing). My records indicate only 9 of 137 bass I’ve recorded at Gladstone from 1997-2003 were 12″ or longer. Of the 128 fish less than 12″, 87 were clustered between 9-10″. Much of the same today with two notable exceptions.

Original log entry from this outing

The less impressive exception was a 6 1/2″ bass that was barely longer than the lure I caught it on. When I catch one of these, I pass them off as “Pygmy Bass” in an effort to hide my embarrassment when I haul it into the boat. You see, “Pygmy Bass” usually run in the 4-5″ range so this was actually what could be considered a trophy specimen. I’ve yet to weigh one of these fish and I speculate that my scale may not even register a weight unless there is a stiff wind. Actually, catching one of these tiny bass is all right every once in a while. It speaks volumes for the aggressive nature of a hungry largemouth bass and they are kind of cool, miniature versions of their grownup brothers and sisters.

Former Gladstone Lake personal best of 2-4 from October 2, 2001 on a Blue Glimmer spinnerbait

The other exception was a 19 1/2″, 3-8 bass that nailed my buzzbait around 6:00 am as I retrieved it across a weedy point. This is the largest bass to come out of Gladstone Lake, besting a 2-4 from October 2, 2001. It also turned out to be Big Bass of the Month (barring any last-minute reports). Grand total for the day was thirteen bass in around four hours of fishing from 5:30 am-9:30 am. Ten bass fell to a buzzbait (blue glimmer), two to a Mann’s 4- crankbait (red shiner) and one on the latest rage, the Rebel Ghost Minnow, which barely drew attention unlike last week’s Little John adventures. Prime spots were the series of mid-lake humps that dot the lake. Final weight of all bass over 12″ was 4-2 from two fish.

Second shot of the top catch

A solid outing and admittedly a much larger bass than I really anticipated catching, a pleasant surprise. Shows that you just never know what might turn up when you hit the water. As always, fun to reminisce and definitely an instance where a fish story brings several other fish stories to mind. In the case of Gladstone Lake, there’s a job offer, cheap beer, Mr. Harvey, a long walk, DOC work, Keith Whitley, a muskie at Hardee’s, Bo and Sonny, lizards, and a flat tire. Stories for another time, got hundreds of ‘em.

Not sure what became of Gladstone Lake after some Mississippi RIver flooding, effect shown in my May 2010 photos above

And then there was a Mississippi River flood. Not sure what the story was on that one though as the last time I drove through the area the lake was off limits. Of course, that was back in 2010 so unsure on what the IDNR elected to do with the lake. Should anyone out there have any input drop me a line. Talk to you later. Troy

I’m going to push my luck with today’s Flashback as even the abridged version of this posting from 2008 remains a little lengthy. But a great day on the water just makes it tough to pare it down so here we go.

Dad and I hit Lake Bracken on June 16th, the day after Father’s Day, for our first fishing trip together of 2008. The weather had been fairly stable and the bass were through spawning so I figured that I might as well compile another “Day on the Lake” feature. As a refresher, our DOTL adventures involve photographing each bass that we land along with recording time, length, lure and weight (if applicable). The article then consists of a chronological account of our day, statistics and anecdotes concerning what actually goes on when we share several hours on the water. So, everyone hop aboard for a belated Father’s Day version of “Day on the Lake with the Dads.”

5:27 am – Armed with over a dozen poles, a hefty amount of tackle, a digital camera, a fishing log and several new weapons courtesy of Father’s Day, we launch the boat.

Bass #1 – 5:39am leaves room for improvement (details below, same for the pics and times that follow)

5:39 am – Dad lands our first bass, an 8” on a Bomber Flat A crankbait along Ramp Road. The once reliable area fails to produce another bite so we elect to motor up lake.

Bass #8 – 7:45am 2-13 Senko

7:45 am – Dad tops off a string of four straight with a hefty 2-13 on his Senko wacky rig in Shed Cove. It’s his fifth Senko bass of the morning and it seems that I might have done well with my selection of Baitmate Max Fish Attractant in the garlic and salt flavor for his Father’s Day gift. He’s begun coating the lure with the attractant and it sure seems to be working. Our three fish weight now stands at 4-11.

