Category: Fishing Reports

Lake Storey Report – September 29

Posted on by Troy Jackson
Screenshot

Trip number five of my weekly visits to Lake Storey found that the drawdown had finally been implemented. I was starting to worry that the City of Galesburg had opted to skip it, so I was pleased to see those bare banks again for another fall. Time to see if some bass will let their guard down.

The lighter water line indicates the drop in the lake level from the drawdown

Stats
Date: September 29
Location: Lake Storey, Knox County, IL
Time: 7:50am-3:05pm
Totals: 7 bass
Weather: Sunny/breezy, 58-85F
Water temperature: 73-75F
Lures: War Eagle spinnerbait (chartreuse/white) – 5 bass, Strike King Red Eye Shad (sexy shad) – 2 bass
Top Bass: 3-12 (Red Eye Shad)
Top 5 Weight: 11-5 (3-12,2-6,2-3,1-9,1-7)

Starting lineup

Tune of the Trip
Fresh Air – Quicksilver Messenger Service (1970)
“Ooo, have another hit of fresh air, ooo, have another hit.”
I heard this song on the drive down to the lake and found it apt as fresh air is always a hit when you spend your workdays cooped up in an office.

12:07pm – Top Bass #3 at 2-3 (16.5″) on a lipless crankbait 

3:05pm – Top Bass #2 at 2-6 (17″) on a spinnerbait

A Dam Struggle – During the drawdown, trailered boats must launch at the west ramp as the east ramp becomes high and dry. In proximity to the west ramp is the dam featuring a hundred yards or so of riprap (chunks and slabs of rock). Typically, I can run a crankbait parallel to the dam while deflecting off the still submerged rocks and fool a few. Not so much this year with only one catch in five visits (and a couple of the trips I have fished the dam both on the way out in the morning and on the way back in the afternoon). Brent did land two bass along the dam on a chatterbait on September 22 so perhaps I need to shift gears.

Also caught a sock, fortunately it did not include a foot

If it Looks Nice, Hit it Twice – I have a rather extensive list of targets on my hitlist at Lake Storey. If time and circumstances permit, there are several that I like to fish twice over the course of a day. In the case of this outing, a reliable log did not produce a bite early in the day. About seven hours later, I returned to the spot and wound up landing my final bass of the day weighing 2-6. The catch was just what I needed to bump my Top 5 Weight for the outing into double-digits.

9:19am – Top Bass at 3-12 (20.5″) on a lipless crankbait

Top Bass – As I fought the largest bass of the day, I thought that I may have a four-pounder. Upon dipping and lipping the bass, I still thought that I may have a four-pounder, The scale told the tale and absolutely no disappointment to record a weight of 3-12. It ranks as my third largest Lake Storey bass of all-time and at 20.5” in length it equals a 9/30/2007 catch that weighed 4-8 (my Top Lake Storey Bass of all-time). And it boosted my all-time Lake Storey Top 5 Weight to 19-10 (4-8,4-0,3-12,3-11,3-11) as it culled a 3-11.

Bigfoot evidence?

Same structure prior to the drawdown

Winning lures

Not a lot of bites but several good ones. The 11-5 Top 5 Weight for the day is my best of the year on Lake Storey and my sixth best of all-time on the old fishing hole (Best Top 5 Weight is 14-5 from 9/30/2007). The past month has produced a batch of quality bites on that old lake, and I was back at it again for more as October arrived. Stay tuned and talk to you later. Troy

Lake Storey Report – September 22

Posted on by Troy Jackson

Late September found me back on Lake Storey looking for a drawdown but no such case. No matter, as those bass are still in there, they just have more places to hide. And on this trip I had Brent along to increase our chances of finding them.

