Reservation Number : 37453
Property Name : Kickapoo Lake
Reservation Date : 10/12/2023 AM -
Total Fish/Sizes : 23, most in the 3lb range
Lures Used : Whopper Plopper; chatterbait; shallow crank bait

Recently subscribed as a silver member and Kickapoo was my first lake. Arrived around 6:15am to set up and get the boat rigged up. When everything was loaded, dawn was just arriving. So even before I jumped in the boat, I took my whopper plopper and casted it out. Second cast in with a nice blow up, I knew I was going to have a good day. 

Wind started to pick up around 9am and it was hard to navigate the boat, not to mention it’s the first time I’ve used a trolling motor. So with the wind and being a newbie using the trolling motor, I ended up with a 45-60 min battle to get the trolling motor free of all the vegetation, only to find myself up on the bank  numerous times with no oars, and finding a way to push the boat off the bank against the wind, trolling battery dying (I’m SO glad I had a 2nd battery on me), and all the while not losing my mind. hah! 

The whopper plopper was hands down the winner. It was the Bass Pro Shops XPS Double Down Plopper Shiny Blue 3.5”. I mainly had a steady retrieve, but sometimes I would burn and pause once or twice that procued some amazing hits.

Conditions were 5-10 feet of visibility, cloudy and windy. The wind made me second guess top water, but nothing else produced any bites except for a crank bait (Hybrid Hunter) that rewarded me with my biggest catch (3.8lb). My goal was to hit a personal limit (10) and then hunt for the Big One. But I was so frustrated and thrown off with the wind-trolling motor fiasco that I gave up trying for big ones and instead I just wanted to catch fish. 

The last hour was insane. Whopper plopper alone, I finally figured out the patterns and where the fish were holding. I jack-potted on 2 schools and brought in 13 before I had to pack up and go. 

The fish were amazing fighters. Almost every fish felt heavier than they actually were. My biggest concern is that the large 3lbers I caught all had a lot of water lice on them. Not sure if that’s normal, but any lice on any sort of surface area is rarely a good sign. 

I think the reason why the whopper plopper was so successful was because of the transparency the bait had. Lots of vegitation seemed to die off (though there was still a LOT of it), I think bass are certainly looking more ‘up’, especially with the water level pretty low. With clear visability, I don’t think the fish liked all the chartruce and red/orange that I was throwing around. I downgraded to a chatterbait minimax bluegill and it didn’t get me anything. 

If you have a kaytak, I think you’d be able to get into the tougher spots that I knew held some good quality bass- the boat just wouldn’t be able to get there because of all the vegetation. 

When I have rested up, I plan on uploading a picture of this lake and circle all the honey holes that I found so that yall can spend more time catching than searching for them! 

Already looking at my calendar (and bank account) to schedule another trip before the weather gets too cold!