ANDREW
RAGAS

Andrew's Adventures

Last Chance For Bass

Tue, September 13, 2011

Another 3 day weekend trip has come and gone. This time around, I was joined by my sister’s boyfriend, Tim Blakemore. We left on Friday night after his workday had concluded, and fished all day Saturday and Sunday, and most of Monday.

Earlier in the week the weather looked promising and a cool-down was inevitable. For instance overnight temperatures last Wednesday night was 32 degrees. Maybe fall would finally arrive, I thought. During a normal year it would already be here, but not this year.

Our plan for the weekend was to predominantly fish for muskies. Two weeks ago my friend Chris Loveless and I had seen so many fish, and as we are encroaching to the fall season they have to turn on sometime. But before departing for the weekend we checked the weather and we immediately knew that fishes with teeth weren’t going to happen. They were calling for 80 degrees, excessive sunshine, and no wind. If we were going to have a successful weekend, it was going to be with bass.

Thankfully I was content with a weekend of bass fishing because my season for bass in 2011 has been subpar and poor.I needed a few more good bass outings before calling it a year with them.

Over the weekend we fished three different lakes for bass. Our original plan was to fish a few of the larger area lakes but due to the Wisconsin Team Circuit Championship taking place on the Minocqua Chain and other surrounding lakes (the consolation events), we were forced to fish significantly lesser productive waters.

Of the three bass lakes we fished, two were terrible and not worth reporting on. We did end up with 5 smallmouth bass just like this one.

All five of our fish were caught on football jigs from depths of 25 feet or greater. It’s hysterical how bait shops are reporting that these fish are now in a fall period when it’s still an obvious summer pattern. Show’s you how good and reliable the local experts can really be.

Like a good number of lakes I’ve been fishing this year, the fishing here was very bad and I’m finished with it for the year.

At least the third lake was exceptional, and we didn’t have to look any further than 100 feet away from our back porch. The winner was my 20 acre backyard “pond”, the place that has taught me how to catch fish for the past 24 years. My pet largemouth bass and northern pike allowed Tim and I to catch and release them. I happily refer to these resident fish as my pets.

We fished my backyard both Saturday and Sunday afternoons + evenings. The fishing was awesome both days as we caught a couple dozen largemouth bass and a handful of pike.

Sadly, these were only my fourth and fifth times fishing the backyard all year long. I should have fished it a lot more than I should have this year…...

Each day, my objective was to catch at least ten keepers from the backyard. Tim and I surpassed that number easily both days. For a late summer/early fall deal this was some good fishing.

Each time out, I set Tim up with a 5 inch Stankx Bait Company stick rigged weedless and weightless.  For a novice like him, this is the perfect “do-nothing” type of approach; an easy way to conquer the weedgrowth and to catch some easy fish in difficult conditions. Make long casts and let it glide along the bottom back to the boat. He got the hang of it very quickly.

Over the course of two outings, Tim scored 10 bass and 2 pike on Stankx plastics. His largest was an 18 incher.

Meanwhile for the entire weekend of backyard bassin’ all I used was a 3/8 oz. Strike King Swim Jig rigged with a shortened Stankx Bait Company Thug Grub. Three weeks ago I discovered the magic of the swim jig presentation and this weekend I went back to it. Things hadn’t changed one bit.

One rod, and one lure with a bag of tails was all I needed.

Swimming the jig and ripping it through schools of juvenile bluegills and across the submerged weedgrowth brought in a couple dozen bass into the boat. Largest bass was a hefty 18 incher along with several 17’s and a handful of 16’s. These were really fun action fish.

Gotta enjoy some good backyard fishing fun with a couple of cold beers and cheap cigars.

I cannot believe how the swim jig caught on fire and the fish were going crazy for it. Here is the largest of the weekend, a fat 18 incher that went 3.5lbs, a future 5 or 6 pounder within a few years from now, for sure.

I’m almost sad to say this is my largest largemouth of 2011. That’s how bad my 2011 has been for bass.

Unfortunately I had only two Strike King swim jigs on me. Both were lost to northern pike break-offs, it felt as if I had lost a best friend. After the first break, it didn’t dwell on me that I should probably use a thin light wire leader when fishing with these swim jigs because not only do they rile up bass, they get the attention of pike,  too! I will do this the next time. With the improved and healthy pike fishery of my backyard, a thin leader is almost mandatory for everything now.

At least I was satisfied with all the action we were getting from the backyard. It was also satisfying to get bass thumb for the first time in a long time. Plus, the backyard made the weekend worthwhile. It was simple fishing at its finest.

Besides the bass fishing, Tim and I were able to fit in a half-day trip on a local river system for muskies. In seven hours we blanked on them, but a least Tim got to raise his first ever muskies during his first ever musky outing. In addition, we also took my dad’s speedboat out for a joyride and I had the pleasure and responsibilities of winterizing it.

Following a Monday morning interview I had at the local newspaper company in town, we fished for half the day and blanked on bass on another lake before returning to Chicago.

Here in sunset country, sunset arrives by 7:30 pm every evening now. As the days keep getting shorter and shorter, my motivation to get out there and fish steadily increases. I was originally scheduled to return again this coming weekend to do a video project but due to scheduling conflicts and my partner’s unavailability and reluctance to communicate it will likely have to be suspended until sometime next year. Then I had invited a few other friends to go as replacements and their workplaces are taking them hostage for the weekend.

At least I will be back again in 9 days for a run of muskies. Then following that, I will be back again for a full week in early October. And again after that. . . . . With hopefully a full time job up there after that.

At least fall is on its way for me this week. I’ll be ready to rock and roll later next week.

Till next time.

 

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