Times they are a-changing (with apologies to Bob Dylan)

Last week, the fishing at the ponds peaked. Bass were ultra-aggressive, attacking almost anything they saw. I took numerous "rookies" out there and, if they could hit the water with a cast, they could catch a fish. We threw pink Sluggos and watch the bass attack them. It was awesome.

Joanna with a nice pond bass

A happy Megan with another nice bass from the ponds

Yesterday(Sunday) I went to the same spot. Fished hard, first with reaction baits (spinnerbaits, buzzbaits), then more subtle baits (flukes, Senkos). I got one hit on a spinnerbait. I saw the swirls where bass were chasing bluegils away from their beds. The fish are now on beds, and the bountiful season that is the springtime warmup is now over. I'll still be able to catch fish here, but I'll have to work harder for them and employ different techniques. The day before - Saturday - I spent 2 hours with a co-worker working the larger pond hard to see what we could come up with. Jesse fishes bass tournaments and has fished hard for ANYTHING for years. He got on a pretty consistent bite with smallish square-lipped crankbaits. The bass were holding out from shore, and were spawned out. Still nice fish, but much lighter in weight. I played around with different baits, getting a few on spinnerbaits and other stuff, before I finally relented and put on a crankbait. (I'm pretty pig-headed about immediately going to the "hot bait" that the other guy in the boat is throwing). We caught fish, but it was obvious that in the past week, everything had changed.

Jesse with a crankbait bass. No eggs in this bass!

Times they are a-changing. Just like they do every year.

My wife just shakes her head every year wen I continue to be amazed by the greening of the landscape in springtime. Same for the leaves changing color, or the first snowfalls. I always react like I am amazed (because I am) even though I love the outdoors and have witnessed these changes for my entire life. I am just as amazed at the changes in the fishing patterns due to seasonal movement. Now that the bass have spawned, I'll key into the bluegills as they set up shallow. Out will come the flyrods. Then, in the midst of the summer doldrums, the channel cats will get really active.

Something is always changing, and I'm always amazed (Some would say easily amused!)

I hope I never lose that awe of the changes of nature. I'm pretty sure I won't.

Even though the bass were not going crazy on my ponds, I did manage to catch some other fish. I got 5 walleyes, a few crappie, a bunch of bluegills, and one un-common resident of the ponds - a green sunfish. Take a look at the size of the mouth on the picture. It is noticeably bigger than the usual sunfish, with the exception of the warmouth. Nice coloration on these panfish.

Green Sunfish

Keep following for the progression through the seasons and more fishing. I'll try to get some fly fishing in for trout in the near future.

A Royal Slam at the pond - sort of

Made it out to my favorite ponds this evening. I know they get a little crowded over the Memorial Day weekend, so this might be my last chance for a while. The weather wasn't what I like, but you fish when you can. Last night we had a scattered frost warning - didn't make it quite that low, but it was cold. It was a cool, windy, clear sky weekend - exactly what I DON'T like to fish in. It rained alot last week - almost 3 inches. Ponds were either muddy or stained. I tried the upper pond, which was muddy, first. Fish should be crowded into the shallows and set up to spawn. Tough to tell in these conditions. Anyway, I got one largemouth to bite a buzzbait, and 3 more to hit a spinnerbait. Decent, chunky largemouth. Now the evening wouldn't be a total blank. On to the lower pond to see what might bite.

(My son Joey with our buzzbait bass. He decided he was too cold to fish tonight, and just "modeled " by posing with my fish. Still good to spend time with your kids, whether they're fishing or just talking)

On to the lower pond. The first thing that was apparent was that there was a lot of bug activity, and the trout were slashing into something on the surface. Of course, my fly rods were back home.. I picked up a few nice 'gills on the old reliable Cubby jig. Then, on a shallow edge of the pond, I got another hit on the Cubby. Definitely bigger than a gill, but didn't fight like a bass. A big walleye maybe? Nope - first catfish of the year. It was a yellowish cat. I've only ever caught channel cats here, and all have been the standard grey / silver colors. I assume this was just an off-color channel. Anyway - 3 species tonight. Now I need 3 more to catch them all - I needed crappie, walleye, and rainbow trout.

