Category: Fishing Reports

Kids’ Fishing Report 6/2-6/3

Posted on by Troy Jackson

A camping trip to Little John Conservation Club (as described in yesterday’s post) also means some fishing for young and old.  Today we’ll take a look at how the youngsters fared.

A 7:45pm arrival at the campsite makes for a bit of a narrow window of daylight to wet some waxworms with the kids and see what we can fool.  After setting up the tent, that window was even more limited as we didn’t get our first casts in until about 8:25pm.  But it sure didn’t take long to get some positive feedback as the time on the photo of the first fish of the evening showed as 8:28pm.  Three of our four anglers took a shot (Carly, Jayce and Zac) while Helena sat this one out and assisted Julie with settling in.  Here’s a look at some of our haul.

Carly’s first ever crappie followed shortly by first ever bass

Carly wound up as the last fisherkid standing, catching her final fish at a point where we could barely see the bobber.  It was right about the time when the eyes start playing tricks, faking us out numerous times before one last hookset actually produced a catch.  All she needed was a bluegill to complete a sort of fishing “Grand Slam” and our wish was granted, making for a perfect time to call it a night.

Carly completes her Grand Slam with a green sunfish and buzzer beater bluegill, great job!

The next morning the boys each got a boat ride while Carly took another shot from the bank.  She likely outfished us boys as we were pestered by some mighty small bluegill that just stole our waxworms as most didn’t have a mouth near big enough to take even our small jigheads.

The boys getting it done in the boat.  I swear Jayce’s catch was so small and thin you could nearly see through it.

As always, plenty of fish and a good time had by all except the waxworms.  Another fishing report up tomorrow, some larger fish and a larger angler, who is not near as attractive as this bunch who thankfully got some looks from their mama.  Talk to you later.  Troy

Strip Mine Report 5/30

Posted on by Troy Jackson

Last Tuesday, I extended the holiday weekend to a four day “vacation” by taking a needed day off of work.  My recent role as fishing guide for the kids had exacerbated the itch to go fishing so I selfishly decided it was time to fly solo while the youngsters trudged through their next to last day of school.

Stats

Date: May 30, 2017
Locations: Knox County, IL strip mines (3 public, 2 private)
Time: 5:55am-3:00pm (6.25 hours fishing, the rest walking/driving)
Weather: Sunny-partly cloudy/windy-very windy
Air Temp: 53F-77F
Water Temp: no reading
Totals: 20 bass, 1 green sunfish
Lures:
Booyah Buzz Buzzbait (snow white shad) – 15 bass
Zara Spook (black shore minnow) – 3 bass
Senko weighted wacky rig (electric shad) – 2 bass
Top Bass: 2-5 Buzzbait
Top 5 Weight: 9-9 (2-5,2-0,1-14,1-11,1-11)

8:01am 16.5″ 1-11 Zara Spook                                                    Me and the Spook go way back, still produces

Notes & Nonsense

Old School – A bright and early start, a run of stable weather and late May had me preparing for a topwater bite to start the day.  For one weapon of choice I opted to go old school and tied on a Zara Spook in the black shore minnow pattern, we were real tight back in the 80’s and 90’s.  It produced my first two bass and three overall with the last being the best, solid in terms of size (1-11) but more so in a technique meets location scenario.  I had a nice narrow finger in this particular strip pit that featured a solid weed mat clogging the back end and a couple pieces of brush for a lure to pass in open water as it headed back to the boat.  I’d made a couple casts with a buzzbait to no avail before deciding that I needed something that would dance a bit more near the weed mat and not buzz through the area too rapidly.  Turned out to be the right decision as a cast within a few inches of the weeds followed by a handful of twitches in a walk the dog retrieve and I had a taker.  Nice when it works like that.

Recuperated and Rejuvenated – My best estimate on my haul on this day was a definite post-spawn mood.  Plenty of bass were willing to bite so it seemed like they had shifted their focus from rejuvenating the lakes to recuperating via strapping on the feedbag.  Most of the bass were on the skinny side as well indicating that they had recently spent most of their energy on restocking but were now on the road to recovery as evidenced by a positive activity level.  Did still see several bass on beds but much less than during my last outing.