Stats
Date: September 22
Location: Lake Storey, Knox County, IL
Time: 6:55am-2:55pm
Totals: 11 bass, 1 channel catfish (Brent – 8 bass, 1 catfish/Troy – 3 bass)
Weather: Partly cloudy/breezy to windy, 62-77F
Water temperature: 74-76F
Lures (Brent): Squarebill Crankbait (sexy shad) – 4 bass, Chatterbait (sexy shad) – 2 bass, Spinnerbait (green/white) – 2 bass, 1 catfish
Lures (Troy) War Eagle spinnerbait (chartreuse/white) – 2 bass, Strike King Red Eye Shad (sexy shad) – 1 bass
Top Bass (Brent): 2-8 (Crankbait)
Top Bass (Troy): 1-15 (Spinnerbait)
Top 5 Weight (combined): 10-5 (2-8,2-0,1-15,1-15,1-15)

Tune of the Trip
Driver’s Seat – Sniff N’ the Tears (1978)
“Just take your place in the driver’s seat.”
With two anglers in the boat, you must decide on who runs the trolling motor at the front of the boat. Typically, this is an advantage, but we do try to share the water as best we can. I ceded control to Brent as I had already fished the lake several times. In addition, it gives me a break and saves a little wear and tear on my back and heels which often holler at me after seven or eight hours standing in a boat.

10:55am – Brent with an “accident” weighing 3-4 and caught on a spinnerbait

Bonus Catch – The morning bite was tough, so when Brent’s pole bent hard on a hookset at 10:55am, it certainly got our attention. Whatever was on the other end was putting up a solid fight and when Brent saw a flash that was a bit more streamlined than a bass, he thought that he may have a muskie. To our surprise as he brought the fish to the surface and I grabbed the dipnet, he had a solid looking catfish rolling around and trying to destroy his spinnerbait. Neither of us could recall the last time we had a catfish “accident” while bass fishing but if you have a lure in the water, anything can happen.

Winning Lures

Full House – At 11:04am, I landed only my second bass of the outing, weighing in at 1-15 on a spinnerbait. Brent already had three in the boat, weighing 1-15, 1-15 and 1-5. Being a stat and logbook guy, I observed that we needed another weighing 1-5 to have a “full house” of bass. And just like that, Brent landed our next bass at 11:44am that tipped the scales at 1-5.

Full House of Bass

7:17am – Weighing 1-5 (13.5″) on a chatterbait

7:21am – Weighing 1-15 (16.5″) on a chatterbait

9:32am – Weighing 1-15 (16″) on a spinnerbait

11:04am – Weighing 1-15 (15″) on a spinnerbait

11:44am – Weighing 1-5 (14″) on a crankbait

Wildlife Bonanza – Having grown up in an outdoor oriented family, we have our eyes and ears open as we work the water. On this occasion, we had a Lake Storey first in seeing and hearing a trio of otters. While these fish eaters can do a number on a lake or pond, they were interesting to observe. In terms of other mammals, we spotted a groundhog and for birds, a regular visitor in an osprey along with several great blue herons, a few cormorants, and an egret. Apart from the groundhog, all these critters like to fish as well.

12:08pm – Top Bass of the day at 2-8 (17″) on a crankbait

2:50pm – Top Bass Runner-Up of the day at 2-0 (16.5″) on a spinnerbait

Red Eye Gamble – As the day was winding down, I requested that my driver make a pass through one more area. The pocket had produced each of my other days on the lake but had let us down earlier in the morning. On a side note, Brent had picked me up a spare Strike King Red Eye Shad lipless crankbait at Bass Pro Shops a few days prior as I had lost one on my September 15 Lake Storey outing. I told him that I was so confident that we could land a bass in the requested pocket that I would give him back the Red Eye Shad for his own tacklebag if the spot let us down. He adeptly drove us around the area and at 1:57pm my prediction came through as I boated a 1-6 on a spinnerbait. My gamble paid off, and I did not have to give up the new lure which was still in the packaging. I will add that he had refused to take payment for the purchase anyway, so I would not have been out financially if the spot let us down. But that’s not the point, it’s more about predicting a catch.

The Stakes

The Save at 1:57pm

Brent soundly trounced me to the tune of eight bass (and a catfish) to three bass on our way to a double-digit Top 5. One can cite the front-end advantage, but I had plenty of shots at productive spots. Just wasn’t my day to have them dialed in and the fact is that he is a darned good angler. Stay tuned as I am not done chasing those Lake Storey bass quite yet and I am still holding out for the fall drawdown.

SPOILER ALERT!!!

The drawdown has arrived!

Talk to you later. Troy

Strip Mine Report – September 21

Posted on by Troy Jackson

With the calendar running out on fishing access to most of the Knox County public strip mines, I elected to give a few one more shot. With a limited timeframe and tough walking in waist high weeds, I opted not to stray too far off the beaten path. Enough bass were biting to keep me interested but quality bites were lacking.

