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Subject: Lake Jacksonville, Illinois
Submitted by Fisher X (ip 209.107.239.72)
Date Fished: 5/18/2008
Water Temperature: 63
Water Clarity: 2-3 feet Lake Jacksonville: 18 May 08
Pre fishing 16 May 08. The unsettled spring continued to effect the spawning cycle on on the lakes. Some spawned already others are waiting. The coming Monday is the full moon so something could happen. I arrived on the lake Friday to a bluebird post front day. The temps started in the upper 40s and end around 70 in the afternoon. The water temps started out at 55 and ended up around 60. The water was clear enough to see 3 feet deep with some cloudy ness in the backs from a minor rain two days previous. The lake was up to normal pool. Interestingly the low water from last year created a band of bare bottom around the shoreline of the lake (where the bottom was exposed for such a long time). On the steeper banks the band was only a couple feet wide. On sloping banks this band was up to 30 feet wide. There was no shore line mat and grass beds were patchy in most areas but very thick where they were located and ready to bust out they were also thick in the backs. Of course the buffalo gnats were also out. I started out shallow and in the backs throwing the senko (watermelon purple flake) and the rogue. I fished backs like this for over an hour. Did not see a fish or get a blow up/bite. I moved out the mainlake grass lines and quickly popped a 3-2 female (tan jig wm trailer) in 8 ft of water-all beat up and spawned out. So I continue along the south shore grass lines. I hit a pair of 3’s fairly quickly then a 5-8-all females (on the jig) all beat up and spawned out. As the water warmed I continued to go to the backs and look for fish but no bites and no spawners. I began to think they had spawned out during one of the warm spells earlier in the spring. I went back to the secondary points by the houses and quickly hit a 4 and a 3 on the jig at the grassline. I also caught numerous shorts. Again the big fish were beat up and spawned out. I broke off near the boat on another 4 and lost another 3 before going back into the backs looking again. By now the water temp had reached 60 but no fish in the shallows or on beds. I decided to that I would start deep on Sunday. Note there were other tournaments scheduled for both sat and sun.
Sunday 18 May 08
The morning was a carbon copy of Friday. Clear skies no or light wind from the N, water 55, clear but a little cloudier near the banks from the previous day’s boat tournament boat traffic. I fished with my son. We went to the grasslines and went some time before getting a bite-we caught sporadic shorts. We went into the backs throwing senkos, rogues and looking for fish. I caught an almost keeper on the rogue. But we saw nothing or got no further bites. We moved along the grass lines and my son caught a small keeper on the senko –deep (WM red flake). We went to the secondary near the houses and caught numerous shorts with the jig and senko-but no keepers. The water had warmed under the direct sun to the 60-62 range so We proceeded into the backs there by the houses and my son popped a 3-6 female no a marks on her. I caught several shorts. This told me that some had not spawned and maybe they were going to make a move. We caught a couple of bucks in the backs. We swung back out to the points/grass edges my son popped another 3 something on the jig at the grassline-another female with no scars. By then the water temp had hit the magic 63 and we started rotating through the backs looked for spawners. My son pops another small keeper on the senko in a back. We move back out to the mainlake. The wind has come up to about 15 out of the NNW. We proceed to check the backs off the main lake. Bingo. Fish everywhere. We had 2 hours to capitalize on the finding. Large fish were suspended in the backs over the large grass blooms. But for some reason we could not get them to bite. They would look and fade away or just bolt into the grass. But in the bare band around the shoreline males had started cruising and they were aggressive. My son filled out his limit (14-9)and I ended up with 2 (3-15)-I caught he shorts and he caught the keepers. We tried repeatedly for the big females suspended over the grass beds but we couldn’t get them to touch anything. They showed the most interest in the senko (WM red flake). After the fishoff we figured it all out (with the help of beer). Its simple. The large spooky females would not bite-I now suspect it was because our senko rods were spooled with 17lb stren fluorescent line (duh). Why we didn’t think of this was beyond me. When the boat was over the think grass beds in the back you could see billions of tiny air bubbles rising to the surface. The big females were suspending over the blooming grass ripening their eggs in the sun and hyper oxygenating themselves before spawning. One other guy figured out the fish move too-he ended up with 16 lbs-he got the big females to bite (WM red senko). Big bass was a 6-9 caught of the secondary near the houses on plastic. The rest of the field totally missed the spawning move and either blanked or had one. It was a lesson well learned and
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