8:41am 15″ 1-11 Buzzbait                                            12:08pm 16.5″ 1-14 Buzzbait

Clouds – “I’ve looked at clouds from both sides now.  But now they only block the sun…” – Both Sides, Now – Judy Collins (written by Joni Mitchell)
And, boy, was blocking the sun just what the doctor ordered.  The combo of a sustained chop on the surface from a stout wind and brief windows of lowlight conditions each time a cloud bank passed between me and the sun was the key to a sustained, day long buzzbait bite.  Once the predicted clouds showed up about 11:30am (an hour late) the bite was on whenever the sun disappeared.  Nine buzzbait bass from 11:41am-2:25am with none in the sun had me convinced that clouds were key.  Also had me tweeting as follows.

11:41am and 1:38pm (left to right) – it took fishing to make a tweeter out of me…and have also found some “Friends”, still a recluse in real life though.

No Kicker – While I definitely landed some decent fish I just couldn’t fool what the pros call a “kicker.” Nope, the big one eluded me even when able to successfully wield a bait all day long that can certainly get a lunker to make a mistake.  Fifteen of my twenty bass came on the buzzbait with twelve of those fish coming in at 12” or better.  Quality was not that surprising as the buzzer is a fairly large and fast moving bait typically lending itself to a bigger bite.  However, quantity exceeded expectations due to the unusual strong afternoon finish.

A good day on the water as I covered a lot of ground which is pretty normal for my strip mine trips.  I’ve always enjoyed hopping around the collection of modest sized waters that I have at my disposal.  An hour or two on most of these fishing holes is plenty to make the rounds to my spots and then it’s time for a change of scenery to do it all over again.  Look forward to doing it again soon.  Talk to you later. Troy

Pond Reports 5/27 & 5/29

Posted on by Troy Jackson

Memorial Day weekend provided great weather and a great opportunity to get our young anglers out casting.  Two trips with one a smashing success and the other not so much but always interesting with this bunch.

Stats

Date: May 27 and 29, 2017
Location: Henry County, IL pond and Butterworth Park, East Moline, IL
Totals: 5/27 (Jayce & Zac) = 14 bass, 1 green sunfish
5/29 (Carly & Jayce) = 1 bass, 1 green sunfish
Bait: Waxworms on jighead with slip bobbers
Top Bass: 0-11 (two different bass for Jayce and Zac)
Top 5 Weight: 3-2 (0-11,0-11,0-10,0-10,0-8)

Top Bass tie 0-11                                                 Family record green sunfish 0-13 (dropped in parking lot)

Notes and Nonsense

Waxworms – I ended my “Resolution – Kid Fishing” post last month with a word of warning to waxworms and bluegills.  Well, the bluegills dodged a bullet this time but the waxworms got a workout.  Duh, they’re bait, right?  On the guys’ trip they were also “sacrificed over a cliff”, given out as a snack to several bass prior to releasing the catch, impaled on each barb of the two treble hooks on a crankbait and launched into the lake with Zac explaining that they “needed a bath.”

Fun with waxworms, not for waxworms                                       Jayce wanted to cast this setup but we did not

Borrowing my shades                              Destroying my pliers                                                Did not feed this guy waxworms

Quote of the day (5/27): “Guess what, Dad?  We caught more fish than you, that means we can’t go fishing with you for a long time…that’s what Mom said.” – Jayce (Note: Julie has outfished me, I did say that once and we did go fishing together again several years later.)

Retro Rod and Reel – An added highlight from the guys’ trip was Jayce reeling ‘em in with the first rod and reel combo I called my own.  This setup dates back to 1984 as prior to receiving it as a 17th birthday gift I utilized whatever Dad had in the shed.  It faded from use once I turned into a bass fisherman but still worked just fine over 30 years later for another Jackson boy.

“Shoulda been here yesterday” – A favorite fishing quote tells it like it happens sometimes as Carly learned upon joining up for Round Two at the fishing hole.  Me and Jayce laid it on pretty thick after the success of our initial outing, and honestly, I was feeling quite confident of a repeat performance.  One fish apiece for this pair in about an hour and they’d had enough, pushing to try our luck elsewhere which was even more disappointing at Butterwoth Park with zero bites.  No matter how long you’ve chased fish you are gonna run into days where you can’t fool them.  Just another lesson in the learning process.