Bass #9 – 7:48am 2-0 Baby Brush Hog

7:48 am – I follow suit by asking for a shot of the juice on my Baby Brush Hog (Alabama craw). My next cast to a fallen tree results in a 2-0, bumping our make believe tourney totals to four bass weighing 6-11.

Bass #11  – 8:00am 3-5 Senko

8:00 am – We’re still on a roll, still in the cove and rapidly buying into the spray on fish attractant thing as Dad lands a 3-5. Once again the Senko does the trick and establishes a new Top Bass for 2008. The fish fills our six bass tourney limit and pushes our weight to 10-15. Were we truly fishing a tournament, it would be a great relief to have our limit by 8:00 am so we could begin to work on weeding out the smaller fish and increasing our weight.

Bass #28 (along with short Bass #27) – 10:00am 2-9 Baby Brush Hog

10:00 am – My 2-9 from some trees on Sunset View Point replaces a 0-15 and bumps our weight up to 13-9. The fish comes on a Texas rigged Zoom Baby Brush Hog (Alabama craw).

Bass #35 (and a couple companions) – 11:21am 3-7 Senko

11:21 am – Following a pair of fourteen ounce bass that no longer meet the minimum for our six fish limit, Dad bests the 2008 Top Bass for the second time today with a 3-7. After a well-placed cast near a crumbling dock on Brock’s Point, Dad actually witnesses the bass engulfing his bait. His latest lunker bumps out a 1-14 bringing our weight to 15-15.

Bass #38  11:37am the last of a stellar day

11:37 am – Our final catch of the day is a short fish by Dad on the Senko, of course. This completes a string of six straight bass putting an exclamation point on an outstanding day as he easily doubles my catch.

Statistics
Location: Lake Bracken
Time: 5:30 am-12:00pm
Totals: 38 bass (Dad-26 Troy-12) and 4 bluegill
Bass under 12” – 21
Bass 12” or above – 17
Lures: Senko – 24 Baby Brush Hog – 7 Dropshot rig – 4 Baby 1- 1 Bomber Flat A – 1 Zara Spook – 1
Streaks: Dad 6 straight bass 11:06am-11:37am
Troy 2 straight (twice)
Droughts: Dad – 48 minutes 6:19am-7:07am
Troy – 62 minutes 6:04am-7:06am
Record Book Entries: Dad (3-7, 3-5, 2-13, 1-14)
Troy (2-9, 2-0, 1-13)
Total Weight (top six bass): 15-15

Entire original log entry from the outing

Notes

Hotspots – Shed Cove is a small pocket that features a fallen tree on the west point, a pair of stumps along the eastern bank (if you know where to look) and a sharp dropoff on the west point; plenty of appeal, and on this date, plenty of bass. From 7:31am until 8:00am, we hauled in five bass (Dad caught four of these) with all coming in at 12” or greater and a combined weight of 9-15 (0-14, 2-13, 2-0, 0-15 and 3-5 in chronological order). A couple trees on Sunset View Point also produced well as we landed six bass between 9:47 am and 10:00 am including a 2-9. Only one came on the Senko as this turned out to be the only spot on the lake where it was out produced as the Baby Brush Hog or dropshot rig were the lures of choice.

I’m A Believer – As noted previously, part of the Father’s Day gift pack for Dad was a bottle of Baitmate Max Fish Attractant. Its appeal turned out to be one of the top stories of the day, perhaps even adding to the already impressive production of the Senko wacky rig. Dad employed the spray frequently and was rewarded with a hefty creel, both in quantity and quality. I was convinced of the juice’s effectiveness as well by an incident in Shed Cove. Upon observing Dad’s success with the liquid, I asked for a dose on my Baby Brush Hog stating, “I haven’t had a bite on this lure yet.” After firing a cast to a fallen tree, my next words were, “You’ve got to be kidding” as I set the hook on what turned out to be a 2-0 bass. I have yet to pick up a bottle for myself but as a reminder my birthday is July 23rd.

