Sportsman Fishing Club

Enhancing the Environment and Fishing Experience at Shadow Lakes

20 Years | September 2015 | 1994-2014

The next meeting is Sunday

September 20, 2015 17, 2013

Club meetings are held the third Sunday of each

month at the Shadow Lakes Amenity Center.

Meetings begin at 9:00 am Free coffee and donuts are

provided.

Newsletter Peg McQuarters/Tom Lydon

Website/Sue Kielnik

Visit Us On The Web At: www.sportsmanfishingclub.com

Club Mailing Address: Sportsman Fishing Club

Shadow Lakes II 24727 W. Amenity Ctr. Dr.

Wilmington, IL 60481

Officers

President - Tom Lydon Cell (630) 776-1625 tlydon44@gmail.com

Vice President - Fred Cowell Treasurer - Andy Kaminsky

Secretary - Lisa Tullos IDNR - Fred Cowell

Fund Raising - Betty Lydon

AUGUST 2015 FINANCIAL REPORT CLUB BAL 3,092.27 INCOME 1,372.00 SUB-TOTAL 4,464.27 EXPENSES 413.66* TOTAL 4,050.61** ASSOC FUNDS 11,246.25 TTL 2015 funds 15,296.86 * Net plus cash of $958.34 ** $1,000 Stocking deposit ** $ 500 Scholarship

UPCOMING EVENTS

TOTAL MEMBERSHIP 161: PAID 149: DUES TO BE PAID 12

OUR NEXT MEETING IS SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 20TH

SEPT 26TH IS OUR CAT/CARP/OCTOBERFEST

BOAT

REMOVAL FROM

COMMON AREAS BY

OCTOBER 31, 2015: See “Tips

and Tidbits”

We support "Catch Photo & Release" for future generations.

BEST FISHING DAYS FROM FARMERS ALMANAC SOLUNAR TABL ES

SEPTEMBER 16, 17, 23 and 29 and 30th. OCTOBER 3, 4 and 5, 15th, 20, 21 and 22nd, 27 and 28th

FISHING ROUNDTABLE

Mid August just busted out with great bass catches. Two anglers on Aug 21 caught over 30 LMBass, including a 17 and 19 inch and a bonus Trout. The first two weeks of September had reports of more than a dozen LMBass in the 4 to 5 pound range. One 5 lber was caught off the EV fishing pier on 8/24. Many of these bass were taking rubber frog imitations pulled over the weed mats at the edges. In Hawk, on Sept 5, two folks boated about 15 LMBass, most in the 14-16 inch range, but several were over 18 inches. All caught on Wacky Worms or rubber frogs on top of the matted weeds. Crappie were very deep 12-15 foot on live minnows, crappie jigs or Gulp Alive minnow imitations. One Crappie was almost 16 inches. Lot's of nice size gills and plenty of 2 pound cats in the early evenings. All-in-all a nice start to our end of Summer angling. Some Northern Lake anglers said the fish seem to be biting on ALL of our Lakes. Received two recent reports of Albino Cats seen in Hawk and Dinosaur Lakes. We have had a small population of these over the years. They seem to be fewer being seen lately. We did find some for sale in the coming year and may add a small stocking if the price is right next year.

FISH OF THE MONTH: JULY 2015

Our AUGUST 2015 Fish of the Month winner is Kaylee Dwyer. Kaylee has caught a number of LMBass up to 4 and 5 pounds. She is an avid angler and loves the sport. Kaylee also took first place in our Kid's Derby with a total of 11 fish caught in 15 minutes. She has had a great month. See a picture.

Once again, many 4 to 5 pound LMBass were caught using rubber frogs dragged over the weed mats. The Bass explode out of the weeds as they hit the lures.