Carly first bass                                                   Jayce green sunfish master

One of the most important skills to teach your co-anglers (Hint: make it seem fun)

Great to get the kids out even though it wound up with a tough finish.  Interestingly, it also started a bit rough when Jayce and I hit the local Walmart to pick up our waxworms. As the checkout lady was ringing up Jayce’s bait she says, “So, you and grandpa going fishing?”

Nah, I just made that one up, didn’t really happen.  Chronologically quite feasible but just hoping that adventures like these fishing outings will continue to keep me young.  Talk to you later.  Troy

Strip Mine Report 5/13

Posted on by Troy Jackson

Got my first May fishing trip in the log last weekend. As usual I faced the dilemma of which location(s) to hit and in the end my choices were both hit and miss.


6:56am First bass 13″ 0-15 Senko , quick results, will the success continue?

Stats
Date: May 13, 2017
Locations: Little John (private) and IRAP (public)-Knox Co.
Time: 6:45am-12:05pm (4 hours fishing, the rest walking/relocating)
Weather: Sunny/calm-windy
Air Temp: 55F-75F
Water Temp: no reading
Totals: 17 bass
Lures:
Senko weighted wacky rig (green pumpkin/black flake) – 15 bass
Booyah Buzz Buzzbait (snow white shad) – 1 bass
3/8 oz. Fish Head Underspin (white) with 4” Keitech Swing Impact (electric shad) – 1 bass
Top Bass: 3-5 Senko
Weight (only 4 at 12″ or better): 6-11 (3-5,1-9,0-15,0-14)


8:20am 12.5″ 0-14, only buzzbait bass as I cannot replicate the late April buzzbait bite

Notes & Nonsense

Rough Start – I wound up making my first cast about 45 minutes later than expected. Reason one was my fault as 4:30am didn’t work out and it was rise and shine at about 5:00am instead. Reason two was a road block on my normal route causing an off the beaten path, guesstimate of a re-route that worked out relatively effectively but still caused an unexpected delay. And then once I got on the water at Little John Conservation Club I could only manage four bass in a couple hours of casting.

IRAP Saves the Day – I figured things could only get better with a change of scenery so I headed to the IRAP ground east of Victoria, IL and was rewarded with thirteen bass in an hour and a half, twelve coming from one lake in only 45 minutes of fishing. Several were on back to back casts and even logged two within the same minute (10:36am). The downside of this dozen was that only one topped 11” but at least the oddball of the bunch was a pretty good one.


10:41am Top Bass 17.5″ 3-5 Senko, same lake where I fooled a 3-6 on April 8. May have to do some forensic photo analysis to see if it’s the same fish. Actually have some stories like that stashed away for another day.

Top Bass – The feeding frenzy noted above featured eight bass in ten minutes all while standing on one spot on the bank. As the fish were all between 7.5”-10” I was on the verge of relocating to another lake in search of a bigger bite. Before doing so, however, I changed the direction of my casting a bit further down the bank to my right and was immediately rewarded with a heavier bite resulting in Top Bass for the day at 3-5. Hoping to duplicate my success I later moved a bit farther down the bank but wasn’t meant to be as I only fooled three more dinks.


11:40am 15″ 1-9 Underspin, turned out to be my last bite as the final chapter of this trip did not work out as planned (see next photo and paragraph).


Mautino State Fish & Wildlife Area – much needed project but sure never saw it coming.

