Sarley: Don’t pack up your fishing gear for the season just yet

It’s mid-November and many people are already packing up their fishing equipment for the year and putting it into storage. That is a major mistake, my friends.

Some of the biggest fish of the year can be caught right now, up until the ice forms on the water. You may not catch the large numbers of fish that you are used to bagging, but this is certainly the time of year to go hunting for a trophy.

Fish get lethargic once winter begins, so they tend to feed voraciously. They like bigger baits in all shapes and flavors. I personally prefer dark-colored lures at this time of year, but that is not a hard-and-fast rule.

I think it is really important to vary the speed of your retrieve when you are bringing in your bait. I would probably reel in quickly and then slow down if I am not getting any hits.

As far as location goes, I believe fish are getting ready for our lakes and ponds to become covered with ice. Ice fishing enthusiasts know when the ice comes, the fish are found shallow. It makes sense that the fish are starting to get shallow now in anticipation of ice season.

I guess late fall is a productive time for smallmouth bass fishing. There are reports all over social media about excellent catches in October and into November.

Wisconsin’s Austin Schiefer, of Menasha, broke his state’s record for smallmouth bass when he caught an incredible 23½-inch, 9.7-pound smallmouth bass on the afternoon of Oct. 30. The fish had a 21-inch girth. He was fishing in a big pond north of Green Bay near Oconto. The previous Wisconsin state record was nine pounds, one ounce, set in 1950.

By comparison, Joseph Capilupo of LaGrange is the holder of the Illinois state record for smallmouth bass. His fish weighed seven pounds, three ounces, was 22¼ inches in length and had a 16½-inch girth. Capilupo’s smallie was caught Oct. 14, 2019 on the Lake Michigan shoreline near Buckingham Fountain.

I think there are many smallies swimming in Lake Michigan that can break the seven-pound mark.

Looking at the list of record fish for our fair state, an awful lot of records seem out of reach. But I would not be surprised if the record for muskie is broken. The current mark is 38 pounds, eight ounces. The behemoth was caught in 2002 from the Kaskaskia River. There are a number of bodies of water where a fish that large might be caught. The Fox Chain and Lake Shelbyville would be my top choices.

I think the state record for yellow perch is definitely within reach. The Illinois record is two pounds, 8.75 ounces and was caught by Joe Grega on Jan. 5, 1974. The fish was 16.25 inches long. It was caught at Arrowhead Club Lake near Coal City. He caught it while ice fishing.

I cannot believe the number of huge jumbo yellow perch taken out of Lake Michigan from the Chicago lakefront every year. Perch are taken from downtown south to the Indiana border all of the time. The northern suburbs from Waukegan north to the Wisconsin border give up huge perch as well.

Although officially there have only been four perch that weighed over two pounds caught in Lake Michigan’s Illinois waters, I think that is wrong. I think there have been many more beauties taken and never reported. I think the anglers didn’t report them because they didn’t realize how important their catches were.

Can you believe a record catch might have ended up in a frying pan full of Crisco?