Our winners thus far in 2015 include: Jan, a 20 inch Walleye through the ice. Feb, a nice Rainbow ice fishing. Mar, a 19 inch, 4+ pound LMBass. April, a 28 inch Musky, May a 23 inch, 7 lb Bass and 10 inch Bluegill. Then an 11 pound 3 ounce Striper. August saw many 3 to 5 pond LMBass being caught. This is a great variety of the most popular fish species in SLKS. Cooler weather is coming, so go fishing! Fish of the Month winners get their pictures on our bulletin board, in our newsletters and on our website. They also get a Fishing Club Hat if they are a Club member. Non-members win a Bass-Pro fishing Cap. This contest, along with EVERY event we sponsor, is open to ALL Shadow Lakes residents and their family members, whether they are a Club member or not. KIDS FISHING DERBY Sunday Sept 6th, we held our Children's Derby at the FV Rearing pond by gate two. Kay and Dennis Bembenek helped out once again this year, These two veteran Club members have been the backbone of this event for several decades, The Club presented them with a plaque to say "THANKS" to Kay and Dennis. We had many other volunteers who helped out at this event and worked to keep the pond clean and neat. The Maglones, McQuarters, Bill McGuire, our maintenance crew John and Joe. And a special thanks to Bill Grabowski, who reset all of the fishing stations for our youngsters.

We had a pretty warm day and we still had 30 anglers who caught close to 200 fish. Apparently some of our planted Bluegills spawned, so we had a lot of smaller fish. None of the larger stocked Catfish were caught.....probably because they had lots of Gill fry to feed on all Summer. We will add more Cats to cut down on the fry population. All of these fish have been surviving in the pond over the winter for the last two years Let's see how this winter is? The derby winners were: Six and under; 1st place, Ben Steuer; 2nd was a tie with Drew Wojnowiak and Hunter Janes. Ages 7-8 & 9; 1st place with 22 fish was Noah Willemin, 2nd was Alden Willemin with 13 fish and 3rd place was Brady Maha with 10 fish. Ages 10-11 & 12; 1st place Kaylee Dwyer with 11 fish, 2nd place was Caleb Maracle with 7 fish and 3rd place was a tie with Allisa Drynnan and Ray Gonzalez with 6 fish each.

SEE THEIR PICTURES ON A LATER PAGE. AUGUST 16th, 2015 MEETING - 42 MEMBERS, INCLUDED 8 YOUNG ANGLERS BUSINESS Following up on a personal situation: we were finally able to get my 94 year old Aunt into a Nursing Home. We will now be emptying and selling her home in the coming months. TREASURER'S REPORT: See August report above. POAC: next meeting is Sept 19th at 9 AM at the Community Center. BOARD: Meeting was Aug 22nd at 9 AM at the Community Center. Strong Cash & Reserves of $665,000. COMMON AREA BOAT REMOVALS BY OCT 31 WAS STRESSED. DNR: Fall stocking prices and orders are being firmed up. Updates on availability of Crayfish. OLD BUSINESS A discussion on the poor turnout of BW 1st responders was held. If we do it again in 2016, we may join Activity’s Family Day. A decision will be made in Nov as we set our 2016 calendar. Fish limits discussion; on Walleye, we will have both a low and high end slot size. The previous Walleye slot at SLKS was 15 to 17 inches, with a 2 fish limit. This was years ago, and may be where we wind up next year. Carp kill contest. The Club did not endorse a Carp kill policy. Thanks to the volunteers who helped clean and set-up the rearing pond. The pump, waterfall and solar lights were hooked up, everything trimmed and the fishing stands reset. See list of helpers in the Derby article. NEW BUSINESS A $1,000 donation was made to the Club by Harry Paulson, Marko Silva and Hank Seehoffer. They ran a pool fundraiser on baseball’s Al-Star game. A big "Thank You" to these Club members.

CAT/CARP OCTOBERFEST

Saturday Sept 26th, we will hold our fifth annual big fish round-up and Oktoberfest. Cats & Carp (we hope) brats, Sauer kraut, Hot German potatoe salad, strudel, beer (root) and all things German. Last year, over 60 folks joined us for a really fun evening at the Common area in TMV. Don't miss out on this event. Cost $3 for a single or $5 a couple for dinner and or fishing. Sides/desserts welcomed.

