DuPage Angler - Lake Patterson Challenge

Early Sunday morning I load my kayak on my car, load my gear in my car and head to a parking lot in Aurora, IL to meet 14 who share my sickness; needus bassthumbis!  Actually, the parking lot was a meeting point to all check in for this month's DuPage Angler Challenge.

Roughly each month of the late spring and summer DuPageAngler.com organizes tournament style challenges.  This challenge was held at Kane County Forest Preserve's Lake Patterson.

My kayak was in the water and I paddled across the lake to a spot I thought would produce.  After nothing bit my Arbogast Buzz Plug I decided to use a finesse plastic that is a favorite of mine; the 4" curly-tail worm.  The bass in the picture ate the 4" worm.  Unfortunately that bass wasn't large enough to count toward our team total.  Here are the rules for our friendly tournament:

Qualifying fish will be (3) largemouth at a minimum of 12 inches, (2) panfish at a minimum of 6 inches, and (1) bonus Carp at any length.  Total team length of these top 6 fish will dictate 1st - 3rd place.   Big fish pot will only count towards Bass! A picture needs to be taken of the length.  We will measure up to the nearest 1/4 inch but will not round up for a fish to qualify...so if a bass is 11.8 inches...we will not round up to 12 for it to count.  Shore anglers and boaters need to have a camera and ruler or bump board to take pictures.  A picture of the entire fish and a picture of the final length are needed to count.  If you are having problems ask for help from your fellow anglers.

Live bait can be used for panfish and carp but not bass.  If a bass is caught using live bait it will not count toward your total inches.  Only one line can be in the water at any one time.

Fishing time will be from 6:30 AM to Noon.  Please be back in the parking lot for Patterson lake by 12:15 PM or you will lose 4 inches of your total.

So now you can see why my small bass didn't count. I was throwing a swim jig, not getting bit when I heard another angler hook up with two quick bass on a Z-Man chatter-bait. I have a bunch of those! I had success with chatter baits a few weeks ago.

Bam! A 14.25" bass hits my chatterbait! That'll count toward our inch total! I hope we get to cull him though. Time to release the bass and make another cast.

BAM! 14.75" A better bass and another one to count. I still hope we can cull!

Take a look at that chatterbait! This wasn't unique, EVERY bass CHOKED the bait! They really wanted to eat it!

Woot!!! A 15.25" bass! That will add to my teammate Titus' 15" bass to give us 30.25" with 2 fish. We can still use my 14.75" but I'd rather keep trying for bigger.

BOOM! There's my bite!!! The chatterbait scores a nice 17.5" largemouth! She weighs in at 3.25# on my Boga-Grip.

She's thick just like the other bass here. Well fed! Well fed on bluegills!

Speaking of bluegills my other teammate Steakified who had been fishing from shore scored two nice bluegills! That's additional inches for our total.

So our three bass plus two bluegills turned in 63.25" of fish. My 17.5" was big bass of the challenge and it was the tie-breaker as another team had 63.25" too. The big bass winner tipped the scales in my team's favor! We won!

After fishing a bunch of us returned to the parking lot we met in this morning to get a burger and beer at a local bar and grill. It was great to get to talk with and get to know new members and not new members that don't get out with the group too often.

We come from all walks of life, fish different ways, use different gear but all of us know that part of us needs to feel the tug and struggle of the fish on the end of our lines. We share that common trait and what better way to show it? We descend upon a 55 acre lake en masse' and work it from land and by boat to catch what the lake has to offer, take fish-pictures, then ease our fooled fishy friends back to the 55 acre lake to eat other fish, grow bigger, then bite my chatterbait next year!

What, it could happen!

I Learned My Lesson

I got out in my kayak again.  Back at the same catch and release lake as last Saturday.

Tonight I got to explore more of the lake.  I paddled more than I did last time.  I'm sure my arms and shoulders will let me know about it tomorrow morning.  That's not the lesson I learned however.

I started off with a third-cast bluegill.  

It ate the same finesse presentation as all fish did last week; a Berkley 4" Power Worm, a #4 Gamakatsu Octopus-Circle hook, and a single split shot.

I paddled around a corner into a shallow, weedy area.  The weeds were too thick to fish through but there were dips and holes.  Polarized sunglasses helped me see the minnows, small bluegills, and bass that came up top to feed on them.  I saw all of these as they were scared by the presence of my kayak and scooted away to hide.

A few bass came once I cleared the edge of the weeds.  I had a bite that I pulled steadily on to set the circle hook when I felt a loss of tension.  I reeled in to see my line broke.  You can tell when your line breaks versus when your knot slips visually.  A clean break means the line snapped, a squiggly bit of line tells you to tie better knots.  I tied another circle hook on and re-rigged a Power Worm.  Flipping back toward the weed edge caused my line to go tight again.

I had my shirt off to try to get less pasty white not show off like Putin.  Still this bass was over two pounds and looked nice and long; worthy of a photo before being released.

