Adventures Midwest is a site dedicated to my outdoor and other pursuits. I will hopefully bring some interesting content as well as education on various outdoor activities that I am working on.
...... And for me it was yesterday at Independence Grove!!!!! My friend Dave called me up and wanted to get out but after the beating I took at another lake on Sunday, I was not to keen on getting out. I was not going to go but he talked me into it and we began heading towards the lake at about 6pm. We got to the lake and the plan was to run and gun with fast moving lipless cranks until finding some active fish.
Well, it did not take long to find the active fish and on the second cast we had a double which we converted. Two casts later, I had another fish, and a few cast later, another!!!! And they just kept attacking the chartreuse sexy shad red eye like sharks in a feeding frenzy! We did get a few decent fish with Dave getting the biggest slauuuuuuunch of the night and it was probably a solid 2.5 to 3lbs.
The final totals were 20 fish all together and I got 16 and Dave got 4 but he had big fish of the night. All of the fish came on the end of long casts in the transition zones between deep water haunts and the spawning beds. The fish seemed to be just outside of weed lines in 4-8fow and the lures were retrieved with a feverish pace. Hopefully as the weather warms and we get some stable temps, the big females will be appearing soon. Good luck out there and here is a video as always to highlight the outing. Enjoy!!!!!
Well after yesterdays beating at the lake and not catching fish once again, I was thinking of how to mount a camera to my dog for hunting videos. I recently bought a new Go Pro Hero Black and this camera seemed to have more mounting options than my Contour Roam Cameras. I used the chest harness and that fit perfectly over his chest as well. The mount seems to be solid enough but I will not know until we get to next years hunting season and the system is put to the test in the field.
It just so happened that a cotton tail was sitting in the yard and when the Tino Cam was mounted, he instantly went out and pointed the rabbit. He only moved because I was giving him the ok to do so and you can see how he holds point. I cut out some of the video because he was holding for about 4 minutes. He is a great dog and can really hold point. Well here is the debut of the Tino Cam. More to come next waterfowl and pheasant season!!!!!
I tied on the old red eye shad and was off to Beck Lake with my dog Tino in hopes to get the first legal fish of the season. I must say I did not have high hopes because of the weather this year but I was going to try anyway. I also had a KVD 1.5 in red craw. I pounded the water to no avail and then it happened. A leviathan from the first deep drop came up and smacked the red eye and took off on a tear. I must say that it felt great to have a fish on this season because it has been tough. I recently read a piece frombassinthemidwest.blogspot.com about using a square bill in shallow and it inspired me to get out. I would have thought this would have been the ticket today with the warm sunny temps however, the fish was on the end of a long cast toward the drop off.
I was running the red eye at medium speed and just keeping it out of the junk as the lure approached the shore. As I fought the fish I knew he was not a giant but just wanted to get the fish to the bank for my first legal of the year. Well I got him up and my dog was extremely interested in the fish. He stayed right by me as I took the pic of the fish and then seemed to be completely befuddled on where the fish went when I released it. This was really funny to see his reaction. Well nothing special but to me it was a great fish and I finally have the skunk of my back this year.
Last week was tough because of the cold temps and just not finding fish. This week however, was different because the temperature warmed up and I had high hopes with Sam gave me a call and said that he wanted to hit the river on Saturday. This was the plan and the weather held up and the water temps were sure to be warmer. This was encouraging, and my hopes were high for the day. I picked up my daughter from dance and was jacked up and had the boat ready to go. Dropped her off and away I went.
Now, at the time I left, the wind did not seem to be furious at all and I was thinking, this is great because I like some wind while fishing. I figured the temps would be up, I knew shad were moving up, and I thought the bass and eyeballs would be on the move. I got to Sam's house and could not believe the way the wind picked up. This could not even be considered moderate wind and surely the river would be severely blown up with the wind out of the South. Sam asked if I still wanted to go, and needless to say, we were off to the launch.
Got down to the river and could not believe my eyes. The wind was right down the main channel and there were full one footers with a two footer with whitecaps. I have never seen The Fox or any other river with this type of wave action. I still thought we would be able to find some fish with the warmer temps. It was tough just to get the boat off the trailer and I should have known what kind of day it would be. We trolled at first and our speed was perfect to no avail. We tried running down the river but it was reminiscent of the North Atlantic so I could not even do that. We found a stretch of river that went East, West and thought this would be the ticket for some action. The current was fast but the bottom was nice with chunk rock. We tossed square bills and lipless rattle baits again to no avail.
You can't see the height of the waves from this angle!
It was after fishing this stretch for a good while we decided to run the gauntlet back down stream to a bridge to flip the bridge pilings. Surely, there would be something hanging around the pilings waiting for baitfish to be blown into striking range by the current. Fished all the pilings and zip, zilch, nada, nothing!!!!!
We trolled a bit more and than readied to recover the boat at the launch that was right in the teeth of the wind. I knew this would not be an easy task and made the decision to drive the boat on because of the wind. I proceeded to back the boat out and she died. Something the Yammie rarely does and now I was at the mercy of the wind. I had no camera rolling at this time but sure wish I did. I know now the reasons for a bilge pump. The current spun me around and the waves were directly hitting the back of the boat and all it took to put about 3 inches of water in the bottom of the boat was two big waves and they crashed over the transom and got me soaked. I restarted her and made it to the trailer and miraculously got the boat on the trailer on the first try. My bilge was running full on and pumping a lot of water out of the boat and we made it. Another tough, windy day and for some reason this year the skunk will not leave me alone. Another great day to be out and I promise next time, Sam, we will get into em out there. Thanks for reading.
Easter morning got a chance to fish with a buddy and get his boat out for the first run of the season and ensure he was ready for the upcoming tournament season. It was sunny but deceivingly cold. When we got up by the launch it was apparent that the State of Illinois was still in hibernation because the launch at the state park was closed. We then went to another local launch that was closed for a different reason, ICE!!!! There was a bit of open water in the back channel however it was locked in with a solid inch of ice. Not looking good. We headed to our third launch site and struck pay dirt, a nice open stretch of the river.
After stopping to check out the first spot, the trolling motor had some minor issues that we quickly dispatched with some pliers and mechanical prowess. The boat was fixed and we proceeded to look for some suitable spots to fish. First spot, ICE!!! Second spot, ICE!!!! Seems like we were finding ice in the back channels but this did not stop us from fishing. I think we both have a problem. At one point my partner said that he could not believe that others were not out practicing for a tournament that is next week and I thought the same thing. If I was in a tourney, I would be out fishing. As I thought this to myself, it was evident that we definitely do have the same problem, because there were people on shore, and I bet they were saying, "Look at those two guys, I can't believe they are out fishing!" I guess that is the difference between fishing addicts and regular people. We had a laugh and then pounded the water in between ice flows.
The boat ran great and was a very stable platform to fish from and it was a great day to go chase fish. The wind made it challenging with the current but the temps seemed right to run into an eyeball or two up at a local dam but they were still hibernating with all of the people that were not out. On the way in we stopped at a back water hoping for a toothy critter in spawning mode but got this nice Kitty Kat. I think the more I have been researching it is a Channel but I am not ruling out a blue because of the noticable blue coloring under the gills and pectoral fins. I am by no means an expert catfisherguy and the jury is still out as to if it is a channel or blue. Hope the spring arrives soon from its hiatus because this cold weather is just not conducive to me catching fish.
Here is a video of the boat running and a pic of the Kitty. I know it is nothing special however; it just shows the level of nerd I possess, because I just love the rooster tail that thing was throwing up!!!!
Well thanks for tuning in, and hope I get some videos that actually produce some nice footage of fish!!!!!
