I’ve been receiving a lot of emails from local anglers catching some nice fish from nearby waters. There’s no doubt about it that bass fishing seems to be a favorite of so many anglers. Photos that I receive are often of bass at probably a five to one ratio over everything else.

Five o’clock in the morning is really early for me when it comes to fishing. I really don’t think the fish are awake yet. I’m not, that’s for sure.   But when Captain Ron Miltzow of Wake N Sea Sportfishing Charters says that we have to leave the harbor at five, my gosh, that means that I have to get up at about 3:30 AM. That’s almost like the day before.

It’s been a long time since I’ve been to the Northwoods of Wisconsin. With family in Lake Geneva, trips there have been frequent. But years ago, it was an annual ritual to head further north to Vilas County for a week long fishing vacations.

One big event that comes up every year is the Kankakee River Valley Fishing Derby. It’s a fun event for the whole family and with a little luck, should you catch a tagged fish or a big fish, you can win some really cool prizes.

Here in Illinois we have a great number of lakes and rivers that have largemouth and smallmouth bass as well as striped bass. It doesn’t matter what kind of fishing you like to do, be it on a lake, river or pond, be it from the shore or from a boat, a fun bait to use is the buzzbait. 

Quite a few emails come to me from readers asking about fishing or some other aspect of the outdoors. Every once and awhile, when a question is asked, it sparks a memory of some experience I had. Let me share one of those stories with you.

I keep a fishing log and not that long ago I checked to see what kind of fishing was had at this time of the year.  With that documented information, I can have a better day on the water when the cooling lakes open.

Great fishing is not that far away. Have you ever heard anything like that before? Well believe it because it’s true. 

Big lake, big fish; that’s a statement that really doesn’t hold a lot of water in my book.