Big Green Lake Wisconsin

July 21-23 2011

Went for a wonderful fishing weekend with my buddy Mike and his guiding buddy Greg Haut. Greg is a semi-pro fisherman who knows his stuff about fishing. I learned alot, how to better fish with plastics, fishing more with a senko and several other tips. While according to Greg the fishing sucked, at least I got a nice 3lb bass which is my largest ever. It was a ton of fun and a great weekend.

Green Lake was alot of fun because it is big and deep. From what I understand it is the second deepest lake in Wisconsin. I did catch a small mouth of average size (1lb or so) but they grow them huge up there and my buddy mike hauled in a big 3lber and they get even bigger than that still according to Greg.

Tried my hand fishing on bever dam too but it was scummy and was not great fishing. It is alot of fun fishing in other areas with people who know how to fish. If you really want to learn how to fish better, fish with people who know what they are doing. I cannot stress enough how important that truly is.

More FISHING (and frogging?)!

June 28 2011

The wife went out for the day with her friend and told me 'just go out fishing or something'. Okay.

My buddy Mike and I went to hit up two spots that I have not fished with him yet. The first spot is in Bloomingdale and goes by the name of Leslie Park. Now this pond is not much to look at on google earth, or on the map but Mike says he pulls out fish pretty well. Mike catches some big blue gill in the lake and some solid bass.

Mike was first up with a smallish 10in bass not yet a pound caught on a little white curly tail grub. I was next with 12in bass not quite a pound on my dark blue/purple chatterbait. Mike got himself 3 or 4 tiny bass nearly the size of minnows on his curly tail.

I did get the catch of the day at this lake, it was a mighty fine bull frog. Nailed this heffer on my purple chatter bait (although I think it would have eaten about anything) he was a fatty and it is not easy to get the hook out of his mouth but he was fun to catch!

Once we went all the way around the pond we headed down Army Trail Road to bass lake. Bass lake is not easy to get to but the rewards can be plenty. Deep Quarry Lake is the larger/deeper lake on the West Branch Forrest Preserve, it is over fished and I have never had any good bites (I do know people that have). Bass Lake is a trail walk around up by the bridge over the Dupage River on Army Trail and down a bug invested trail to the lake. It is more hidden less fished and I've had better luck there.

Mike pulled in a 12inch bass yet to be a pound on a white curly tail and I got a 14 inch solid pound male bass on a topwater minnow bait late in the evening. Over all it was a nice evening of fishing after work. A few nice fish for the both of us (mine were bigger) and a large frog what could be better? Well besides bigger fish!

Lake Lemon Indiana

June 25 2011

I had never been fishing in Indiana! Lake Lemon (40 miles south of Indionapolis) was my first experience and it was not easy. Lake Lemon is a damed up river and that was a new experience for me. I was at a friends lake house and they have a dock on the lake that is about 40 feet long. At the end of the dock the lake is 12 feet deep it is about 10 feet deep mid dock so there is a significant fall off of the lake very close to shore. The water is muddy but not so you cant see anything but it is a damed up river after all.

I woke up at 530 and started fishing, used top water, plastic worms, and of course my trusty Chatterbait. At about 630 my dark blue/purple Chatterbait had my only bite of the day it looked like a pound and a half bass up to the dock and off it slipped. I was sad that was my only bite of the day.

My buddy JD however pulled the beauty out of the lake on a white chatterbait it was a 16 inch pound and a half bass. It was the fruit of many labors.

Congrats to Katie and JD on their engagement.

Nice Bass Weekend

June 17-19, 2011

Advice: Every once in a while take off a Friday head up to Wisconsin and fish. Done! Caught 8 bass or so on Rock lake. My wife fished for 7 hours and caught a 12 inch pound bass (i was showing her how to reel a topwater and it hit she reeled it the rest of the way in). So the wife was a real trooper and enjoyed her self although she really wanted to catch a fish all on her own.

What can you do I felt like I had quite the fishing weekend and ended up with a norther which I didnt even take a picture of and 7 or 8 bass of which 4 were 2 pounds or more aka worth taking a picture of.

I was so mad I lost my dark purple chatterbait early on the Friday morning fish. That is my go to bait and caught me the northern and a solid bass. SO I was forced to use other lures and I was not too successful. Friday night I used a larger chatterbait with a huge plate and I had no success.

Then the top water minnow came to the rescue. Landed two solid bass with that top water right off the pier late (after 8pm) on Friday night. The top water lasted me through early Saturday morning catching a bass on my first cast (first time I ever have done that). Saturday night from my pier is where I caught the largest 18in 2.5lb bass this year (I'm holding it standing in the red shirt). I was very pleased with this bass, it was the largest bass of my life (I've only been doing this for 2 years) and I was very happy to have landed the bass.

I met some nice high school kids who were fisherman and had the pictures to prove it. I met a really nice grandma who was out fishing for fun. AND I met one really inappropriate young punk kid who need some better parenting. One of the high school kids had to threaten and fake call the cops in order to get rid of him. Note to parents, know where your VERY RUDE 7 year old boys are so they dont annoy other people.