Plans are being discussed to hold a "Panfish Round-up" next year instead of a LMBass tourney. A discussion on ways to improve fishing around the EV fishing pier may have resulted in a possible permanent fix of poly tarp placed around the pier. It will be presented to the Board for budgeting. Cat/Carp Oktoberfest: Various Cat/Carp chumming recipes were discussed. Also, limiting the noise level at the point during the heats. This event is one of our most fun events of the year. Join us! The Novy Rd fish barrier issue with Claypool has been resolved. Eel grass and Lilly Pad expansion is creating long-term problems and we may have to have a removal effort in 2016 with support from our DNR Biologist.

CLUB OFFICER'S 2016 ELECTION The Club will select our 2016 Officers at this meeting. Andy Kaminsky will not be our Treasurer in 2016. He is getting more involved with the Braidwood Lions Club an the Park District, We want to thank Andy and Mary Kaminsky for their years of support of the Fishing Club. The book keeping is well organized and easy to pick-up. If anyone is interested in this position, please let me know by the September 19th meeting. Fred Cowell, Lisa Tullos and I will continue in our roles, if voted in. Betty, Peg and Sue Kielnik will continue in their current roles. Anyone else wanting to run, please contact me.

BEST FALL BASS LURES Fall is the time to take advantage of the best baits for bass when the lakeshores are extra pretty, most waters are less crowded than they have been and temperatures feel good through the middle of the day. The best thing about fall bass fishing to any serious angler is simply that the action tends to be good. The bass prefer the moderated temperatures, too, and they are getting fueled up for tougher days ahead. So how do you best take advantage of the opportunity? Various approaches can produce fish during the fall, but some of the very

best offerings come from your bag of soft-plastic lures. Let’s look at a handful of the best types of soft lures for this time of year, examining how to rig and present each. SWIMBAITS In the realm of soft-plastic lures, nothing imitates baitfish better than a soft swimbait colored and sized to match the local baits. Along with providing a great imitation of the bass’ favorite fall meal, a swimbait allows you to work quickly, which can be important during the fall, when bass find comfortable conditions in a big range of areas. Although swimbaits can be used to probe a big range of depths, the best fall opportunities normally are for shallow fish that are feeding on bait that you can see, often over flats. The best presentation, generally speaking, comes from a steady retrieve, with the baits swimming within a few feet of the surface. Swimbait styles that work well are hollow-bodied baits like YUM Money Minnows, solid paddle-tailed baits like Big Hammer Swimbaits and flat-sided baits like Sebile Soft Swimmers. Depending on fish depth and aggressiveness and the style of swimbait selected, baits can be rigged with various jigheads and weighted hooks. Jighead rigging offers an open hook point, which provides an advantage for hooking fish. For clear water, use white-sided swimbaits with blue, green/black backs. JERKBAITS In addition to at least one swimbait, keep a soft-plastic jerkbait rigged and ready. Sometimes fish that won’t quite commit to a steadily moving swimbait find it difficult to resist a jerkbait, which moves more slowly and erratically but still suggests a bait. Use the jerkbait as an alternative offering when bait fish are plentiful in shallow water, but the bass won’t take a swimbait. Grab the jerkbait rod first when you see fish breaking on the surface or baitfish that appear to be fleeing predators, up to the shoreline. Often the best depth to work a soft-plastic jerkbait during the fall is just out of your sight, that means fishing the lure shallower. Rig the bait weightless, either weedless with an offset worm hook or nose hooked with circle hook, and work it with twitches and pauses. Experiment with cadences. Sometimes the fish favor fairly steady action, like a sub-surface version of walking the dog. Other times a better approach is to do a few quick twitches and then let the bait free fall for a few seconds before