Rough Finish – IRAP features at least a couple dozen walk-in only lakes and after hitting two of my favorites I wavered on hiking deeper into the ground which would mean a longer walk back to the truck, tough call. After logging over five tiring miles on my previous visit I decided against the extra exercise and opted to drive to Mautino State Fish and Wildlife Area about 40 minutes to the northeast where I could finish my day casting from the boat. Just my luck, the gate was closed just past the first lake on the site prohibiting access to my best spots so I decided to just call it a day. Much needed road repair looks to be the reason and I sure hope they are actually in the process of doing the job and not just planning it. The road sure wasn’t going to get any worse so I’m gonna be a little angry if they drag their feet and lock me out while nothing improves. But this is Illinois, not holding my breath…

May gets kind of crazy so not sure if I will get back on the water before we head into school break and the unofficial start of summer. However, I have been known to find some other rambles to fill blog space even if I’m not fishing. Talk to you later. Troy

Strip Mine Report 4/8

Posted on by Troy Jackson

While a pair of March trips were able to fill out my Top Five, with a lunker to anchor my limit, it still left plenty of room for improvement as the other four in my creel were all under two pounds.  During my first April day on the water I was fortunate to displace a couple of those fish and fool a decent quantity as well.  It took some legwork to do it, here’s the rest of the story.

Stats
Date: April 8, 2017
Locations: Private pond and IRAP public strip pits-Knox Co. (7 lakes)
Time: 8:00am-9:00am and 10:45am-5:20pm (IRAP = 5.00 hrs. fishing the rest walking)
Weather: Sunny/very windy
Air Temp: 45F-72F
Water Temp: 53-58F
Totals: 24 bass
Lures:
Booyah Blade Spinnerbait (white/chartreuse) with twin tail trailer (salt & pepper) – 13 bass
3/8 oz. Strike King Rattlin’ Jig (black/blue) with #11 pork frog (black) – 7 bass
Chatterbait (bluegill) with swimbait trailer (watermelon) – 1 bass
KVD 2.5 Rattling Squarebill Crankbait (sexy ghost minnow) – 1 bass
Strike King Red Eye Shad (sexy shad) – 1 bass
3/8 oz. Fish Head Underspin (white) with 4” Keitech Swing Impact (electric shad) – 1 bass
Top Bass: 3-6 Jig & Pig
Top 5 Weight: 10-0 (3-6,2-1,1-12,1-8,1-5)


8:01am First bass of the day, one minute into casting and first ever Underspin bass, nothing particularly impressive but a good start to what would be a good day.

Notes & Nonsense

Work Pond – First stop was a pond that I was given access to through my employer.  I knew the pothole existed at one of the plant locations but never gave it much thought in terms of fish or fishing.  One hour to start the day with temps in the 40’s produced four short bass (Jig & pig -2 bass, Underspin – 1, Chatterbait – 1) and a visit from a regular who informed of a fish kill a couple years ago that wiped out the quality bass (up to six pounds).  Oh well, cool to fish new water, got my first underspin bass and likely will come back again as the water warms and the surviving residents get more active.

11:58am 16” 2-1 Spinnerbait, eventual runner-up for the day’s Top Bass

12:58pm Top Bass 18” 3-6 Jig & pig, caught early enough in the day that I was able to assume the catcher’s stance for a pic and not need help getting back up.

1:44pm 16” 1-12 Jig & pig

IRAP – Next stop was some public access Knox County strip pits accessible via the Illinois Recreational Access Program which I have taken advantage of dating back to 2013 with solid results.  Walk-in only access is a double edged sword at the site.  On the upside, it offers off the beaten path angling and a stick and jab approach with numerous potholes; no bites in fifteen minutes or so, move on to the next body of water.  The downside is the fact that my iPhone Health app recorded a total walking distance of 5.2 miles from 10:19am when I left my truck until 5:50pm when I got back (13,365 steps, by the way, for any Fitbit fans out there).  And this ain’t some leisurely stroll around the neighborhood as undeveloped strip mine terrain pretty much stinks.  Last fall I performed a similar stunt and wasn’t sure I wanted to pull it again.  However, as I surmised, an early season trip is much more user friendly as the weeds are manageable (both terrestrial and aquatic) and no mosquitoes yet compared to the previous outing where I darn near needed a transfusion.

 

So you wanna do the walk-in only access thing?  And that’s only covering seven of the couple dozen possible fishing holes.  That “Flights Climbed” thing gives me a chuckle too, sure would be nice if some of those strip pit banks indeed had stairs.

