Frat Bass Day 2

Followed up one more night same tactics and had some good results including one very nice fish which is rare in the watershed I was fishing. "Crystal River Fly Fishing Combo Kit"

Frat Bass Like Getting Hammered

I went out about about 7:45 and had a little over an hour to fish. I was anxious for a tight line after taking a break for a wonderful week with the family on vacation. After reading Darkstar's Blog and seeing his Hammer fish I grabbed a white and blue KVD swim jig and large blue and white Hammer Swim-bait. I fished a pressured set of lakes were any outing over four fish is a good night and anything larger then 12 inches is welcome. The upper lake as I call it came up empty and I was wondering if bringing one rod and one bait might have been a huge mistake. I figured I would just make a couple casts in the lower lake which has fewer bass per acre but the size is a little better. Anything over four fish on this lake in an hour is fantastic. The lake has a huge population of shad and I saw several swirls along the far shore. Within the second cast I had a fish on and four more followed as well as missing two bass both lost on the jump and head shake. All the fish smashed the hammer. A couple shook the well placed plastic loose! I did so well the a younger angler walked half the lake to catch up to me and see what I was chuckin. I was more than happy to show him and tell him about the DuPageAngler.com. It was a fast but fun night.

Quick Trip May15th 2012

After a frustrating week, I got up from my computer I just needed some air I grabbed the first two rods i saw and left. It was surprizingly slow at this lake especially with a fresh storm front approaching. I noticed huge weed growth in a week and the carp were in full on spawn. The water was pretty churned up as well I managed to catch this nice fish under a tree.

Pondboy's Take on Cat-Fishing Basic Tackle and Bait

A Closer Look at the Crabby Bass Wacky Worm

Wacky with a chance of Storms

On a rare occasion there are more than a couple DA pro-staffers free to get out an talk about the site and fish.  When the guys got to my house a fresh storm was just hitting our neighborhood. We sat in the garage and talked about the site and watched the radar on the computer. The rain let up and we were out the door for an afternoon of pond hopping. The first couple ponds were new to me and there is always that new water excitement. We got out of Wacky’s truck and with a couple claps of thunder we were back in. lol We waited a few minutes and were of to the races. The day showed great promise as all three of us scored a bass pretty quickly. I think two of the fish were caught on Big Hammer and mine was on a spinner bait. The promise of a great day was kept even though a couple of the ponds did not produce. The last pond was the hottest and looked to be past the spawn. Finesse plastics seemed to do the trick. There was a continuous line of weeds around the pond on the edges where gills were gathering. The bass as Wacky say were not far behind. The fishing heated up so much that we didn’t have much time to talk about the site. It was a blast. Fishing with a couple of good friend is always a good time. You forget the troubles of life because you have to think of comebacks as your buddies’ raz you. For example, every time I caught a small bass DarkStar would say “another gill nice job” and Wacky kept comparing me to short characters from TV shows. But I caught the most…lol Most of my fish came on either a 4inch power worm or a Case Helgie.  After I was home for a while I went and hit a couple more ponds and caught 5 more. My biggest came last just before dark on spinner bait. Total fish counting my evening run had to push forty. I finished the day with 28. A GREAT DAY!!!  

Fun with spinner baits.

My 5 Dollar Hat Cam

Quick Trip Lasting Nest May3, 2012

The trip started great, a quick blast on a spinner and on my third cast! A few casts later My bloody trout colored Big Hammer bait gets crushed! I was thinking this was going to be a great night. Then the hammer gets hammered a second time. It is a good solid fish. I play it for a couple minutes and it launches itself skyward and with a slow motion head-shake the 3-4 pound football laughs all the way home. I make a bunch more casts and there is no-one home. I also notice one shoreline is covered in beds. This might explain the shut down of my bite. 

I am not a bed fisherman. Oh sure when I was younger; I hit a few bed fish but the first time you catch a bedding hog in your honey hole and it does not return and you watch bluegills ravage that bed, you like me will realize to let bedding fish bed. That one fish is not worth the hundred I stopped from growing up. This is for each fisherman to figure out. The spawn does not last long if you don't mind just pass them by as tempting as it is.

Oh yeh soooo as I hit the final section, I am heaving this spinner bait down the shore line and it bounces off a tree branch it mid-flight and it careens out of control like a jet going into a flat spin. In that instant my spool throws up mono all over in the worst bird's next I have had in years! I have not had to cut out a nest in at least 7-10 years. Ah well it happens to all us, what can ya do.

Very Quick Trip May 2, 2012

I had exactly 20 minutes before my beautiful wife had to leave to go to an appointment. I took two search baits, a swim-jig and a Cordell Super Spot. I quickly covered about  150 yards of shoreline. After seeing how stained the water was a spinner-bait would probably of been a better choice then the swim jig. I ended up only scoring one fish on the lip-less crank. I was surprised how pale the fish are in this lake. This lake seems behind the others i fish. The fish are still very pale and look like I have just pulled them from a freshly drilled ice hole. Very Interesting.

Quick Trip May 1 2012

Fished in the rain for 20 minutes got lucky and got a smallie!