Thirteen club members fished our first boat outing of the year. It was very cold and windy, but we managed to catch 25 fish that qualified for points under our scoring system. Jig/minnow or blade baits caught most of the fish. We caught 9 walleye, 2 catfish, 1 smallmouth bass, 2 white bass, 9 yellow bass, and 2 crappie. Ward won big fish honors with a 24.75” walleye.
Our next outing is 5/4 on Lake Michigan for coho.
Nine club members fished the Rock River outing, most from shore but two by boat. The weather was nice, but with all the recent rain the river level was high and the current was strong. We mostly used 3-way river rigs with 1.5-2 ounces of weight to maintain bottom contact. We caught 13 walleyes in the 15" - 16 3/4" range, and Jason Cashmore won the big fish honors with the 16 3/4 incher.
The next outing is April 20 on the Fox Chain.
Sixteen club members and two guests fished our annual trip to Lake Wisconsin last weekend. The weather was decent and the fish were biting, so we had a great time. We also got to move back to our normal lodgings since Lucky’s Bridge Motel has been rebuilt and is now open. It is a great place to stay and we highly recommend it.
We did very well pre-fishing on Friday, and caught the following fish for points during the outing on Saturday and Sunday: 95 saugers, 30 walleyes, 1 smallmouth bass, 1 northern pike, 2 sturgeon, 17 white bass, 6 crappies, and 2 perch. Like the past several years, the saugers both outnumbered the walleyes and were bigger. Mike Hall and John Medved tied for the big fish contest with 19” saugers. John also caught a fat 30-3/4” northern pike. Our group caught three lake sturgeon over the weekend, including two during the outing that counted towards our contests. Jason Cashmore caught a 53.5” sturgeon Sunday morning that took 30 minutes to bring to the boat on 6 lb. test line. All the sturgeon were carefully handled and released.
Minnows produced the most fish, either on a jig or a crappie rig. All of the sturgeon were caught on crappie rigs baited with minnows. A few guys tried nightcrawlers and also caught some fish on them. Our favorite lure on this lake is a blade bait and several guys were successful using them. Brighter colors seemed to produce best, and the fish wanted less movement on the baits and lures.
Our last outing of the year will be December 2 at a Lake Michigan harbor targeting northern pike.
This past weekend we had a fishing outing at Lake Koshkonong. Sixteen club members fished in warm and blue sky conditions. The fish were biting on jigs/live bait with some also caught on blade baits. We caught 95 walleyes and 7 saugers, our main target species. There was also an excellent panfish bite—we caught 32 perch (including several jumbos!) and 21 white bass along with a few bluegill, rock bass, and yellow bass. Roger Krueger caught a 36” northern pike that now leads our annual big fish contest. The outing big fish contest was walleye or sauger, which Michael Hall won with a 20” walleye.
This was just our second year fishing here, but we have found Kosh is a great system loaded with fish. We look forward to many more successful outings here.
Our next outing is November 4-5 at Lake Wisconsin.
Eleven club members fished Powers Lake on a windy summer morning. Although fish were caught, few were large enough to score points. In total, 140 points were scored on a mix of largemouth bass, smallmouth bass, rock bass, warmouth, and one northern pike. The outing’s big fish contest was largemouth bass, and Mike Kett won with a 15.75-incher, to paint a picture of how small the fish were. Our next outing is September 9 on Lake Michigan for king salmon.
Fourteen club members fished our first Delavan Lake outing in several years. The weather was perfect for fishing—mild temps, mostly overcast, and low wind. The lake was crowded, but that’s no surprise for a summer weekend on Delavan.
We scored 167 total points on 15 largemouth bass, 2 smallmouth bass, 74 bluegill and 4 rock bass. Most of the group spent the morning targeting bass with plastics, crank baits, and night crawlers, but the bass bite has been slow on Delavan lately. The big fish contest was tied by Dave Busscher and Jeff Haug with 17.5” largemouth. They were fishing together and Dave caught his early, but Jeff tied him with just 5 minutes left in the outing. We can all imagine how Dave felt about that! One of our boats found a school of keeper-size bluegill and spent some time catching them with worms on drop shots and jigs. They said it was a lot of fun.
Our next outing is Saturday, August 19 on Powers Lake. We also have a meeting coming up at 7 pm on Wednesday, August 16. Our meetings are held at the Libertyville Township Center and are open to anyone interested.
Fourteen club members fished Round Lake on a beautiful morning, which was a treat after the cold and rain of our last outing. The action was not hot and heavy, but most of us were able to grind out some fish throughout the morning. We caught 34 largemouth bass and one smallmouth bass that qualified for club points. Most were caught on our usual plastics—nail worms, wacky worms, and swim baits, with many different colors producing fish. Dave Busscher and Jeff Haug caught 18” largemouth that counted for 10 points each and tied the fishermen for the big fish of the outing.
