The Fishin’ Line
May 2015
The Oswegoland Fishin’ Fools is a multi-species fishing club. We meet the 1st Monday of each month at 7 PM in the Allied First
Bank Building, 3201 Orchard Road, Oswego Visit us on the Web at: http://www.fishinfools.org
If you have an article to submit, please send it to me at: [email protected] or if you would like help writing an article you
can either email or call me at 630-730-3490. Thanks – Mike Noland
Lake of Egypt Anglers
Soak up Weather
By Danny Cossich
The weather cooperated for the most part
however, as I predicted before leaving to the
event, we did get wet although it didn't
rain until about 4 p.m. on Saturday. The
amazing thing was that it didn't rain on the
South end of the lake and if you were lucky
enough to stay out until it passed over, you
didn't even need your rain gear as we found
out when Mark Corah, John Olivet and
Herman Kunz came motoring in while some
of us stood there soaked.
We had 13 participants for the event. Some
found the Bass and Bluegills while others
couldn't even buy a Bass (although I had
another fisherman from another tournament
offer to give me one, which I kindly
refused).
Mark Corah ran away with the event with a
limit of Bass and Bluegill while wearing out
his fishing partners. Mark, you need to lay off
the energy drinks. Just kidding! Mark shows
us all how to win these events by targeting
multiple species and not just Bass. Although
he caught his limit of Bass, he was mainly
targeting Bluegill and Crappie. This is the
true spirit of Multi-Species fishing. Among
Mark's notable catches was a very nice 18"
Bass and 17 Gills over 8".
Herman Kunz caught an Event Record 11"
Gill which beat last year’s set at Lake of
Egypt by Jim Barton with his 9 1/2" Gill.
Herman also caught the largest Catch of the
Day with a 14" Crappie and Mark Corah
came in second with his 12" Crappie. For
their efforts Herman wins $15 and Mark
Corah wins $10 which is donated by John
Cox.
There was a tie for most species with 3 each
by Mark Corah and Tom Cebula. The
tiebreaker for most species went to Mark with
473.5 inches. Mark wins $10 for most
species which is donated by Danny Cossich.
Tom Cebula caught the longest fish with a
23" Catfish.
Here are the Point Totals:
Lake of Egypt Event
Below are the Angler of the Year Standings:
Angler of the Year 2015
Member's Name Best 4 Events Events Fished
1 Danny Cossich
3201.31
2
2 Mark Corah
2916.84
1
3 Tom Cebula
1541.49
1
4 John Cox
1297.29
1
5 Don De Boer
1162.10
2
6 Herman Kunz
1154.54
1
7 Tom Witzke
1015.88
1
8 John Olivet
940.00
1
9 Hector Benavides
642.87
2
10 Jim Barton
638.48
1
11 Bob Evans
590.00
1
12 Les Gyuricza
540.32
1
13 Jim Frohlich
448.20
1
14 Mark Lutz
390.00
1
15 Jerry Galligar
222.00
1
16 Mike Gossett
177.50
1
17 Frank Gonzales
28.00
1
18 Amy Andrews
0.00
1
19 Paul Rathman, Sr.
0.00
1
Lake of Egypt Event Scoring
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
Mark Corah
Tom Cebula
Herman Kunz
Danny Cossich
Tom Witzke
John Olivet
Jim Barton
Don De Boer
Jim Frohlich
Hector Benavides
Jerry Galligar
Frank Gonzales
Paul Rathman Sr
Event Total
2916.84
1541.49
1154.54
1112.81
1015.875
940
638.48
472.31
448.2
435.1
222
28
0
Free Safety Check
Sunday, May 3rd
The Fishin’ Fools will host a U.S. Coast Guard
Vessel Safety Check on Sunday, May 3rd from 9
AM until 12 PM in the Parking lot of the Hobby
Lobby store on Rte. 34, just east of Douglas Rd.
in Oswego. Tell your boating friends so we can
make the Coast Guard Auxiliary Volunteers (yes
their time is donated) feel they didn’t show up for
a “no show” event.
Please bring your boat (of course) and current
boat registration along with all required safety
equipment for this free courtesy inspection. No
citations will be issued as a result of the
inspection as this is not for purposes of law
enforcement but for the boaters benefit only.
Vessels that pass will be given a Coast Guard
VSC decal.
*S/S = Saturday and Sunday (2 day event) Dinner at
Shaker’s Restaurant after our Ottawa event.
