Perchin 6/25

Well reports have been good so I decided to get out and see how many perch I could get. As soon as we get there we see the perch stacked on the walls but they wouldn't hit anything at all. I eventually hooked into a nice jumbo a few feet infront of me. (I think it's a softshell bite for sure now). We continued to fish with only one fish to show but when it got almost dark the fish sorta turned on and mike landed 2 nice size perch. So the total fish keep was 5 fish. Will be out tommorow morning bright and early!! Thanks for reading!

Keith aka rootpro6

Ninja night fishermen gone fishin 6/24!

Well me and mike decided to hit up a local lake for some night time buzz bait bass fishing. It was hott as hell out but the water was like glass. We start fishing and within 5 casts mike connects but he lost the fish when it jumped. We keep fishing and action is verryyy slow until I hook up with a nice 2.5# bass. Mike hooked into 2 smaller bass on the midnight special spinner in black/blue. I also connected on a smaller fish on a buzz bait towards the end.
Thanks for reading!

Keith aka rootpro6

Not so hott fishing, hott temperatures!

Well things started off by me pulling a all nighter and fishing opeka
at 130 till about 230 and slept for maybe 30 minutes.
From there me and my friend Creighton went to the lake to try for
perch but we got there a little late and the bite was over except for
a older gentlemen who was catching the perch consistently then he
hooked into something nice. At first I thought it was a coho but it
was way to big for a coho. It was a steelhead. That is the second
steelhead I seen this year landed while perch fishing. Crazy things
can happen though.
After perching we decided to stay down there and meet up with our
friend jp. That is when the temps starting to rise to about 90. We
caught a few largies all together. For about 2 and a half hours we
tried to get this monster smallis to hit but he just wouldn't take
anything and I mean anything. We threw everything possible at him. He
would follow the lure up and get everyones hopes up then just turn
around.
After we left I knoticed I got a farmers tan but not quite a tan, I
was a little burnt!!ughhhh

After a short 3 hour nap and after watchig the cubs game I decide to
hit up a friends private pond for some topwater bass. Wasn't to
exciting but I pulled in 2 11-14 inch bass.

Thanks for reading!!

Keith aka rootpro6

Perching 6/21

Got down to Belmont around 645 or so and stayed till 8ish. Took the bus there so got there a little later than I wanted to. First couple casts didn't get any hits so I move to the mouth and connect on my first cast. YAY!! Not, it's a rock bass which I proudly gave away to another angler who said they taste like crappie. About my 10th or so cast I hook into a perch. Finally!! Then from there until I left it was consistent action. Left with a 7 fish stringer. 2 13 inchers and the other 5 around 8-9 inches. Also I knoticed a lot of snags there. Don't know how many times I had to re-rig. ( I don't know how you minnow fisherman fish there without getting snagged ever time with ur big weight on the bottom). I will have a pic uploaded sometime tommorkw or Tuesday. 8 days and counting until game over!! Sad to say but I still need to get a limit, which I should of had atleast 1-2 by now. Thanks for reading!!

Keith aka rootpro6

Perching 6/20

Got to the lake with my dad around 440 and fished till about 720. Went to my usually spot on the big pond and the bite lasted all of 10-15 minutes. It sucked. Didn't see anyone have any more than 6 perch in their basket. My friend mike popped his 2 fish on his first 2 casts and I thought it was going to be good but nope. After some thought we decided to hit spot x a little further south. Nada going on there as well. Just a guy with 3 decent fish. Sucks but we only have about 10 more days left and I have still yet to have a good day. Hope tommorow morning will be better. Thanks for reading!

Keith aka rootpro6

bassin 6/14

Decided to stop at a pond with a buddy of mine in the evening. This was a pond i fished for a year but never really cared for it casue it was always weedy but i deffiently fish it a lot more now. Tossed a plasic worm the whole time and went 4/8. Lost a lot of fish lifting the fish out of the water but they wernt any bigger than 2 pounds. But my first fish of the day was a nice fish. Probably just about 3.5 pounds.

My buddy mike got into a few nice crappie which means new ice fishing pond!!! He has a monster bass swipe at his crappie as he reeled it in and it caused a huge comotion!!!

Indepedence grove 6/11

Well decided to go to ig with my friend brain. We got to ig around 4 and fished till 730. The bite really didnt pick up till about 6. We started getting lots of hits but couldnt quite set the hook. Brian landed the first 2 fish of the day. Both around 14 inches. I then proceded to throw my plastic worm and i get smashed and i wasnt ready for it then snap. It had to be a hog!!!! I then hooked into a nice 15 inch fish.

