Bass Are Biting

I was able to sneak out on my home lake this week. Bass continue to produce right after sunset. Here are a few pics.

Lake Improvements = A Whole New Body Of Water

  My home lake aka Candlewick Lake underwent a vast change this past week. The lake itself was closed for a week due to some water treatments that where being done. Candlewick has an amazing team that helps regulate and manage the lake and it's resources. What this group decided to do has made huge improvements to the lake. They performed a treatment that would rid all of the unwanted weeds and algae, and at the same time boost water clarity. The bonus is that the treatment will last for 10-15 years I believe.

  Prior to this lake treatment the water clarity at times was slim to none. Usually on an average day you could see 2 feet down. Now the water has cleared up so much that you could see 8-10 feet down. This changes the game all together as far as tactics go. Here are a couple of photo to show how much the water has cleared.

After day 1 of the water treatment

 

Day 2 of water treatment

  They covered almost every square foot of the lake with the treatment going off of GPS. There are places that I have never seen what the bottom looks like, and now it is like a whole new world.

  Last night I got on the lake because I was anxious to see what it had looked like for myself. I was blown away, and can't thank the guys in charge enough for making my home lake even better than it was before. Now for the fishing. I started out tossing my go to twister tail and ended up catching a few Crappies. That was good, but I wanted to explore and see what the rest of the lake was like. I started at the mouth of a finger and started tossing a Zara Spook Bait (topwater). 2nd cast in and something exploded on the surface, and I set the hook. Not my biggest or my smallest, but it was my first pike of the year.

  I had a few other misses on the top water, but just couldn't hook up. All in all it was an awesome night to explore the new and improved home waters. Should be interesting to see how the lake progresses and how the fishing tactics will change.

Memorial Day Monster

  This Memorial day weekend was a little more memorable than most. A few exciting things happened that will leave these memories forever etched in my mind.

 First and foremost eventful thing that happened was my great friend Jordan tied the knot with his now wife Danielle. I have know Jordan for years. We have camped, fished, and hunted together for many years. When I first started getting into the blogger type realm of things I started a dot com which was Trailtheoutdoors.com. Jordan was the first guy I signed up to post stories, how-to's, and many other things. I closed down the site for awhile and was work with Blake at Illinois Wisconsin fishing, and now here I am as Trail the Outdoors again, but on Blogger. Jordan I am sure will have some posts to add on here come hunting season. I look forward to them and also look forward to watch him progress in the next chapter of his life. Congrats again you two.

 After the Saturday wedding I more than needed Sunday to recoop from the many barley pops that were consumed during the reception. I saved my fishing time for Monday.

 Monday morning we had a slight drizzle on my home lake. It finally quit around 1 p.m. So I hooked the boat up, grabbed my son, and we headed to the lake in hopes of finding some fish. With all the crap weather we have been having I thought for sure we where going to get the old skunk. I was wrong. We landed one fish, but this fish was one for the memory book. If you have been following me for any certain amount of time, you would know I target Walleye quite a bit. On my home lake I finally found some sort of pattern that would produce walleyes constantly. I think my biggest to date was 22 inches. That all changed Monday afternoon. I was pitching a stand up football jig in a pumpkinseed skirt with a uncle josh's pork trailer in hopes of catching a few Largemouth Bass. To my surprise I hooked into something large and full of life as it peeled drag from my new baitcating reel. As I finally saw a flash as it got to the boat I told my son to grab the net. He hasn't had many nettings on big fish, so it took him three tries and thankfully he landed this monster for me.

  This beast was 26 1/4" and just over 6lbs. It is my biggest eye to date out of Candlewick Lake. It is a fish that will stick out in my mind for years to come. Hopefully one day I can top this one out of the old wick.

The Night Bite

  Saturday night was my chance to escape and get out on the lake. I called up a good friend of mine to see if he wanted to come share the water with me. Travis replied instantly saying see you soon. Travis arrived at about 6 PM and we shot the shit for a few and headed down the street to my home lake. Candlewick Lake is a gem when it comes to night fishing. It almost seems the fish are more active at night. We fished the same area all night, and I couldn't even tell you how many fish we caught. It had to be at least 50+ ranging in all different species. We caught, Largemouth and Smallmouth Bass, Crappie, Bluegill, and Walleye.

  Last year I finally figured out a tried and true pattern to catch the eyes. It seems like the pattern continues on this year as well. Although we are hitting this spot a little earlier than last year we are already catching them. I caught a 17in. and Travis caught a 14 in. Travis threw the 14in. back before I could get a pic, but I did get a shot of the 17in.

 The yellow/ pink bodied with white tail was the hot twister for the night. It caught around 80% of our fish for the night.


 The big surprise to me for the evening was the rather large for this lake Small Mouth Bass I caught. I have only caught  2 or 3 out of the lake before with them being no larger than 8-10 inches. So when I got this one to the boat and in the net it was a big surprise.

 I didn't put it on the bump stick, but if I had to guess this one was in the 15 in. range. It was a great fight without a doubt.