10:11am – Top Bass at 1-8 (14.5″) on a Senko wacky rig

Stats
Date: September 21
Location: Knox County public strip pits (3 lakes)
Time: 8:15am-11:45am
Totals: 16 bass
Weather: Partly cloudy/calm, 64-74F
Lures: 7″ Berkley Power Worm (tequila sunrise) on an Owner 3/16 oz. Shaky Head – 8 bass, 5” Yamasenko wacky rig (blue pearl/black hologram flake) – 6 bass, Spro Flappin Frog 65 (nasty shad) – 1 bass, Booyah Buzz Buzzbait (snow white shad) – 1 bass
Top Bass: 1-8 Senko
Top 4 Weight (only 4 at 12” or better): 5-4 (1-8,1-6,1-5,1-1)

Winning lures (minus the shaky head)

Tune of the Trip
High and Dry – Def Leppard (1981)
A lack of rain resulted in water levels lower than I have ever seen on this site. I was hoping the relative absence of shallow water might stack a few good bass on the drops and in the troughs. No such luck or maybe the little ones found my lures before the big ones got a chance.

Lack of Quality – I spent half of my time on a single lake and walked most of the shoreline as it was entirely accessible at such a low pool. I named the spot Maiden Lake many years ago as it was the first spot that I ever fished on the property. Over the years, I have landed 218 bass from the lake but only fourteen of those bass have met or exceeded twelve inches. Not a good percentage of “keepers” although my Top 5 Weight sits at a solid 16-10 (4-14,3-13,3-10,2-7,1-14). Throw in Brent’s “keepers” and our combined Top 5 tips the scales at an impressive 22-9 (5-4,4-14,4-10,4-0,3-13). So, the lake is worth a shot but all I got on this morning was a dozen bass from 7.5”-11”.

10:30am – Top Bass Runner-Up at 1-6 (14.5″) on a Senko wacky rig

Final Four – Having had my fill of short bass, I opted to try two other lakes in the vicinity and landed four bass in just over an hour of casting. All four were “keepers” and saved the day even though I still fell one bass shy of a Top 5. Three of the bass came on a Senko wacky rig presented to bass that I could see from my elevated perch on the bank. In these instances, I cast the lure well away from the fish with the intent of the distant splash getting their attention but not spooking them. I then reel/drag the lure into proximity and let it flutter down through the water column where it is often more than the bass can resist. The fourth “keeper” blasted a topwater frog which was rewarding as the surface bite will begin to fade as we head into October.

Lots of steps for some small bass

Good to take one more shot at the strip mines where even a short outing can rack up some exercise. Sure, I was a bit sore the next day but with my thoughts turning to the annual Lake Storey fall drawdown, I was back on the water. This time with Brent along for the ride. Stay tuned for that fish story and talk to you later. Troy

Lake Storey Report – September 15

Posted on by Troy Jackson

My third visit to Lake Storey in just over three weeks was another success. I was holding out hope that the fall drawdown would be in effect but no such luck. Fingers crossed that the city has not abandoned the practice but no matter as it is always fun to take the Lake Storey challenge regardless of the water level.

7:38am – Top Bass #3 of the day at 2-2 (17″) on a spinnerbait

Stats
Date: September 15
Location: Lake Storey, Knox County, IL
Time: 7:10am-2:55pm
Totals: 13 bass
Weather: Sunny/windy, 67-90F
Water temperature: 74-77F
Lures: War Eagle spinnerbait (chartreuse/white) – 7 bass, Strike King Red Eye Shad (sexy shad) – 4 bass, Googan Squad Gridiron Jig (rotten pumpkin) with Net Bait B Bug (natural craw swirl) – 1 bass, Rapala DT10 Crankbait (parrot) – 1 bass
Top Bass: 2-14 (DT10 Crankbait)
Top 5 Weight: 10-15 (2-14,2-3,2-2,1-15,1-13)

7:43am – Top Bass #5 of the day at 1-13 (15″) on a spinnerbait

Tune of the Trip
Once in a Lifetime – Talking Heads (1980)
“Same as it ever was, same as it ever was.”
I got on a Talking Heads kick this past weekend and this tune and lyrics seemed apt. I do not know if I have ever seen a year when Lake Storey was not drawn down this time of the year. Dad and Brent are keeping me updated this year and each reply for 2025 has been the same. No drawdown, yet.

