My “good luck” this year on Lake Storey brought me back again for the fourth May outing of 2026. Like many football or basketball games these days, it was a tale of two halves when looking at the start and finish to my day on the water. Read on for the stats, first and second half breakdowns, and what I found to be an interesting conversation.

Starting lineup

Stats
Date: May 15
Location: Lake Storey, Knox County, IL
Time: 8:15am-3:45pm
Totals: 16 bass, 1 shad
Weather: Partly cloudy to sunny/windy to very windy, 55-77F
Water temperature: Not available
Lure: Z-Man Chatterbait (sexy shad) with BPS Speed Shad (sight fish) – 16 bass, 1 shad
Top Bass: 3-5 Chatterbait
Top 5 Weight: 12-12 (3-5,3-3,2-5,2-3,1-12)

Tune of the Trip
“Okay, here’s the situation…”
Parents Just Don’t Understand – DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince (1988)
My mind has a soundtrack and at times I wonder stuff like, “Why in the world am I singing part of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air theme song.” Such was the case as I loaded my boat and gear as I prepared to leave the lake. Then it dawned on me that I had just texted Julie regarding my status.

1:26pm – Top Bass at 3-5 (18.5″) on a chatterbait

Notes and Nonsense

First Half Stats – I caught eight bass during each of the two halves of my day. However, from 8:15am to noon the quality was not as good with a Top 5 Weight of only 6-13 (1-12,1-6,1-6,1-5,1-0). A fast start of four bass in the first forty-five minutes had me pondering a thirty bass day. But the next three hours would only double my total, leaving me with eight bass at “halftime.”

1:35pm – Top Bass Runner-Up at 3-3 (19″) on a chatterbait

Second Half Stats – From noon to 3:45pm, eight more bass were entered into the log and four of them would give my Top 5 Weight a significant boost. First was a 2-3 at 12:46pm followed by a pair of three-pounders caught in rapid succession only nine minutes apart (1:26pm and 1:35pm). The final boost came at 2:54pm with a 2-3 to push my Top 5 Weight to 12-12. And that’s why you maintain your focus, hit your spots, and keep on casting as your day can turn around at any time.

The Scavenger Meets the Sculler – Late in my day, I crossed paths with a self-proclaimed “scavenger” rolling his bicycle along the exposed shoreline. He looked to be similar in age, but he had opted for the shirtless look on this pleasant day and sported a ballcap along with a full, ample, graying beard. He was a well-spoken fellow who entertained with a few tales of finds during his endeavors as well as a little personal history and a couple of fish stories (yes, they were actually the fishing kind). Later, I told Julie of the brief encounter, and I said that he was probably telling his acquaintances about the weird, old guy with the floppy hat that he saw rowing an eight-foot johnboat over, around, and across the windblown lake. A couple of oddballs, just doing our thing. I did have to laugh at Julie taking a stab (or was it a jab) at helping me feel less weird in saying, “Well, at least you didn’t still have your scraggly beard.”

The chatterbait continues to dominate, landing 134 of my 152 bass thus far in 2026

Another good day on the old home lake gets me one step closer to the 2026 goal of landing one hundred bass on Lake Storey. Currently, I sit at eighty-four Lake Storey bass, so another solid day will allow me to hit the mark much sooner than I anticipated. Talk to you later. Troy