Weather – Though I wound up a bit sore, bank fishing was definitely the right choice on this day as the wind was howling out of the south and would have been a bear to deal with in a little johnboat.  In addition, the recent heavy rains in the area had really pumped up the lakes to a fuller pool than I have ever seen before.  Even so, they were not muddied up and with the wind chop on the surface and the windblown banks being riled up it really made for some favorable conditions.  If there was anything that was less than optimal it was a lack of cloud cover but after barely seeing the sun in early April, no complaint, I can deal with it.

Textbook Success – Top Bass came in a classic spot on my first cast after relocating to IRAP fishing hole number three.  This narrow cut/pothole runs north to south meaning that on this day the wind was just pounding a ledge on the north end that drops pretty rapidly from about two feet into ten plus.  My jig and pig offering was met with a telltale tick after a couple hops down the drop and the result was a 3-6 with an impressive well-fed gut.  Pretty cool when it works like that but I will also admit that during the course of the day there were many other similar, can’t miss setups that just didn’t pan out despite considerable effort.  Runner up Top Bass at 2-1, however, did show up in a windblown chute on a spinnerbait after the jig and the underspin proved ineffective.  Lesson here is that if you think a spot sets up to hold a fish give it a variety of offerings before giving up.

1:52pm 14” 1-8 Spinnerbait – Always fun trying to get a shot of the catch on a regular camera instead of a selfie in the crazy terrain.

2:16pm 14” 1-5 Spinnerbait rounds out my Top 5 for the day

A productive day on the water and what a nice day to be outside. I’d waited all the way since February for this one, kind of a weird year.  Between the sun and wind I even wound up looking like a real bass fisherman with a burnt nose, cheeks and neck combined with pale eyes and forehead.  When it was all said and done, my back put up some protest regarding my habit of hauling too much tackle and one knee was a bit stiff but overall I was pleased with my ability to successfully pull off this stunt one more time.  Might just have to do it again…today. Report to come.  Talk to you later.  Troy

 

 

Strip Mine Report 3/26

Posted on by Troy Jackson

Today’s posting is the second of three catch up fishing reports to get things up to speed while I await my next outing (maybe this weekend).  As reported last week, my initial 2017 outing on March 4 produced only one bite but it was a good one to kick off the year and my Top 5 at just over six pounds.  For trip two I was looking to fill my Top 5 and hoping to fool a few more big ones.

Stats
Date: March 26, 2017
Location: Little John Cons. Club/Snakeden Hollow
Time: 10:15am-1:15pm/2:15pm-3:45pm
Weather: Overcast/windy/occasional drizzle
Air Temp: 52F
Water Temp: 51-52F
Totals: 6 bass, 1 crappie
Lures
Jig & Pig (black/blue) with #11 pork frog (black/blue) – 4 bass
Strike King Red Eye Shad (sexy shad) – 1 bass
Ned Rig (electric shad) – 1 bass
3/8 oz. Underspin (white) with 4” Keitech Swing Impact trailer (electric shad) – 1 crappie
Top Bass: 1-15 Strike King Red Eye Shad
Top 5 Weight: 7-7 (1-15,1-12,1-10,1-3,0-15)

10:36 am First bass, Top 5 entry #2, 15.5” 1-12 Jig & pig

11:57am Top 5 entry #3 15.5” 1-10 Jig & pig

12:10pm Top Bass, Top 5 entry #4 16” 1-15 Lipless Crankbait

Notes & Nonsense

Conditions – While the forecast looked halfway decent when checking the weather on the previous night, it never quite lived up to the prediction.  Instead, it wound up cooler, windier and wetter than what was offered up by those in the know.  Fortunately, the drizzle never amounted to enough to actually get wet, I packed an anchor to beat the wind and I never lost feeling in my fingers despite hauling that anchor up at least half a dozen times.  A handful of decent bass always make the weather better as well.

First Stop – Not surprisingly, I started my morning at the Little John lake where I landed my lunker to kick off 2017.  Interior road conditions were iffy and water clarity was more stained than usual so it seemed that the area had received a fair amount of rain.  Apparently the rain originally slated for my neighborhood wound up materializing more to the south, which is just fine, regardless of what it does to my fishing holes.  No heavyweights to report on this day but quite pleased with my haul of four solid bass to fill out my Top 5 as well as a bonus crappie as the first fish ever landed on an Underspin lure.