Blackwell Forrest Preserve

June 13 2011

Went out to Blackwell with my buddy Mike. We did pretty well. Fished the front lake with a chatter bait and a red plastic worm. No luck on the plastic but my dark purple Chatterbait would not be denied. Reeled in a 16in 2lb largemouth which was the catch of the day! I've become a better fisherman, I can tell the difference between weeds and fish (most the time), I cast easy, I can tell when my reel is messed up, I notice more fish in the water. I've learned so much in the last year. I'm a better fisherman.

SO what did Mike do? Taught me how to fish with a top water bait. This is a bait that floats and you yank across the watter back and forth back and forth and fish hit these baits HARD. I had 4 or 5 practice casts and retrieves. Then I moved to untouched water and tried out my new craft. I have not mastered it but the second try on the top water I got a 12in 1lb bass that I didnt bother to take a picture of. It was sweet to see how more advanced Ive become in my abilities as an angler. I'm no pro but I'm getting better and I know FAR more this year than last. I need to keep up the learning.

The bass pictured was the catch of the day caught at 543pm after work on a Monday (talked about in paragraph 1).

A NEW YEAR!!!

Welcome to 2011 its June and I'm going fishing.

Went out to the Fox on June 11th. The water was high, I talked to Mike, I read some blogs, I came up with Zero fish. Tried to be prepared, tried to hit Mikes favorite fishing holes and I got nothing. I was discouraged no worries I went home and watched LOST on netflix. FYI Lost was the fish in the Fox!

The River

October 18, 2010

So I live in the west suburbs of Chicago and the largest body of water around where I live is the Fox river. Let me tell you something river fishing is hard.

I first went out on October 10th 2010 with my buddy Mike. He knows it all from my perspective so he taught me a few things. First was how to fish with live bait in the river. Hook up a minnow toss on a bobber and wait for a bite. Seems simple. It isnt.

In order to fish a river it is really hard for me to figure out where the fish are. Lakes are easy for me for some reason I can kind of just figure out where they are, it is a little intuition for me. Rivers are harder for me. There is a dam in Geneva and Mike showed me fish were around there. I caught a small white bass and a little small mouth. Then we hit a wall and the water was pretty low and no fish seemed to be found.

I just dont fish the river very well. I try not to get discouraged and Mike let me have the first cast in all of his favorite fishing holes he showed me (a very generous proposition for any anger to first give up his fishing holes and second let his buddy cast first but that is the kind of guy Mike is) and I had only 2 fish in about 3 hours of fishing.

The last place we stopped I got the catch of the day a nice sized smallmouth that just hit my minnow. It was fun reeling the fish in and I was proud of my catch.

I've been back to the river several times since and walked away with no, zero, zinch, zilch fish. The river is not easy to master...

Best fishing weekend to date.

September 4th & 5th 2010

Fishing in Rock Lake from my family's pier. On September 4th I got a NICE small mouth. I was fishing with a fake plastic black crayfish (YUM brand) with red sparkles rigged up on a notched hook with a bullet weight behind it. You rig the crayfish up by the tail and just kind of draw it along the bottom. This small mouth loved it! Fun fish to catch but my day was not done. I also got an unpictured northern on the same set up. I was feeling high on the hog and was very pleased that I was finding success just after learning how to use a few lures. My hobby was becoming really fun!

Then came September 5th the best day of fishing I've had to date. I set out in the row boat around 7am and after a BIG bite and miss I was feeling a little down on myself. That big bite looked to be a northern but I was not sure. Either way I was pissed I missed that fish, I didn't set the hook hard enough and I saw the fish but came up empty.

Lesson learned again, set the hook really hard!

But then came 820am to 850am the best 30 minutes of fishing I've had yet! That 30 min felt like 2 as I was just reeling in fish left and right. First hit a nice size bass, around a 2lb largemouth. He gave a little fight but I got him. It was just so satisfying to catch a decent sized bass.

Ten minutes later a smallish norther pike that hit REALLY hard as my lure hit the water. He gave me a fight and was a ton of fun to catch. Then like clock work ten minutes later another little bigger northern pike. I felt like the angler of the year and like I was really doing some damage. It was awesome. I caught all the fish on the dark purple chatter bait with the black plastic taken off replaced with a purple grub.

Oh happy day! I texted Mike my results and he was jealous! Lets be honest what angler would not be?

MONSTER HOOKSET

August 19 2010

Herrick Lake forest preserve caught me a small largemouth bass. This fish was so small it could not eat my hook, I felt a bite so I tried to set the hook and flung the fish behind me on the pier that you see here.

Lesson: set the hook and set it hard whenever you feel anything. It will take a long time to figure out if it is weeds or a fish so why not set the hook?

