[DirtyDawg10]

So Mark (aka mep21), Phil (aka PECo) and I planned to head to Lake Basile yesterday to go for some quantity (not quality) fishing. We got what we paid for. Mark and I arrived at the lake and launched just before 8:00am. It was a beautiful day with full sun but it wasn't too hot which was awesome!

We actually had not planned on our "Senko de Mayo" party but in hindsight it seems like a fitting name (thanks to Kira ). I started off throwing a t-rigged curly tail worm but after about a half hour I had no luck at all. Just a few small taps from what I assume were panfish. After that I decided to fish a nice t-rigged rocket craw Havoc bait that had worked from shore the last time I was here. On my first cast I hooked up with a small LMB which I didn't measure or get a pic of. A few casts later I picked up my first "barely a keeper" of the day.


This basically went on for the next hour or so and I ended up boating about 7 LMBs from all over the lake (center to shoreline).


Mark wasn't having much luck with his frog and decided to try out a baby brush hog after I told him the creature bait was working pretty well. He started boating fish right away. After we had each caught several more fish Phil showed up in his kayak and that's when the real "Senko de Mayo" party started. My use of the creature bait suddenly dried up and I decided to go with a senko because it was working for Phil. I ended up catching several keepers but none of them were over 13". All in all I would say I got between 18 to 20 LMBs. This one was one of the last ones I caught and it looked as though a bird or turtle must have taken a bite out of it...



I'll let Mark and Phil fill in the blanks on their catches. The only things missing from this party were big fish and margaritas. Maybe next year

[PECo]

My Senko de Mayo fiesta started late, because my in-laws were visiting for the weekend. I waited until after they had left in the morning to load El Habañero, my Hurricane Santee 116 Sport, into my Jeep, and headed over to Lake Basile. It was a beautifully sunny, but cool day. I strapped El Habañero to my kayak cart and enjoyed the 1/4 mile stroll from the parking area on Lordship Road down the bike path to the lake. While I prepared to launch, I spoke with a fisherman who was relaxing his aching back on one of the nice benches that a Boy Scout built for his Eagle project next to the new beach area on the south end of the lake. He told me that his son was still on the water in their jon boat and had gotten quite a few small largemouth bass with a Rapala Shallow Shad Rap. When I told him that I was there to meet up with the two kayakers, he said, "I didn't see them catch much." I got on the water at 10:30 am. Although I saw Derek and Mark fishing on the the east shore, I headed over to the west shore, because I wanted to throw a frog over the shallows. After 10 minutes without even a swirl on the frog, I decided to switch to my other Lake Basile standby, a wacky rigged Senko. In this case, though, it was a really old Gander Mountain knockoff that I found in the bottom of the kayak. I threw it toward the center of the pond and let it fall to the bottom, where it was quickly picked up by my first fish, a typically small largemouth bass:



Whoo hoo! I paddled across the pond to the south end of the west shore to meet up with Derek and Mark. While we talked, I continued to boat small largemouth bass with the wacky rig:



Eventually, I got a small keeper largemouth bass:



After I had caught a few more largemouth bass, I switched to a Green Pumpkin/Red Flake Senko. I hate to admit it, but I think that the Gander Mountain knockoff worked a little bit better , because it's greater buoyancy helped to keep it on top of the green weeds that already cover most of the bottom of the lake. While we were moving around the lake, I asked Derek and Mark whether either of them had ever caught a yellow perch at Lake Basile. It turned out that none of us could remember ever catching one there. Wouldn't you know it, within five minutes, I caught one:



Although it was skinny, it was a fairly long 13 incher:



I wish that I had asked whether they had ever caught an eight pound largemouth bass there, instead. We meandered around the deeper, south end of the lake for a while before hunger set in and we worked our way back to the beach to put out from the water:



I think that I ended up boating 10 small largemouth bass, of which only two were small keepers, and the one yellow perch. We all had a nice paddle, though, and even enjoyed the walk back up the bike path to our cars:



I expect that the Lake Basile action will heat up as the water warms and the weeds grow in. I can't wait until they start hitting frogs!
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Don't forget to wear sunscreen and don't litter!

[Fishin'Fireman]

Basile is always a great spot for quantity, 5 minutes from my house. I go in on the path, or by the neighborhood in simsbury off a side street (not the private rd on the granby side), by where a family friend lives. He's lived there for ages and while theres alot of dinks in there, he's got some pictures of some pigs he's pulled out of there, one day we'll find them!

I have a Jonboat so it's tougher to wheel in there, really seems perfect for Kayaks, which I'll need to invest in soon
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A bad day of fishing is better then a good day at work

[PECo]