The next area I fished had a small clump of weeds right in the middle of a deeper, clear area.  I cast to it and caught the bass above.  I cast back to the same spot and felt the tug of a fish then nothing.  Reeling in my line I found another clean break.  I cuss myself out for making a cheap, lazy mistake.

Fishing line manufacturers say you should replace your line every year or as you notice it getting roughed up.  My line on this reel was last years line.  No wonder it was brittle.  I'll tie on another hook and hope that I won't break off again.

Casting my rig over a clump of floating weeds caused me to feel a dead or spongy feeling when the Power Worm sank out of sight.  I know this can mean a fish has your bait so I pulled for a hook set and pulled up this nice crappie.

Another quick cast brought up a 2.75# largemouth for a photo.

One more cast to the same spot.  My line stiffens, I pull, the circle hook sets.

ZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzz......zzzzz..z.zz......zzzZZZZZZZZZZZZ

Oh!!!!!   This is a big one!!!

ZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzz

It's pulling drag straight down trying to get deep.  Ok, just keep tension on it, you don't want to lose this fi.....sh.  *crap*

Line snapped cleanly, just like the other two times.  *sigh*

I didn't retie.  I paddled back to the spot I entered the lake, pulled out and packed my kayak into my RAV4.  

I learned my lesson. I stopped at the nearest store that had a fishing section to buy a spool of 6# Trilene XL monofilament fishing line.

My public service for today is to share two videos.  One that will help you learn how to tie an arbor knot used to join your fishing line to your spinning reel spool. The other is a video that shows you how to position the spool of line while winding to minimize line twist and other spinning reel related annoyances.

Please learn from my mistake.  Replace your mono each year.  It will keep you from learning the lesson I had to learn today.  

First Kayak Bass

I made plans with Chunsum to kayak fish today.  We were going to meet at Lake Patterson when the gates opened, be the first on the lake, and get me on my first kayak bass.

A few weeks ago I turned 41.  For my birthday present to myself I took advantage of a great deal on a decent sit on top (SOT) fishing kayak. The Lifetime Tamarack Angler Kayak was a quality SOT priced well below the other SOT kayaks available.

Back to fishing this morning; It stunk.  I have spotty luck at Patterson and today I had no luck at Patterson.  Chunsum caught one 12" largemouth bass but he had to work his tail off to get anything to bite.  I got off the water at 11 to wait out the heat of the day and head home for some lunch.  

I was back on the water in the 6 o'clock hour but in a different pond a bit farther west.  I started out throwing a swim-jig with a plastic-chunk trailer on my custom casting rod.  The weeds grabbed on to my jig and my line and made it impossible to throw this lure.  I put the rod back behind me in the flush mount rod holder.  I reached behind me on the other side to pull out the first rod I made; a 6'6" MH Spinning rod.

I was already rigged with a Gamakatsu #4 Octopus Circle hook and a single split shot 12" up the 4# mono fishing line.  My finesse bait of choice for this rig is the 4" Berkley Power Worm.  I flipped my rig next to a weed clump and let the worm sink a count of at least 5 before lifting the rod tip up two or three feet then dropping it back down while reeling in your slack line.  On the next raise of my rod tip I felt tightness and a wiggle, then my line swam sideways.  I was going to catch my first kayak bass!!!

Or was I....no I was going to catch my first kayak fish but it was a nice big bluegill!  I'll take that! A nice solid fish that fought well.  My next three casts I caught bluegill roughly this size.  That was nice but if I knew I'd only be catching bluegill I'd have brought my ultra-light rod to make it that much more fun.

I changed spots on the pond, paddling until I saw a feature that looked interesting.  In this case I saw the weeds that had been a foot or two below my kayak had dropped off to a darker bottom deeper than I could see.  I pitched my Power Worm into the water along the depth transition.  

Hooray!  A bass!  Not huge but fun to catch.  After lipping and unhooking I released the bass back to the pond, adjusted my worm and pitched it back at the depth transition.

A better bass!  I didn't think to weigh this one but it was worthy of a picture with me! 

Back to the transition and back to catching bass.  The 4" Power Worm is the perfect size when the bite is a bit finicky.  Daniel Byrne (aka Pondboy) taught me this technique.  I think it's like humans saying I don't want that plate of food but this cookie is just perfect for my appetite right now.

I paddled back to a weed line since I had drifted away from the area I was fishing.  I cast right by the weeds and let the worm fall for a 6 count.  One-onethosand, Two-onethousand, Three-one...hey, why is my line swimming away from me.  

Slack reeled in the circle hook found lip and then a nifty thing happened.  The bass started pulling my kayak.  I took my time and finally got my thumb in the mouth of this lovely largemouth that weighed in at 3# on my Boga Grip .

I would catch more fish but this was the best size wise of them all today.  When the sun started to set I paddled my way back to the launch area, dismounted and pulled my kayak up onto the grass and then a quick drag later I was beside my car.  Gear and kayak were loaded in and I was on my way home.  

The sun set behind me as I drove back to my house.  I'm excited to say I enjoy kayak fishing as much as I thought I would.  I'm happy to be stealthy and human powered.  I'm always happy to catch fish but today I was happy to catch my first kayak bass.