May 2, 2005

Cold..cold..cold.
We've had one massive cold front here in the Northern Illinois area that has been sitting on us for 2 weeks. Nightime temps are going down to about 30 and daytime highs rarely reach 55. The temp today topped out at 40.
BUT...fish gotta eat. If you wait them out long enough, you'll get lucky at some point. It's all about time spent. You have to put in the hours to get the reward right now. Or be smart and stay inside. I've been limiting my trips to a half hour here..an hour there.
Yesterday I hit the river and was able to eek out one 16" smallie that was in a 3' deep hole/ eddy. She slammed a rootbeer color Yamamoto Fat Ika on a 1/8oz Sliderhead jig at my feet when I was reeling it in to make another cast. Purely accidental but it gave me a clue that at least some of the fish were saying "Screw the cold front that's lasted 2 weeks...We're gonna eat anyway!"


This evening I decided to take an hour and hit a couple of ponds to see if anything was moving. I targeted inflow pipes and creeks that are bringing in warmer water. In this case "warner" meant a degree or two, which sometimes is enough to get something going.
I picked up one 6" largemouth on a jointed Shad Rap (walleye pattern). The skunk was off. The wind was going pretty strong and temps were in the high 30's. I figured I better be happy with what I got.
On the way back to the car around this 2 acre pond, I stopped at the inflow pipe where I started to make a couple more casts.
While reeling in the Shad Rap thru the tail end of the current that the inflow creates I got slammed by dead weight. I thought it was a carp for sure. It moved to the side for a few feet and had no intention of being turned..a sure sign of a carp....maybe. As the fish came close to the surface I saw a huge boil and then felt slack line. She was gone.
Three casts later I feel the same dead weight. I must have ran into a school of carp at the tail end of the uncoming current. Maybe. This fish dragged me around for 30 or 40 yards. I didn't see her for the first 30 seconds of so...until she cleared the water! To my suprise I hadn't snagged a carp but instead hooked a monster largemouth that t-boned the Shad Rap in mid current. After a realy good fight I brought her to hand. Tomorrow I'm going to go buy a wide angle lens.....

After those shots I called Mike on the cell phone and told him that I may have him beat. Upon further review of the photo I think I missed his benchmark by about two inches.
I was ready to pack it in at this point and call it a day. But..me being me..I had to make a couple more casts. I changed lures to a Sugoi Minnow that Mike has been getting some bass on lately. On my second cast the lure got hammered with about 10 feet of line out, right next to the current. I wasn't thinking that I had a huge bass on at the time til I saw her race past me near the waters surface. I had a bass on that easily beat the last one! The fight wasn't nearly as long as the first fish due to the close proximity to the shoreline where she hit. But she did manage to clear the water twice. What a great way to end the day. 5 minutes later I was on my way home thinking about what I was going to write.

It may be cold outside. the wind may be blowing. You may need a snowmobile suit. But it may be worth it. they gotta eat sometime.
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