Taking a pic of every bass leads to a little goofing off to provide something extra for the run of the mill fish.  This is what I call a “Magazine Pic” where you hold the catch as far as your arm can reach towards the camera. (Note: not a fan, this is truly a tongue in cheek shot enhanced by the grin on the guy holding the fish)

That wasn’t so bad now was it? As my blogging approach has evolved over the years I have tried to pare my postings down or break up what used to be one posting into a series of submissions. Not only do I feel that it helps me to maintain a steady stream of posts but I also feel that it is not quite as daunting to any readers who tune in as the human attention span just ain’t what it used to be.

And with that, I’m gone. Talk to you later (with some tunes). Troy

Snuck away from this bunch for an early morning outing but assisted later with a water balloon fight…after a nap.

Earlier this month, I wrote a piece that touched on what I considered to be a bit of a bass slump with two of three outings where I just couldn’t put much together. Many years prior, I wrote a piece called “Drag Bunts & Basics” which gave me an excuse to combine baseball and bass fishing. The slumpbuster in that case was to shift gears and go panfishing, my equivalent to the old drag bunt attempt to get on base and get back in the groove. Well, this time I elected to take the opposite approach and swing for the fences. Maybe not the best idea for a ballplayer but was slinging a buzzbait on a couple of my bests spots a winner for this angler?

6:05am First Bass and Top Bass 15″ 1-11 Senko

Stats
Date: June 17, 2018
Location: Little John Conservation Club (2 lakes)
Time: 5:35am-10:05am
Weather: Sunny/calm to breezy
Air Temp: 75-84F
Totals: 12 bass
Lures:
Senko wacky rig (pumpkin/black flake or purple with black flake) – 8 bass
Booyah Buzzbait (bleeding shad or snow white shad) – 4 bass
Top Bass: 1-11 Senko
Top 5 Weight (4 bass at 12” or better): 6-8 (1-11,1-10,1-2,1-1)

6:17am 15.5″ 1-10 Buzzbait

8:13am 14″ 1-2 Buzzbait

Notes and Nonsense

Early Escape – Up at 3:33am and pulling out of the driveway at slightly after 4:00am, I was several hours ahead of anyone in my house even thinking about getting out of bed on a Father’s Day morning. Honestly, that was kind of the plan, felt slightly bad about ditching my crew but knew they’d barely miss me at that time of the day, if at all. And I had to smile as I neared my destination, still in the dark, with the truck radio displaying 5:02am while I turned up the volume on “Fly by Night” from Rush. Summed it up nicely.

The Father’s Day menu that I prepared to serve up to the bass

Early Brunch – I know that a lot of places do a Mother’s Day Brunch but not so sure about Father’s Day. No matter, as I had my own batch of offerings all set up for the strip mine bass I was chasing. Senko was the most popular dish, with scattered interest in a buzzbait, one strike on the Whopper Plopper, no bites on the Mann’s crankbait or topwater frog and I never even picked up the spinnerbait or giant Senko. As usual I packed way more than I used but you don’t catch fish on lures in your garage and you just never know what you might need.

8:56am 14″ 1-1 Senko

The One That Sorta Got Away – The largest bass I saw all day was one between two and three pounds that took an interest in a short bass I had hooked on a Senko near the end of my day. I let the small bass swim around for a while just so I could get a better look at his buddy and then worked the area over but the larger fish didn’t show up. Kind of fun though and I’ve had as many as eight bass follow a hooked fish to the boat (or shore) along with a handful of instances of catching two bass on one lure. But those are tales for another day.

I’m a lucky guy beyond the rewarding day on the water

Happy Father’s Day – A fishing trip was a great gift to myself with an assist from Julie as I pretty much didn’t have to do anything on Father’s Day. An hour and a half afternoon nap was kind of cool too after the short night as well as home-cooked shrimp fajitas for dinner.  And on top of that there was beef Jerky, M&Ms, Nestea, some work shirts, a new watch and a new pair of work shoes. I have a great family and hope that their show of appreciation indicates that I am a better Dad than fisherman.

Okay, so no dingers as I’d hoped for in my decision to swing for the fences but still equates to a good day at the plate in my book. Say, 2 for 4 with a single, double, walk and maybe a run scored. At any rate, left me feeling better about my effort than my last outing and was a pleasant escape from my priorities. Jammed out to a few good tunes on the round trip as well, so stay tuned…Talk to you later. Troy