[PECo]

I fished Batterson today from 8:15 AM to 1:45 PM. When I arrived, I saw DV's and Turtlekiss' cars in the parking lot. DV's canoe was gone, but Dinghbat was still in the back of Turtlekiss' pickup. I saw a canoe in the distance with one person in it. I thought it might be DV, but had no idea where Turtlekiss could be. Hmmm. . . .

I'm still trying to wean myself off of wacky worms, so I had two setups with me; a Yum frog for fishing over the weeds in the shallows over the rocks on the western shore and a diving Rapala shad for fishing just off the rocks in 6 FOW. I went left from the boat launch ramp and threw the frog over the weeds in the shallows. Nothing. I threw the Rapala parallel to the shore just off the rocks. Nothing.

After 45 minutes of nothing, I saw the that fisherman in the canoe had gotten closer to me out in the middle of the pond and it was not DV. I paddled out to say, "Hi!" He was an older guy who was fishing for perch with a little swirly-tail grub. He said he likes to eat perch and hadn't fished Batterson since he was a kid. He got the canoe four years ago and started fishing again. When I asked what kind of perch he caught, he said white perch. He said he didn't know there was another kind of perch in the pond other than yellow perch until he had started fishing again. He was heading in, so I headed back to the western shore.

I worked my way around the first corner working the shallows and the dropoffs. Nothing. When I got deep into the first cove, I finally got a hit on the frog, just after I pulled it out of the weeds and off the rocks. The fish pulled to the right, caught air and spit out the frog! It was only then that I realized that I had forgotten to set the hook! I've gotten so used to fishing wacky that it never occured to me to set it. Idiot! I got nothing after that for a few more minutes, so I decided to run home to momma and rig up a wacky Senko. And wouldn't you know it, I got a 17 inch, 1 lb 13 oz largemouth bass on the first cast!

Shortly after, I spotted DV and Turtlekiss heading toward me in two boats. They had been up the shore near the beach. It turns out that Turtlekiss had just gotten the sit-on-top version of my little blue kayak! They told me that they had picked up the kayak and tried another pond before heading over to Batterson at 4:00 AM, I think. They were headed off the water, so I pressed on alone. However, before they got very far away from me, I landed my second largemouth bass, which was the ugliest 14-incher I've ever caught. Half of its upper lip was missing, as if it had been ripped off by an over-enthusiastic fisherman. If I can get my cellphone to work, I'll post a photo.

After I got to the end of the trees and bushes on the western shore, just before the beach, I decided to head into the middle of the pond to try dropping a jig down to the deepest part of the pond. I paddled out and rigged up a 1/4 oz black and blue Booyah jig with a white swirly-tail grub on the hook. Unfortunately, the wind picked up a bit and after only a couple of casts I got tired of fighting it. I headed to the eastern shore, about 100 yards from the south end, to see whether Turtlekiss was telling the truth when she said that there are bass over there.

I threw a wacky-rigged watermelon/red flake Yum worm toward the shore and worked my way north. Nothing. I didn't see any weed cover on the bottom and didn't see any fish. After an hour or so, I starting thinking of how I would write up that Turtlekiss had sent me on a fool's errand to a dead shore. Just then, I saw a little foot-long largemouth bass swim by. Ah, a sign of life. When I was more than halfway up the shore toward the north end, I started getting panfish nibbles. Soon after, I caught a rock bass. And soon after that, I caught a 12-inch largemouth bass. Yes!

The further I got up the shore, the more weed cover there was. Underneath one of the willows that bend over and into the pond, I caught a 16 inch, 1 lb 8 oz largemouth bass. After another rock bass and also underneath a willow, I caught a 17 inch, 1 lb 11 oz largemouth bass. And at the front of the weeds in front of the spillway in the northeast corner of the pond, I caught an 11-incher.

After that, I had to run, so I paddled straight across the pond to the ramp. And, no, my shoulders aren't sore. Mucho fuerte!

All in all, I caught six largemouth bass and two rock bass. And I caught four of the largemouth bass off the eastern shore. I'll never doubt Turtlekiss again.
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[MarkO]

Great write up PECo.

Why does everyone seem to feel the need to apologize or not fish some kind of wacky rigged soft plastic? If thats what the bass a hitting, then thats what they are hitting. If you want to learn other tecniques or dont' want to get rusty with others, then wait until the fish are in a positive feeding mood and then throw the jig, crank, spinnerbait or the friggin flying lure. After all, we are trying to catch them as opposed to sitting there just looking like we are.

On another note; are you retired? You seem to have a lot of time to fish...a little envy on my part I guess.

Thanks for taking the time for all of your posts.

[PECo]

MarkO

Yes, I'm retired. Sort of. I never thought I'd leave the Chicago area, Way To Go Blackhawks!, but my wife took a job in Hartford. Before we moved, she agreed that I could stay home to take care of her and our now 16- and 12-year old kids, so my days are usually my own to do as I please. And I please to fish!

I'm not ashamed of my wacky worms. I think it's kind of cool when a guy with a spinning reel outfishes a guy with a fly rod on a trout stream. Whatever works is good with me. But I need to learn some other techniques to fish deeper water, heavy cover or when the wacky worm just isn't working. Although right now, I've been finding that the largemouth bass in the shallows are still lazy and feeding off of the bottom, so wacky worm it is!

Phil
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[PECo]

Here's the 14-incher with half of its upper lip ripped off:



I guess one of the advantages of fishing wacky worms is not having to rip a fish's lips off. You can see where I wrote the length and weight of my first largemouth bass on my hand with a Sharpie. My memory definitely isn't what it used to be.
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[SkeeterRon]

PECo,


As always, nice report..

Try a small white spinner bait next time.... When I went with Kira I caught a few good sized one in just a couple of hours.

Ron
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[basswacka19]

hey peco, i just want to give you a little tip on something ive figured out in the past couple years that has helped me a lot . If there is a decent amount of wind blowing then try to find wind blown shore lines, points,flats or any spots you usually do good at, but wind is a big factor in throwing crankbaits/ jerkbaits or any bait that you constantly reel or jerk. If it is really calm then i usually stick to vertical baits like senkos,jigs,drop shot. Im not exactly sure why horizontal presentations work so well in windy conditions but i think the fish tend to get a little more active when there is wind blowing and like to chase down baits more than just sitting there waiting for your bait to come slowly by.
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this fish here is a real donkey!!!

[slimecoat]

That is because the wind pushes the plankton against those points and banks and the baitfish follow to eat it. Thus the bass follow the bait. It's the circle of life. Always always fish the windy banks. Don't be a skirt and stay out of the wind because of more boat control needed, or it's too cold, wind is your friend when fishing.

Johnny says "tie on a spinnerbait and stay on a wind blown point all day".
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[PECo]

OK, I'll try those spinnerbaits again. I've caught exactly two LMB on spinnerbaits over the last two years. When I caught the second one at Batterson last week, I had a swirlytail grub on the hook. Dick aka The Pike Guy had suggested that to me and it worked.
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[slimecoat]

I'm not saying that you need to go out and throw spinnerbaits on a windy day, but the general rule of thumb is that bass will be more likely to hit faster moving baits when they are actively feeding. Plus the chop on the waters surface will break up your boat noise and your standing silouette, and they are less spooky. You can also try baits like rattletraps, jerkbaits, crankbaits, chatterbaits, super flukes, or swim a jig etc.

If none of those work then slow down and throw finesse baits until the bass tell you what they want to eat and how fast the want it moving.
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Life's Short - Fish Hard - Take a Kid Fishing