Every year my wife Cindy’s mother Betty Z rents a place for her family to have a reunion. This year Betty and her three children selected Lake Delavan, in Southern Wisconsin. Every reunion is interesting as all the relatives pick out a meal and make it for all 20 attendees. This is their chance to catch up on the years events and changes. Usually I just relax and have a few brews. This year was especially interesting for me because I got spend a week with my son Jay and his fiancee Amber. My daughter Megan flew in from Austin, Texas with her husband James. Not only did I get spend a week with all the in-laws and outlaws, I got to park my bass boat in front of a million dollar house on beautiful Lake Delavan.
My boat got quite a workout for the week. It comfortably fits 3, many times I fit in 4 when we were fishing. I had one 20 something and five 30 somethings with one week out of state Wisconsin fishing licenses. It was absolutely hysterical watching us fish.
My favorite memory was four young women (all with varying degrees of angling experience trying to flip senkos under docks). The whole lake was watching them fish (including the Lake Delavan Police Boat). There were lines everywhere. They caught: largemouth, smallmouth, rock bass, crappie, bluegill, warmouth, and northern pike. They also caught: docks, swimming piers, personal watercraft, weeds, rocks, trees and me.
We were able to catch at least one 19 inch bass every day but the fishing although good could have been better for new bass anglers. The weather was erratic all week; we had rain and sun almost every day . We had to work hard for our bass. The limit is one 19 inch bass per angler per day. One rainy morning I met Maple Bassmaster Paul S on the lake and we compared patterns. I was on a horny toad and senko pattern near shore and he was on a finesse worm pattern on the outside edge of the weeds. It’s always fun to meet a club member on the water in a fun fishing mode.
I caught most of my bigger bass on green pumpkin Cabela senkos rigged wacky style and white horney toads. I taught both of my anglers to cast when they were 5 years old. Jay caught his best fish on a white buzz bait while Megan used a black buzz bait. It was just like old times.
My nephew Ben didn’t buy a license and went golfing instead. His wife Tara caught a four pound bass on a Texas rigged senko; you could hear her scream all the way to Geneva Lake. She immediately emailed a picture of it to her dad in Spirit Lake Iowa. She then called him and gave him a blow by blow description of the experience. She was excited the last three days of the trip and did not miss one of her turns.
Jay and I met Jimmy and Johnny (2 prospective members of Maple Bass) on Friday during a wind and rain storm. After getting blown off of the lake we went in to see Jimmy’s dock in a quiet cove. I hooked up with a 4 pounder on the weighted senko right near his house. I told him to try that spot every time he goes out fishing and when he comes back in as it’s a perfect ambush point. We’ll see if I am right.
That night there was flooding in Milwaukee and Chicago. I checked my basement as soon as I put the boat in the garage. I was very lucky: A little seepage in the basement. Many people in Elmhurst had much storm damage as we had 7 inches of rain in a few hours. Sleeping on Lake Delavan wasn’t much better as we had lightening from midnight to 4 am.
I cannot wait to see where my wife’s family reunion is next summer.
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