We keep working the weed line and we are getting all dinks. Then brian hooks into what looks like a healthy 2.5 pound bass but it jumped right by the boat and shook the hook. I then decided to cast into the weeds and i feel tap tap and i set the hook on this nice 3.5 pounder!!!

Didnt see much other action. My dads friend had a few nice cats pulled in earlier but thats it.

Some Pond action 6/8

Me and creighton decided to hit up a pond that we know holds some monster bass in it. Since it rained the night before we knew that things would be poppin. Whenwhere it rains the inlets there flow with water pretty good and the bass stack up near them and feed on stuff that comes out. We arrive around 230 and we see quite a few boils already. Fishkid gets a quick 14 inch bass.


About 30 minutes later he decided to switch things up to a swimjig since we really dont think it is a frog bite yet due to still having nights in the 50 degree temperature. 10 or so casts later he gets big wack and fish on. It smacked it like a 5 pounder would but it ended up being a 2.5 pounder.

Fishkid keeps working the jig and about 2000 casts later wham!!! He battles this fish and i
quickly run across the pond to snap the picture. He says its about 4 and a half pounds but i saw it is about 5. Looks likes a prespawner as well but i really dont know.


ANd as for me well i missed 2 blow ups but nothing to big. Probably dinks.

Perchin 5/31

well decided to go perching again since conditions were absolutely perfect. Got to the spot around 420 and fished till about 6. Let me tell u it sucked!!! No one was catching fish in great numbers at all. So my friend mike decided that he wanted to try one last spot before considering going home. Abou 20 casts into in i land a nice perch about 12 inches.

We really didnt land many more fish at all except for a few gobies and rock bass. i lost 2 bigger fish which were probably perch but they came unhooked.

Thanks for reading,

Keith

Slow perchin 5/29

Got down to the lake front around 515 and fished till 630. My friend mike popped 2 nice size perch on his first 2 casts. So im thinking hell ya this is going to be a kick ass day. Think again people. Wrong. Only managed 2 more keepers throughout the morning. No one else was catching perch either. I only got 1 perch around 8 inches and the other 3 were between 8-10 inches which were caught by mike. Weather was perfect but the fish just were not cooperating. We will see what tommorow brings. Hopefully some nicer fish. Until then goodluck!!

Keith

Perching 5/25

Well being tired as hell i still decided to get up and go perching in the shitty ass conditions that chi town was experiencing. Got to the lake around 5 and fished till 830. Took home 17 keepers between me and my dad. All of my perch came on a Lucky Craft 65 pointer in the color mat pumpkin. It was deffinetly worth the 15 dollers too.

My dad got his perch to hit a paddle bug with a small jig head on it. The only picture i got was a picture of the perch that i caught in a bucket because i got my phone wet and it crapped out on me when i was fishing.

Perching da big pond 5/24 + Deep Lake

Well decided to hit up the big poind with my friend mike before i had baseball practice at 11. We origonally had planned to hit deep lake in the morning but i forgot all about practice so we decided to just do some perchin. Got to the lake around 515 and fished till about 830. Between the both of us we took home 17 perch all between 9-13 inches. The fishing picked up at about 6 and dies off around 7ish. After that we picked up fish here and there but nothing spectacular.

After i got done with practice we decided to try and hit deep for the evening bite. I got 1 dink bass about 10 inches and that was it. Mike got da skunk but he missed a monster bass that blew up on his frog and took him into some weeds. I also missed 2 blowups and had one on but i think i ripped it through its mouth as i was reeling it in cause i muscled it in. Anyways i got a few pics of the sunset that was there.

Perchin Day and Night 5/21

Well i decided to hit up the lakefront with my buddy mike. We arrived around 630 and fished till 820. On my first cast i got a hookup into a dink perch. At this point im like on they are atleast in. Mike ends up hooking into the 2 biggest catches of the morning. One that pushed 13 inches and one around 11.5. I had gotten 2 smaller ones around 9 inches.

I felt like going back for the evening bite and i did pretty good there with a few of my friends. We ended up taking somewhere around 20 perch but only took home 10. Got a nice fat 14 incher as well. All on minners. Sorry for thre bad picture as my friend has no idea how to snap a photo. And in the second pic u can see how crowded it was at the lake front.

Opeka 5/18

got to opeka around 2 and fished till 7. I went 4/5. I fished solo ill about 345 and i got all my fish before my friend creighton got there. I got 3 of my fish on traps and they were all around 2 pounds. Got my last fish on a senko. Fishkid got big fish of the day. A 3 pounder on a senko. He ended up the day 5/5. some of fish came on a craw along the bottom and he also got a few on a senko. Also 2 on his trap.