7:50am – Top Bass #4 of the day at 1-15 (16″) on a spinnerbait

Notes and Nonsense

Used Water – I arrived at the lake to find that another boat had beat me to the water and was sitting in the area where I intended to start my day. No worries as there are plenty of spots on my Lake Storey hit list. I hit some other water for about twenty minutes without a bite and then observed the other boat leaving my target area. Twenty minutes into casting my spot, I had four bass in the boat including three “keepers” with a combined weight of 5-14. One takeaway from this situation is that you can still catch fish in “used water” when fishing behind other anglers. Another takeaway is that it doesn’t hurt when those other anglers are crappie fishing as I later observed.

8:54am – Top Bass #2 of the day at 2-3 (16.5″) on a lipless crankbait

Rockpile Repeat – An August 31 trip to Lake Storey saw a specific rockpile produce four bass in fifteen minutes on a lipless crankbait. You can’t pass up that kind of success, so I hit it again on this outing. Right on cue, the lipless crank fooled two more quality bites weighing 2-3 and 1-13, respectively.

10:40am – Top Bass of the day at 2-14 (18″) on a crankbait

Lost Lure – Rockpiles give and rockpiles take. In the latter instance, I lost a lipless crankbait to a different rockpile than the one described above. As I set the hooks on what I perceived as a strike, my line broke and my lure was gone. Fortunately, I had a spare of the same size and color on hand, and it would produce a pair of bass before the day ended including one that weighed 1-11. A few days later, Brent was at Bass Pro Shops and texted to see if I needed any lures. I requested another Strike King Red Eye Shad in the sexy shad pattern to get back to having a spare. That replacements fate would be on the line on my next trip to Lake Storey but that is another story.

Winning lures

For the second straight Lake Storey outing I was able to post a double-digit Top 5 weight. The 10-15 total on this trip bested the 10-1 weight from September 8 and made for another rewarding day on the old fishing hole. Such success led to another visit, this time with Brent along as a partner. Stay tuned and talk to you later. Troy

Lake Storey Report – September 8

Posted on by Troy Jackson

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

Strip Mine Report – September 6

Posted on by Troy Jackson

I got wind that some of my Knox County public strip ground had received a “hair cut” making bank access much more angler friendly. That looked too good to pass up even though hiking and biking is getting to be more of a workout with each passing year. Read on for the recap.

Stats
Date: September 6
Location: Knox County public strip pits (7 lakes)
Time: 2:05pm-7:25pm
Totals: 14 bass
Weather: Sunny/very windy
Lures: Z-Man Chatterbait (sexy shad) with a BPS Speed Shad trailer (pro blue) – 7 bass, Strike King Red Eye Shad (red craw) – 2 bass, 5″ Yamasenko wacky rig (blue pearl/black hologram flake) – 2 bass, Spro Flappin Frog 65 (nasty shad) – 1 bass, Whopper Plopper 110 (bone) – 1 bass, 7″ Berkley Power Worm (tequila sunrise) on an Owner 3/16 oz. Shaky Head – 1 bass
Top Bass: 1-5 Senko
Top 5 Weight: 5-8 (1-5,1-2,1-1,1-0,1-0)

Winning Lures

3:40pm – Top Bass Runner-up at 1-2 (13.5″) on lipless crankbait

Tune of the Trip
The End of the Innocence – Don Henley (1989)
“We’ll sit and watch the clouds roll by and the tall grass waves in the wind.”
Thanks to some groundwork by the site crew, a great deal of the bank vegetation had been obliterated. Instead of watching the reeds lining the shore waving in the wind and wishing I could get to the water, much of the bank was wide open.

For many years, these shorelines have been completely inaccessible

Notes and Nonsense

Landscaping – Much has changed over the thirty-five years that I have roamed the Knox County strip mines. Population dynamics, new fishing holes, drained fishing holes, improved access, and nature allowed to run wild are among the observed changes. Occasionally, some changes occur that are a boon to hiking anglers. This year such an improvement is the clearing of shoreline weeds, reeds, and brush in some locations. Access to the banks of several lakes has opened to levels not seen since the 1990s. Kudos to the site staff in looking out for us anglers (and a fellow strip mine angler for putting in a request).

