Gravel Pits

[ILfishinman]

I have found this lake called shadow lake in River bend forest preserve in champaign illinois. the numbers on this lake are great, according to illinois game and fish magzine. 28 acres, 220 bass an hour by electro fishing many in the 16 inch range and some over 20 inches. not a whole lot of people fish there cause its about a mile hike to get there. there are a few long points we waded on carful not to get too close to the edges because they drop straight down. there are a couple coves which are id say about 7 feet deep max. to get to some parts of the pond you have to get your feet wet. we saw some fish cruising about 15 inchers but none of them bit anything. i had a few mean strikes early on a spook close to the banks but no hook-ups. any ways i was wondering if you guys had any tips on how to fish this lake. oh btw its spring fed but the creek is VERY shallow. (fed by the sangamon river)

[BassMoJo]

Put a rubber worm on and work it around the drop offs just bring it up and down slowly and something will take it !

[Snake2715]

Get pictures next time your out sounds neat.

[ILfishinman]

i will try to steal my bros digi cam next time i go

[ILfishinman]

http://www.ccfpd.org/RB%20map%2005.pdf
there is a link to a map of the place. i am talking about the small one named shadow lake. as you can see its a bit of a walk to it. you have to enter on the south side of the lake. and towards the end of your hike you have to go thru a field of tall grasses.

[FishySkater]

I would have to agree on the Rubber worm. But if that doesnt work then try getting one out to the middle of the lake or try and find out where the deepest part of the lake is. Try throwing your line there and letting it sink. Just reel it in nice and slow and see if anything bites.

[ILfishinman]

i tried the tiki stick waky riged while i was there didnt work. tried 3 colors also. they just werent biting but wanted to get some tips for my next time out.

[FishySkater]

I would try alll different kinds of rubber worms. When i go out somewhere if i dont get any bites within about ten casts i try something different. Also try the worms without any weight on them i dont know if it will work but ive heard that some bass go crazy for that if they see them flapping up above the water like that.

[ILfishinman]

yea i tried a bunch of different worms texas and weightless

[FishySkater]

Then i dont know what to say. Try everything again in different areas and try some different topwater lures and see what happens. Whenever nothing works for me i just try for real worms. Also something that i find works really well is catching a little fish Sunny, Bluegill, etc. and cutting it open i put its guts on a treble hook with a bobber and throw it out into the middle of the lake. My friend does the same thing but with a fish head on a big hook. Doesnt work as good as the guts do but i would try it anyway cant hurt.

[ILfishinman]

well we can only get to a 100-150 yd stretch of bank unless we want to swim a little. we tried to get to another bank but we were lost for like 20 mins in a real think area of little 1 inch thick 8 ft tall trees. i had a few hits on a spook but no takers.the magazine said they were being taken on plastic worms and small cranks. we tried both.

[FishySkater]

I dont know what to say then. i would just try the other things i mentioned above.

[BassAddict]

Most of the ponds I fish are old gravel pit ponds. Water clearity varies with all of them as well as depth. The deeper ponds I do well with deep diving crankbaits and C-rig plastics. The shallower ponds I catch most fish on jigs and spinnerbait as well as topwater. Most of the bigger fish I'm catching right now are in the deepest parts of the ponds around sunken brushpiles or some type of cover. Good luck to you... hope you get a hawg!

Eric

[ILfishinman]

well i dont know of any cover. the shoreline is pretty empty exept there are a few sticks and there are lots of rocks. bassaddict, do you recomend just throwing it as far into the middle of the pond as i can? or going parralel to the shorline or up the points?

[JB]

If you have rocks there are several deadly patterns you can try, one is to throw a shad rap #5 or #7 parallel to the rocks, as close as you can get to the edge...another is to throw the 1/6th size crawdad brown bomber a few feet away from the rocks edge, and let it backup when you stop reeling, then continue reeling, the lure comes up pretty fast, and is small in size.

[ILfishinman]

sweet i will try that next time JB, thanx

[IL.bassin]

I fish alot of coal pits here in SO ILL. It's not as simple as what to throw. You gotta understand what they're doing.

Like Bassaddict said water clarity is the key. When you have little cover and clear water the fish seem to suspend on the dropoffs or go all the way to the bottom of the dropoff. At least when you have these bright sunny days weve been having.
IMO. Your best bet is to go in the morning or an hour or 2 before dark. If you get an overcast day especially one with a little wind, things should pick up.

On the sunny days I would leave the shallower stuff alone. Look for weedbeds and fish the outside edge of them. Get a carolina rig and drag the bottom to find something for the fish to relate to. It could be a big rock, a hump, pretty much anything.

Clear water fishing is pretty tough, don't give up.

[ILfishinman]

well there isnt ANY vegitation. and the park opens at 8 so thats the earlyest i can get there then about another 20 mins to walk. and i dont really want to go at dark cause we have cyotes around here and there are dens around the lake, so im not to comfortable about going at dusk

[FishySkater]

Coyotes lol thats crazy. hook one and take a picture of it.

[ILfishinman]

um id rather not.
gimmie a pistol and ill do it but not with a fishin pole

[FishySkater]

lol yeah i have top agree with you on that one. Do ytou think that you can take some pics of the lake and post them on here though. i want to see what it looks like. i bet you can get soem good suggestions if you show everyone what it looks like.

[ILfishinman]

well the next time i will go might be next week. since i cant take my mom out there since she has allerrgys and you can just see the pollen flying in the air. plus she wouldnt walk all that way to go fishing. i really can only go with keith who comes down from chi-town about once a month. but i will be sure to steal my bros cam when we go next time tho

[FishySkater]

Thanks i really want to see those pics it sounds really nice.

[IL.bassin]

Originally Posted by ILfishinman

well there isnt ANY vegitation. and the park opens at 8 so thats the earlyest i can get there then about another 20 mins to walk. and i dont really want to go at dark cause we have cyotes around here and there are dens around the lake, so im not to comfortable about going at dusk

Sorry I ran a few thoughts together in one of the paragraphs.

If there is no fishable vegetation then get a Carolina rig and drag it along the bottom looking for something for the fish to relate to. This can be but not limited to rockpiles, humps, indentions in the bottom pretty much anything really. This is just a starting point. For example. You may find a pile of bigger rocks with the C-rig but not get a bite. Don't abandon the pile. Throw other stuff at it like the deep diving crank or whatever you prefer.

As far as the coyotes there have only been 18 recorded attacks in the last 12 years. Most were in Arizona and California and all victims were small children. There has never been a reported attack in Illinois. Maybe the victims never made it out of the woods alive Really though dont worry about them.

[JB]

We have coyotes all over the place in ohio, they sound like a gang rape going on when they start yappin...lucky for us tho, the season opens in mid sept. and they are prone to hitting sammys, like this one did...
they put up a pretty good fight let me tell you..
any of you more experienced vetern anglers have any good coyote stories?