twitching it again. Think about what you have been doing whenever fish bite, and always watch behind your lure as you are working it. If you get glimpses of followers that won’t quite commit, chances are good that you are close to the right offering and presentation and that changing colors or altering the speed or cadence a bit could be the ticket. Fish your jerkbait on spinning tackle so that you can use lighter line and make longer casts. Again, stick with color patterns that reflect our panfish. FROGS In the minds of many fisherman, fall is frog time. Given the savage surface strikes, often through vegetation that flies in every direction, it is an addictive style of fishing. Frog fishing heats up in the fall because the fish feed aggressively and much available forage hangs close to the surface. On lakes that have pads or grass that mat across the surface, during the fall this vegetation tends to be thick and full of aquatic insects, which begin the food chain, consequently attracting feeding bass. Contrary to popular perception, frog-imitating soft -plastic lures are not exclusively for fishing matted grass. Although frogs work exceedingly well for mat fishing, they also bring bass to the top around emergent grass, beside laydowns and docks and even in open water. Also flying in the face of popular thought, a frog lure doesn’t necessarily represent a frog to the fish. Many of the best grass mats sound like a bowl of Rice Krispies because of bluegills “snapping up” aquatic insects from the grass, and the bass are likely keyed in on the bluegills cruising right at the surface. Other times, the bass just react to movement or to the popping or waking of the frog bait as it dances across the surface. Today’s frogs provide far more options than existed even a few years ago. Many modern frogs have very soft bodies and come with excellent hooks, allowing for far better hook-up ratios than used to be the case. They also come in a big range of sizes and shapes, with some rattling models and some silent models, and some that are made to hop straight while others walk side to side or pop on the top. Consider the thickness of the cover, what you think the bass are eating and the size of the bass in the waters you are fishing and choose your frog carefully. For fishing heavy vegetation use solid colors, like black and white, which offer contrast and are easy for the bass to find. Where thinner grass or even open water give the bass a better look at the offering, use natural color patterns that imitate frogs or bluegills and are somewhat more subtle in appearance. FLIPPING BAITS If the fish won’t come up through the grass to feed, an alternative is to go after them with a soft-plastic crawfish or creature bait, Texas rigged with a enough weight to get down through the cover. Don’t spend a lot of time with the bait in any given spot. Drop it down and pay careful attention during the initial fall. Then hop it ju st a time or two before lifting it and making your next pitch. This approach commonly yields big fish, use a stouter rod and heavier line. If you’re flipping or pitching, choose a crawfish with big floppy claws like a Strike King Rage Craw or a creature bait with big paddles and plenty of appendages such as a Gene Larew HooDaddy. For thick vegetation, you want a more compact bait that you can punch through the cover and get down among the fish. Patterning is critical for this style of fishing. When a lake has lily pads and matted vegetation, everything looks like it should hold fish. But, watch for little points and cuts in weed lines and pay attention to things like bottom depth changes and the presence of baitfish. FINESSE WORMS Finally, don’t overlook the sheer strike-producing virtue a simple straight tailed worm. Even during the fall, when fish typically put on the feedbag, conditions ranging from an early front to heavy fishing pressure to a lake turning over can put the bass in a funk and make them tough customers. However, even a fussy fish has trouble resisting a finesse worm. With its small profile and slow wavering action, such a worm simply looks like an easy meal. The Wacky Rig is very successful in our clear water lakes. Beyond looking vulnerable, a finesse worm such as Zoom Worm is really versatile in the ways it can be presented. Probably the most popular way to work shoreline slopes in the fall is to rig the worm weedless on a 1/8- or 1/16-ounce jighead and present it with a combination of shakes, hops, drags and pauses. Arguably the most often forgotten technique is to drag a Carolina rig with a 1/2- to 1-ounce weight, 2 to 4 feet in front of a weedless finesse worm. Carolina rigging allows you to cover a tremendous amount of water without moving the lure quickly and to work a

broad range of bottom depths. The same finesse worm also works as a subtler alternative to a soft-plastic jerkbait when you rig it weightless and weedless and cast it on light spinning tackle. Skip it under docks and other cover and work it with short twitches and punctuated pauses. In terms of finesse worm colors, lacking reason to choose something different, it’s hard to beat green pumpkin as an all-around producer. It is easy for fish to find in most water colors but has a natural appearance. If the water is extra clear, a more translucent natural color such as watermelon seed might a better choice. At the opposite end of the spectrum. Try these lures for great Fall fishing.

