jjkessler
09-08-2003, 08:05 AM
9/5 Report
I took Friday as a vacation day from work and my Wife and I headed to Shabbona
to rent a rowboat and spend the day fishing. I threw the trolling motor on the back and off we went. We started out at the face of the damn near the spillway. We did notice some nice sized bass jumping but did not get any bites with either Minnows or night crawlers.
We worked up the shoreline towards the east Bay and picked up a pocket of Perch that seem to have grown quite a bit from earlier in the year. Caught a number of Perch and then came back in for a sandwich from the bait shop.
After lunch, we went back in to the no motor zone and caught a few bluegill. After a while deep in the no motor zone we tied up the stump right next to the no motor zone sign and used the bluegill and perch we had caught earlier for bait for something larger.
At about 3:30, my wives bluegill (about 6” long, live and just off the bottom) was hit with a light nudge and then her heavy action pole bent hard. She was reeling against the drag that was set fairly loose just in case we hit a musky. After a bit of reeling, we tightened the drag a bit and she worked the fish hear the boat and clear of the stumps. I attempted to net the fish and missed the first time and had sent he tail as it attempted to run deeper. The second time I managed to net the fish. It was a large catfish that my dial scale had shown as around 14-15 pounds and was fairly long. My wife was so excited and we went back into the lakeside bait shop to have it weighed and have a picture taken.
The catfish weighed in at 12.5 pounds and Denny measured it at 31” (Will scan the picture tomorrow).
I then brought the fish down to the boat dock and took my time to make sure the catfish swam off strong as my wife and I are into catching and releasing. So far this summer, my wife and I have caught a number of large catfish (6 pounds and greater) using large live or cut-bait caught right on the lake. It can take a long time but, when something strikes the bait, it is usually larger.
There is no question that at this time of the year, it is more productive to fish from the rental boats to gain better access to deeper areas and stay clear of the weeds from shore.
I took Friday as a vacation day from work and my Wife and I headed to Shabbona
to rent a rowboat and spend the day fishing. I threw the trolling motor on the back and off we went. We started out at the face of the damn near the spillway. We did notice some nice sized bass jumping but did not get any bites with either Minnows or night crawlers.
We worked up the shoreline towards the east Bay and picked up a pocket of Perch that seem to have grown quite a bit from earlier in the year. Caught a number of Perch and then came back in for a sandwich from the bait shop.
After lunch, we went back in to the no motor zone and caught a few bluegill. After a while deep in the no motor zone we tied up the stump right next to the no motor zone sign and used the bluegill and perch we had caught earlier for bait for something larger.
At about 3:30, my wives bluegill (about 6” long, live and just off the bottom) was hit with a light nudge and then her heavy action pole bent hard. She was reeling against the drag that was set fairly loose just in case we hit a musky. After a bit of reeling, we tightened the drag a bit and she worked the fish hear the boat and clear of the stumps. I attempted to net the fish and missed the first time and had sent he tail as it attempted to run deeper. The second time I managed to net the fish. It was a large catfish that my dial scale had shown as around 14-15 pounds and was fairly long. My wife was so excited and we went back into the lakeside bait shop to have it weighed and have a picture taken.
The catfish weighed in at 12.5 pounds and Denny measured it at 31” (Will scan the picture tomorrow).
I then brought the fish down to the boat dock and took my time to make sure the catfish swam off strong as my wife and I are into catching and releasing. So far this summer, my wife and I have caught a number of large catfish (6 pounds and greater) using large live or cut-bait caught right on the lake. It can take a long time but, when something strikes the bait, it is usually larger.
There is no question that at this time of the year, it is more productive to fish from the rental boats to gain better access to deeper areas and stay clear of the weeds from shore.