Haven’t had a backlash as ugly as the one on this day that cost me half of my spool

Professional Overrun – I favor a baitcaster when it comes to bass fishing although I do pack along a couple spinning combos for more finesse-oriented presentations. But no matter how long you have wielded a baitcaster (just over forty years in my case), you are going to experience backlash (or fancily referred to as “professional overrun”). Heavy winds got me on this day as my frog got too high on a cast and fouled my spool bigtime. In fact, I had to cut the mess out, strip all the line off, and put what was salvageable back on the reel. Fortunately, I was in the middle of nowhere, so no one witnessed this ritual of shame. Or heard a few bad words even though I am not much for profanity. If you are a bass angler, I suppose you have been there as well.

4:42pm – Top Bass at 1-5 (14.5″) on a Senko

Missing Bass – Every once in a while when I review my GoPro footage from a fishing trip, I find a missing bass. On the water, I make notes on my phone for each catch as a temporary log which is then entered in more detail in a spiral notebook and Access database (yes, I know there are fishing log apps, but I am old and a creature of habit). In the case of this outing, I failed to record a chatterbait catch from 6:01pm. As it is not the first time such a logging error has occurred, I suspect that I have actually caught a few more than the 7,774 “meticulously” documented largemouth bass since 1997.

Fatigue in the Fifties – It’s strange to think that I am much closer to sixty than fifty. When thinking back to the fact that I first started fishing these waters in my early twenties, much has changed in addition to the landscape. I covered over four miles while peeking at ten different bodies of water and by the time that I wandered far from the parking lot, I was already feeling beat. One goes in with the realization that one must make his way back out. I was tired and clumsy as I fished with inaccurate casts and was occasionally out of tune with my presentations. I was tired and sore when I got back to my truck. I was tired and stiff after my hour drive home. I was restless and fighting off cramps as I lay in bed that night. But I was back on the water two days later, feeling only mildly refreshed yet resolved to stand in a boat for eight hours. That’s another story.

Fourteen bass and nothing real big but a rewarding hike and bike to take advantage of the enhanced bank access. Often, as I sit in my truck or nurse my sore body after such a stunt, I ponder a “farewell” tour for some of these lakes. Eventually, I get over it but one of these days…Talk to you later. Troy

Lake Storey Report – August 31

Posted on by Troy Jackson

I look forward to fishing the Lake Storey fall drawdown each year but this year I opted for a day of advance casting while the lake was still at full pool. It was a daring move on a Labor Day weekend Sunday, but the crowd wasn’t too bad, and the bass were in a good mood to start the morning. Unfortunately, they got stubborn later. Read on for the rest of the story.

Starting Lineup

Stats
Date: August 31
Location: Lake Storey, Knox County, IL
Time: 6:50am-1:35pm
Totals: 10 bass
Weather: Partly cloudy/breezy to windy, 57-73F
Water temperature: 78F
Lures: Strike King Red Eye Shad (sexy shad) – 5 bass, War Eagle spinnerbait (chartreuse/white) – 3 bass, Booyah Buzzbait (snow white shad)- 1 bass, Googan Squad Gridiron Jig (rotten pumpkin) with Net Bait B Bug (natural craw swirl) – 1 bass
Top Bass: 1-14 (Spinnerbait)
Top 5 Weight: 8-0 (1-14,1-12,1-8,1-7,1-7)

6:53am – Top Bass #4 at 1-7 (14″) on a buzzbait

Tune of the Trip
“Love on the Rocks” – Neil Diamond (1980)
I do like Neil Diamond, but this tune certainly does not crack my Top 5 from his catalog. However, some of “the rocks” at Lake Storey were a big winner on this trip. More details in the notes below.

7:17am – Top Bass #1 at 1-14 (16″) on a spinnerbait

Notes and Nonsense

Frog False Start – One of the lures in my starting lineup was a Spro Flappin Frog. Leading up to this trip, I had a game plan to head immediately to a weedy flat after launching, saving some other areas in proximity to the ramp for later in the day. Upon arriving at the flat, however, I was greeted with absolutely no surface weeds. As a result, I never made a single cast with the frog. Instead, I picked up a buzzbait and was greeted with my first catch of the morning on my third cast. It was the lone topwater catch of the day.