FALL CATFISH TIPS Catfish are freshwater fish that thrive in lakes in temperate climates. To be good at catching catfish, you need to know what they like to eat, where they dwell, and which techniques entice them to take the bait. Read on for catfish-catching tips that will ensure you won't leave with an empty cooler. The size of the rod you use should be determined by the size of the fish. For fish under 20 pounds, use a six-foot rod with at least a 10-pound test line. Longer rods are better for bank fishing, as opposed to a boat, since they offer greater reach. When it comes down to it, all you really need are sharp fishhooks and slip-sinker weights, but some of the other accessories are nice to have. Glow-in-the-dark bobbers can come in handy when you're fishing at night. You'll also need buckets and coolers to hold your bait and any catfish you'll be bringing home. Experiment with different types of bait. Some catfish enthusiasts swear by a specific type of bait, but the truth is that catfish will eat many different things. For your first few catfish expeditions, take a few different types of bait, so you can find out what the catfish like to eat. Try some of these options: Try cut baits. They release oils that attract catfish. You can also use live baitfish that haven't been cut. These won't release oil as readily, but they may be more appealing to catfish since they're alive. Experiment to see which one is better. Small 3 to 5 inch Gills work great for large cats. Try night crawlers. If you don't want to make a run to the bait shop, you can use chicken livers or pieces of corn or even chunks of hot dogs. Try an artificial bait. There are dozens of artificial catfish baits sold at sporting goods stores, many of which claim to have a magic ingredient for which catfish go wild. However, expert fishermen say that the best fish are caught with real, live bait. Keep your bait fresh. Catfish aren't going to eat baits that have been sitting out, so you'll need to store them in a bait cooler to keep them cold during the hours you'll be spending on the water. Keep night crawlers in a container inside a cooler, cut baitfish on ice and live baitfish in a minnow bucket.

TIPS AND TIDBITS � Boat removal from all Common areas: The Association is requiring ALL boats, canoes, etc., to be removed from

these areas by Oct 31st. After that the Assoc. will remove them as a cost of $50. � Two SLKS sightings of a "Bobcat" have been recently reported within our conservation areas. BOATS FOR SALE: -Pontoon: 714 Gil-getter, asking $4,500. new '13 E-Drive, few hours, at TMV152, call Ed at 815 458-2431. -12 foot aluminum v-hull with trailer $150. See the boat across from EV 54. Ask for Rich or Sue at EV 54. -9 foot Coleman Crawdad fiberglass 2 seater, $125, see the boat at FC 234, ask for Jonnie or Jo. � Unattended fishing lines: some recent incidents raise the question of leaving lines out in the water with no one

attending them. The Homeowners guide-book addresses this issue: "Unattended fishing lines may not be left in the water. Fine: Class D; warning permitted."

� When feeding fish from your deck or dock, try to be considerate of nearby anglers trying to fish. When you feed fish, they are drawn in from a very large area, messing up angling for your neighbors.

� At the Sept 20th meeting, we will review species that the Club stocked that have failed or disappeared. � CAUTION: Mosquitoes now found with West Nile Virus in Will County. Please empty all standing water.

Sportsman Fishing Club 24727 W. Amenity Center Drive Wilmington, IL 60481

Sportsman Fishing Club

Membership Application for 2015 $35.00 for Individual or Family Household

Please provide the following information for Club records and newsletter mailing purposes:

Date: ______________________ Renew: ________________ New Member :__________________ Name(s): _____________________________________________________Lot #:: _____________ Home Address: ___________________________________________________________________ City: __________________________________ State: ___________ Zip: _____________________ Home Phone: ( ) Shadow Lakes Phone: (_____)___________________

E-Mail address (only needed if you wish to receive the Club Newsletter by e-mail)

I will view Newsletter on Web Site ___________ Please mail newsletter ___________ Membership dues cover the calendar year 2015

� Bring this form to the next meeting and make check payable to: The Sportsman Fishing Club � Mail to: Sportsman Fishing Club, 24727 W. Amenity Center Drive, Wilmington, IL 60481

� Drop off the application and payment in the Association office