Misguided Fishing Kinkaid Lake

Southern Illinois folks must think the Robertson clan on “Duck Dynasty” are classy dressers. When we stopped for live bait outside of Murphysboro at Billy Bob’s Firearms and Formal Wear we heard, “Kin I git ma prom dress and his matchin’ tux in Mossy Oak?” They were out of live bait.

Kinkaid Lake is outside of Murphysboro IL.  The web site says, “Nationally known for its fishing, Kinkaid Lake provides anglers with ample opportunity to catch largemouth bass, crappie, catfish, walleye, muskellunge (muskie), and bluegill.”

I love when we find these lakes with glowing reports.  Nationally known!!!! Wow! We consider this a challenge.  Kinkaid is 2200 acres of “scenic sandstone bluffs and rolling hills”.

Don and I planned a trip. True to our practice on new water, we hired a guide. He was named Phil.  I asked Don if he had told Phil about the curse. He had not.

Phil was famous in the area. In addition to his work as a fishing guide, he has worked on fishing shows. He has been on multiple shows because of his success and reputation. However, Phil was about to take on his greatest challenge.

We drove down to Murphysboro and arrived in the afternoon. We had stopped in Raymond along the way to see the sheet metal progress on my brother, Jeff’s, Minneapolis Moline tractor restoration. We had stopped by earlier in the month and Jeff needed an update. We were driving right past there, so we stopped in. Little did I know that I would be making weekly visits that summer, but that’s another story.

We stayed in another “family” hotel. I think the owners must have been related to people in Sullivan (See Almost Holiday), but at least it wasn’t the Shangri-La. They were trying to plant a garden in mud, and they did have a live dog. Anyway it was cheap.

Our appointment with Phil was for all day the next day, so we decided to bank fish until then. It was windy, so we stayed on the dock. Unfortunately it was so windy that my custom fit sunglasses flew off and sank. You know that feeling of moving in slow motion as you see something fall away? They sank slowly, but I moved even slower. Equipment issues surround us and penetrate us, you know like “The Force”.

We met Phil at the boat ramp around 8:00. As was typical of guides, he had all his own equipment. I thought it looked a little beat up. I was to find out why later in the day. Phil took us across the lake and into a cove. We were fishing for muskies, but bass would work too.

We fished, we moved, we fished, we moved. Anytime we were in a cove. Phil would have us fish near a tree or a bush. He told us about good spots for crappies, but we didn’t fish for them.

I came to realize why Phil liked trees and bushes, and I also understood why his gear looked a little worn. Phil was a believer in lure and rod retrieval. By that I mean, every cove was scouted for lures that were stuck in the trees or bushes. He also looked for lost fishing rods. Phil found several lures on our trip. We found plenty of lures, but no fish.

I finally decided to fess up about the curse. Phil just laughed it off. After all, he was famous for putting celebrities on fish for fishing shows. Sometime during the day he made a confession to us. He said when big time fisherman with TV shows scheduled a show at Kinkaid , he and other guides would “pre-fish” before the big time people arrived to film; except he had a new definition of “pre-fishing”.

Tournament fisherman pre-fish to get to know a lake.  They do this the day before and release the fish. TV people want a sure thing for the cameras, especially when they are sponsored by fishing lure companies. Every year fishing lure companies advertise the latest “must have” lure.

 Phil and the other guides would catch fish for several days before the TV shoot and put them in underwater cages. When the TV personality was throwing the featured lure, the guides would attach one of their captive fish to it and let it go. The camera caught the fish rising out of the water sporting the featured lure in its mouth. I always knew “reality TV” was everything but real.

Soon we had traveled completely around  Kinkaid Lake, hitting all of Phil’s sure to produce spots. As the sun was getting low, we moved to the last cove on the lake. As we entered the cove, we saw a sign on the hill "Beware of Rattlesnakes". Don and I decided if we had to pee it was going to be off the end of the boat.  

The cove was shallow and located where the feeder stream entered the lake. We were casting to the shore. Suddenly Don had a strike. Excited but careful, Don worked the fish back toward the boat. It was a muskie! With Phil’s guidance, Don eventually landed the big fish. We took pictures, and released the big girl.

Since we were using Phil’s lures, I asked if he had another like Don’s. He said “No, only one”. They were custom hatchet blade spinner baits made by a local guy who hired disabled workers to make them. We continued to cast in the cove. Don never volunteered to let me use the lure. As darkness fell, we returned to the ramp. Phil said we should try dock fishing if we wanted to catch bass. Since I hadn’t caught anything for two days and all I had accomplished was to lose my sunglasses, we decided to fish a little in the morning before we left.

The next morning, we stopped in the marina and I bought a lure like the one Don had used on his muskie. I made one cast off a dock and caught a largemouth. The next cast the hatchet blade on the lure went flying into the lake. I figured it was time to go home as the curse was now adding lost equipment to our misery.

p.s. I lied about the girl asking for Mossy Oak.

I can’t remember what type of camo she wanted.