BIG FISH ^^^^^ ABOVE

doesnt look like it but its 3 pounds or more

late Delevan / Beck lake report 5/16- 5/17

Got out to Lake Delevan in wisconsin with my friend mike and his pal hank around 630. Im not even going to write a lot but here is a quick summary. We threw everything for bass from spinners to jigs to senkos wiht a big fat goose egg. Same with the crappie. It seemed like the bite was non existent. Mike had a follow up on his rattle trap. A snake pike it was. Didnt look like anyone had gotten anything really either. I also lost my 12 doller rattle n vibe that i abs. love. It outproduces all other traps.

After stopping at the Brat stop in ktown we made our minds up to try and redeem ourself by going to the harbors at night but we got the skunk there as well.

Well decided to go to beck lake the next day to try for some crappie. We got there around 615 and stayed till 815. We managed only a handful of keepers. If we had gotten there sooner im sure we would of cleaned up. I got the bous fish of the day. A pike that went about 22 inches on a small fathead minnow about 3 feet infront of me.

Quick Beck Lake report 5/14

got to beck around 330 and fished till 6. I got the big skunk today. Through everything at them. Traps, spinners, dt's, plastics, jigs. Couldn't get a hit. Saw some people catching slab crappies tho. Also the guys who were catching the crappie reported that they caught 3 northerns. All about 15-20 inches and on large roaches about 3 feet down. Lot of people out fishing today as well.

Independence grove/ lake opeka 5/6

Well got started fishing with my friends around 545 and within 20 minutes I hook what I thought was a monster bass but after about 5 seconds I knew it was a foul hooked carp. I got it in relatively quickly because I had 50# powerpro on. It was a beast im guessing 15+ pounds. So we keep working the shoreline and I pick up a dink 10 incher

About 30 minutes goes by and all of sudden I feel like I snagged a stump but it was coming in so I set the hook and I had a absolute pig on my line. To my surprise when I got it in to shore it had a monster crappie still in it's mouth and the crappie was still alive and kicking. Im very surprised he hit my lure when he already was stuffing his face. Sad to say but I don't think he will live because he wasn't really swimming well when I put him back in. Those bass tend to do that a lot and they kill themselves that way. It was aleast a nice 4 pounder. Maybe even 4.5 but 4 without a doubt.

Decided to hit a shore line that was very calm and about 10 minutes goes by and I slam a 2.5 pound bass. Also saw some guy bring up a healthy 4 pound eye near the same location on a crawler.

On our way back we decide to hit a local lake that is close to us. Don't forget it's now like 9pm. So I decide to rig up a topwater since I saw a lot of action a ig and I thought the water was pretty warm actually. So I didn't have any luck but my friend matt pulled up 2 pigs. One was about a 4.5# bass and the other a 2.5# bass. Both hit very close to shore where a runoff pipe was stationed.

Bait of choice today was a rat l trap in bluegill pattern. Also matt used a very shallow crank to get his fish.

Pictures will come tommorow once they are uploaded.

Thanks for reading,
Keith aka the rootpro!

Deep Lake Report 5/2 followed by mighty perching

Well i had some plans to go to deep lake before heading out of waukegan to go perching. Got on the water around 645 and stayed till about 1045. About 10 minutes into fishing i picked up a fat 12 inch bass on a rat l trap. Action was consistent today and most bass came on the deeper weed lines. Saw some nice fish cruising the shallows also. All the fish i got came one 1/4oz. blue/chrome rat l trap ripped through the weeds. My friend mike got his also on the same color rat l trap along with some fish hitting his sexy shad trap. Here are a few fish that i got!

We then packed it up and headed down the road to waukegan. We waited for a few friends to show up and we were off. Fishing for perch was very slow for the first 3 hours or so. We only had about 8 fish in the cooler between 6 of us. Then all of a sudden we all hooked up witha jumbo within 30 seconds and it was lock and load from there on. In a 45 minute span i would say we landed about 40 jumbo perch all ranging from 10-14.5 inches. All the other boats quickly picked this up and they were in on some action as well. Me and mike probably had out limits caught but we had to split all 47 fish between 6 of us. All in all it was a great day to be out. Weather couldnt have been any much better. Thanks for reading.

Keith

aka the rootpro

Quick stop at beck lake 4/28

Well after school I decided to hit up beck lake before I had work. Fished from 345-5. Went 0/2 on spinnerbaits work parallel to the shore line. On my 5th cast I hooked into what looked like a 3 pound bass. I'm all excited and go to lip it and the bitch shakes me off right there. I was so pissed! Proceded to walk the shoreline and missed a good strike but set the hook to late. Both hits came on white spinnerbaits.

