Quick Trip april 30

When I get the chance to fish on lunch I usually hit the fox because its only about 7 minutes away from my  office. Most of the time I have about 30 minutes to make something happen. Today I kept some crawlers on ice in a cooler and did some quick drift fishing. I got lucky and scored a young white bass.

A co-worker and fellow DA member Csimon sent me a message asking if fishing the river from shore was torture because I am a wader. My answer was yes. Well, a lot of the time. Like today, I could see the pockets I should be fishing in front of the dam but could not reach them. Once you wade, the way you see a river is vastly different. Many times shore fishing rocks too, especially cat fishing. But when smallies are your primary target its like having a carrot hung out in front of you and it is just out of reach.

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Rain Rain You Can Stay

It was a very busy weekend for the family. I managed to get out for 45 minutes tonight. I brought the three baits that have been working this week. Spinner-bait, Brush Hog, and a Strike King / Big Hammer combo. The Hammer is all they wanted. I went 3 for 5. I lost number four by playing it too long, I got hypnotized watching the green flashes and swirls at my feet. If I would have done the tournament sweep I could of had it, but sometimes I just need to watch in awe of the gift of angling and the experiences it brings. Now for whatever reason I was not freezing tonight and the rain was even warm. I did not mind being out in it. The fish all were hugging the shore which has been the theme of the week. This lake I would call my home lake, it's within walking distance, however long gone are the days of 20 to 30 bass. Poachers have screwed it up for the next 5 years easy. If I catch anything over 1.75lbs I am happy. To catch 3 in a short trip also makes me happy.

6.5lb Bruiser Pre-Cold Front

If I know a front of some sort is coming like a storm or cold front, I try to get out before it hits to make a few cast to see if fish are feeding pre-front. This week all the fish I have caught have been hugging the shore. I am guessing that these fish are in a pre-spawn stage waiting for the right conditions. I have caught most of my fish on spinner baits this week. I started out with a white strike king with a silver Colorado blade and quickly scored my first bass.

 I want to get good at the traditional bass jigs. Last night was no exception. I made a few casts but I just don't have the confidence yet, so I cut it off and tied a 3/o hook, bullet weight and a Zoom brush hog on my heaviest bass rod. The Bait was black with red flake. After a few casts I moved to a rocky wind blown shore line. I was already freezing from the dropping temps but decide to make just a couple of long casts with the brush hog parallel to shore. I was using a drag and pause retrieve when I felt just a slight tap and my line started swimming off to my left. I reeled down and slammed the hooks home. I was shocked as my big meat stick rod doubled over and my take no prisoners corsair cs300 started giving up drag! Then she broke the surface and my knees got weak. This was the hog I was hunting all spring and I was pretty scared that I would lose it like I did last season on a crank-bait(still play that over in my head). I drove the hook in one more time and brought my second largest bucket mouth ever in! I taped her at 22x15 just two inches short of girth to catch my biggest at 22x17. Wow that was cool.

Now I didn't even notice bleeding frozen thumb from her until my next fish which since it was smaller, I was able to let it play out and stay calm. I caught 3 more on the brush hog and finished the day with a nice bass on my new favorite baits from Big Hammer.

QuickTrip-4-25-12

A Trio of Quick Trips

Last night on my way home from work I was thinking about this tiny pond which I had not fished in a couple years. It was on the way so of course I had to stop. I grabbed on rod with a blue-gill color KVD Swimjig and an orange Big Hammer swim-bait. Second cast i got blasted by an 18 incher followed by a 19 on the third. Both fish were huggin the shore and totally inhaled the presentation.

Then after dinner, I have to make a run to lowes. I was thinking that maybe the small pond was just more active then the larger lakes I have been challenged on this week. So I stopped at another small pond. Both of these ponds a guy could cast across. I tried the swim bait and missed one, again hugging the shore I switch to a spinnerbait picked up the speed and the vibration and quickly caught 3 more.

Now I have been try to fish on my lunch when I can and I have been coming up empty on my last five quick trips. So I stayed with the same plan I picked a small pond near work and threw the same spinnerbait as was rewarded with one nice fish for my 30 minute lunch.