7:29am – Top Bass #3 at 1-8 (14.5″) on a spinnerbait

Boom and Bust – Defined as an “alternation of prosperity and depression”, boom and bust was an accurate description of my day on the water. The depression part only related to a decrease in bites, not in attitude as it is tough to get too down even when the fish quit biting. At 9:01am, I landed my eighth bass of the morning, barely two hours after launching. For the next four and a half hours, I would only fool two more fish. I altered presentations, continued to hit proven spots, and worked them thoroughly from different angles when possible but continued to come up empty. That’s fishing.

Rockpile bass are noted above with four from one spot (time/length/weight/lure)

Love on the Rocks – According to the Neil Diamid song cited above, “Love on the rocks, ain’t no big surprise.” Lake Storey features several rockpiles scattered along its length and they are always worth some casts. My favorite and most consistent of those spots consists of a length of rubble and cinder blocks sitting about sixty feet off the bank on an expansive flat. On this trip, that area produced four bass in the span of fifteen minutes on a lipless crankbait. One of my favorite “tricks” for fishing this spot is a change of retrieve direction. After working both perpendicular and parallel to the cover with multiple casts, I move past the area and then cast back to it in parallel fashion from the opposite direction. This approach frequently produces a bite from a fish that ignored my prior casts. And right on time, it worked again on this trip as noted in the 8:44am log entry above.

8:38am – Top Bass #2 at 1-12 (15″) on a lipless crankbait

9:01am – Top Bass #5 at 1-7 (14″) on a spinnerbait

A double-digit haul is a decent trip for me on Lake Storey, but good bites were elusive. All bites are “good” but my definition of a “good one” is a two-pound or better fish as that is what it takes to meet my daily goal of a ten-pound Top 5. I came up short this time, but I intend to take another shot or two as the annual fall drawdown is set to kick in after the Labor Day holiday. As September dawns, I view the remaining months as the home stretch of another year on the water. Here’s hoping there’s some more “good ones” out there. Talk to you later. Troy

Strip Mine Report – August 24

Posted on by Troy Jackson

Somehow it was exactly a month since my last fishing trip (July 24) when I set out for my first August bass of the year. I was overdue and hoping that the bass had missed me.

Stats
Date: August 24
Location: Knox County public strip pits (4 lakes)
Time: 6:05am-11:50am (4.75 hours)
Totals: 20 bass
Weather: Sunny to partly cloudy/breezy to windy, 55-68F
Lures: Spro Flappin Frog 65 (nasty shad) – 14 bass, Whopper Plopper 110 – 5 bass, 3.8″ Bass Pro Shops Speed Shad (K’s Magic) with 3/16 oz Owner Flashy Swimmer jighead – 1 bass
Top Bass: 2-12 Frog
Top 5 Weight: 10-9 (2-12,2-3,2-0,1-14,1-12)

Starting lineup

Tune of the Trip
“In The Dark” – Billy Squier (1981)
As the days get shorter, it gets easier to get to the fishing hole before dawn. I left home at 4:20am and was tying lures on in the parking lot on the tailgate by the light of a cell phone. The clear night sky was also pretty cool on the drive, with an alignment of planets and Orion to the east/southeast.

My pic doesn’t really do it justice as I should have snapped it before sunrise

Notes and Nonsense

Topwater Treat – Nineteen of the twenty bass on this outing were fooled by topwater lures (fourteen on a frog and five on propbait). The sunrise topwater bite lived up to my expectations and the continuing bite throughout the morning was icing on the cake. Bright sun did not deter the bass and some chop on the water was just what the doctor ordered as those bass prowled both the flats and the deeper edges of shoreline vegetation.

8:17am – Top Bass at 2-12 (18″) on a frog

 

Wading the Weeds – The area that I fished does not get much attention in terms of upkeep for angler access. And that’s just fine. While I am not entirely anti-social, it is kind of fun to fish and never see another soul. Although with weeds as high as my head in some places, I would not know anyone was around anyway. It takes ample effort to get to most of the fishing holes but as I lipped the 2-12 for my first quality catch of the morning, I said aloud on video, “Well, that makes it worth the wade through the weeds.”