I fished with a fake plastic frog because the lake was really really weedy. The plastic frog on a notched hook and rigged it up weedless. The frog just hops along the top of the weeds and fish come and strike once in a while (sometimes their eyes are bigger than their mouth!).

Hey its a fish no? I learned how to fish with a fake frog in some dirty water and I got a fish. That is a good outing. It was a really hot day and the fish were not really active but I got one and outfished my friend Mike. Good day.

Fishing On My Own

I am very blessed. My family purchased a cottage on Rock Lake in Lake Mills Wisconsin in 1959 (or 1960 depends on who you talk to). I've always been on the water, swimming, king of the raft, boating, skiing, tubing etc. I've been blessed with a great fishing lake my only trouble is I didn't fish. In fact nobody in my family fished since my grandpa who bought the place and he died 6 years before I was born in 1983.

So with my new found gear I decided to take the old row boat out and see what I could find. I have a buddy at work who is a big fishing guy too, he helped me plan out my attack and try to get a few fishes. Rock Lake gets weedy at about 8 to 10 feet and my plan was to be out past the weeds cast over the weeds and reel on through the weedy area attracting the monster fish!

My skills were few my knowledge was little and so were the fish. However all was not lost I discovered the Chatterbait. This is the base of my fishing to this point. I have not since gone fishing and not tossed one. It catches bass, big ones small ones rock bass anything. I'll expand more later but for a beginning angler the Chatterbait is what you should toss day 1. It is really easy to cast and reel in takes very little skill and really catches fish. If I had one lure to choose I would take a dark purple Chatterbait. They come with black plastic, Mike told me to ditch the black plastic on the hook and instead replace it with a purple plastic grub instead.

I can honestly say that if it was not for the Chatterbait on my first fishing trip I might not be fishing today. I've had days where I have not caught anything but for the most part you spend an hour casting the dark purple Chatterbait you are gonna catch a fish.

My Second Pole and Reel

Okay so when my buddy gave me a pole and reel when I was 10 years old fishing was state of the art. My old tackle that came with that wonderful Shakespeare rod and reel was super sweet looked like it should work, I had plenty of slip shot weights, some of those easy on easy off lure clips. I figured I was set. Next was my first trip to bass pro just to get a new tackle box.

You know what I learned? Nobody uses slop shot weights, those clips are 20 years old, and a tackle box? no we fish with backpacks now. Everything was new. I was somewhat surprised, I mean how much modernization can fishing go through. Jesus was a fisherman 2000 years ago what can really change? The answer, about everything!

So my goal was modest, pick out a new rod and reel, find me some lures/bait/hooks/weights and I'll buy a backpack later on if I still wanna fish. My buddy was with me and he was a huge help I trusted him to help me find the right essential stuff. Total I think I spent $200 on a nice rod and reel and some tackle.

Mike (my buddy) told me to get a medium action 6'6'' rod. It is kind of an all purpose rod, not to hard not to soft but Goldilocks style JUSSST RIGTH! I needed a 2 piece rod because I drive a Honda Civic and a 7' 1 piece rod would not fit too well. SO I got a 2 piece and made me a PVC holder for it with caps at each end so it could protect my rod in the car (YOU CAN EASILY BREAK A ROD TRUST ME)!

Next was the reel. You can buy a cheap reel and it will last a while or you can buy a good reel and overall your fishing experience will be much better and it will last a long time or you can drop $200 on a really nice reel and probably waste your money.

I'm not a cheapskate to being with because usually I've found the difference in quality between something that is $20 bucks and $50 is usually pretty substantial. So I was willing to spend $100 on my new St Croix rod and and $50 on a new KVD (Kevin Van Dam) Quantum reel. I figured even if I didn't fish that much I could still enjoy my rod and reel for years and not need a new one even if I just go fishing a few times a year and have some guy time with my buddy Mike.

Overall I liked the plan, we picked out some essential tackle and it was time to go fishing.

My Fishing HIstory

My fishing history began when I was around 10 years old. I had a friend who gave me a fishing pole and he loved to fish. I guess he was wise beyond his years. I did not have much interest. I went fishing with him probably 5 to 10 times with that pole but it just was not for me.

As I got older I lost view of fishing. I still had the friend who gave me my pole but we had drifted apart. Finally in May of 2010 he got me to go on a Charter boat in Lake Michigan salmon fishing for his birthday. On that day it just clicked. The picture is the Coho salmon I caught on that day. It was a blast and a decent sized fish. Overall I met a new friend who was a really good fisherman and I learned about fishing that day. Since then I've been hooked (pun intended) and I've tried to learn more and more.

I dont have 20 day's a month to fish. My plan is to learn how to become a better fisherman and have it as a life skill and a hobby. My goal is to learn from lots of different anglers how to catch more fish and hopefully I can pass this skill that will be developed over years onto my kids one day.

If you are looking to start fishing start reading my blog, my goal is to educate with the information I've been given. Keep a photo history of the fish that I catch and create a history of my fishing fun. Enjoy!