After fishing we had a picnic lunch in the park next to the boat launch. Chairman Ward Aldrich and his wife Ann supplied us with a delicious lunch. Thank you Ward and Ann!
Our next outing is Saturday, August 5, at Lake Delavan.
Eleven club members fished in miserable weather this past Saturday on Brown’s Lake. It was cold and rained most of the morning, but we bravely (stubbornly? stupidly?) woke up at 3:15 am to go and fish in the unpleasant conditions. On the upside, we were rewarded for it! Fish were caught scoring 215 total points per our club rules, which calculates to 3.55 points per person per hour. That would have ranked the outing second highest last year, so it was well worth getting up early and fishing in the bad weather.
Most of us were throwing our usual assortment of plastics from boats. Nail worms, wacky-rigged senkos, and swim baits caught a variety of fish. A few fishermen tried topwater lures, spoons, spinnerbaits, and trolling crankbaits. Most of the bass caught by the boat fishermen were small, 13-14”, with a couple pushing 15”. Hosts Mikey Olszewski and his dad Big Mike fished from their dock using live bait and found the lunkers. Mikey’s fish included a 24” northern and an 18” largemouth. Big Mike won the outing big fish contest with a 20” largemouth. Great job, guys!
Mikey, Big Mike, and Grandma Nancy put out an amazing lunch buffet for us after the outing. Thank you for the excellent hospitality Olszewski family!!!
Our next outing is July 22 at Round Lake. We also have a meeting July 19.
Nineteen club members fished our private bass lake on a beautiful morning. The bass were active early on and hitting soft plastics. In total, we caught 45 largemouth (including seven 10-pointers of 18" or better), 2 bluegills, and 2 crappies for a total of 264 points. Mike Kett and Jeff Haug tied for the big fish contest with twin 20-inchers.
Our next outing is Brown's Lake on July 8.
Sixteen club members fished our annual Green Lake outing this past weekend. For the third year in a row, the results were disappointing. This trip has been an annual staple for us, and we have historically done very well on this lake. Pre-fishing on Friday was decent. Some people struggled, but others caught good numbers of smallmouth and largemouth bass. Our usual assortment of plastics did the trick, with no single color standing out.
The bite turned off on Saturday, though. Despite the fact that weather conditions seemed better for fishing than Friday, the fish were close-lipped. One angler had luck chasing largemouth under shallow docks in the bay, but most of us were there for smallmouth. A few guys managed to grind out some smallies, but it took all day. Saturday night a cold front moved in and the bite turned off. Very few fish were caught on Sunday.
Overall, 344 points were scored, consisting of: 27 smallmouth bass, 12 largemouth bass, 1 northern pike, 39 rock bass, 3 white bass, and 4 bluegills. Four smallmouth were over 17” and scored 10 points each for the fishermen who caught them. The big fish contest was won with a 18.5” football of a smallie. Al Silcroft wanted it known the big fish was caught by an angler in his boat, so great job captaining, Al. The northern pike barely reached the 24” necessary for club points, but the Green Lake white bass and rock bass were as large as usual.
We don’t know why the fishing has declined here in recent years. The lake hosts many bass tournaments, which could be having a negative effect. Regardless, it is unlikely there will be much interest in us continuing to fish this lake. Hopefully we’ll see more action at our next outing on June 24th at our private bass lake.
Fourteen club members and two guests spent a beautiful morning on a small private lake we are lucky enough to have access to. Club members caught 37 walleyes, 12 largemouth bass, 23 yellow bass (many around 11”), 17 crappies, and 5 bluegill. All the fish caught totaled 369 points under the club scoring system.
Several guys had banner days, but Terry Ocheltree stands out. He won the big fish contest with a 24.5” walleye and scored 75 points to put him in the lead for Fisherman of the Year! Well done, Terry!
Our next outing is June 10-11 on Green Lake in Wisconsin. Historically one of our best outings, the fishing has been tough there the past two years. We are hoping that turns around this year!
Thirteen club members fished a windy and wavy outing this past Saturday. The wave forecast was improving so we decided to go ahead with the outing, but once the decision was made the forecast started changing in the other direction. Ten of us fished from boats we launched at Waukegan Harbor and dealt with 1.7-2’ waves. Fortunately, the coho were biting so we were able to catch our limit and get off the water. Most fish were caught on dodger and fly, with green and gold flies working best. Al Silcroft caught the big fish of the outing, a 24.5” coho.
Thirteen club members and two guests fished the Fox Chain on a chilly morning. Thank goodness it wasn’t any windier or we would have been too cold to fish! Towards the end of the outing some bands of weather moved through and we got to debate whether we were covered in sleet, hail, or graupel (and we got to learn a new word!).