11:48am – Top Bass Runner up at 2-3 (16″) on a frog on the final cast of the trip

Last Cast Bass – I had a plan to meet Julie in Woodhull to pick up the boys and take them to my folks for a visit and watch the Cubs game. My deadline to leave the lot was 12:30pm. At 10:50am, I hit what was to be my final spot and still needed one more quality bite to push my Top 5 for the day into double digits (my weight was sitting at 9-5). At 10:53am, I got a 2-0 to boost my weight to 9-14 but a near hour drought followed. Luck was on my side as I got the fianl bite that I needed at 11:48am, a bass weighing 2-3 that pushed my Top 5 Weight to 10-9. Having a fifteen-minute walk back to my truck, I elected to make that my final cast of a productive outing.

Winning lures

 

The bass treated me well after leaving them alone for a month. Throw in a good visit with my folks and a 4-3 Cubs victory on the road to sweep a three-game series from the Angels and it was quite a Sunday. Talk to you later. Troy

Strip Mine Report – July 24

Posted on by Troy Jackson

I headed back to the Knox County strip mines for a second straight day on the heels of my birthday trip. These trips can be a workout but I still had plenty in the tank and I was eager to get off the grid, get away from the grind, and create some more fish stories.

6:43am – Top Bass at 3-5 (19″) on a frog

Stats

Date: July 24
Location: Knox County public strip pits (two lakes)
Time: 5:50am-8:35am,9:30am-11:30am
Totals: 19 bass
Weather: Partly cloudy to sunny/windy, 75-89F
Lures: Spro Flappin Frog 65 (nasty shad) – 13 bass, 3.8″ Bass Pro Shops Speed Shad (K’s Magic) with 3/16 oz Owner Flashy Swimmer jighead – 5 bass, 7″ Berkley Power Worm (tequila sunrise) on an Owner 3/16 oz. Shaky Head – 1 bass
Top Bass: 3-5 Frog
Top 5 Weight: 11-5 (3-5,2-13,1-12,1-12,1-11)

Starting lineup

Tune of the Trip
Changes – David Bowie (1972)
“So the days float through my eyes but still the days seem the same.”
I heard this one driving down to and around the Victoria, IL strip mines. I couldn’t help but do some reminiscing as I have been prowling around the area for close to forty years. So much has changed on so many levels, but it’s still fishing and a chance to recharge the batteries.

7:54am – Top Bass Runner-up at 2-13 on a swimbait

Notes and Nonsense

Lake One History – My first stop was a lake that hasn’t gotten a whole lot of my attention over the years with only four visits since 2011. However, this trip marked my second shot this year. Oddly, one of my most memorable fish stories on this lake was a day when I did not catch a single fish. Quite a few years ago, when my oldest daughter, Helena, was in grade school I hit the lake for an outing after getting her to school. I drove a half an hour to the lake, dragged my boat to the water, and was ready to start casting when my phone rang. Helena was sick and needed picked up. So, I rowed back to my launching point, loaded up, and headed home. Been a while as she is now married and a long way from “home” in California.

Lake One Results – Early morning, overcast skies, and a bit of chop on the water set up well for topwater frog fishing and the bass were onboard with the lure selection. Ten bass were landed on the frog including my all-time Top Bass for the lake at 3-5. In addition, a swimbait produced a solid 2-13 on a deep weedline. All told, this trip featured five of the top eleven bass I have ever landed from this lake making for a daily Top 5 weight of 11-5.

Lake One Top 5 Update – My all-time Top 5 for this lake sat at 9-15, meaning that I needed a one-ounce boost to reach double digits. That one ounce would require landing a 1-14 to knock out a 1-13 as the lightest bass in my creel. My 3-5 (frog) and 2-13 (swimbait) provided quite a boost and the current Top 5 stands at 12-6.

11:09am – Top Bass #5 (tie) at 1-11 on a frog

Lake Two History – Thirty-five years ago, when I first fished this lake, it was part of one long, winding narrow strip pit. Over the years, a walking bridge was built over a constricted part of the lake allowing easier walk-in access to a batch of interior lakes. Eventually, a land bridge was constructed, and the one lake is now divided into two separate bodies of water connected only by a shallow culvert.

Winning lures

Lake Two Results – The frog bite was not as impressive as I moved to the second lake at mid-morning. Really no surprise there, as the clouds dissipating and relatively clear water did not present ideal conditions. In addition, the lily pad growth had exploded to cover the entire shoreline up to nearly thirty feet from the bank. The key was to find pockets or channels for the frog or to work a worm or swimbait around the deep weed edges. I caught enough to keep me interested but nothing to boost my Top 5 weight for the day.

