Like I did in NY and NJ in May, I went on a sports roadie and brough my inflatable with me. This time it was 6 games in Lansing, Chicago, Milwaukee and Madison.
Now as for the fishing, this trip was more limited to lakes much closer to where I was staying so they weren't the best spots but I still managed to bag a few. Perhaps you will find this summary interesting.
First lake. Within 5 minutes I had a hammer handle hit my small gold spoon while trolling. Lost it right at the side of the boat. Eventually caught this largie in the
weeds. And then while trolling back to the launch at sundown, another little water wolf was on on the same kind of spoon, but this one was silver. And this time it didn't get away.
Then I tried the Grand River. It is apparently a good river but just not in my location. And the surroundings weren't very nice at this particular spot. But it was so close I gave it a try anyway. This river boat restaurant is just that. A restaurant and not a functioning boat. And notice the rims on that trailer. Better than the truck itself!
Off to Illinois, which of course, is not really known for it's outdoors and wilderness, unlike Michigan and Wisconsin. Well maybe some parts are good but nowhere near Chicago. My expectations weren't very high so I wasn't too disappointed. All three lakes had brown water and clarity was a few inches at best.
First place was a series of former industrial pits. I wanted to try the big lake which supposedly has nice bass. However, upon arrival, there was a sign saying gas motors only. Yet on the website for this place, it didn't mention that. And there was almost no wind that day. So I went to plan B, which was one of those smaller lakes, which apparently contains gar along with bass. Well the hand launch was a good 60 yards away from the parking lot. So I then had to randomly pick another, which I circled. It was terrible.
This next place was tough but I found one weed patch. And they were the mushy kind of weeds. But I did manage to pull out this two pounder or so.
And then it was on to some lagoons. There must have been a hundred downed trees in the water but there was zero action this day. I didn't even see a blue gill. If I was a local I'd definitely give it another try but nothing was happening for me that day.
Now as for the fishing, this trip was more limited to lakes much closer to where I was staying so they weren't the best spots but I still managed to bag a few. Perhaps you will find this summary interesting.
First lake. Within 5 minutes I had a hammer handle hit my small gold spoon while trolling. Lost it right at the side of the boat. Eventually caught this largie in the
weeds. And then while trolling back to the launch at sundown, another little water wolf was on on the same kind of spoon, but this one was silver. And this time it didn't get away.
Then I tried the Grand River. It is apparently a good river but just not in my location. And the surroundings weren't very nice at this particular spot. But it was so close I gave it a try anyway. This river boat restaurant is just that. A restaurant and not a functioning boat. And notice the rims on that trailer. Better than the truck itself!
Off to Illinois, which of course, is not really known for it's outdoors and wilderness, unlike Michigan and Wisconsin. Well maybe some parts are good but nowhere near Chicago. My expectations weren't very high so I wasn't too disappointed. All three lakes had brown water and clarity was a few inches at best.
First place was a series of former industrial pits. I wanted to try the big lake which supposedly has nice bass. However, upon arrival, there was a sign saying gas motors only. Yet on the website for this place, it didn't mention that. And there was almost no wind that day. So I went to plan B, which was one of those smaller lakes, which apparently contains gar along with bass. Well the hand launch was a good 60 yards away from the parking lot. So I then had to randomly pick another, which I circled. It was terrible.
This next place was tough but I found one weed patch. And they were the mushy kind of weeds. But I did manage to pull out this two pounder or so.
And then it was on to some lagoons. There must have been a hundred downed trees in the water but there was zero action this day. I didn't even see a blue gill. If I was a local I'd definitely give it another try but nothing was happening for me that day.
