Wheaton North catch late bites to win state title in bass fishing
Wheaton North seniors Zach Widelski and Ty Nielsen hold up part of their winning bag Saturday at the Illinois High School Association state finals for bass fishing at Carlyle Lake.
Provided
Wheaton North seniors Zach Widelski and Ty Nielsen made the most of a few late bites Saturday to win the Illinois High School Association’s state finals for bass fishing at Carlyle Lake.
They caught the top bag of 12 pounds, 4 ounces on Day 2 of the finals to total 22-2. Widelski, whose dad, Matt, drove the boat, anchored the catch Saturday with a bass of 4-10.
‘‘The pattern from Day 1 [on Friday] was not productive to start Day 2, so the guys changed up their strategy and found similar water to what worked on Day 1,’’ Falcons coach Joe Drover emailed. ‘‘Day 1 focused on moving baits, specifically the ChatterBait. Day 2, they ended up switching to finesse, with a Neko-rigged black-and-blue Senko and black Trick Worm. They made the switch from moving baits to finesse after an unproductive morning, having not caught a fish until 10:30 a.m.
‘‘The guys only had five bites on Day 2 and capitalized on them all. The guys focused on coves, marinas and rip-rap rock, specifically rip-rap with wood on it.’’
Drover emailed that both anglers will continue their fishing careers in college, Widelski at McKendree and Nielsen at Missouri.
The duo barely held off Stevenson seniors John Wall and Liam Plautz, who brought in 11 pounds on Day 2 to total 21-13. Wall’s 6-pound largemouth — the big bass of the finals — anchored their bag.
Other top-20 finishers from the Chicago area were Coal City (ninth), St. Charles North (12th), Antioch Boat 1 (tied for 13th), Minooka Boat 2 (17th), Downers Grovr South Boat 2 (18th) and West Aurora (19th).
Wild things
Last week brought signs of spring. I noticed cottonwood flying Saturday in Chicago and the south suburbs.
On Saturday, Patty Houlihan in Flossmoor emailed a video of a coyote snapping cicadas from her backyard.
‘‘Not sure how many readers will see something like this this summer!’’ she emailed.
On Friday, Chicago outdoors wanderer Robert Loerzel posted on X: ‘‘Butterfly Watch 2024: I just saw my first monarch of the year. It was at Bill Jarvis Migratory Bird Sanctuary. It fluttered away as I failed to get a photo of it.’’
Wolf Lake
The Wolf Lake Bi-State Wetlands, Wind & Water Festival is Saturday, May 25, sponsored by the Association for the Wolf Lake Initiative, Saturday. It includes a 5-mile bike ride at 9 a.m. from the visitor center at William Powers SRA. There is a hike at 2 p.m. at Mitigation Wetlands in Hammond, Indiana. Online registration is required for both at wolflakeinitiative.org. The deadline is today, May 22.
Stray cast
Golf used to be to sports what fly-casting is to fishing.