Paul Trybul Posted June 27, 2009 Report Share Posted June 27, 2009 I was searching the internet for articles relating to the Rock River fish kill. I came across this interesting article. http://www.pjstar.com/sports/x737344505/LA...ver-was-caustic The quote of most interest to me was: "The first step came Wednesday when 50,000 smallmouth bass fingerlings were stocked near Byron above the kill area. “Over the next few weeks those fish will distribute through the kill zone and start the recovery,” Sallee said. Beyond that, restocking will depend on funding and demand on the fish hatchery system." That quote was from Dan Sallee from the DNR. 50,000 little smallmouth is a good start to rebuilding the resource. These fish can easily migrate into the Kishwaukee where they will find clearer water and less big flatheads willing to gobble them up. That pool actually covers about 20 miles of unobstructed water plus tributaries like the kish and kilbuck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest rich mc Posted June 27, 2009 Report Share Posted June 27, 2009 i am encouraged by his other quote saying it was not a complete kill out . still having shad means they have something to eat. unlike other manure kills which deplete the oxygen out of the mud and kills all insect life. 50,000 smallies stocked is also a good thing . rich Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Clifford Posted July 3, 2009 Report Share Posted July 3, 2009 Got an email today stating something about farmers in the region using some sort of new chemical regarding runoff that could have contributed to the kill. No further information, but well worth investigating. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin Dells Posted July 11, 2009 Report Share Posted July 11, 2009 Just want to start out my reply by Hello All !! Been awhile but thought i would stop in and say hey to all the old freinds in the northland. Now i have been reading this and it seems you guys are facing some huge problems with the flooding and spills, im very sorry to hear this. It's funny but it was my daydreaming this morning of days gone by fishing the Kish and other spots in Illinois that lead me back here to see what was going on with you guys. I have to admit that my fishing down south is nowhere near the good times i had in Illinois. I remember thinking when i lived there that fishing wasn't that great but thats not the case trust me. The rivers down here, very dangerous with the reptiles so im lake locked instead. And OHHHHHH how i miss the feeling of a smallie on my line! The big green ugly fish is just that, a big ugly green boring lump on the end of your line! I am living in a place where we have 4 small lakes out my back door, but the fishing is not that good. The bass are at best 12 inches with a two to three pounder every once in a great moon, the bluegill and crappie are huge but you only get a couple a day at best on artificial lures. live bait is a 40 minute drive away. Bucket fisherman that do sneak in seem to be cleaning our lakes out, so now a days im playing cop more then fishing OR im trying to fix the major problems that we have on our lake my house backs up too...BEAVERS! Big ,Big , destructive beavers that are just literally thrashing the lake. We also have major drought going on so our lake levels are down 2 feet, so send some of that rain my way! PLEASE!! Anyhow guys wanted to say Hi, and please from a guy that used to fight all the time for the Kish's betterment please keep fighting hard to get things back to normal, show the concern where needed, attend the meetings, voice your opinions, and ride the butts of the people that need ridden to keep cleaning up the problems and get things back to normal and laws changed to fix them! You don't realize just how great a resource you have there until it's gone! As i may not drop in to often if you feel like staying in touch you can also e-mail me as well. kdells123456@yahoo.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest rich mc Posted July 12, 2009 Report Share Posted July 12, 2009 hope all is well with you and your family, we miss you up here. water has been high all year and is finally coming down . what's a chug bug? rich Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Trybul Posted July 13, 2009 Report Share Posted July 13, 2009 You don't realize just how great a resource you have there until it's gone! That statement is so true on many things in life. It's good to hear from you Kevin. If you ever make it up this way I have an open front seat in my canoe waiting for you. Regarding the fish kill I have to say I'm disapointed this story has kind of died with no resolve. We have the technology to put a man on the moon and solve crimes that happened 30 years ago but we can't figure out what caused the largest fish kill in Illinois history. Damage was done and someone or something is responsible for it. It would be nice to know so it doesn't happen again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alank Posted July 14, 2009 Report Share Posted July 14, 2009 add me to the "wondering what happened" list too. Was the testing for what caused the fish kill completed but inconclusive??? (which would be hard to believe), or is the testing still pending completion? Anybody with anything new? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin Dells Posted July 15, 2009 Report Share Posted July 15, 2009 Guys you know me and how i used to so anal retendant about everything that wen't on with the kish, may i suggest becoming very anal retendant and put pressure on anyone and everybody that might be able to help you get the answers you need. I would personally start with a letter to the Rockford Register Star asking and stating how dissappointed you are with the whole situation. If Doug Goodmans still there write him personally maybe he would run the add in the sports/fishing section. Book the Gander Mountain room and hold a Fish Kill meeting thats open to the public, do a power point presentation and show people what you saw with the pictures and footage. I Hate to say it but get people fired up about what happened. Send him links to pictures or video of the fish kills. Rich you know Dan Sallee pretty well can't you really lean