Island Lake Hawgs
Last weekend, to reward ourselves after a day of building new fencing for the horses, we decided to head to Island Lake Conservation Area in Orangeville to hunt for some bass.
This was my first trip to Island Lake in the summer and I was pleased to find a nice boat launch and reasonable admittance fees. While we took our own boat, many people chose to rent one of the conservation area’s many aluminum boats and canoes. Since there are no gas motors allowed we made sure to throw an electric motor on the back to help the trolling motor pull us around.
The sun was already inching high in the sky as we launched and there were many other people on the lake taking advantage of the beautiful weather.
Cody got the first bite of the day when he pulled in a hungry little sunfish that wanted his white mini-king, and as we moved along it was more of the same. No big bites, just a few sunfish and rock bass. I had been promised big fish and I was getting impatient.
A couple of hours passed and we threw a variety of different baits with little luck. I finally decided to tie on the go-to bait – a Rapala Husky Jerk in Tennessee Shad. Jerk, jerk, jerk…wham! Before I knew it I was reeling in a decent largemouth. It wasn’t a hawg but it made the day much happier all of a sudden. After releasing my first bass of the day I took a couple more casts and then again…wham!…another nice bass.
I was thrilled to finally have caught some bass and was in a much better state of mind when I once again tossed out my lure and hooked a tiny pike.
My little pike that Darrell had to unhook.
We eventually drifted out of this productive area into one that looked like it had to be a hawg factory. There were underwater stumps everywhere and promising looking weed patches. Talk about structure!
We all took turns tossing small jigs in amongst the stumps and ended up with a rock bass bonanza.
A nice rock bass double-header for Cody and Darrell.
It was great fun yet, still not what I was looking for. But then we moved on to the weed patches and lily pads over by the shore and I decided to tie on my absolute favorite lure – a Scum Frog.
There are a lot of frogs available on the market, but in my opinion you just can’t beat a Scum Frog. The bass love them and my wallet appreciates them. My biggest bass have all come on a Scum Frog.
I decided to take a long cast and worked the frog back to the boat slowly. I was just looking at the frog when there was a splash of water and my frog disappeared. Woohoo!!! Anyone who spends time tossing a frog understands the adrenaline rushing through my system at that moment. I set the hook as hard as I could and started reeling. He put up a great fight before ending up in the net.
My hawg for the day, and he sure wasn't the biggest one in there!
I let this guy go and two casts later another bass decided my frog looked tasty. He was smaller than the first but another great fight. After releasing him I really had to concentrate on slowing down my retrieve…the adrenaline was running!
We moved along the shoreline, I took the boat into spots so that I could cast exactly where I wanted, I’ll admit I wasn’t really thinking about whether or not it meant Darrell or Cody got a good cast 🙂
Both Darrell and I managed to lose even bigger fish. I had one just sip up the frog and the moment he felt the hooks, dived for the weeds. I couldn’t make any ground and eventually this monster got off. I was definitely cursing for a few minutes!
In the end we had a fantastic day. The only blip was the 3 canoes that managed to run into the boat because the people in them had no idea what they were doing. I’m all for people getting out and trying new things, but how hard is it to figure out that sitting still and shrieking will not steer your canoe?
I got over that momentary frustration by remembering the incredible fish we caught that day. I can’t wait to go back and get some more!
argosgirl
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Awesome read! I fish Island Lake on the regular! I like it there a lot. Search Angler Gang on facebook a lot of the bass pics are from Island Lake oh and all the small pike lol.. Maybe we will see you out there 😉
Just checked out the Facebook page (you’ve got a new fan). Nice pics!
Great catch(es)!!! I used to love the scum frog as well…and then I tried the live target. 😉
Seriously? Three different canoes managed to run into you? Is your boat made of magnets?
Boat doesn’t have magnets but apparently silly little girls who know nothing about a canoe like to hit the boat. It was unreal. It always happened by the dock and there wasn’t anywhere else for the boat to go.
I had a Live Target frog…threw it for 30 minutes and my line broke, leaving the frog on the water. I wasn’t too upset. I might buy another one in the future but the Scum Frogs work every time and come in all the colors I need…why mess with a good thing 🙂
Awesome! Thanks, I will be following your blog.