"Never Give Up!"

Bass pro Mike Iaconelli lives by those words, and I have to say my friend, Ron, epitomizes the same kind of devotion. Nearly every evening, and sometimes both morning and evening, finds him taking his kayak to a local body of water in search of all species of fish. What follows are the reports from his latest three trips:

Sunday, Oct. 23, 2016

He launched at Milldam about 3 p.m., with the water level dropping at the time. However, the winds soon shifted, and before he knew it, the water was on the rise again.

Ron proceeded to fish both Milldam and Snake Creeks, where he landed six bass, including a 1-2, 1-3, 1-4, 1-7, 1-14, and a dink. All of his strikes came in the main creek or river, especially on points. "Every time I ventured into feeder creeks," he said, "the bite stopped. I missed more than I caught; they were short-striking the topwater stuff."

Ron went on to report that most of the grass is gone from these two creeks. He also noted that it got a bit chilly at sunset, but still, all in all, was a good evening.

Monday, Oct. 24, 2016

Both Ron and his son, Alex, headed out this beautiful evening to Lake Tecumseh about 5 p.m. and fished until 7 o'clock. Alex scored first with a dink, followed by a 2-lb. 0.5-oz. bass. Ron soon responded with a dink and 1-13 bass of his own, along with a very small crappie.

While dangling a beetle spin on a bobber, in hopes of catching some more crappie, Ron's pole suddenly doubled over, then went slack as he grabbed for it. He never had a chance to see what it was but thinks it was a gar, because he had been seeing them lurking about for a spell. "Both Alex and I lost decent-sized pickerel that gobbled up our Whopper Ploppers," Ron also reported.  

As the duo headed to the ramp for recovery, Ron was trolling when, about dead center of the lake, with no grass, lily pads or structure around, drag started to pay out. "I assumed I was snagged," he said, "but I quickly learned, instead, that I had hooked a nice 2-0."  

"Always good to get out and fish, and it helps to catch a couple," concluded Ron.

Tuesday, Oct. 25, 2016

"Well, it was inevitable" is how Ron started tonight's email before subsequently explaining, "I fished Lovitt's this evening, and the bite was non-existent. The water was flowing out steadily, very clear water, minimal grass in the main creek, but no bass were interested in the offerings. Tried a variety of lures but just couldn't find a bite."

Ron went on to say he managed to catch three very, very small, non-taco white perch (see accompanying photo) on a small crankbait.

The large grass beds are still intact at the bay entrance both north and south, according to tonight's report, and Ron said he spoke with a guy in a canoe who said he had suffered a broken rod on a BIG bass while throwing a Ribbit over the grass earlier today. According to his telling, the bass was at least 8 lbs. He also mentioned that, yesterday, he had caught about 20 bass while working the grass beds and said the shad were active--none of which Ron saw this evening.

"Pretty chilly out there...hopefully, I can find a better bite tomorrow." He also assured me that he'll be armed with gloves and a hat.