Newton Lake IL Any pointers?

Flipper,Thanks for the tips. I do know about the 25 hp limit and we are launching from the warm arm. I hope the new batteries will make it through the day. No matter what it will be fun to fish open water again. It was torture to buy my first cat, use it once and have to put it in storage for the last 5 months.

Newton was slow.but fun. My partner and I caught 16 fish within the two days but only had one that went over the 18″ limit. That one fish did give us second place for the tournament on Sunday. The fish were on beds in the warm arm and staging in the middle of the lake. The rest of the fish were just a little short in the 16″ and 17″ range. Most of the fish came off a black and blue hula grub pitched into the reeds and couple were caught on topwater spittin image and poppers. We are already planning on coming back next spring.