July 20, 2006
Family Fishing at Shabbona
Catfish and Bass Day
24.5 inches, 6 pounds
25 inches, 5.5 pounds
18"
same
18
17.5
17.75
Bass 17.5 to 18 inches
Well that big nasty bunch of thunderstorms blew over by noon, so we decided to make a run out to the lake for a little afternoon/evening fishing. Launched the boat at 2:30 PM and fished until dark. Water temp still 78 degrees, but the rain had decreased the visibility to about 1-2 feet.
We started in the NE bay, casting white Kalin's grubs for bass, and Lisa broke the ice with a nice 18 incher. Picked up several more smaller bass, even had a "double" at one point. After an hour, the kids were ready for a little catfishing. We pulled over to the weed edge in the back corner of the NE bay, floating right up in the surface weeds, then casting globs of chicken livers 20-30 feet to some open patches of water, 2-3 feet deep. The catfish are up shallow and will be spawning very soon. Didn't take long before a nice rowdy 25 inch 5.5 pounder was trying to pull Joey out of the boat. Next fish was a nice 3.5 pounder.
At this point we had been on the water for 2 hours, so it was time for a restaurant break, popcorn shrimp, char burgers, ice cream and M&M blizzards, etc.. Spent an hour lounging in there, back out on the water by 5:30 PM.
Pick up a few more small bass on the way back to the catfish hole. Then we see a fellow angler, hook and land a HUGE channel cat, 15-16 pounder !!! while bass fishing with a soft plastic creature lure. It was massive. Had to stop and chat with him for a minute or two after watching that battle. Nice Job Rokmel !!! It was a true Shabbona Giant.
Back to our catfish hole, several small nibblers, then another nice one at 24.5 inches and an even 6 pounds. We didn't get one as big as yesterday's 7-8 pound 26 incher, but it's hard to complain with a 6 pounder on the line.
As the sun began to set, the bass started calling my name again. I had to get out the good ole golden spinnerbait, 1st cast Whoosh !!! 17.5 incher, and as the sun really set Whoosh !!!! a plump 17.75 incher. Time to call it a day.
Big Cat Fun
3.5 pound cat
small cat
bass "double"
Good Luck Everybody
See you on the water.
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