Kayak Cats

Four Friends and a New Frozen Lake

What a strange winter this has been! The Temperature will be in the 20s, no 40s, um no 30s! With the up and down temps, the avid ice angler in the Midwest has had to keep his eyes and ears open for safe ice. Last week we were placing our bets on DuPageAngler.com on whether we would even be able to get on the ice for the weekend.

This trip would include DuPage Angler Members Dark Star(Jason), JcCrappie(Chunsum), Brim Reaper(Bob), and myself. The four of us traded phone calls and made plans to try a new location. Usually I stay on small lakes and ponds where I know I will find fish and numbers in short order however with the weather, only bigger bodies of water had safe ice. Area ponds and small lakes had 3 inches or less. We decide to try Loon Lake at Silver Springs State Park. DS told me that this lake was suppose to have yellow bass which immediately had me day dreaming of the yellow bass bonanza that use to be the norm up at the chain before the great die off.

We arrived at 8 and were lucky enough that two guys were already on the ice. This saved us from having to find a safe place to get on. We just had to follow their line of holes back to the shore. We had to climb down a short embankment which for us is a major pain in the rear do to the plethora of crap we bring, but since we had four guys we just made a make shift assembly line down to the lake.

Everywhere we drilled, the ice was a very safe 5 inches. Now in my head I know that its safe, but this lake was cracking and popping like a gigantic bowl of rice crispies! I mean it was loud and nonstop. I have never heard a lake groaning and complaining so much. This made me on edge especially as a couple freight train cracks shot right between our legs.

We started drilling shallow and kept moving deeper never going too far without drilling another hole to make sure the ice was still safe. We had four augers to start. But this little auger snapped its blade, and this little auger died, and this little auger popped a screw. Yeesh!

When we hit 17 foot of water we marked something interesting. DarkStar dropped his camera and we found an old picnic table down there covered in algae like an old ship wreck. Problem was no fish were on it. Since at this point we had drilled half the lake never finding any concentration of fish we just set up camp and hoped for scaly visitors.

After a while I thought I heard JCCrappie say that he saw a fish under the ice. Not long after that Brim says “Hey I see fish swimming 3 feet down!” I thought to myself what are these guys smoking? It is 17 feet here! Why in the world would there be…… “Jesus there is one!” I said. I cranked my line up as fast I could to get back to the surface. My jig hit three feet and instantly zizzzzzzz went my drag the fish slammed it!!! It was a beautiful trout! I heard there might be some there left from the fall stocking but to be honest I did not think we would get any. This was my first Inland Trout through the ice! I was stoked!!

Right after that I rigged a minnow and float rod three feet down and the guys in the other shelter did similar set-ups. About 20 minutes later my minnow does the nervous something huge is going to eat me dance. Then in an instant it’s gone! I was lucky enough to score a second trout. Yes!! Soooooo cool!!! I let them go hoping someone else might catch them once more.

The bite was really tough but the guys managed to score a handful of gills and JCCrappie did catch a yellow bass!! (Jerk so jealous)

Although the bite was slow I had so much fun. Being able to add a new species to my ice angling adventures was pretty sweet. Loon Lake offers a variety of species including crappie, perch, and cats as well. Even though we did not slam them I will return to this lake next winter just for the variety and the chance to catch several kinds of fish in a single outing. Silver Springs was a nice place for four friends and a new frozen lake.

Fall Trout Opener 2012 - 2 Days of Fun.

1am, crap, 2am sh-t,  3am come on, 4:30 woohoo lets go!!! I had not fished in-land trout for at least 4 years, tired increasingly of un-sportman wanna be anglers that break rules and seem to have no character as they cast over your line. I had not thought about it in some time but since I now have a kayak in my possession, why not? I will now have some space to breath. After our DuPage Angler Podcast on trout, my plans were made to return. Since I had a yak I got there a half hour before open instead of an hour and was met with at least 30 guys that had the same idea. 

This line of tail lights instantly made my stomach turn as I remembered why I had stopped doing this. I got on the water and it was still dark and somewhat quiet considering the amount of people that were somewhere around me in the darkness. I rigged up two slip float rigs and cast my minnow out into the night. My locator was covered with fish from top to bottom so I set it at seven feet and said a prayer. Where in the hell is my float? GONE? HOLY....... I had my first trout in sometime, yes I rock! LOL! I was actually shocked to score in 5 minutes. My first three fish came in a hurry with me missing fish as well, my minnows coming back covered in teeth marks and ripped.

Once the sun came up the ballgame changed completely. I moved my yak up wind, and then would drift back over a lot of water to cover as much ground as possible looking for active fish. I hooked a few more, and lost a few more including the biggest of the day. I played them longer than I needed to. I was excited to be catching a species I had not battled in forever. I could of cranked them in and been on my way home in the first 2 hours. The higher the sun got the slower the trout bite became. I had four and needed to land one more to tuck away a limit. Now I was thinking that I should not of goofed around with those other fish! I got a couple crappie and bass before I managed to catch the last one.

I now looked up and saw just how many people had arrived. WOW! It was worse than I thought! I was happy to be surrounded by a few boaters, all of which I must say were nice guys and kept space between us.

