May 21, 2007

Fishing at Shabbona Lake State Park, Shabbona Illinois

17 Inches

Odd day today.

Launched at 7 AM, air temp was 48 degrees, water temp 61 degrees. By 1 PM air temp was 82, and the water was up to 68 degrees. Visibility about 18 inches, weeds are coming on strong.

For the day, 25-30 small bass (8-13 inchers) on floating Rat-L-Traps and weedless Yum grubs.

I started in the NE Bay. I just couldn't get any size today. Best bass in the NE Bay was 16 inches.

16"

I had 2 seconds of excitement with the Rat-L-Trap. Up in the corner of the NE Bay, just East of the roadbed, up by the shallow rock piles in 2 feet of water, I was ripping my lure along the lilypads when it suddenly got very heavy... No strike, just very heavy then shooting off to the left, BIG MUSKIE !!!! Just as I saw his huge body, I spotted my Rat-L-Trap in the middle of his back !!!  Booo... Foul Hooked muskie, he popped free about 1 second later and I got 3 souvenir muskie scales stabbed on to my hooks. He was in the Way Too Big for bass gear category, I just interrupted his nap.

I gave the golden spinnerbait an hour, Zero... Chatterbait an hour, Zero...

Around 1 PM, I paused for a sandwich break, and did my usual "sort of fishing lunch". I like to get upwind in the NE Bay, cast out my weedless grub and let it drag along the bottom of the bay as the boat drifts with the wind. (Once in a while I'll pickup a small bass doing that.) Anyway, I was about half way finished with my lunch...Tug, Tug, Tug..... Grabbed my rod, Fish On !!! Feels funny ????

15.25 Inch Crappie !!!!

Cool.. So now I start thinking...... school of Big Crappie ???? out in the bay ???

So in my momentary delusion, I rig another rod the same way, drifting through the 8-6 foot zone, 3 more passes... Zip  Zero  Nada.... waste an hour.

Back to reality, chalk it up to "fluke". As far as I can remember, it's my first Shabbona Crappie while bass fishing. I occasionally get a big crappie while bass fishing at Sangchris, but never at Shabbona.

Next I fished the East Bay, then the Bay by the dam, got a few small bass. Fished the cove just north of the dam on the western shore and caught a plump 17 inch bass, and lost a better fish in the lilypad stalks (he rapped me up in the stalks....Gone). Both on the blue-black Yum grubs.

About 2 more weeks until my fishing partner is Out for the Summer....

Good Luck Everybody !!!!

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