April 8, 2006

Bass Fishing at Spring Lake South, near Peoria IL

Westley "Ace" Wooddell sets the new

Family Record for Largemouth Bass

with this 7 pound 14 ounce Mammoth

Brad is holding up a 2.5 pounder for comparison. 

Brad, Wes and I hit the lake at sunrise. Wow, the conditions were fierce. The air temp was 32 degrees at dawn, relentless 20-30 mph North winds howled all morning, and a massive coldfront settled in with a daytime high that was 26 degrees below the day before, but what a day it turned out to be. Water temp was 49-50 degrees, and had been severely muddied by the high winds the night before giving it a clarity of about 2 to 6 inches depending on where you were. The action was slow, but the fish were HUGE. All of the bass where caught on the Yum Wooley Curlytail grubs, the exact same pattern as  Feb 2, 2006 , and  March 29, 2006.

Westley's Giant Bass inhaled his blue/black grub as he swam it along the windblown outside weed edge in about 2.5 feet of water. Wes said, "Got one." I looked over and his rod was bent into a horseshoe. Thinking he had a pike, I jumped up and grabbed the net, then the fish rolled and I knew that he had a monster bass. Wes played him straight to the boat and on his first pass within reach, he was in the net. Then we all went nuts. 7 Pounds 14 Ounces !!!!

This shattered the old Family Largemouth Bass Record which had stood for 39 years, 11 months !!!

Congratulations Wes !!!!

I had the booby-prize with a 23 inch channel cat on a shallow shad rap.

CAUTION: Before you plan your trip to Spring Lake, please note that this is a very shallow and weedy lake, according to the IL DNR "at least 75 percent is covered with 17 different species of aquatic vegetation by late May of each year" , Very Soon this lake will be a weed-choked Nightmare for fishermen. This is a lake to fish in late Winter and early Spring ONLY.

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