Lake Two Top 5 Update – A 1-11 (frog) and a 1-4 (frog) boosted the lake Top 5 from 5-10 to 6-9 by culling a pair of one-pound fish. Always a success when getting a boost but still plenty of work to do to hit double digits.

 

A second consecutive successful morning on the water with back-to-back days breaking the daily ten-pound Top 5 mark. Not bad for the dog days of summer and what would be the end of my July fishing. Time will tell when I get to hit the water in August but stay tuned in the meantime for a Trip Tunes post. Talk to you later. Troy

Strip Mine Report – July 23

Posted on by Troy Jackson

I took a vacation day on my birthday to fish in the morning and then have family time later in the day. On such summer days, I get up around 3:30am to finish a few pieces of preparation with the aim of reaching the water right around sunrise. I get a solid morning of fishing and return home by about 1:00pm to take a nap and enjoy family time in the evening.

Stats
Date: July 23
Location: Knox County public strip pits (two lakes)
Time: 5:40am-11:45am
Totals: 15 bass
Weather: Partly cloudy to sunny/windy, 74-89F
Lures: 7″ Berkley Power Worm (tequila sunrise) on an Owner 3/16 oz. Shaky Head – 10 bass, Spro Flappin Frog 65 (nasty shad) – 5 bass
Top Bass: 3-6 Frog
Top 5 Weight: 10-6 (3-6,2-4,2-3,1-5,1-4)

Starting Lineup

Tune of the Trip
Iron Man – Black Sabbath (1971)
“Has he lost his mind?
Can he see or is he blind?
Can he walk at all
Or if he moves will he fall?”
As expected, there was a spate of songs on the radio in tribute to Ozzy Osbourne considering his passing the previous day. The first line above applied to being out in the heat and nearly undertaking a lengthy portage before coming to my senses. The last two lines hit home at the end of the trip after dragging the boat back to the truck. A nap was in order once I returned home.

6:05am – First bass at 2-4 (16.5″) on a Spro frog

Notes and Nonsense

Ten-Pound Top 5 – My top goal when I hit the water is to post a double-digit Top 5 (five heaviest bass weighing ten pounds or better). I had hit the mark on an April 19 trip (10-4) but otherwise it had been close but no cigar on May 16 (9-15) and July 12 (9-11). For this trip I was able to reach the mark again with a birthday creel weighing 10-6. Which just so happens to be the heaviest bag landed on July 23.

8:21am – Top Bass at 3-6 (20″) on a Spro frog and the all-time birthday bass runner-up

Top Birthday Bass – These days, I like to get on the water for a while on my birthday to just kind of get away from it all. And, because I just like to fish, I guess my birthday is a day like any other day in that regard. Several years, Dad and I would hit the creek chasing catfish, carp, or whatever else would bite a dew worm. In more recent years, the birthday trip has been strictly bass fishing. Anyway, I have birthday fishing data dating back to a July 23, 1985 bass landed at Lake Bracken. Among those birthday bass, the 3-6 fish landed this year represents the Top Birthday Bass runner-up to a 3-8 caught at Little John’s Moose/Elk Lake on July 23, 2017.

Winning lures

Top 5 Update
The 3-6 culls a 3-4 from what I call Discovery Lake bumping the all-time Top 5 on the water to an impressive 19-8.

Shaking Things Up – I tried a new presentation called a “Shaky Head” worm and it was my top producer of the day. Now, I am a creature of habit so time will tell if this approach gets further use on the strip pits, but it seemed like a good fit on paper and did not disappoint when put into practice.

Birthday bass thumb means it was a successful morning on the water

More to come with another strip mine report from the following day but I will conclude with a thought that was running through my head at one point on this outing. I had visions of significant portage to reach a remote lake, and I scouted it out at one hundred and thirty-six steps through tall grass, uneven terrain, and a stand of shoreline reeds. Throw in full sun and temperatures pushing ninety degrees and I wavered a bit. After roughly thirty steps of dragging the boat and gear, I wised up and turned back around. As I eased the boat back into the main lake, I heard Nemo’s dad, Marlin, chiding me, “You think you can do these things, but you just can’t, Nemo.” Granted, it was a little hard to take but solid advice on a hot, July day. Perhaps another time, perhaps not.

Here’s to another trip around the sun. Talk to you later, Troy