First, while the sun is still out, I try to fill in the trout. I pulled out another UL spin outfit and tied on a Mepps spinner that has been deadly in the past on these pond trout. Fished it hard for about a half hour. missed 2 that hit near the dock, and had one other short strike. Usually this spinner is death on these trout. Oh well - tonite's not the night for trout for me. So I move down the bank with my Cubby / weighted bobber. About 5 casts into it, right along the bank, I hook up with a BIG trout. It's on for a about 30 seconds, and it straightens the size 12 gold hook on the Cubby. Tough break. Naturally, that's the only trout I hook up with tonite. I re-tie and put on a 2" white Lindy Munchie grub on a 1/16 oz. jighead. Sun drops below the trees, and its like the light switch gets turned on for the crappie. 7 nice crappie in 10 casts. Almost time to go. Another light hit - a little walleye. That's all of them - all the species found in the pond. Hooked and lost the trout, landed the rest. Even though it was getting colder outside - 54 when we left - it was fun. It's always fun when you fish though. At least it should be.

A final note - this was my first time out with my newest rod. I picked up a 4'6" UL St. Croix Avid spinning rod. I put a Quantum Energy UL reel on it, 8# Fireline, and it's about as sweet an ultralite outfit as you can find. (The bass caught tonite were on a baitcast outfit for the buzzbait / spinnerbaits) The 8# test on a UL might sound a little strange, but if you follow my posts, you know I fish some ponds that have some pretty big fish in them. I can usually wear them down with the rod, but using the usual 4# mono gets me in too much trouble with cats, big bass, or sticks and logs in the water. The 8# Fireline is 3# diameter, feels great on the setup, and will land anything I hook in the ponds. Give it a try on your UL - I think you'll like it.

Introducing co-workers to the great sport of fishing

I've been waiting for the ponds to heat up, both water temps and the fish's spawning movements. It's been very erratic here from a temperature standpoint - a few days of warming temps usually seem to be followed by unseasonably cold weather, delaying the bass's push into the shallows to set up to spawn. Friday the variables all seemed to come together - gradually increasing temps, storms forecast for the evening and overnite, west winds. And I had one of the enthusiastic newcomers to the sport from work to go to the pond with me over lunch. I hoped it would be the right timing, more for her than for me.

Over the years, a lot of people at work have expressed interest in gong fishing with me. This inevitably ends up like most casual social commentary - you know the type - "Hey, we'll have to get together some time", and that's the end of that. And that's fine - it's just the way things are. But I always tell people "All you need to do is ask, and I'll take you". Well, Megan took me up on my offer.

This young lady is one of our talented Marketing people, and she has fished a few times with her Dad and brother, but she says they rarely catch anything. I really hoped it would be good . It was.

When we got to the pond, I walked up to the edge and a bass spooked from the shallows. GOOD - they were in tight. It was a little mossier than I would have preferred for a newcomer, but I figured a buzzbait would get her some fish. What could be better than buzzbait explosions from big bass?? We had 1/2 hour before we had to head back into work. She got used to the rod and lure, made some nice casts, and had 5 hits. She landed 3 bass and had a big one shake loose at the bank. All the bass she landed were bigger than anything she had ever caught before. She was ecstatic, and her enthusiasm was certainly contagious. It is such a pleasure to take someone on a successful trip and see their face light up when they catch fish, whether its a child or an adult. I have another trip planned with a co-worker, his 2 daughters, and his wife. Can't wait



These are Megan's 2 larger bass. She's hooked!

We've all heard the message to TAKE A KID FISHING. Now we can start another chapter to that directive - Take a Co-worker Fishing!

