Met up with a fellow Illinois species hunter for the first time a few weekends ago. Slow day at the power plant cooling lake near my house, but he managed a nice sized lifer blue cat.
He brought a landing mat, which is something I admit I have not used before. It was actually pretty handy as far as keeping grass and dirt off the fish so it would be nice and clean for some photos.
All I could catch were dinky carp, over and over and over, haha.
Last weekend I took a coworker fishing for the first time. He's straight from Ghana, so this was a good culture shock for him, interacting with other fisherman, using rod & reel, and catch & release fishing. Naturally his first catch was a bluegill.
Biggest carp of the day might have broke double digits, but we didn't weigh it. I had promised him buffalo, but strangely they didn't make an appearance.
My surprise catch of the day was a walleye that picked up a nightcrawler off the bottom. We saw three muskies caught by guys fishing out of boats. As the temps drop they should start feeding heavily for a few weeks, so I may get out again to see if I can get one from shore.
