The last couple weeks have been a struggle for me on the water. Most of my time has been spent fishing for Salmon on the Chicago lakefront with just about nothing to show. That’s why today I needed to get out and fish for a species I know about, Bass. I had the day off from work so I called Bryan Blazek who has become one of my go to fishing partners over the past year to hit up some spots we had fished before and knew would hold fish. He had a new tip on a pond that sounded like it had some decent size fish (Bryan said we could expect a couple in the 18 inch range) so we opted to fish somewhere new.

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I picked him up from school at 2:30 and we headed to the pond discussing how we thought we should fish with the rain and cold moving in. We quickly agreed slow baits in dark colors would be our approach. I chose to dropshot a black and blue stick bait and Bryan elected  to throw a spinner he tied earlier that day in black and purple. We definitely made the right choices as the day would later prove.

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We got to the pond and we both looked at it thinking “Oh man… This place has to have fish.” It was full of cover and far enough off the road that there was no way it was highly pressured. So we began casting. A few casts in we noticed a drainage culvert that was pouring water into the pond creating a strong current around it. Having success in spots like that in the past Bryan cast right into the current and within minutes had a great fish. He caught a 21 inch near 6 LB HAWG on a cold rainy day in November! We were both amazed to hit such a fish so quick on a new body of water.

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We fished that area of the pond for about another half hour producing a few more fish including my only fish from that pond. The fish I caught would have been looked at with more excitement going about 3 LBS had Bryan not landed the monster just minutes before. All of the fish came from directly in from of the drain literally feet from shore.

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Moving along the pond we did not see too much action in open water. The only other fish caught was by Bryan all the way on the opposite end. Again, it came on his custom spinner no less than a foot from shore.

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At this point in the day we had been out in the rain for a while we decided to take a break for some food and decide what we would be fishing for next. We decided to head to a pond that we have always caught fish at to attempt to guarantee more fish. Here we stuck with our swimjigs and dropped a couple extra rods in the water baited with hotdogs for catfish. We caught nothing. We were pretty amazed since this pond had always been a no fail spot to hook into a few fish and after success earlier in the day we expected to see a few more lunkers.

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Luckily there was a pond near by we decided to give a shot before we called it a night.  We have driven past this pond a dozen times this year and always say we should stop but never actually do. This place looks promising but can’t be any bigger that ¾ an acre. We quickly made our way around with swimjigs with no action. We doubted whether there were any fish. Then just as Bryan begins to walk over toward me looking like he wants to call it a night I feel a strike. I missed the hookset but said “Hey! There’s fish in here.” This led to an immediate response from Byan saying “Well I guess we have to fish a little longer.” 5 minutes later a caught a small 14” Bass on the swimjig. Not what we were looking for but proof that we need to hit that pond again.

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For a cold rainy day in November we had a great day. Sure we could have caught more fish as Bryan caught 4 and I only had 2, but we had quality fish which fought hard and really proved how great a new pond was.  All the fish were healthy and could not have been caught many times before if at all. The weather is quickly changing and temperatures are dropping fast but I’m sure this won’t be the last time at these ponds before ice hits. Hopefully they can remain as productive as they were today for the coming weeks before winter.

Chris Loveless: The Suburban Angler.

Meet the suburban angler, Chris Loveless.

Chris Loveless, an avid Bass and muskie fisherman from Chicago, IL, joins the FHQ.com Writers Network with his very own blog. Chris tells us a little bit about himself:

My name is Chris Loveless and I have fished my whole life. I started fishing 20 years ago at the age of 3 or 4 with my little “Teenage Ninja Turle” rod when my dad would take me out before the sun came up a few days each summer. We never really caught much aside from bluegill and the occasional small bass at local forest preserves in Cook County such as Busse. We also made yearly trips to Minnesota to visit other family that has a lake house up there. Way back then there was no way to tell how big of an obsession fishing would become.

As I grew older I started to convince my dad to go out a few times a month. Together, we grew as anglers as we shared more time on the water. We got away from closed face spinning gear and bobbers and began throwing small jigs and plastics along with the timeless spinnerbaits and buzzbaits that anglers across the country catch millions of fish with each year. We caught more fish than ever once we started to actually think about how and where we were fishing. Essentially, we began to actually plan our trips and attempt to pattern our target fish. We loved bass and pike and to us they were still hard enough to catch that we had a blast trying to find them even when we came back with a skunk because each trip became a learning experience.

Which brings us to today. . . . . . . The last couple years I have really grown as an angler. I have more tackle than I will ever need or probably use, and travel miles and miles each week to hit new water or chase a bite that I think will be hot for all freshwater species from bass and musky to salmon or catfish. Sometimes these situations result in fish and others just produce a relaxing day on the water. This is a situation common with many anglers who really become passionate about the sport. I have a different rod and reel for each technique and species from bass to musky and salmon. I can’t say that this is really necessary as you can put a $600 combo in anyone’s hand and it does not guarantee fish but with a bigger arsenal confidence can be built, and one thing about fishing I have learned is that confidence means everything.

As anyone from Fishing-Headquarters that has fished with me knows I always have one rod with me to dropshot. It does not matter when, where or what we are fishing for if all else fails I will dropshot for hours and truly believe that it will result in fish. In the end I think that’s what really produces fish; A confidence that you can find them and catch them with. That is what allows for the time to be spent to actally exploring new water and learning as an angler.

So with that confidence in my ability to grow and keep learning more on the water, I don’t plan on slowing down anytime soon. My summers will be spent on lake and ponds and my winters will be geared more towards rivers that do not freeze as I am not a big ice fisherman yet, but see it as another opportunity to keep learning and expanding my angling knowledge. Here I will share my experiences and hopefully help others grow as anglers as well. Enjoy my future posts and hopefully you can take something away from them.