11:25am Bonus 11” crappie, first fish to fall to an Underspin lure

Second Stop – After a lap around my starting point I drove by a couple other Little John fishing holes and found the water clarity left a bit to be desired so I elected to head for a pair of early season Snakeden producers that are reliably clearer.  These spots that I refer to as The Craters were the sites for my first bass each year from 2012-2014, the latter of which was the last time I had paid a visit to these fishing holes.  These are walk-in spots with the upside that they do not lie far off the beaten path so just right for having about an hour and a half left of my fishing day.  The downside is there are only about half a dozen spots where an angler can get close enough to the water to cast and even then you’ve got to watch out for weeds and branches as you load up to cast, suits a spinning rig much better than a baitcaster in most spots. Anyway, two of my spots gave up a bass, both in pretty cool fashion as described in the final two notes to follow.

Consider, Commit, Caught – My first Snakeden catch came on the North Crater after I cast my jig and pig as best I could in the limited casting space out beyond some overhanging bushes.  I had worked the lure most of the way back when I spied a decent bass cruising just under the surface pretty much directly over my jig which remained out of view in deeper water.  Concealed by a barrier of cattails in front of me I gently gave the jig a few small twitches and saw the bass turn as if considering lunch.  Another light twitch brought my jig into view in about 4’ of water and the bass nosed down to take a look.  One more short drag of the jig talked the bass into committing as I watched my line and the fish move off to my left.  A hookset confirmed that the jig was also moving along with the fish and I wound up with a pretty cool catch.

Ned Rig – 1/16 oz. Arkie DeD Stand-Up Finesse Head (green pumpkin) with the tail end of a beat up Senko for a body (electric shad).  A bit of contrast in the colors but the only damaged Senko I had and too cheap to rip up a new one.  It is a cool concept though to get some more mileage out of the Senkos as they typically rip in the middle leaving the end in good shape for this rig.  In addition, I purchased some cheaper knockoff wacky style worms for this purpose but accidentally forgot to pack them, maybe next time.

Meet Ned – I’ve been reading the magazines and viewing some internet videos that give high marks to an unassuming setup called the “Ned Rig” (named for the fellow who made it popular).  As shown above, Ned cracked the starting lineup today and came through as what I would call a follow-up bait, kind of like a pinch hitter or pinch runner, I suppose (Manny Mota or Herb Washington, perhaps).  Originally, I had worked a jig along a laydown and had a bass follow up until the point that I was running out of water a couple feet shy of the bank.  The fish seemed to lose interest and disappeared back into deeper water out of sight.  However, I suspected that he was still around as a possible Ned candidate.  I left my jig in the water as is customary when not using in order to keep the pig moist and cast Ned well beyond where I estimated my target was looming.  Letting the rig settle to the bottom I slowly began to drag it back and right on cue got the bite where it was supposed to be.  Only an 11” bass (smallest of the day) but first on the Ned Rig and always a treat when the bass make you look like you know what you are doing.

12:31pm Top 5 complete 14” 1-3 Jig & pig

3:21pm 12.5” 0-15 Jig & pig, no boost to the Top 5 but a fun catch and about as close to sight fishing as I get as detailed above.  The surroundings also give a bit of a feel for the somewhat confined casting space on the bulk of the North Crater.

A good day on the water in my estimation and while no early season lunkers got fooled I was certainly happy to land some quality fish to complete my Top 5.  Of course, plenty of room for improvement with my second largest bass at 1-15, but that’s all part of the fun as the year progresses.  Think about it, who would want go out and catch a limit of five-pounders the first time out and then struggle the rest of the year to boost your weight?

Well, maybe…

This outing wrapped up my March fishing and it was a couple weeks until I got to take shot number three at the bass.  Got that report headed your way tomorrow to get us all caught up for the year.  Talk to you later.  Troy

Strip Mine Report 3/4

Posted on by Troy Jackson

Some may have seen a version of this report before on my previous blog but I’m going with a new run of the posting here so I provide a start to finish collection of fishing reports for 2017.  Just kind of tough when I decided to kick this thing off one third of the way through the year.