Driftin Live Bait For Dupage River Small Mouth (The Basics)

I had some time early this beautiful Sunday morning and I had some bait left over from Saturday, so I drove over to the Dupage River. In about 2 hours I went 6-9. Nothing huge but it was a lot of fun. 

When I say drifting I do not mean a big red bobber and one giant split shot with a glob of worms. you know, like in any advertisement that was made by a guy that does not know how to fish, I personally like the pics with a bobber with a big lure tied under it!

What I do use is premium balsa floats. What many anglers do not know is the power of having the right float. In drifting rivers this means either spring floats or rubber mounted steel-head floats.  These floats are design to cut through the water not be pushed around by it. In the case of raven floats they make them for every depth and current speed. Many floats have to be balanced just right with the right amount of shot. The shot should be in a shotting pattern(there are a few different patterns but the pattern in the picture below will work in most situations) this will present your offering naturally and the right depth.

A longer rod is a necessity because when you are not drifting straight down stream you will be fishing parallel to the shore. Having a long rod will let you hold your line up and prevent current drag. It will take some practice to learn how to properly maintain your line, especially in faster current. In certain situations a steel-heading float rod is perfect for keeping your presentation next to bridge pilings and hugging walls. These rods are 9-13 feet long. With that length you can keep you line up and out of the water and current drag will be a thing of the past.



Bait: I use large fathead minnows, leeches that are hooked once just under the sucker and crawlers. The best way I have found to use crawlers is to break them in half. Use the top half first. I am not sure why but the top section works better and stays on longer. If you bunch the worm up the bronze backs will ignore it. So nose hook the little jerk. Once in and once out that's it. Fishing a whole crawler leaves you open for tale robbers and you don't want that.

I use premium octopus hooks sizes 4 and 6. Raven makes a nice one called the specialist hook.

I love lures too but having all your options set will make your chance for success double!

Time and time again a guy will be fishing artificial baits and get one or two then tell me its slow. I then go through the same water and catch 1-4 more fish at times. Plus, the drifting technique opens you to a world of species. Imagine going to the fox and catching 7 or 8 species in one outing! So if you want to increase your small mouth success dip into the science of drifting.

Smallie Fun

DarkStar and I hit a creek for smallies today it was pretty cold early and it was a tough bite with many of the fish-able holes packed with huge schools of shad. We managed to get some nice ones. DS was very proud of his first fair hooked creek chub. lol We used a live bait drift fishing technique which just kills, especially on days everything else does not produce.

Quick Trip April 19 2012

Well i only had about 15 minutes on my way to the store tonight. I missed one and caught this beauty on Texas rigged Hula Grubs from BPS. The fish was so nice looking I needed to post it.

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Pipes Pipes Post Storm Hogs

I managed to get out for another hour or so just before dark. I wanted to see if the bite was still on I manage to catch three and loose a couple as well. I have always wanted to be an expert jignpig fisherman. Every spring I get the jigs out but have never done well. I practice pitching jigs in the yard all the time just because its fun but have never done very well. Tonight I finally got a nice fish on one. I cut the tip off of a Kalins Grub and attached it. It made a awesome trailer. The fat tale of the Kalins slowly flutters with each hop. Know that I think of it It would be great on a swim jig. One fish if you notice hit the skirt right off my spinner-bait!

Ripplin Surprize

I went out tonight with only about 45 minutes to fish. I fished very hard but very slow. Texas rigged lizard, swim jig, and a Carolina rig. None of my plans were working. With about 15 minutes of light left, I notice some very small breaks on the waters surface. The problem was it was on the other side of the lake. I jogged over to the other side. I have a few jerk baits on me at all times. I grabbed a Cotton Cordell® Ripplin' Red Fin®. In about Three casts I had a fish to save the night! The Red Fin is a bulky stick bait. But it has great flash and a pronounced Ripplin' wide wobble. It is absolutely deadly on northern and fall salmon. This bait is one every fisherman needs to have when the time arises. I own two right now both are littered with teeth marks.

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More Luck with Big Hammer Swim Baits!

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Zoro to the rescue

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