Submitted by Fisher X (ip 209.107.239.72)

Date Fished: 5/20/2007
Water Temperature: 68
Water Clarity: 2-3 feet

Lake Jacksonville, IL Prefish 18 May 07, Club T’ment 20 May 07

Pre-fishing: 18 May 07

A moderately strong cold front had blown through two days previous. The starting air temp was 49 F a bluebird day with an E wind up to 12 MPH. The wind became variable but mainly easterly with air temps warming into the lower 70’s by afternoon. The water temp started in the mid 60’s warming to the upper 60’s in the backs. The water was extremely clear with a white spinner bait visible up to 3 feet down. I headed to the small cuts on the main lake. We saw large males that remained on the beds. No females visible. These fish were bedding on the inside edge of the weeds. They were suckers for a small floating rogue. I had a 15lb limit (5 fish 15 inches limit) in less than two hours. I caught the largest 2 (4 lbers) on a jig on wood off the points of the same cuts. It was apparent that the males remained guarding beds and the females had moved off into a post spawn posture. I used a gold floating rogue and a tan/black jig with a green pumpkin trailer to catch my fish. My son also caught fish on a watermelon red senko. We caught several shorts and missed/lost several on the rogue. We also fished the hump near the dam and missed a couple blowups on the rogue. Once again we disproved the old addage that bass won’t hit top-water baits on a sunny bluebird day.

T’ment 20 May 07

The night was warmer (58F) and the day ended up in the lower 80’s-and another bluebird day. Most significantly is that there was a t’ment on Saturday that had really pressured the fish. The boat traffic had also muddied the water on the inside edges of the weeds. This basically took away the inside edge rouge bite in the areas I prefished. I did jump one early on the rogue. The point fish were pressured so bad that they wouldn’t touch the jig. There was another T’ment the same time as ours and every point had a boat on it. We scrambled and looked for cuts that had clear inside edges. When we found a bank the fish were really spooky and hiding. I would use the rouge as a birddog. They would come look at it and not hit it. Then I would follow with a senko (watermelon purple flake). I managed one fish midmorning doing this as did my son. We then started searching for secondary points that didn’t seem to get the pressure of the main lake points. Finally around noon I was rewarded with a 5-9 off the secondary in the dam cove back (senko-watermelon purple flake). We would work the spawners (I jumped two more on the rogue and one on a senko off beds which made me sick as these would have filled my limit.) and then return to the point and work it with Senko’s. The second rotation through the point a nailed another nice female (4 lbs). That was it. I ended up with 3 fish 13-1 for second. The first place guy was working the beds with beavers and had a nice 15 lb limit. I was disappointed because I had limit fish on and lost them. My son’s single fish was a 2-6 (watermelon/red senko off a bed). One note-there was a hatch of terribly offensive gnats. They seemed to come from the weeds. They didn’t bite but boy they were a hell of a nuisance. They were attracted to dark clothing so dress accordingly.

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