I was back on Lake Storey for the second time in eight days anticipating the water level to be dropping with the onset of the annual fall drawdown. The drawdown is a fisheries management practice that lowers the water level several feet with one of the aims being increased access to prey for the lake’s top predators. Basically, the smaller fish have less places to hide and the larger fish feed up leading to a healthier predator-prey balance. Anyway, the lake was not yet being lowered, which was disappointing but not a game changer. After all, those fish don’t go anywhere, there is just more water volume and places to hide.

9:13am – First bass is Top Bass at 3-6 (19″) on a spinnerbait

Stats
Date: September 8
Location: Lake Storey, Knox County, IL
Time: 8:10am-4:10pm
Totals: 9 bass
Weather: Sunny/breezy to windy, 51-72F
Water temperature: 69-72F
Lures: War Eagle spinnerbait (chartreuse/white) – 5 bass, Strike King Red Eye Shad (sexy shad) – 3 bass, Strike King KVD 2.5 Rattling Squarebill Crankbait (natural pumpkinseed) – 1 bass
Top Bass: 3-6 (Spinnerbait)
Top 5 Weight: 10-1 (3-6,2-1,1-15,1-9,1-2)

Winning Lures

Tune of the Trip
Life in Wartime – Talking Heads (1979)
“The sound of gunfire off in the distance, I’m getting used to it now.”
Occasionally, a Lake Storey fishing trip coincides with police firearm training at the Pistol Range on the lake’s northwest shore. A couple dozen officers unloading all at once makes quite a racket but doesn’t disturb me (or the bass) at all.

Notes and Nonsense

The Most Fished Tree – My first catch of the day was also the Top Bass for the day, a solid specimen measuring 19” and weighing 3-6. It was caught on a spinnerbait while fishing a tree that has been laying along the Lake Storey shoreline as long as I can recall. As a kid in the 1970s, I remember the tree leaning out over the surface of the lake and you could walk out on it if you dared. In the fifty years since, the supporting limbs have deteriorated, and the tree now lays directly on the lake bottom. One could probably walk on it for a step or two without getting wet with the lake at full pool. Not for me though as I am a bit less stable and adventurous at age fifty-eight than at age eight.

This is why you have a backup of your favorite lures

Carry a Spare –I have learned a thing or two about fishing over the years. One nugget of knowledge is to pack along spares of your “confidence” lures in case one gets damaged or lost. My latest “go to” spinnerbait is a War Eagle model that features tandem blades with one being orange. The short story from this outing is that I snagged it on a log, popped it free, it landed in the water near the trolling motor, the line got wrapped in the motor housing, and then the spinnerbait hook snagged on the front of the boat as I lifted the motor. The result was a bent-up bait with one of the blades busted off. Fortunately, I had my spare, and it proceeded to fool two more quality bass weighing 2-1 and 1-15 before the day was done.

What in the name of sasquatch is this creation?

Statistical Goals – As I have noted before, I have a series of three goals to meet when I hit the water.
Goal One – Don’t get shutout (Check! First bass in the boat at 9:13am)
Goal Two – Land five bass at 12” or better (Check! Top 5 established at 2:48pm)
Goal Three – Post a double-digit Top 5 weight (Check! At 3:35pm I reach 10-1)
The chronology of these goals occurred as follows:
8:10am – Launch and begin casting

9:13am- First catch weighs 3-6 (19”) on a spinnerbait

12:08pm – A 1-2 (13.5”) on a spinnerbait pushes my weight total to 4-8

12:50pm – A 1-9 (14”) on a lipless crankbait boosts my weight to 6-1

2:14pm- A 2-1 (16.5”) on a spinnerbait pushes my weight to 8-2

2:48pm – An 0-13 (12”) on a crankbait completes a Top 5 weighing 8-15

3:35pm – A 1-15 (16”) on a spinnerbait knocks out the 0-13 and pushes my Top 5 weight to 10-1

4:10pm – Last cast of a successful day and mission accomplished (thanks for the boat, Dad)

While the lack of a drawdown has been disappointing, my two Lake Storey visits were far from disappointments. In fact, I headed back for more the following week. Stay tuned for that report and talk to you later. Troy