Wonder Lake

Finally heard back from the local fish biologist. He said multiple individuals had contacted him regarding this fish, and he would have suspected chicanery without the calls because there is no record of rock bass in Wonder Lake. So it is very unlikely to be certified. 

Sniff, I'm always down for wetting a line. Crappies should be in full swing in about 2 weeks around here, and as a resident who pays subdivision dues, Pantera and/or I can bring guests fishing with us. I suspect a lot of weeding through 8-10 inchers this year, but we always stumble across some serious slabs. Lake Geneva is also close, and besides being a well known rock bass hotspot, it's got some huge smallmouth. Hard lake to fish, but very rewarding when it goes good. June is the time. I know you are down south, you could probably talk me into heading that way for stripers in the cooling lakes if those are close to you.

Lol, I don't miss hangovers one bit.

Got back from Hines around 4pm and my buddy wanted to do a little fishing till dark and it was nothing like Sun, very little wind and the fish didn't want to cooperate one bit until 6:30pm.

Finally started catching crappie ( no bluegill tho ) and then with about 20 minutes of daylight left, the bass started kept all the ones 12 inches and under and let all crappie go. Almost wish I would of kept all the fish from Sun.

Brought out the 12 gauge and then coyote's don't show up again lol. Well at least was able to start a small cull on the bass in our family pit, going to try and go out Tuesday for more. Due to Google screwing with my phone's downloads again I can't bring up any pictures from my photos of today it's ridiculous and I'd like to jam something up Google's hind quarters for it.

Since I couldn't see my photos I just picked 3 gray spots to see what would show up down in the pictures, looks like I got lucky on some of the pics.

Well Luv2fish can I see a picture of that huge walleye you got mounted from Crystal Lake? That thing was a beast!   Let’s be nice, Aka Draco! Trust me i don’t care who fishes were!  Just stated curious how it would pan out Being as stated per MPOA private! Luv2fish stated truths thats it, so maybe head back to the crystal page and save yourself some face! Maybe you can write a letter to your president Biden and ask to make waters public like the real state of Wisconsin. Anyway didnt make it out this weekend. Really wanted too but birthday party Saturday that went into the early hrs of Sunday!   Ouch! So yeah laid on the floor and drank water all day yesterday. I’m gonna be out Monday-Wednesday until the rain and cold front kick me out. Don’t forget about the news license‘s. There goes 200 more bucks!   Nice fish sniff, yeah it’s murphy’s law. I go bow hunting and have ducks all over! I go duck hunting and their are the big bucks drinking out of the swamp! Lol you’ll get em! Tight lines. 

Lol, Get him luv2fsh!

yes I do think he missed the whole point about the certain persons police record and that's all I'm going to say about it, not going to get into the whole fray about who's got private lakes and who doesn't. Maybe we can all fish the same spots sometime, who knows?

Not to egg the guy on, but I was out fishing at our family pit ( lol and it's a private family owned lake. )

Hey Pantera guess what? I forgot to take the 12 gauge out with me and wouldn't you know the coyote's ran me off again. ( Isn't it funny how they seem to know that there's no 00 buckshot waiting for them. )

The fishing was good today even with the high winds, was going to keep 25 small bass 12 inches and under ( to start on that cull I mentioned in a earlier post ) along with 10 bluegills all around 6 and 7 inches, I let all the crappies go because they was all over 12 inches. Just as I was pulling the fish basket out of the water I remembered that I have early appointments at Hines in the morning and I would of been cleaning fish until midnight so I had to turn all those fish back for another day. I'll post a few pics. Hope everyone had a great weekend.

Let's be nice,

I notice you created an account at 1am last night to make your comment, so I will assume you are a troll. If you are upset that WL is private, but CL is not, I suggest you contact CL parks dept or the Lakewood city council. If you know Mr Caso and wish to defend his honor, just say so. You miss the point. He is trying to get what is most likely an illegitimate fish certified as a state record. Potential trespassing issues are secondary. As for your comment about Mr Caso learning how to fish legally, I doubt he was confused. If he was at a beach, there are signs posted. He has lived in the area for several years while not in jail. He also has a record pages long. Drug charges and burglaries around here. Hitting cars and garages. He was also busted for a string of burglaries near the WI Dell's. That's just what I found in about a minute on a free search. I doubt anyone needs to have it explained to them that breaking into someone's home is illegal, especially after they have served time for breaking into homes. He seems to be someone with a blatant disregard for the law, I doubt he cares about what's legal, only the consequences if he gets caught.

Love how all of you post that THIS IS MY LAKE and critisize the Crystal Lake people of fishing in your lake(and others). When iced over in CL, who knows who comes in and keeps 5 inch bluegill and harms the other fish like bass and pike.  I only fish MY lake and follow the jurisdiction of each city/lake/state/national rules established by the government (oh boy, regulation- many people don't like that word in their political party).  Please people follow the rules.  I just love it when other people post/brag about how well they do when others don't have the opportunity to fish YOUR lake.  Hmm, PT,  like your posts but doesn't help me in Crystal Lake and you will never see me fishing WL ever since I don't own any property there.  Hope the people in the article don't get charged with anything but do get an education about where they can fish legally.  It's not all about getting the police involved and giving out tickets.  If it is YOUR LAKE, then no one else can fish it, follow the rules, remember that all of you out of towners that demolish our Crystal Lake.

I think you might be right on that fish possibly of been caught somewhere else, but I've never had a chance to fish that lake.

I would of figured the next rock bass record would of come out of the Kankakee river ( above the Wilmington dam ) or from the one creek's that empties out in it especially horse creek. Haven't fished it in awhile but when I used to long ago and back then you could catch rock bass over a pound, if you fished in the right spot but most people just turned them back loose.

To make a meal back then I would keep about maybe 4 to 5 of them about 8 or 9 inches, the bigger one's got thrown back in. 

They are good eating.

There are other potential issues, as the Herald article mentions Mr Caso and his wife are Crystal Lake residents, but does not discuss any friend or relatives owning property he may have been potentially fishing from. It also

Its mY understanding wl is a private lake and ALL trespassers will be prosecuted. I hope that wasn't the case here otherwise the e e word might be invalidates if it was day but illegally. Maybe mpoa can address it?

Last Sniff. I am not questioning the identity of Mr Caso's fish, I am skeptical of where he claims to have caught it. I have caught many rock bass in my life, just never out of Wonder Lake. I've spent, quite literally, thousands of days fishing this lake in my lifetime, as have most of my friends. If they were in Wonder, there's a pretty good chance I would have caught, or seen pictures of, or heard a reliable account of... rock bass in there. There are RB in the chain, but they are not common. So I think it is possible, but unlikely that this fish came from below the dam. There are several WI lakes with RB populations that are close enough to illegally transport a live fish back from. I think that is the most likely source of this fish. There are other potential issues, as the Herald article mentions Mr Caso and his wife are Crystal Lake residents, but does not discuss any friend or relatives owning property he may have been potentially fishing from. It also seems odd, how he seems to attempt to hide his face with the fish in the pic. Add in his facial tattoos and arrest record as testimony to his record of good decision making, and I think this should be looked into further. I have no proof of wrongdoing, and if this was a legitimate catch, then I offer congratulations. I just hope the legitimacy of the fish is questioned before entering it into a record book.

https://www.lakemchenryscanner.com/2021/01/26/man-charged-in-connection-with-7-burglaries-in-mchenry/

Luv2fsh - that is a rock bass posted in the picture, put it on magnification and you will be able to tell from the mouth, eyes, and top dorsal fins.