The fish were biting early and slowed down by mid-morning. Jig and minnow caught most of the fish, but some nice walleye were also caught using blade baits. We caught a variety of walleye, bass, and panfish. Dave Busscher and Lou DiNicola each caught 21.25” walleye to tie for the outing big fish contest.
Our next outing is Saturday, May 6 on Lake Michigan chasing coho.
Five adventurous club members braved the rough weather for this outing. Weather forecasts were calling for storms, and although it wasn’t that bad, it was windy with snow mixed in at times. Fortunately we caught a few fish to reward our efforts. Dave Busscher caught two walleye. The biggest, a monstrous 14.25”, won him the outing big fish contest. Although it wasn’t the target species, Jason Cashmore was pleased with a 27.25” catfish he caught. Hopefully nicer weather and bigger fish are in our future!
Seven club members targeted northern pike in a Lake Michigan harbor on a beautiful spring morning. Unfortunately, the pike were so mesmerized by the sunset that they forgot to bite. We threw everything at them, from live bait to dead bait, artificials, and even a hot dog! Despite all our efforts only one fish was caught—Dave Busscher caught a fat 28” pike that won him the outing big fish contest. Hopefully there is better fishing on the horizon for us! Our next outing is Saturday, March 18 and the location is TBD.
Our first outing of 2023 was an ice outing on Silver Lake yesterday. Eight club members and two guests fished in windy conditions. It was cold early and warmed up as the morning progressed, but the wind made it tough out there.
Unfortunately, we weren’t rewarded for braving the wind. Only four fish were caught for club points: two largemouth bass and two northern pike. We had several additional flags where line was taken out (so not wind flags!) without hooking up.
Dave Busscher, last year’s Fisherman of the Year winner, is already in the lead for landing the two bass. Unfortunately for him the outing’s big fish contest was northern pike. Ward Aldrich caught a 27.25” pike early, and as the morning passed it seemed he would win. But, with just 20 minutes left, Jason Cashmore caught a 28-incher. Sorry Ward!
Hopefully the ice lasts through the warm temps and rain in the forecast. If there is safe ice our next scheduled outing is at Lake Como on February 18. Everyone come out and join us to chase Dave in the standings!
Our last outing of the year was uneventful. Ten club members and one guest fished a Lake Michigan harbor on a very cold and windy morning with very little action. Two small northern pike were caught and a couple more were briefly on before spitting the hook. We mostly used live golden roaches a foot or so off bottom, but other techniques were also tried.
The good news is the temperature is dropping and lakes are icing up. Hopefully we’ll be ice fishing soon!
Eight club members and three guests fished Lake Wisconsin this past weekend. Spoiler alert: the score of this outing was Mother Nature 1 - LFC 0. Upon arrival Friday afternoon the rain was pouring and the wind was howling. All we could do was unpack and have a group dinner at the Lakeside Bar & Grill. Good thing it was right next door. The weather remained ugly all day and didn’t allow pre-fishing.
We slept in on Saturday and by late morning the skies had eased up just enough for us to get out on the lake. While it was a tough bite, we did manage some legal saugers and walleyes. The fishing lasted until about 2 pm when a squall with 30+ mph winds chased us off the lake. Jeff Sannes braved the wind a little longer than the rest of us and his 17 year old grandson, Dermot Larson, was rewarded with the big fish of the outing—an 18.25” sauger. Great job Dermot! We hope you and your dad enjoyed your first LFC outing.
Sunday's weather was more fishable, but most of the group had their fill of “fun” and left early without fishing. It was tough fishing for the two boats that stayed—a very slow bite and the few fish caught were small. The only pointer fish caught Sunday was a 17” walleye by Jason Cashmore.
In total 9 sauger, 2 walleye, and 2 white bass were caught that scored club points. Mike Hall had the best performance with 4 sauger caught Saturday on his trusty blade baits. In addition to blade baits we caught fish on jigs, crappie rigs, and drop shots all baited with minnows. The fishing wasn’t as good as our last several trips here, but it’s still an excellent fishery. We will probably be back next year.
Approximately twelve club members fished Lake Koshkonong the weekend of October 8th. It was very windy so most of us stayed in the river. On top of that a walleye tournament and a closed boat ramp meant it was crowded. Despite all that we managed to catch a few fish. Light jigs with a minnow did best, but we also had some success with crawlers, drop shots, and blade baits.
Nine club members and one guest fished Lake Michigan on a beautiful September morning with clear skies and calm seas following a full moon the night before. Fishermen were spread from Port Washington, WI to Waukegan, IL. Fishing was hot during sunrise, but quickly leveled off. Six fish were caught for a total of 55 points (5 king salmon and 1 northern pike). Isacc Biggerstaff's two fish each topped 20lbs and the longest was 38.5" which now takes the lead for big fish of the year.
