Sight Fishing in July

My early tournament days were spent on the Kaskaskia River fishing with my cousin. We fished just about every tournament there and had our fair share of success. Years have gone past and I stopped fishing there until last year when my cousin Jason and his partner decided to run a team circuit on the river called USA Bassin. This team trail has grown in popularity because of the low entry fee and their huge classic. I was able to go up there last year and fish one event. I was defiantly getting back to my roots. I decided this year that I would fish the entire circuit because I had enjoyed fishing up there so many years ago. My normal fishing partner wasn’t able to fish the third event so I asked one of my good friends, Mark O’brien from the SIU Bass Fishing Team to fish. We launched our boat only to see that the river was eight feet above normal pool. We were fishing out of his jon boat hoping to get into some private ponds or old strip cuts due to the high water. We took off that morning and headed way back into a creek. So far back that it took us over four hours to go all the way back to a log jam and turna around and come out. That was a waste of time. We then headed north and were able to squeeze our way into a pond where I caught my first fish of the morning. It was only ten inches long. By now we had wasted almost six hours with nothing to show for it. We decided to head back up by the boat ramp and finish out the day there. As we got closer I noticed some clear water running into the river. We had nowhere else to go so We stopped and started fishing. I was taking a cast when I noticed some fish suspended underneath a tree sitting there in the shade. They were bass! There were thirty or forty of them and all of them were good size fish. I couldn’t believe my eyes. I looked back at Mark and told him that we were going to win if they bit. My first cast into the school and they went nuts. I set the hook too fast and missed. By then Mark had thrown into them with a Strike King Premier Elite spinnerbait and a three pound fish crushed it. He got it to the boat and there were several other fish fighting over the bait. I quickly took another cast and missed again. They were going crazy. Finally I connected using a Strike King Rage Craw. That was fish number two. I backed off and let them regroup and pulled back into them. They were sitting there. I told Mark to get the net ready as I took a cast into them. Two of them were fighting over the bait when finally one of them had it. I put keeper number three in the boat. Again I backed off for a minute then I went right back. Same as before I saw another fish. I threw right in front of him and he smoked it. After another five minutes I put number five in the boat giving us a limit. The bass had moved back into the flooded trees where I couldn’t get to them. Every once in a while I would see one cross in front of me but couldn’t get them to bite any more. Twenty or so minutes went by and Mark caught two more keepers. By then it was time to go so we headed to the weigh in. The fishing was tough for everyone. Some of the best teams did not fair well. Our five fish weighed just shy of 13 pounds and was good enough to take home the first place check. Everyone couldn’t believe how we had caught them. I told Mark that it was a once in a lifetime event that happened to us. I had never done anything like that before in the summer time. The action was fast and furious and if it wouldn’t have been for my two misses we could have caught that limit in five or so minutes. Sight fishing, especially on the river is unheard of, but it happened to us. That tournament will be one I talk about for a long time. The tackle we used was basic. We were both throwing 6’10” pitching sticks, Ardent XS 1000 reels spooled with 17 pound Vicious Fluorocarbon, Strike King Rage Craws in the Okeechobee Craw color on a 4/0 Mustad hook. The bass that we found were so fired up that they actually fought over the bait. We did try a few other baits but they only wanted the Rage Craw. It was truly an awesome sight to see.