on him for answers in whats going to be done? Maybe prod him as to wether the state will help restock once the waters been o.k'ed to restock. Seriously start photographing everything thats even remotely connected and send the pictures and hopefully if printed articles. I would assume one of you is writing a in depth report for the Bronzeback Bulletin and even maybe send the article as well to the Outdoor notebook as well. Get word out and the people to back you and bring it to the needed people attention. Hate to say it but nows the time to be writing your congressmen bitching! Show up to the Forest Preserve meetings and make sure the subjects well brought up! That train company is very liable for what happened especially if they knew the tracks were washed out before the accident occurred and nobody passed the message, deaths occured both human and auquarian. Let me ask this question, is the water safe to be in? swimmers,canoeist, fishermen,so on? Or have they shut down the stretches effected? Is it still being contained and looked after? And Lastly and Paul you probably would know this best, did it effect the Kish or was it on the Rock River only? It would kill me to know the waters i learned to fish on were gone for years to come, so many memory's!! Before the Kish i don't even think i knew what a smallmouth was! By the time i moved down south I had become a very accomplished fisherman, learned miles and miles of river bottom and had caught thousands of smallies and even quite a few incredibly sized fish at that! Yeah reading all this tears my heart out keep it an important issue guys and ride some butts until it's fixed! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin Dells Posted July 15, 2009 Report Share Posted July 15, 2009 By the way i know i mentioned in my first posting that im not that thrilled by the big ugly green fish of the south. I have a little short story that happened to me just last night, thought i would share. I got home from work last night about 4:30 and it had finally rained down here all day torrential all day downpours! Cooled off to about 85 after dinner and the lake looked higher. So i hopped in the yak and headed out until sundown thinking of targeting bluegills or as they call them down here "Bream"! The monster Crappie have been turning up one at a time too. The bluegills i would have to guess at 9-10 inches, big big bluegills! And the Crappie are an easy 12"s plus. Every night before sundown for a half an hour im midlake and i have boils all around me. I took the flyrod out last night but as the rainclouds were blowing away so was my kayak. I paddled to the non windy shoreline to fish instead. I was fishing the huge lilypad beds we have everywhere and kept getting very subtle small blurps from bluegills trying to suck in my foam bug i was casting the the lilpad edge. They were there but not in attack mode, just kept small slurping. There was one that had followed the bug about 3 feet out from the lilypads missing it over and over, i stopped twitching to give him a better attempt at catching it. I reached down to grab a drink of water and i swear i had a explosion hit both the bluegill and foam popper that had to be a good four foot around. Almost like a small musky or pike explosion it was that big! Truth is there are NO musky or pike in my lakes! I missed it because i was (drinking water!) but i did set the hook just enough to feel the weight for a second. It had to be one very big bass! Neighbors swear they have caught and released 8 pound plus bass in our lakes. So even though it's just a ugly green fish i know now that im on a quest for a Monster bass, i know where he lives and im going to catch him sooner or later! Game on! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Trybul Posted July 15, 2009 Report Share Posted July 15, 2009 Let me ask this question, is the water safe to be in? swimmers,canoeist, fishermen,so on? Or have they shut down the stretches effected? Is it still being contained and looked after? And Lastly and Paul you probably would know this best, did it effect the Kish or was it on the Rock River only? As far as I know they have opened up the rivers to boating, fishing, and public access. I did read an article stating that they ruled out the ethanol spill from the train wreck but didn't have a reason. Part of the problem was this coincided with a mid 90 degree heat wave so the fish liquified quickly. Talk about a stinky mess. The fish kill was reported to start 2 miles north of Grand Detour and end around Prophetstowm on the Rock River. There was no reported dead fish on the Kish. I've been catching fish of several different species as of late on the Kish and have also been spooking big carp. The river is higher than I like it but still very healthy. Good luck catching that big bass. If you catch a smaller bluegill, try using that for bait for that 8 pounder. It may sound like cheating but it works for the big girls. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eugene f collins Posted July 23, 2009 Report Share Posted July 23, 2009 Ive been hitting all of my favorite holes in each stretch. castlerock to the damn 1smallie 12inch. (survivor) didnt see any snakes (saw 10-12 before fish kill) I had found a nesting area where we saw two of them doing the love squirm. looks like the nesting area is abandoned now. Saw the dnr out above catlerock. They are doing a mussel survey. Byron thru Grand detour. the gentleman i talked to didnt know if the state was going todo any EXTRA stocking on the river. I hope they do. Im glad to see them out on the river testing what they can. The river still has a little funk to it in the larger eddies. maybe wait tofind out if the water is healthy before doing anymore stocking. YOu really realize how lucky you are once its gone. had very high hopes for fishing Prophetstown. PaulT & I Fished it hard last saturday caught 5 fish by 3. Dropped Paul off at the dock & headed up river to see what i could see. such nice structure decent depths near shore, nice rock piles, nice rock wing damns. fished another 3 hours slowww drift back to the launch 1 -11inch smallie (survivor) Tough fishing is in our futures on the rock. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.