More pond notes, and a new visitor emerges

Joey with one of our Pond Bass

My ponds continue to produce, frustrate, try my patience, and make me smile - sometimes all in the same day. I sometimes get a little too cocky on these small waters, and think I have them all figured out. Then a front blows through, the pressure drops, the bass get lockjaw, and the 'gills move offshore. Or, the pond that has the rainbow trout will have the trout rising to something, and I can't buy a hit! Oh well - that's what keeps us coming back.

Joey with a Pond Walleye

I did get a good afternoon in with some nice bass, including one of my best from the smaller pond - a pre-spawn female that had to be a little north of 5 pounds. Some good 'gills from areas that usually only have smaller ones. the crappies seem to be a little more common, too, but that concerns me. For the past 10 years, crappies in the ponds were pretty uncommon, but big. Now they seem to have taken hold, but the bigger ones seem harder to find. I don't want to let them overpopulate the pond, which they are known to do. Time for a bunch of crappie dinners! One of the unusual species for the pond, along with the trout, are walleyes. These have been stocked a little at a time over the past 10 years or so. I catch smallish ones (8' - 10") pretty frequently, and have caught them up to 17". A nice distraction when they feel like biting.

We have new companions on the ponds, too - the water snakes have come out. These are common Northern Water Snakes, and there are a lot of them in these ponds. Some pretty big ones, too, as evidenced by the picture from Monday.

With our local river near flood level from the excessive rains we've had, the ponds have saved my spring!

The local ponds are on fire!!

Well, at least they're on fire figuratively. There has been some stabilization of the recent weather, and the fish have been eating. I love this time of year - the fishing is really pretty good all day. Bluegills are drawn into the warmth of the shallow waters along with the bass. Low light finds active crappies. And, as I showed in an earlier post, one of my favorite ponds is stocked with rainbow trout, and they are shallow as well. You truly never know what you'll catch. But you're pretty much assured you'll get something. I fished over lunch yesterday and had a terrific time. Spent 40 minutes on the water. My go-to lure this time of year, as it always is in the early season, is a Cubby Mini Mite suspended under a weighted bobber. It was literally a fish per cast. Tally when I left - 21 'gills, 3 crappie, 2 largemouth, 3 walleye, and 1 BIG rainbow trout (around 20"). Perhaps the most memorable part of the lunch hour was when a pretty big largemouth took a big swipe at the bobber!

While I love to get the periodic "fish overload", it is absolutely the best time of the year to introduce new fishermen to the sport. I have a few people at work that I'm trying to get out over lunch. Also, one guy at work has a couple of girls - ages 7 and 10 - who really got hooked on fishing last summer. Pardon the bad pun. They'll have a ball for the next 2-3 weeks, or until the water heats up too much. I'll continue to fish ultralite with tiny baits for about a week, then switch over to topwaters and spinnerbaits for shallow prespawn largemouth. There will be a lull in the action after the spawn, and then the channel cats heat up along with the water temp.

Now is truly the time to Take a Kid Fishing. And don't just limit it to kids - take your neighbor who hasn't fished since he / she was a kid. Introducing - and re-introducing - fishing is the mission of Angler's Legacy. Read more about the Angler's Legacy at the following link. I took the Pledge year's ago - it's fulfilling for all parties involved.

http://www.takemefishing.org/community/anglers-legacy/home

By the way - in my haste to get outside and fish, I've been forgetting my camera. Sorry - no pictures. I'll take it along tomorrow and try to post a lunchtime photo essay. I've also been feeling rather philosophical about my recent forays to the ponds - I feel a rambling, bare-my-soul to the world post coming on in the near future.

Get outside and fish!

Local pond update 4-19-09

I haven't been out on the water as much as I'd like to be (are we ever??). but I have hit a few of the local ponds recently and have a few observations.

The weather continues to delay springtime conditions to our local, northern Illinois waters. Last week we had a string of beautiful 70 degree + days, but just as quickly, the rainy 50's are back. Nighttime lows have been really low. We need an above temp day with some warm rain to jump start the fishing here. The areas the fish ought to be - inflowing streams, shallow mud bottomed flats - have been hit or miss. Some days you get a few, othertimes - nothing. Yesterday I was out for an hour and got 4 small (12-13") largemouth and 2 nice crappies. No 'gills. The day before, I was at a favorite local pond where the largemouth stack up along the rocks in the spring. NOTHING! Not a hit. And this pond is loaded with bass to 4-1/2 pounds.

