I arrived at Powerton two hours before it closed at 4pm. It wasn't much time, but I wanted to practice using my new travel surf rod in windy conditions. I also wanted to get a photo of a hybrid striped bass, so perhaps I could kill two birds with one stone.
There were only half a dozen people fishing by the discharge, but most of them had hybrid stripers on their stringers, so I felt confident I could get one too. The discharge was flowing, but it wasn't hot, because the power plant was offline for maintenance. I tied on a small Little Cleo spoon with a 1 oz egg sinker above a 2 ft leader. The egg sinker combined with the 10 ft rod allowed me to throw the spoon reeeally far. The downside was that I had to reel in fairly quickly to keep the spoon from scraping bottom and getting caught on the rocks.
I had a few strong hits and even had a big fish on at one point, but it came off before I could see what it was. Finally, 10 minutes before 4pm I got a solid hit and had a fish on. I kept the drag loose and took my time fighting it. I didn't have a landing net, so I wanted the fish worn out when I brought it in. After a few minutes, I saw that it was a huge buffalo! I brought it up to a shallow spot, stepped in the water, and hoisted it up to the grass above the rip-rap. It was the largest buffalo and probably the heaviest freshwater fish I have ever caught! It measured 35 inches.
Hybrid Buffalo (Ictiobus bubalus X Ictiobus niger)
I've received different opinions about the ID of this fish. Two angler friends who are familiar with buffalo told me black buffalo because of the big fleshy lips and head shape. Two Illinois DNR biologists told me smallmouth buffalo because of the high back. Biologists from two other states told me hybrid, which is what I'm going to call it. A smallmouth buffalo can't have lips that big, and a black buffalo can't have a back that high. Hybrid it is.
The next day I drove down to Shelbyville to fish for carp and buffalo. The spring crappie bite was doing pretty well, and there were a fair number of people fishing for them.
One of the crappie fishermen accidentally snagged an enormous walleye in the tail. It was a big female. He took its weight before releasing it. It was nearly 11.5 lbs!
Walleye (Sander vitreus)
The carp took their time showing up, but eventually they wandered over to the corn and alfalfa pellet chum pile. Once they showed up the bite was pretty steady. Unfortunately the buffalo did not show up.
Common Carp (Cyprinus carpio)
A few of the smaller carp were really dark in color. I wonder if they have different genetics, or if the color is caused by the environment.
After seeing everyone else catch crappie after crappie, finally I pulled in one of my lines and tied on a small chartreuse jig. On my very first cast, I hooked up with something bigger than a crappie. It was another carp!
Once the carp left me alone I caught a few crappie. About two thirds of them were black, one third were white. None of them were big, but the steady bite was fun.
Black Crappie (Pomoxis nigromaculatus)
White Crappie (Pomoxis annularis)
I tried throwing nightcrawler halves out on the bottom. They got picked up by either bluegill or yellow bass. None of them were very impressive looking, but it's always fun to see how many species I can get in a day.
Bluegill (Lepomis macrochirus)
Yellow Bass (Morone mississippiensis)
Muskie were surfacing throughout the day, and the number of them was staggering. In the afternoon I decided the buffalo weren't going to show up, so I pulled in my lines and put a big swimbait on one of my medium setups. First cast, nothing. Second cast, fish! I set the hook and reeled in my second ever muskie.
Muskellunge (Esox masquinongy)
I always try to end my fishing trips on a high note. I wasn't going to top the muskie, so I packed up my gear and drove home. What a weekend!
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