  We kept a couple Crappie for Travis's fry pan along with the 17in. Walleye. Crappies that where kept where all over 10 inches. Some nice slabs for some great eating.

  It was a great evening on the water. It was good to catch up with my old friend Travis, and I will have a rod build coming up for him in the next few weeks, so watch for Travis's rod build coming up soon on here.

A Father Daughter Day On The Water

  Last night after worked I raced home to hook the boat up and head to the lake. The temps got a little higher than the original forecast, and it made for a great excuse to hit the water. After I got home and raced around the house, my daughter stopped and asked where I was going. I told her daddy is heading to the lake. She smiled and asked if she could join me. It was a pleasant surprise, and I couldn't refuse. She geared up in a sweatshirt, I hooked up the boat, and off to the lake we went.

  I knew from mothers day morning that the crappies where staged up where they should be, so we headed to the south end of the lake. I rigged up my daughter's Barbie pole with a small jig and her pick of a purple/pink twister tail. I dropped the trolling motor in the water, and showed my young fishing partner how to cast her rod again as it had been some time since her last outing. She casted up towards shore and instantly got a hit but missed it. She returned the cast back up to the same spot hooked into it this time. She cranked on her reel like it was a race. I realized why the first fish got off at this point. I told her to slow down and take it easy, but the sure joy of excitement had her going. She still got the first fish of the day to the boat like a champ.

  The smile on her little face says it all. I told her she did a great job, snapped a photo, and she released the fish back into the lake. She was excited jumping around the boat making me nervous that she was going to fall in. I laughed with her, and we shared the excitement of her first open water fish of the year. She soon grabbed the pink barbie rod and casted back up to shore. I was casting a 5/8oz. football jig in a pumpkinseed color tipped with an uncle josh's pork trailer. I too hooked up shortly after the first fish was landed. At first I though it was a Bass, but the fish wasn't coming toward the surface as I reeled the fish in. This seemed a little off and odd to me, and as the fish got closer to the boat I realized it wasn't a Bass on the end of my line.

  It was old Wally Eye. I was surprised as I have never caught a Walleye on a Bass rig before, but have heard of others catching them on my home lake on a similar set-up. At this point I was happy that both of us where on the board with fish. Then about three casts later I got snagged on rocks and my rod snapped unfortunately.  I was slightly upset until my daughter smiled and said don't worry lets just catch some more fish. So I grabbed my spinning rod rigged with a jig and twister tail, and got back to it.

 I caught this nice Crappie a few casts in. I must say it was nice to have my camera girl in the boat for some quality pics. Shortly after this hook up my little munchkin had another.

 Then it was my turn

Then her turn

She was concentrated.

A nice lake view to set the evening off.

  We went back and forth catching fish all night long. My daughter caught the last fish of the night, with it being a Bluegill.

  We had an amazing night on the water, shared a ton of laughs, and caught some nice size fish. Best of all, I will never forget the enormous smiles that she had on her face. We packed up the gear and headed in. My little first mate even drove the boat back to the dock for the first time. I must admit, she did a great job for her first time controlling the old Johnson tiller motor.

  I had one of the best days on the water ever last night with my new found first mate. It always pays big in the end when you take a kid fishing. I also have a feeling I will soon be out fished, and I will love every second of it.

Crappie, Bass, And The Angry Geese

  Mother's day morning I was able to let the wife sleep in, and let myself make a quick sneak down to the lake. I wanted to get out Saturday but due to what seemed like gale forced winds, I was kept off the lake. Sunday morning was no better. It was still windy blowing 15-20mph coming out of the North and the temps where riding around 34 degrees. Either way I was itching for some fishing.

  I launched the boat around 6 a.m. and headed to the south end of Candlewick Lake (my home lake). On the South end is the dam as this is a man made lake. The dam end is loaded with Rocks, gravel, and smaller boulders which is an excellent spawning bed playground for fish. I started off fishing the hot lure for me last year which was a small twister tail jig. Pitching it up to shore and bouncing it down the rocky ledge. I hooked up right away with several crappies.

  While fishing on this end of the lake I noticed a ton of geese that seemed distraught protecting there nests so I snapped a couple of pics.

  After watching the wild goose chase for a bit, I decided to switch rods and grab my bait casting stick. I had rigged it up with a 5/8 oz. stand up football jig tipped with a uncle josh's pork trailer. This was also a hot combo for bass last year. I started pitching this up into the rocks and jigging it back. After 3 casts I hooked up, but then soon got off. Pitched it right back up there again and second cast I hooked up again and landed a nice little 13" Bass.

  Shortly after this I decided to head to a finger toward the North end of the lake.  I came up empty handed here unfortunately, but saw something that was quite amusing. As I came into the finger I heard the screech of some geese, but could not see them anywhere on the ground. As I went past a large willow tree I saw the 2 geese in a very peculiar location.