One thing I keep meaning to do, and keep forgetting, is to take along a thermometer and record water temps in my diary. I've been keeping a fishing diary of one form or another since 1984. Originally, when I was initially just fun fishing the Susquehanna River in PA, and later doing some guiding there, I recorded the river levels in the area I was fishing. After a few years of recordings, I could better gauge my potential for success based on these levels, or change plans and fish different sections of river based on the levels. I always recorded water temps when fly fishing for trout, but have fallen out the habit recently. I believe, based on the temp of the fish I've been catching, that the water temps are just lagging behind this year, and the fishing along with it.

BUT - when it finally breaks loose, it ought to be "lights-out". And I plan to be there for it!

Back from 'Bama

Well, our quick dash to Alabama for a little fishing has come and gone. My son and I got up at 4 AM on Thursday, got a flight to Birmingham, got down to the farm by noon. Fished afternoon and evening, and from 7:00 am - 11:00 am on Friday. Back to the airport, back home by 6 PM on Friday. Quite a few miles logged for 9 hours of fishing, but it's all worth it. (I fly almost every week for work, so the flight aspect of it doesn't phase me)

Weather was pretty dicey - high winds both days. Tough to control the boat. Also, temps dropped to the 20's the 2 nights before - BRUTALLY cold for southern Alabama. Fish were not very aggressive. Exactly what I was NOT hoping for. I was really hoping for some aggressive bites for Joey. He likes fishing, but doesn't have a lot of patience if the fish aren't biting pretty good. I'm still living down the build up I gave our trip to Canada last year - from Joey AND my brother and Dad. I picked out a great smallmouth lake, booked it for the perfect time, and the weather absolutely killed us. The lake was beautiful, accommodations good, and fishing was awful. I've done these trips a lot, so it didn't phase me, but they had never been on a trip to fish, and there was some disappointment over the results. Joey said a few times before this trip - "It better not be another Canada trip"

The ponds we were fishing are owned by a friend / business associate and are terrific - loaded with bass and brim. Some of the fish are are huge - bass over 13 pounds have been caught with some regularity (my best from here is 10-5) and brim are huge and plentiful, if somewhat difficult to locate certain times of the year. I figured something would bite for Joey.

The total recap for the 9 hours of bass fishing showed 24 largemouth landed by us. Joey also fished a pond where the brim flock to a dock, and he caught around 50 brim in an hour and a half over 2 days. I was more concerned with getting him in position than actually fishing, so while I fished constantly, it wasn't at my usual frenetic pace. The fish we got were mostly on big hard swim baits, and a few on smaller crankbaits. I believe 2 fell for spinnerbaits, and a few for Beetle Spins while prospecting for brim. So - quantities of fish were the least I have ever seen at this property.

BUT - the size was very good. I've been to this property 6 times before. The usual size of the fish is 2-4 pounds, with an occasional 5 or better. I've caught 2 over 7. On this trip, of the 24 bass we caught , at least half were 4 pounds or better - very nice sized LM. The baits of choice were Strike King's King Shad, Strike King Pure Poison, and Lucky Craft RC 2.5. The brim fell for Beetle Spins and 2" Munchie Grubs.