Thanks for reading.

Lake Opeka 4/26

Well after having a brutal day saturday at fishing I decided to hit a lake i know would produce some monster bass. My friend mike tagged along and we went ot cabelas to pick up some super secret rat l traps. Soon enough we got to the lake and started fishing and soon enough mike hooks into what he thought was a 4 pound bass but he lost it on shore. 10 minutes later mike gets his first bass of the year. So we keep working the wind blown shoreline and then wham i get a nice 14 inch bass. Nothing to brag about yet. Shortly there after i decide to cast straight out infront of me instead of the shore line and i thought i got stuck on a stump untill i felt a headshake. Well i got her in and she was a healthy 3 pounds and about 18 inches.

Well having said that mike wanted to go work the point that he lost his bass on and so he decided to switch up his bait to a swimbait that he had just bought at cabelas for .75 cents. First cast in he gets hammered 10 feet from shore and he got her in this time. His was probably a little bigger in mine cause the belly was absolutley huge. I would say 18 inches and about 3.5 pounds.

Thanks for reading

Root river, sterling lake, independence, beck lake, and occ 4/25

Started off on the root around 8pm and fished till about 11 when the storm rolled in. During that time it was slim pickins. Saw 2 fish landed and saw 2 people swallow some root river! Yes 2 people took a dunk today. At one point my buddy mike said look at that guy he's getting naked and I said no he's squeezing the water out of his clothes cause he fell iin. Well 5 minutes later mike points out to me that look at that guy be feel in. Well he only went up to his chest in water. Then im still looking and I see the same guy that fell 10 minutes ago was underwater and I see his head pop up. He almost pulled his friend completly under when he tried grabbin him. I think they were drinking before they came. Haha.
Getting back to the report, I saw quite a few fish still in the weir and I also saw a lot jumping. I was 0/2 on the day. Had one on for 5 seconds, had him jump and pop, spit the hook. Mike had a brief hit but wasn't paying much attn and he missed it.
Went to colonial park and it was crowded there. Found a nice spot to drift and we both went 0/1 there then it started downpouring and we called it quits there.

Decided to try and bass fish at quarry lake park there but didn't even bother and after a quick stop at Kenosha to grab a bite to eat we were on our way to sterling lake near the Wisconsin Illinois border. We got the skunk there but we both love this lake and will deffinetly be back there soon.

Next up bass pro shop. Got a few rat l traps and headed to independence grove but we had to pay 10 bucks so we skipped out on that and went to beck lake instead. We walked the whole lake with a skunk as well. The cold front shut them bass down I think.

Last stop was Oakton community college and I actually had a bass hit me but I lost my rat l trap and I was mad and just quit for the day.

To sum it up in a few words, the day sucked. Had I known that system was coming through I would of slept in.

Private pond 4/20

Decided to make a quick trip to a pond by my house today just to try for some pike. I fished from 545-645. I did manage one pike about 20 inches and also 2 bass but the bass were small. All fish came on a mepps size 5 silver bladed bucktail. I ended up snapping my braid on a branch but oh well. Lots of fish exploding on the surface as well today.

root river 4/20

well after going powerlining in the morning with my buddy and us getting the skunk we decided to head to the root river. We arrived around 4 and fished till 7. I immediately hooked into a nice buck that gave me a 15 minute battle and some nice fellow helped me net it. It was weighed in at 5 pounds on the dot and 23 inches long.

While i was battling my fish my phone was being blown up and to find out it was my buddy mike who was fighting his fish as i was fighting mine. His of course a lot fresher and nice. His picture can be found on his blog which you can find under my friends. Actually we were very surprised to find out it was an arlee. My buddy who is the Dnr up there informed us of that and we were all shocked and loved it. It was the first one he had seen all season so far. It was loaded with SPAWN!! It was 6.5 pounds and 25 inches long.

I also hooked into this monster!!

There are a lot of fish still up on the reeds and most fish are spawned out by now. With all this rain that we have coming a lot of fish should be pushed out and fishing should be winding down within 2-3 weeks. Most of the fish today were taken on spawn but 70% of the people fishing with fly rods are all having success fishing in the riffles where the reeds are. Also my buddy dan hooked into a nice spawned out female minutes before we were about to leave.

Well the cruise was asweme. But, never go to jamacia. Several reasons. One is they never stop asking you if you want a dam taxy ride to see the wate falls and second weed is legal there and thats all i will say. And if you stop to talk with the people who sell the puka shells 5 people mob you and they literally put them on you and say you like it c'mon buy it. Its ridiculous!!!!!!