Lodging Directory
If you really want to plan ahead and are going to
Lake Shelbyville May 16 and 17 there are several
choices.
Spillway Motel
217-774-9591
Gregory’s Resort
217-774-4313
Lithia Resort
217-774-2882
Also, John Cox found another option close to
Opossum Creek (where we are required to launch
per our permit under the new State of IL
Tournament Regulations). That is:
March
Whitetail Crossing Cabin Village
2024 County Hwy 5, Shelbyville
Contact Debbie Weishaar at: 217-774-3000
Fish o’ the Month
Winner: Bob Evans
Fish: 30”, 15 lb. 4 oz. Channel Catfish
Location: LaSalle Lake
on: March 28, 2015
Bait: Jointed Rapala Crank-bait (Fire-tiger)
2015 Fishing Events
Date
March 28
April 25-26
May 16-17
June 27-28
July 18
Aug 15-16
Sep 19-20
Oct 17
Location
LaSalle Lake
Lake of Egypt
Lake Shelbyville
Sturgeon Bay
Fox River
Lacrosse Barge
Winneconne
Illinois River - Ottawa
Time
Sat
S/S
S/S
S/S
Sat
S/S
S/S
Sat
Thanks again to John Cox I will have information on
Coon Creek campground including site maps and
Corps of Engineer Maps of the Lake.
June 27 & 28 will find us in Sturgeon Bay, WI.
Last year’s trip was good fun as we attended a
traditional “Fish Boil” at a local eatery that
specializes in them. Several spouses came along for
shopping and sight-seeing and quite a few nice fish
were caught. Try these places for lodging.
Best Western Maritime: 920-743-7231
Super 8: 920-743-9211
For more lodging information, see Dick’s Directory of
Event Hotels. If you don’t have one just ask Dick
Banning or any club officer to send you one.
Herman’s Hints
By: Herman Kunz
For all the years that I have fished and I have seen so
much information become available to the average
fisherman, I still see to this day what I call “garbage”
rigs. So what are garbage rigs? To me a garbage rig is
a fishing line connected to so much terminal tackle
that it makes even the fish laugh. OK, so what is
garbage tackle? It is snaps, swivels, steal leaders, split
shot and all that under a bobber… oops! Bobber is
incorrect. They are now known as “floats”. Anyway,
all this extra equipment while fishing for panfish or
for that matter other species. Just the other day at
our L.O.E. trip in Southern Illinois, we retrieved this
type of rig someone else had hung into a tree and
lost. On that particular rig was a gold hook followed
by “two” snap swivels followed by “two” split shots
and at the top, a bobber that probably wouldn’t have
held up the weight of the other junk hanging on the
line.
Has anyone heard of …”K.I.S.S. “Keep It Simple
Stupid” all of that stuff on the line is almost never
necessary and most times a deterrent to catching
any fish of any quality. Keeping as much tackle off
your line as possible and still getting the job done is
what you want. Tying lures and hooks directly to
your fishing line when possible, using only the
smallest snaps and swivels and only when twisting is
a real possibility and the same goes for split shots
and bobbers. (The guy at L.O.E. had the bobber part
right anyway!) Bottom line here? (a pun?) Use the
thinnest line possible to the smallest hook possible
with the least amount of split shots or weights
possible to get to the fish you are targeting. And
steel leaders? You gotta be kidding! I hate them. I
hate them for a couple of reasons. Number one they
detract from the action of your lures and two they
have a tendency to foul hooks instead of letting the
lure fly true during a cast. The ONLY time to use a
steel leader is when you are pursuing toothy
critters… such as northern pike and musky and
walleyes don’t count. Walleye teeth are cone shaped
without the sharp edge the other two fish have. I
personally hesitate to use steel leaders even on the
sharp toothed fish. I feel a lost fish now and then is
worth more than no action At all. If you use them for
any other fish you are scaring off more fish than you
would normally catch. Soooooooooooo, K.I.S.S. it
guys, and you will catch more fish!!
For Sale
fully loaded, mint condition travel trailer
1999 Nomad 2950 by Skyline Front bedroom, full
kitchen and rear full bath. Has a slide-out with full
size sleeper couch. All fiberglass exterior. We are
original owners and it’s been stored in a heated
bldg. year round. We have not used it since 2007.
Cleanest used camper on the market. Asking $8,000.
Don DeBoer 630-330-3735, [email protected]
*Save your aluminum cans/car batteries to
donate for our club; these help pay for speakers
and club activities.