Oh yeah, and I also like a rerun of this post as it’s got a pretty good catch (singular but solid).

Stats

Date: March 4, 2017
Location: Little John Conservation Club, Knox Co. IL
Time: 2:30pm-5:30pm
Weather: Sunny/windy
Air Temp: 48F
Water Temp: 44F
Totals: 1 bass
Lures: Jig & Pig (black/blue) with #11 pork frog (black/blue) – 1 bass
Top Bass: the only bass landed
Weight: stay tuned below

Notes & Nonsense

Company – As I pushed my boat into the lake, another pair of anglers arrived and I had a decision to make when faced with sharing water.  The location lends itself to a couple options that I’ll just call a right turn or a left turn.  Both directions have been productive over the years so it was not necessarily an easy decision on which portions of the lake to give up.  I chose to take the figurative left and fate was on my side, winding up with no regrets or second guesses at the end of the day.

 

Old Faithful – Now the “Old’ part of Old Faithful is certainly apt when it comes to the pork trailer on my trusty black and blue jig and pig setup.  I have no idea how old this piece of pig really is nor how many bass it has fooled but it has been through the wringer as I am about as frugal as it gets when it comes to fishing stuff (well, life actually).  The photo above left shows the rig from the top, where it looks pretty normal.  However, the photo above right shows the pig portion flipped over to reveal how much it is chewed up and faded to almost white.  I’m sure some of those Bassmaster sorts would cringe or shake their heads at my unsophisticated presentation but it fooled another fish and yes, I put it back in the old weathered jar for next time once I decided to call it a day.  (Note: the next outing I lost the setup on an unreachable snag while bankfishing, bummer)

Perseverance – On these early season days I go out with the mindset of getting one bite knowing that the conditions are such that it is unlikely I will be greeted by a steady stream of bass coming into the boat.  A week long batch of cold weather, southeast wind, 44 degree water temps and a warm-up not forecast until the overnight meant it could be a challenging day but I was definitely glad to finally get on the water.  I made my first stop at a productive area which allowed fancasting to a number of spots that have cooperated in the past.  I spent 20 minutes anchored where I chose to start and fired away with the jig and pig, slow rolled spinnerbait, squarebilled crankbait, Shad Rap and underspin with a swimbait trailer all without so much as a bite.  Finally, the jig and pig paid off with a bump and a slight sideways movement of the line prompting me to shake the winter rust and set the hook.  Initially, I felt I had a decent fish but a dive near the boat left me wondering just how decent this fish was truly going to be.  When it surfaced, rolled and shook its head, it was obvious that I had something pretty special.

2:57pm 2017 First Bass 22.5″ 6-2 Jig & Pig (black/blue)

Details – At 6-2, this fish was my first ever in the six-pound range and my second largest bass ever landed.  As such it pretty much broke every personal record with the exception of largest crankbait bass.  In addition, it got my 2017 Top 5 off to a pretty good start, doubt I’ll be culling this one when it’s all said and done.

Aftermath – Five days prior to this catch I had written a post about my quest for the elusive six-pounder including one fish that “might have been.”  Fortune was smiling on me on this first outing of 2017 as I had now caught and released the bass that I’d been chasing after for a long time.  After a brief weigh-in, photo session and texts to Julie, one of my brothers and Mom and Dad I just sat for several minutes letting it sink in.  Maybe a little over the top, sappy or cheesy but those three ounces better than a 5-15 bass on my ledger from February 2002 sure meant a lot to this angler.  Granted, many reading this posting have bigger personal bests, and I do too, but the six-pound monkey was now off my back.

After my catch I really didn’t care how the rest of the day panned out.  Good thing too, as I never got another bite.  Talk to you later.  Troy

Strip Mine Report 4/25

Posted on by Troy Jackson

Hey, what better way to kick off an outdoor blog than with a fishing report?

Seeing that last Tuesday was likely the last day of decent weather here in West Central Illinois before things took a backwards turn I opted to invest a day off of work in exchange for chasing some bass. Turned out to be a beautiful day just as forecast and the bass did not disappoint.