Look at that dock!! I know right?? I would not fish there as a ghost. I got my limit earlier then I thought, so a packed up and went to a soccer game. Day one was fantastic.

I woke up on day two with plans to hit the fox but with no wind I had to go back and hit it again. I got there later by a half hour and was shocked at the lower turn out. The water was perfect.

The trout had very different plans today. The only active fish were over by that dock and the hordes  I really did not want to go over there. I fished trout hard for the first quarter of my morning. I used the same drifting technique and only hooked and lost two. However I noticed when ever I started a drift In the shallower water I would catch a crappie off the weed line in 15-20 feet of water. At this point I said the hell with the trout, parked on the edge, and I was handsomely rewarded!! The crappies came in fast and I caught over a dozen with some bonus bass!! A few trout would of been great, but I had a great day. I only saw two guys with a limit and many guys went empty handed or only had a couple. Since I have the kayak and had such a good time, I will continue going back for the inland trout angling adventures.

Basappie Bite!!

We had a warm front come in from the south and dump some much need rain. In the early spring and fall I shift my attention from a bass pipe bite after a rain to a crappie pipe bite. The cool thing about a crappie pipe bite is you can usually spend a day at just a pipe or two when the bite is on. Schools of golden freckled goodness pull right into the current breaks giving out ultra light fun by handfuls!!

The warm front seemed to draw the crappies to the end of the current caused by the rain. They were not right in close or in the big numbers I expected. However someone sent a text to the bass and gills that the bite was on today. What resulted was a chex mix of fishing fun.

I used minnows and a ice jig/micro nuggie combo for the lion's share of hits. I did manage a couple fish on a castmaster spoon.

I missed several fish. (bast-rds) 

An older gentleman came up and scared the crap out of me since i was concentrating on the fast action and I jumped like a school girl. He was surprised to see me in his spot he said and asked if he could join me. That is class. He did not just come right up and park next to me. He was cool and he slammed several large gills on a red and white tiny tube jig. The gills were in droves and we scored a few really nice fish. I ended the day with about 8 bass as well. It was a great day to shoot the sh-t in the wind and rain.

Dupage Guide Service Bites Through The Frost

I woke up and my house was 60 degrees. Chilled I ran downstairs to turn up the heat and got in a warm shower as fast as I could. When I stepped outside, Wow holy sh-t its like winter out here!! I went back in for another layer, grabbed a couple pairs of gloves, some hand warmers, and I was on my way to meet a fellow DA member who wanted to learn to drift fish a piece of the west branch; I worried. The temperature dropped 20 degrees over night, would there be any bite at all? Chunsum Choi pulled up five minutes early! Two things you should never be late for, church and fishing. We talked for a few minutes getting to know each other better and guessing what the morning may have in store. Clouds of misty coldness came from our breath like chimney stacks. We started as soon as it was light enough to see the float in the low morning glow. A hit! Aw crap missed it. Normally this would not shake me but in this cold I quickly became nervous if there would be another. Chunsum was a fast study and started plugging away hard, taking apart the holes like they were made of Legos. Then wham,fish on! YES!!! This would repeat itself several times as the day went on! Every hole he pounded to find the feeding fish or just hit them in the nose with it!!! I believe he ended up with about ten fish and four species, the lions share Bronze-backs. We had a great time and I cannot wait for our next adventure. On the way home I glance at the temp, 60 degree's. What? A 25 degree rise in 4 hours, Wow.

If you are new, experienced, or want to teach your kids, I offer a wide variety of opportunities so please feel free to contact me and we can hopefully have a similar experience and tight lines.

http://pondboyfishing.blogspot.com/p/pondboys-dupage-fishing-guide-service.html

fisherbyrne@gmail.com

Dupage Guide Service Scores Some River Success

Most of my friends and members of DuPage Angler already know that I offer guide services for DuPage County and the surrounding counties. I started the business to take sharing and teaching angling to the next level and the extra income really helps out at home. So this weekend DuPage Fishing Guide Service met a great guy Mike C at o'dark thirty to go and catch some fish while wading. We went to the Fox River and it was a beautiful morning. We were surround by birds fishing for their breakfast and even watched as four deer cross the river with the sunrise reflecting off their coats. The water is just starting to get a slight chill telling us fall will be here soon. The bad news was a cold front had just come in and the first couple of hours I wished I wore my hoodie and was worried about the bite. Mike was not married to any species and was open to a live bait presentation, my kind of guy! We drove through the dark and I yammered on and on about the science of drift fishing. Mike's first cast with a crawler and BAM a huge cat slams his presentation!

The fish was a two hander! So happy for him! I was worried about the first cast, kiss of death, and we joked that if that fish had been a smallie we should just stop now and get breakfast because it could not get any better than a trophy smallie. LOL!

Mike payed close attention to my lead and scored 7 more cats after that one. Mike also caught 2 small-mouth 1 large-mouth and a drum in 4 hours!!! He had two other chances at huge fish which broke him off and we missed a few others. We had a great time trading stories and getting to know each other. 

If you are new, experienced, or want to teach your kids, I offer a wide variety of opportunities so please feel free to contact me and we can hopefully have a similar experience and tight lines.

http://pondboyfishing.blogspot.com/p/pondboys-dupage-fishing-guide-service.html