I had the privilege of taking Tom, Jake and Andrea Ridgeway of Joliet ,IL Bass fishing yesterday. They have very little fishing experience and , while they were visiting nearby, decide to give it a try.
I was apprehensive of putting spinning gear in the hands of novices, but after a few minutes of “dock” time with a practice plug… off we went. A bright sunny afternoon with temps in the 80’s had me targeting bass on deeper breaks near wood. I knew that males were still hanging around but “thought” the spawn was over with 73 degree water temps.
We were into fish right away using my favorite technique of wacky rigged senko worms. I used the Rapala Trigger X (Flutter Worm) with a 1/0 DS hook and 1/16 bullet weight. I was amazed how well the kids, Andrea 10 and Jake 15, caught on! I was “assisting Andrea a bit with the hook setting but Jake was soon on his own. Dad (Tom) was content to fish, primarily enjoying the kids having fun and taking photos.
After a few hours the number of bass caught rose into the 30s, mostly 12-15” males… Then I moved deeper and young Andrea cast out and a huge Largemouth bit on her plastic worm… I was amazed at her determination as she fought the huge bass on her light LC Smoothie spin rod… After being netted the bass taped 22.25” length and a whopping 16.25” girth, weighing 6.54 lbs! 
Tom followed 10 minutes later with a 21” dandy of his own weighing over 5 lbs. They ended up with almost 50 bass caught! What a great day! 
June 10, 2012 at 4:11 pm
#1321604
Those kinds of experiences are what keeps me going…