9:57am First Bass 15″ 1-8 Spinnerbait                                                          12:44pm 13″ 1-2 Buzzbait

Stats
Date: April 25, 2017
Locations: Knox County IL strip mines (1 public, 1 private)
Time: 9:30am-4:05pm (5.5 hours fishing, the rest relocating)
Weather: Partly cloudy to sunny/very windy
Air Temp: 54F-79F
Water Temp: no reading
Totals: 11 bass
Lures
Booyah Buzzbait (snow white shad) – 4 bass
Booyah Counter Strike Spinnerbait (chartreuse/white) – 2 bass
5” Senko weighted wacky rig (rainbow trout) – 2 bass
Strike King KVD Rattling Squarebill Crankbait (sexy ghost minnow) – 2 bass
Strike King Red Eye Shad (orange craw) – 1 bass
Top Bass: 5-9 Booyah Buzzbait (snow white)
Top 5 Weight: 11-1 (5-9,1-12,1-8,1-2,1-2)

Top Bass 12:49pm 22″ 5-9 Buzzbait                                                                Booyah Buzzbait, unlikely lure of the day

Notes & Nonsense

First Stop – Catching wind of some success and a six pounder from one of my infrequent haunts I elected to make it my first stop to see if I could pull off a similar catch. Two hours of casting produced four bass with two at 12” or better and Top Bass at 1-8. Wind was tough as I worked over my spots with a variety of presentations but just not meant to be, enough to keep me interested but not enough to linger for another lap when I had other fishing holes within a short drive.

The Spawn is On – My crude water temperature gauge appears to be shot so no reading on that condition on this trip. However, observation indicated that things must have climbed to the point that the combo of calendar and water temp have at least a few bass in the mood. Rowing around the bank on this day I spotted at least half a dozen fish in bed mode. I left them to do their thing as I still waver on the time investment as well as the ethics of bed fishing. To each their own, but put yourself in their place…just saying.

Top Bass – About 10:00pm on the night prior to this outing as I packed my gear I spotted my buzzbaits in a box reserved for a little later in the year and thought to myself, “That might just be worth a shot” in the midst of our string of stable 70 degree days. And thirty minutes into my second stop without a bite I decided to put it to use a bit after high noon. On one hand I knew that it could be a longshot, but hey, I wasn’t getting bit anyhow. On the other hand, I also know that a buzzbait can produce some real pleasant “surprises” when being thrown on the outskirts of the customary warm water, early morning, late evening, low light, etc…conditions. At this location I did have a pretty good surface chop, partly cloudy skies and lightly stained water so primarily concerned about jumping the gun on activity level. Half a dozen casts later I had a 12.5” (1-2) in the boat from a short point with some scattered weeds and a good dropoff, success is cool! Five minutes later the water just exploded off of another wider point as the buzzbait neared a more gradual drop with some overhanging bushes on the bank. Topwater strikes can sometimes be deceiving in initially conveying what’s going to be on the line if your hookset is successful. But in the split second before me and the bass knew we were hooked up, my brain was hollering, “This is a good one.” And right it was, as I soon had a 22” (5-9) bass on board after a short but solid fight. The bass making you feel smarter than you really are is always a good feeling.

1:11pm 16″ 1-12 Buzzbait                                                                           1:37pm 13.5″ 1-2 Buzzbait

Last Stop – After four bass in just under two hours on my second spot (all on the buzzbait) I decided to move on to one more of my favorite fishing holes to see if I could continue my topwater success. But the sun came out in full force on the much clearer body of water and despite some good chop to break up the surface I put away the buzzbait in favor of other presentations. Three more bass joined the logbook via Red Eye Shad and Senko offerings but the best of the bunch only tipped the scales at 1-2. I called it a day after an hour and forty five minutes of fighting the wind and headed for home satisfied with my day of fishing that was originally slated for a day at work, always better no matter what the results.

So, welcome aboard the new website with my first posting being my favorite type, the fishing report. Got plenty more stuff headed your way every day. Stop by any time, let me know what you think and talk to you later. Troy