August 2, 2006

Bass Fishing at Shabbona

22 inches, 5 pounds 10 ounces

Joey and I hit the lake at 6AM. Water temp was 84 degrees, clarity about a foot.

When I checked the weather forecast yesterday, the weatherman was predicting that a front would blow in by noon ending a scorching streak of 100-105+ degree temperature indices, so I was looking forward to a few hours of early morning fishing followed by a few hours of that magical overcast pre-front fishing.

Well, the fish were more cooperative than the weather. The usual Shabbona Wind Tunnel was in full effect, but the Sun and Heat were relentless. It was like fishing on the EQUATOR. Blazing sun and smothering humidity, just nasty.

But on to the fish, just a few strikes today, but some Quality !!!

Went straight to the NE Bay. First bait, a "BooYah" brand chatterbait knockoff.

Rotten !!!! Final Grade: F-

Just a total weed-rake, within 5 minutes I was throwing another rod with the good ole Golden Spinnerbait. Not long before a nice 17 incher slammed it as I worked the outer weed edge in 3-4 feet of water, that fish had some attitude. Next a few 12 inchers on a white weedless grub as I drifted into a little thicker weeds. Hmmm. Made our way out to the outer edge again and picked up my Golden Spinnerbait and tossed it out in 4 feet of water, SMASH !!! zzzzzzz goes the drag, haven't seen the fish yet, zzzzzzz more drag. I'm thinking mid 30's muskie and praying Monster Bass, fish rips my line through the weeds and rolls up, BASS !!!! Sweet !!!!  22 inches and 5 lbs 10 oz !!!

Fish for another 30-40 minutes, Snack/Bathroom break.

Back to the NE Bay. Cut off that "BooYah" and tied back on the real-deal blue-black chatterbait (Lakeside has exact duplicates on the shelf) Just a few casts later Smack, Ouch !!!! Pops off in the weeds. Grrrr. Within 20 minutes, 15.5 incher, and a nice 18 incher. Run into the famous "Mr. Wilson" and he's on the same pattern and BLAM 20 incher !!!!

11AM, off to the lakeside restaurant for Lunch/Ice-Cream, etc. Popcorn shrimp again for him, I went for the Garden Salad with diced chicken tenders (highly recommended). Sat around in the air-conditioning until 12:30, where's that Front !!!! OK, back to the lake, Heat was just relentless, and Joey was ready for some Carp fishing (he got the Carp Bug when he saw a few big ones rolling around) so out came a can of corn. Carp wouldn't bite, but he cranked in a few small catfish on some canned corn. A little bluegill fishing, etc. 2PM, back to the AIR-CONDITIONING and choc/vanilla TWIST CONE. It's just too hot. We'll be back in a week or two !!!

PS. Ace and Hawg Czar, the Streak is back ON !!!!

18"17"15.5"12"

Good Luck Everybody

See you on the water.

Tired of checking-in looking for "Recent Catch" updates ?