Jackson: Light tackle, stealthy approach make for fun season

After the ice had left early last spring, I was climbing the walls to get outdoors and renew my faith in life's fascinating turns and twists.

One of those turns led me to a couple of mud-hole ponds in western DuPage County, where last year's cat tails stood guard all around the edge of one of them. Most every pond in the metro area holds some kind of promise. I've been fortunate to have "farmed" quite a few good ones.

The ground was extremely wet and muddy, and I was glad I brought a space blanket as a barrier between my backside and the ground.

Over the last two years I've tried something new - to me, that is. I just sit or quietly stand while concealing myself, taking several minutes to observe what's happening on a pond's surface, along with the margins.

On this outing I watched as a small school of minnows shot to the surface and was consumed by some larger fish. Those hungry eaters were crappies. I tied a small spinner to my mono and made a cast in to the middle of the commotion. Three crappies later I considered it was enough action for this pond and left.

My next stop was in Bensenville, behind an abandoned office building. I had been there once before and tried fishing the pond but was told to leave by a security guard. There wasn't anyone around this time, nor was there any scattered ice.

Once again I sat and observed, but this time I failed to see any surface action.

I tossed the 1/16th-ounce spinner parallel to the bank and a scrappy bluegill immediately grabbed it. I caught and released a dozen more panfish before I packed it in.

Back in my truck, I realized what fun those two ponds had afforded me, so I drove north into Hoffman Estates.

The next pond was a larger body of water situated behind an apartment complex. I followed my same routine, only this time I threw a tiny plastic grub impaled on a 1/16th-ounce jig head. A 9-inch largemouth bass grabbed the rig and took off to the west. It was a delightful tussle on an ultralight rig. I had to be back home so I packed it in.

I repeated the ritual the next day in Kane County with similar results.

Day 3 found me on the bank of the Fox River in South Elgin. The snowmelt and associated runoff had the current roaring. I had a medium-action, 6½-foot spinning rod rigged with an 1/8-ounce chartreuse jig. The live bait was a 3-inch minnow. Once again I dropped the setup very close to the bank and waited as the current picked it up and bounced it around.

Twenty seconds later the line went slack. I knew a fish had grabbed the offering. I closed the bail, put my index finger on the line so as to hopefully detect a strike and then set the hook. A 10-inch smallmouth bass took to the air and tried to make its way to Aurora - to no avail.

I caught two more small fish from that spot, but because the water clarity was lacking I called it a day. It was like that all year, meaning my experiments were successful, with a variety of species succumbing to small offerings and stealthy approaches.

Despite the early season and cold conditions, it was some really hot fishing. My notepad runneth over with thoughts from at least four dozen local excursions.

It was a great year.

Fishing report:

Fox Chain: Open water in many areas-but T-Channel icers catching a few fish. Walleyes still going for live bait at the Grass Lake Road bridge.

Lake Michigan: Perching fair, with better takes on the far south end.

Fox River: Crappie being caught in channels just off the Route 176 bridge.

• Contact Mike Jackson at angler88@comcast.net, catch his radio show 7-9 a.m. Sundays on WGCO 1590-AM (live-streamed at www.1590WCGO.com) and get more content mikejacksonoutdoors.com.