Thread: Rend Lake 8/30/09

Yesterday, my son and I went out with Nick Shafer on Rend Lake. We try and get together at least a couple of times a year to fish where I can spend time with my son and best friend doing what we three enjoy - spending time together and catching fish!

We started out going for White Bass as temps were just breaking 50 degrees around sunrise. And the weatherman was a tad off in his projections for the day as instead of slight winds we had 7 to 10 MPH right off the bat! We hit the first area where it was impossible to hold the Skeeter boat in place as the Minn Kota kept bobbing out of the water and fanning the air every other wave, so the anchor went out and it was just enough to hold us near the White Bass. It took us awhile to get on the "X" but we ended up with a dozen or so keepers and threw back twice as many. Besides the wind and waves making life difficult (and holding the boat even near the school of Bass) was the fact both my son and me had limited experience with a spinning reel – I told you I am a born again fisherman!!

While I could cast pretty good, most of the time it was a huge loop with 100 foot of line to get 30 foot from the boat. Fortunately, my son took to training himself rather quickly and was able to get the hang of it and began catching a few. It was a little intimidating when Nick caught six fish on his first six casts but we soon caught on, if not catching up, and I even had a double!!!

Anyway, it was over too soon as the White Bass began to move off the area and it was time to chase Crappie! Now last time we went with Nick back in November my son caught a new state record Yellow-White Bass Hybrid, so the pressure was on!!

Ah, the wind. It was pretty harsh as it made it extremely difficult to hold on a spot and crossing from spot to spot was a real challenge if not a ball-breaker! I still find it amazing how people like Nick can recall all the spots he does and how to get to them, especially when some of them are almost invisible upon approach but he does! And in contrast to elsewhere I have been this summer, all of our fish were caught in 2’ to 4’ and not in deep waters at all – and that includes the Catfish, Bluegill and Smallmouth Bass.

The White Bass were taken exclusively on jigs and the rest on minnows. We fished from around 7 AM to after 4 PM and even though my son and I had little sleep the night before, we could have gone till dark but was thankful for the special times with a good friend and being together as a family. The fish are a by-product, albeit an excellent by-product, but the time spent with people you respect and your own children are times well spent in my book!

Thanks Nick for making my birthday special and allowing my son and me to spend time together to create new memories…

They were large mouth bass not small mouth Bob and I had a good time as well glad you and John had a good time. Well I am off to a dove field talk to you later. Nick

Originally Posted by Mean Green 2

They were large mouth bass not small mouth Bob and I had a good time as well glad you and John had a good time. Well I am off to a dove field talk to you later. Nick

Hey, I was tired and the hour late so I didn't cross-reference with you....

Hope your hunt went well!

Great job...the wind at rend is brutal when it blows. Also suprised at the shallow depth of the crappie. Glad you had a good day.

That is one of the best messes of fish we have seen posted in a while. How long does it take for you to get to Rend and what is your route? I went down with my wife to just get out of the house last weekend and all the boats we saw were south of the 154 bridge.

those crappie are on the SMALL side for sure.

Originally Posted by sparky197

That is one of the best messes of fish we have seen posted in a while. How long does it take for you to get to Rend and what is your route? I went down with my wife to just get out of the house last weekend and all the boats we saw were south of the 154 bridge.

I go down I-55 to #33 mile marker and catch Route 4# south to I-64 right into Mt. Vernon. From my door to Nick's is right at 140 miles and I live just outside Springfield.

If you are in Bloomington, I would look at going over to I-57 south there.

As for their size, many were not big by any stretch but they were keepers and several were very nice size - at least for me!

Right now I have a 1 gallon & 1 pint container filled AND another half-gallon zip lock full of fillets, so I am a happy camper!

you got pics of the big ones?

All but 2 of the crappie are over 9" and the 2 that were under were hooked deep and going to die any way. No we didn't have any big ones but we had a nice mess to eat and we had fun and that is what we went to do.

Nice mess there Zettler. Good job. Big or small, you had a nice time and spent it with people that count. Way to go!!!