Busse
Posted: Mon Apr 30, 2012 9:27 pm
So forest preserves tend to be a jumping off point for me when I'm looking for a new place to fish. I haven't really fished here before but I know there are fish to be had. I don't have to work until later in the day on Mondays so I tend to venture out if I don't have much else going on.
Forest preserves during the day are always a little bit of a weird scene because there are frequently other cars in the area but I'm generally the only person fishing, in the water at least....
I walked the shore from the southeast corner and found a lot of shallow water and weeds. I don't know why I started there, as I have the depth maps, but hindsight and all that. It was cloudy and occasionally misty but not actually really raining, so I wasn't complaining. If for no other reason, I wanted to go out today to test a bait casting reel I picked up off a guy for a decent price. I started the year with a clearance combo spinning set up from BPS that is working well as a light duty, but I wanted something that was more on the medium side to throw heavier spinning jobs etc. This reel instantly felt better than the very inexpensive baitcaster I had been using to supplement my spinning setup. I can see why people go down the rabbit hole of gear and money.
I started by throwing a lipless crank only to lose it caught on something underwater. Not a great way to start the morning. It took me a bit of shore walking to finally get to some deeper water. Eventually I made my way to what seemed to be the north west corner of the main pool. The water was deeper and calmer. I saw quite a bit of activity on the surface 100 yards out or more. Looked like a combination of bass and carp hitting at flies. I finally had a hit on a green tube, didn't set the hook, tried again but I was having trouble throwing weightless anything without getting birdsnests. Is that due to 12# mono? I know I had my cast control set. Maybe just bad technique? Anyway, I switched to a white buzz bait since there was so much surface action. Slow retrieve and had it break the surface a bit on the way back. A few casts in I landed this.
Nothing earth shattering, but it felt good to catch something in a new place, even if that was the only fish.
That ended up being it for the day. Turns out it was a good time to call it because almost as soon as I got to the car it started coming down. I'm looking forward to the times where I can just go to a place and start fishing instead of spending more than half of my day trying to find the spot.
Forest preserves during the day are always a little bit of a weird scene because there are frequently other cars in the area but I'm generally the only person fishing, in the water at least....
I walked the shore from the southeast corner and found a lot of shallow water and weeds. I don't know why I started there, as I have the depth maps, but hindsight and all that. It was cloudy and occasionally misty but not actually really raining, so I wasn't complaining. If for no other reason, I wanted to go out today to test a bait casting reel I picked up off a guy for a decent price. I started the year with a clearance combo spinning set up from BPS that is working well as a light duty, but I wanted something that was more on the medium side to throw heavier spinning jobs etc. This reel instantly felt better than the very inexpensive baitcaster I had been using to supplement my spinning setup. I can see why people go down the rabbit hole of gear and money.
I started by throwing a lipless crank only to lose it caught on something underwater. Not a great way to start the morning. It took me a bit of shore walking to finally get to some deeper water. Eventually I made my way to what seemed to be the north west corner of the main pool. The water was deeper and calmer. I saw quite a bit of activity on the surface 100 yards out or more. Looked like a combination of bass and carp hitting at flies. I finally had a hit on a green tube, didn't set the hook, tried again but I was having trouble throwing weightless anything without getting birdsnests. Is that due to 12# mono? I know I had my cast control set. Maybe just bad technique? Anyway, I switched to a white buzz bait since there was so much surface action. Slow retrieve and had it break the surface a bit on the way back. A few casts in I landed this.
Nothing earth shattering, but it felt good to catch something in a new place, even if that was the only fish.
That ended up being it for the day. Turns out it was a good time to call it because almost as soon as I got to the car it started coming down. I'm looking forward to the times where I can just go to a place and start fishing instead of spending more than half of my day trying to find the spot.