a 6 pound Alabama largemouth

5 pound largemouth

Naturally (and thankfully), Joey had the last laugh, and it couldn't have been choreographed better. We were on the brim dock, he was catching scads of brim, and I told him we needed to go in a few minutes to shower and drive back to the airport. He dropped his grub down and immediately had a bite. The rod bent, and it was obvious this as no brim. I figured it to be a nice 2-3# bass - a real test on an UL rod with 4# test! He fought it like a pro. I cautioned him that it wouldn't be his fault if the bass got back to the dock and wrapped around one of the wooden dock pilings, as they are apt to do. I knew he wouldn't be able to stop it if it did, and it would break off. I didn't want him to think he did something wrong. Well - the fishing gods smiled. the bass went under the dock, but came back out with a little pressure. I was able to lip it on the first opportunity, and Joey had his big bass. It measured 23" and was full of eggs. I didn't have a scale with me, but estimated it between 7 and 8 pounds. When I checked the "Weight Estimators" found online , I feel pretty confident that it was between 7-1/2 and 8 pounds. Our last fish, and his biggest ever (the second largest I've ever seen in person). You can't script them any better than that.

Joey's brim

Joey's big bass - betwen 7# and 8#

By the way - before anyone decides to throw a well deserved shot at my BRIGHTLY colored shirts, I found out years ago that they show up better in photos, and often the fish show up better, against the bright backgrounds. I DO have a lot of nice, muted greens and tans , too!

Trip Planning

I LOVE to plan fishing trips!




I am going to Alabama with my son in a week to fish a day and a half for largemouth and brim. We'll be fishing on four different 40 -75 acre ponds on the property of a business associate. These ponds can be some of the best fishing in the world - I've had people there who just got back from El Salto, and said the fishing was better in Alabama! My personal best largemouth - a shade over 10 pounds - came from here as well as my best brim. Even when it's tough, it's better than anywhere else I've ever been.




So - the usual game plan is 10" Culprit worms, Culprit Stingers, Lucky Craft LVRs and Staysee's, and spinnerbaits. The LVRs will be good for Joey because he's still not great at hooksetting and a lot of fish hook themselves on these baits. Same with spinnerbaits. Some fish may be on beds, but most should be off and chasing shad. SO - I need to experiment with some new baits. On my experiment agenda are Strike King King Shad, Strike King Wake Shad, and Strike King Shadilicious swimbaits. Also, Yamamoto saltwater swimbaits.




I've re-spooled my reels for this trip (Daiwa Viento, Abu Revo) and Joey's (Stradics) and figured out which rods to take. The tough part is the spinning rods for Joey. The few that I have that are good for jigging / worming - a Kistler Helium and St. Croix Legend Tourn - are really too fast for him. So, I'm going with a Rapala Longcast MH - a really great spinning rod with a soft enough tip to throw smaller baits but enough butt strength that he used it for pike in Canada LY (btw - these rods have been discontinued by Rapala a few years ago. If you ever run across a Rapala Longcast spinnig rod on sale, I'd advise you to buy it . I have 3 and love them all, even compared to rods that cost 3x as much) - and a Shimano Teramar inshore SW rod. I'll take a St. Croix Legend Tourn Carolina Rig rod and a MH Kistler Helium LTX. Of course, I'm sending the rods and the box of tackle ahead, so I don't need to check anything on the flight next week. That way, the trip can't be ruined by lost luggage / tackle.




So - I get to spend the next week falling asleep every night dreaming about big LM busting that Wake Shad as I pull it through a stump flat, and envisioning the face of my son as he says "Dad, I think I'm stuck. No - it's swimming" Can't wait.




[Just how much do I love the planning aspect of trips? Today, On April 3, it's 120 days before Andy and I are back at Athabasca going for monster pike again. We've been counting it down since January]

Alabama largemouth

Alabama brim

Ahhh - Springtime

I love spring - every year is filled with dreams of new adventures, hopes of big fish, ...

The warm weather coaxes out the spring blooms. Choruses of spring peepers fill the air.

Doves dig through the snow to find some bird food in the wind driven snow???? Welcome to sprintime in northern Illinois. Photo taken Sunday morning 3/29.

March 28, 1979 - Three Mile Island

Today is the 30th anniversary of the TMI meltdown in Middletown PA. I grew up 25 miles from there in Lebanon, PA, so the potential meltdown had a lot more personal attachment to it than watching as an outside observer. We were being warned of the possibility of evacuation as the drama was unfolding.

