The rain overnight was still misting a bit and left a fog over the ground with overcast skies.
The morning I was fishing on a lake in Oswego, IL. I wanted to explore this lake a bit in the spring since I'd only fished it once in the fall of last year. The water was clear but clearly low. Last season's weeds had been cut low by autumn's lack of sunlight and winter's ice. Since the water was clear I tied on a Booyah Super Shad spinnerbait in Pearl Shiner color.
Once I moved to my third spot I finally caught a bass.
The little guy was almost as big as the spinnerbait but he hit it like it owed him money. I snapped this picture in case I didn't catch any more fish today so I could sit in my living room and cry about it later. Kidding. I love catching any size but big are way more fun than small especially where Largemouth Bass are concerned.
Fortunately my phone rang and rescued me from my small fish morning haze. It was my friend DaveO and he had been cleared for fishing so I packed up my gear and headed to Aurora by way of Farm and Fleet.
I was looking for a particular swimjig and felt I might have luck at Farm and Fleet. I didn't find what I was looking for but I did find a Z-Man Chatterbait in chartreuse/white. My intention was to tie this on my casting rod and see if I could figure out how to work it well enough to catch some bass at the next location.
I picked up Dave and his gear and headed to a pond a few minutes away from his house. We ran into DuPage Angler member Fluke fishing this pond today. Pleasantries were exchanged and I quickly had to run to help Dave get some pliers to unhook his first and largest bass of the day. It was probably a pound and a quarter of fun-catching on a Texas-rigged Yum Dinger worm in watermellon/red flake. I got pictures of the other two though making Dave the leader 3-1 on bass for the day at this point.
All this time I was chattering away with my 1/2 oz. chatter bait but no fish bit until I saw one break the surface along the shore within casting distance. Dave and I looked at the splash and then at each other. I was ready to cast and closer so I said, "I'll get him!" and then I did.
It seems only the smaller fish were active today. It suited me fine though, I was catching and learning how to work a new tool for catching fish. I was enjoying myself. With the tally in Dave's favor 3-2 we were nearing the end of our time to fish. Casting the vibrating chatterbait like a madman yielded the tie breaker!
After walking around two ponds/lakes today and getting fresh air I was tired. Not to mention the effort it took to fight the massive fish that latched onto our lines. I will have no trouble falling asleep tonight! Now to enjoy a few pre-brew day beers to insure pleasant slumber.