Caman Islands were nice and i would deffinetly reccomend going there. Cozumel Mexico is just ok. Its more of a party town rather than cruise stop. Last stop was at the Princess Cays and it is absolutely beatiful!! They make it the last stop so that you want to come back but what sucks is you only stay there for like 5 hours and its a bitch waiting in line for the tenders to take people to and from shore.

The beach there is al pure white sand with crazy fish all over the place and so many corals as well. My dad actually found a starfish and i will post some pics once my mom uploads them.

But if any of you want to go on a cruise i reccomend you go with Princess Cruise Lines. They are fantastic with their services. These people that basically run the boat work for 8 straight months and go home to their families for 4 months. They work 15 hours a day and get paid very little.
Food is excellent and so are the activiites. They have 7 pools and a huge fitness room. Basketball and tennis courts along with a video game machine. They have 15 dinning rooms along with 4 buffets which the buffets are open 24/7. A 24 by 24 big screen tv which has tons of movies always playing. A CASINO also!!

Well not to much to report about fishing. I probably will head up to the root tommorow for a while and ill let you know how this goes. I have a few pictures added from a fellow friend of mine that went last week some time that he sent me.

Quick Update on Root 4/10

Well this may be the last time i update the blog untill next weekend on friday. So unless i get internet access on the boat i wont be able to post again.

Today the root was much slower than i thought it would be simply because of the fishing pressure. Having it be good friday a lot of people were off work and they had a chance to fish. It was crowded all day i was informed and not to many fish were taken. The best spot was Island Park or Quarry. And those spots didnt produce that many fish at all. But the fish that were taken hit either egg patterned flies or stone nymps. Spawn also did its share of catching fish. The water levels are once again dropping to low were you have to focus on the deeper pockets in the river.

The key is to move around and just dont stay in one spot. And that even includes if a fish is caught in that area. That doesnt mean that the fish are in that spot. They are scattered throughout the river. I have pics i may try and send to the blog from a fisherman who was previously there a few days ago and he did very well.

Untill then good luck!

At airport waiting for plane

Well I'm about 30 minutes away from boarding on my plane to ft. Lauderdald in flordia. Going to do some fishing their today and tommorow morning before I board on the shit tommorow at noon.

Root is still producing fish and they released fish yesterday at the hatchery and it is already stacked up again for the next release. So I will be ready next sunday to fish hard!!

Root River Update 4/8 continued!

Well I have had all excellent reports coming in from the root. Had a report today of 9/15 in colonial park and had a steelie just miss 30 inches. There is no good location on the root simply because the fish can be found anywhere. The dam is producing like crazy also. Yarn flies have been best bet there.
The flows are also perfect for drift fishing so that means that you spawn fisherman will do very good. Will hand one final report for u on Friday night before I leave for my cruise. Then once I get back it's hammer time for me. Hopefully flows won't be up.
Thanks for reading.

Also I will get pics from the people I talked to as soon as they send them to me. A few of them are staying near the root cause they live far away so pics may not be current but it still is cool to see some pics

Root River Update 4/8

Here is a steelie caught by a buddy of mine. He was on the root swinging egg patterns and he managed to go 2/5 in 5 hours.

4 days away from my cruise!

For my spring break I will be going on a cruise. The part that sucks is I gotta catch a 6am flight to flordia so I gotta leave my house around 330. The cruise will be taking me to St. Thomas, Jamacia, Domincan Republic, Caman Islands and one other I cannot remember. I will be gone for about 1 week.

Time to get to fishing. Kenosha has been average for this time of year lately. Mostly browns but the occasional steelhead is being caught. Fish have been hitting off the bottom lately due to clarity being only about 10 inches in main harbor but small boat harbor is about a foot and a half.

Fishing in racie has been good as of Saturday. In the root river as of Saturday lots of fish were taken by the horlick dam on yarn flies. Spawn was not working to well for most anglers who decided to drift. Sunday things slowed down and only a few were taken by the dam and in colonial park.

The pike river has been producing as well. Almost all reports coming in to me have been good simply because the river is overlooked. Pets park has been producing on spawn there because clarity is much better than the root and the flow is perfect for drift fishing. Lots of fish have been found in the deeper holes. Also lots of suckers have made their way into not only the pike but many other area rivers.

Coho action on the lakefront has been hit or miss and really hasn't been good at all yet this year. Powerlining is your best bet. Casting is still slow because the water is still to cold at shore for the baitfish to come in. Coho have been hitting minnows while some steelhead were caught on spawn sacs as well.

Thanks for reading.