But the thing I always remember about that day (and the significance to this blog) is that I was on Spring break from freshman year at college, and planned on going fishing that day. I had decided to go to Red Hill Dam on the Susquehanna River, one of my favorite early season spots to fish. Good for walleye and smallmouth in April, May. Anyway, something happened (I don' recall what) and derailed my plans for that day. Naturally, once everything started happening at TMI, everyone was glued to radios and TVs, and fishing was forgotten about.

Red Hill Dam is the small wing dam on the east side of Three Mile Island. It's literally a couple of hundred yards from the reactor.

I FINALLY catch some fish in 2009, and all is right with the world!

We finally had a few days in a row of nice, warming weather. That means, of course, lots to do around the house. And, finally, a chance to get out on the water locally. Northern IL has been slow to warm, and I've been going more stir crazy than usual for this time of year. It's an annual occurrence, but seems like a more acute case this year than usual.


Sat. and Sun. were beautiful days, and both days found us with some time between 5 and 7 pm. We went to a property where I have access to their 2 ponds and tried to start out the year on a good note. Like every year, the warm air belies the VERY cold water and lethargic fish below. I've done this enough to know that early season trips mean slow presentations, shallow, dark bottoms that warm quickly, and often small baits.


Well, things played out like they were scheduled. Fishing was slow, but enough fish hit to keep things interesting. I wanted my son to get in some practice with his gear, because we're going to Alabama in a couple of weeks for a few days of bass and brim fishing.




My son with our first largemouth of 2009









Saturday found 1 nice largemouth willing to bite, and enough smallish gills to keep us occupied. NOTE: there are 2 ponds on this property. One - the first one we fished - is shallow, about 8 acres, and full of bass to 4 pounds, and gills. the second - maybe 10 acres - is deeper. Max depth is around 15 feet. Lots of wood cover. Largemouth, bluegill, crappie, walleye, channel cat (to 15#) and rainbow trout. The rainbow trout are certainly not your typical fare in Illinois ponds. They are stocked in this pond in October and winter over. When the ice melts and spring emerges, these 'bows are in great shape and are great sport in the spring. They're also pretty big - 14 - 20". I've fished for wild rainbows all over the country, and, all things considered, prefer them over the stockies, but these are a viable substitute. They bite, and they pull hard, so in this instance, I like them!

Nice rainbow trout from the lower pond

Next we tried our luck on the lower pond for the trout or anything else that might be awake. It was the expected slow fishing, but we did hook and land 2 trout, 1 pretty nice one. Pheasants were cackling in the fields as the sun set, and deer made their evening trips to the fields.

Sunday we did the same routine. No large bass fell for our offerings, but the bluegills were more active after another day of the sun warming their water. My son and I had a "bet" to see who could catch the most, and we lost count. The lower pond yielded its first walleye of the year to me, and one more nice trout to my son.


Our lures on these trips were primarily Cubby Mini-Mites suspended under a weighted bobber. I wrote about them in my "Favorite things" post last year. I don't know what it is about these little nondescript plastic baits, but they flat-out catch fish - everything! They are effective fished dead slow under a bobber , with the only movement imparted by wave action, and they work with a fairly aggressive retrieve. I learned long ago how to fish a Blakemore Roadrunner (another great springtime bait) - you can't fish it wrong, as long as you fish it slow. The same applies with Cubby's.


A great overall weekend and , hopefully, a harbinger of a terrific season of fishing on the horizon.

Joey fishing on the upper pond

Thanks for reading!

Wolfy

Spring is almost here!

70 degrees two days ago, temps are now in the 50's on a daily basis. That can mean only one thing - Spring WILL actually make an appearance this year. I'm going to try tomorrow to get my first fish of the year at a local pond. That should also mean the end to the series of non-fish catching posts that comprise the Winter on the blog.

I wasn't sure I'd make it through this winter, but like a big batch of skunk cabbage, I feel like I'm rising through the muck, awakened by the optimism of yet another Spring.

Keep your eyes peeled for 2009's fishing adventures!

Wolfy