 It was 7:30 a.m. by this time and these two didn't stop quacking the whole time I was in the area. I felt bad for the folks living in that house. The constant quacking first thing in the morning outside of my bedroom window would drive me to load up the old shotgun.

 It was great to just get out on the water for a morning bite. The fish caught where just an added bonus. Hopefully I will be able to get out the next few days and get a couple more fish to the boat.

Friday Night Ice

  This past Friday I was able to venture out to my crappie hole again. Ice is solid, but the waters have mucked up a bit due to the rain we had earlier in the week draining into the lake. Ice was a solid 12 inches, and the fish where still thriving and hungry. Although the size of fish sized decreased a little we still managed to catch some solid keepers for the frying pan. I was so consumed in catching, I completely forgot to snap a few pics to share with you all. We fished from 5:30-10:30pm and managed to catch about 40 crappie with a few bluegills mixed in. With the temps still looming around 32 degrees we should still have a few more weeks of solid ice. As the temps warm throughout the next few weeks, take caution as some spots may become soft and unsafe. Tight Lines and happy fishing!

Brotherhood Fishing

  This past Friday night I was able to get back out on the hard water for the Crappie bite. A cold front had moved in and the sky was clear with the stars shinning bright. This made for a slow evening of fish, but an enjoyable one to say the least. I was joined in my Frabil shack by my brother. We don't get the opportunity to fish together often but when we do, we always make it a good time.

  We headed out to the same spot I had slammed the crappies a few days prior. Set-up by 5:30pm or so and started marking a few fish, but nothing comparable to Tuesday nights event. First fish was a small gill, and another small gill, and another small gill. This had me puzzled to say the least. "They have got to be here" I told my little bro. He laughed and reminded me he is always my bad luck charm. About 5 mins. later he hooked into a nice fish. As he reeled I smirked "bad luck eh". It was a nice Crappie in the 9" range. From there the bite picked up a little and stayed steadily slow throughout the evening. We did manage to catch about 15 keepers by 9:30. We called it quits do to a lack of propane for the heater and packed up and headed in. The Gulp smelt minnow seemed to do the trick again for us, with waxies still catching a few fish. As we made the trek back to the truck we gave each other a hard time on who caught the most and who caught the biggest fish of the night. I always catch the most, but he somehow always catches the biggest.

 This was the big fish of the evening, a nice 12" slab of a Crappie. Good job little brother! It is always nice to spend some quality time with family while have a fishing rod in your hand. Until next time, Tight Lines!

Night Bite Crappies. A Feeding Frenzy!

  The night bite Tuesday  was one for the books to say the least. I was joined by my good friend Scott around 5pm to head out to a new spot I don't typically fish during the ice season. I usually don't fish this particular area due to a shanty town set-up there always. So we figured a week night would be the best time to give it a try. This particular spot is an old gravel road bed with wooden cribs scattered throughout serving as an excellent fish structure.

  As we arrived to the area we drilled a hole and instantly started marking fish. Scott and I looked at each other and said this must be the spot. We continued drilling, set-up the shack, and then started fishing. In my previous post I showed an image of the gold tungsten teardrop jig we have been using. This was the jig of choice for the evening tipped with waxies and a new bait we have been experimenting with. Due to the fact that the lake we are fishing does not allow live minnows for use we had to come up with an alternative. I am on the fence over the issue, but in the long run it helps prevent the spread of disease and unwanted species getting into the lake. With that being said I think we have found an alternative, Gulp 1" smelt minnows.

 The big key to using these on the small teardrop jigs is to cut 1/4" off the head side of the minnow. This combined with the tungsten jig presents a horizontal and more natural presentation. Gulp baits have become the new alternative to live bait. They perform as well as live bait, but last that much longer in my opinion.

  The evening seemed to start off slow. The first 30-45 mins. we only caught 2 small fish. 1 gill and 1- 6" crappie. It had me boggled from the stories I have heard over time at this particular location. Then all of the sudden it was like someone flipped a switch and it was game on.

Nice crappies started biting, and plenty of them. At first they started hitting the wax worm and then slowly turned over to only wanting to feast on the gulp minnow. Fish where marking all over the water column. I managed to catch fish anywhere between 4' below the ice to 8" off the bottom in 14' of water. Crappies are suspending and schooling fish, but this was unlike anything I have experienced in the past when catching crappies through the ice. My depth finder kept lighting up like a Christmas tree.

 Although this is a horrible pic there are some faint marks on the screen which are hard to see. I need to get my good camera out and charged. This went on all night even while we where packing up our gear to head in. We limited out in a matter of 3 hours. We where able to be picky with the size of fish we kept being that we caught so many. We average 10" fish all throughout the night. We caught 60+ fish during this outing between the 2 of us in three hours. Biggest of the night was 12" with a bunch of 11 1/2- 11 3/4" thrown in the middle.

  Now it is time for a fish fry! It was an amazing evening on the hard water and I can't wait to get out and give it another go. Next time out I will have the good camera in hand and get some more and better quality pics for you all. Tight lines!