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Scott Ferguson
Executive Board, Newsletter Editor, Treasurer
Scott has been editing the ISA newsletter the Bronzeback Bulletin since 2001 and has been the treasurer and membership director since 2002. He has been married to wife Crystal for 27 years and has been working as a service technician for Hobart Corp for 26 years. In addition to smallmouth fishing in Illinois streams, Scott likes to travel to the Northwoods of Wisconsin, Minnesota and Ontario in search of smallies as well as Manitoba and the Northwest Territories in pursuit of big northern pike. His ISA duties and fishing keep him pretty busy but he also finds some time to play a little golf, go hiking and do some bird watching.
Rich McElligott
Executive Board
Rich grew up in Berwyn, fishing the Des Plaines River and nearby forest preserve lakes. He graduated from Morton West in 1975 and married in 1978. Rich and his wife Trudy have three daughters and lived in Carol Stream until moving to Shabbona in 1990. Rich has been active with the Shabbona Lake Sportsman Club and joined the Illinois Smallmouth Alliance in 2000.
Jim Jozwiak
Executive Board
Jim "Joz" Jozwiak served as President of the ISA for six years and is currently a member of the ISA Executive Board. Jim resides in Naperville with his wife and has three children -- one living in Los Angeles and two at home. Jim owns a music education company that runs music programs in elementary schools throughout Chicagoland. Jim's two main areas of interest are stream smallmouth fishing and the ISA. Jim is proud of what the ISA has accomplished for conservation and smallmouth in Illinois over the last ten years.
Mike Clifford
Executive Board, Conservation Director
Accomplishments include recipient of Lt. Governor Pat Quinn's Environmental Hero Award, implementation of the ISA pollution and poaching enforcement signs, overseeing the club's overall conservation agenda and working on various youth and educational programs throughout the year. Mike recently moved to Bradley, IL in order to raise his two daughters and one son (Jessica, Caitlin and Michael) within close proximity to the Kankakee River and the infinite outdoor opportunities it provides year-round.
Jim Kast
Executive Board, Membership Coordinator
Jim was born and raised in Wheaton, IL. He did most of his early fishing with his dad at local forest preserves, and with yearly family vacations to Michigan and later Arkansas. He spent 34 years actively working as a Plumber, and is now retired. He lives in Bolingbrook with his wife and two youngest children. Together they have seven other children that live in various parts of the state and country. They also have three grandchildren and another on the way. Jim joined the ISA a few years ago, and during that time was also involved in some lower level fishing tournaments. They proved to be a less than lucrative endeavor, but an enjoyable experience, none the less. Since retiring last year, he can now dedicate more time and effort toward the preservation and habitat restoration of our favorite brown fish.... as well as plenty of time to fish the local streams and lakes.
Paul Trybul
Co-Coordinator, Northwest Region
Paul grew up in Sycamore, IL. There he learned about the outdoors by hunting, trapping, and fishing the Kishwaukee River and local farm ponds. Now he lives and works in Rockford, IL in sales for the R.K. Dixon Company. Paul has 2 children and he introduces them to the outdoors by taking them hiking, canoeing, and camping. He also enjoys sports being a big Cubs, Bears, and Blackhawks fan. His favorate passtime is fishing remote sections of scenic streams in search of aggressive smallmouth bass.
Jude Torre
Co-Coordinator, Northwest Region
Jude's lifelong passion for the outdoors intensified when, after moving to Cherry Valley in 1999 with his wife and two now teenaged daughters, he discovered smallmouth fishing in the Kishwaukee River. Jude has been employed for twenty years by the Rock River Water Reclamation District, where he oversees the Construction Inspection program. Other interests include birdwatching, kayaking, flytying and pheasant hunting.
John Loebach
Fly Fishing Coordinator
I joined the ISA in 2002 to pursue local opportunities to catch river smallies. An avid fisherman for 40+ of my 52 years I still can’t travel past water without looking for possibilities. A professional remodeller self-employed for 25 years I live in Lombard with my wife Pat and son Malcolm. My first ISA experience was at the Fox River water willow planting where I met some of the 30+ volunteers and fellow conservation-minded fishing fanatics. Two years later I added running that event to helping with the Bassbugger program and now serve as Fly Fishing Coordinator. To further participation of our membership I urge you to come join us at monthly tying outings, local fishing outings or some of our events: Flies of the ISA in March, fly casting lessons in summer, and Cast & Compare in the fall. As always, I emphasize that all members, fly and spin fishers are welcome at Bassbugger events and I look forward to sharing with all skill levels of fly tyers and fishers.
Jonn Graham
Central Region Coordinator
Jonn grew up along the banks of the Rock River in Prophetstown. While he began fishing farm ponds with his father, it was not long before he discovered the allure of stream fishing for hard-charging smallmouth bass. Jonn caught his first bronzeback in a little tributary creek nearly 20 years ago, and from that day forth, he has been “hooked” on the venerable stream smallie.
Since those early days Jonn has spent the majority of his free time chasing stream bronzebacks throughout the Midwest. He has fished in excess of thirty Midwestern streams with most of them flowing through the state of Illinois. Jonn has also fished world renown smallmouth waters such as Pickwick Lake and Dale Hollow. All of this time spent stalking smallmouths has provided Jonn the opportunity to learn where bronzebacks hang out and how to catch them on a consistent, year around basis. This information is what he conveys in each and every seminar.
When Jonn is not out wading or canoeing in pursuit of riverine bronzebacks, he can be found spending time with his wife and two children or teaching full time in Bloomington, IL. In addition, Jonn is an accomplished writer with many articles appearing in various publications. He writes a regular, monthly column for the “Outdoor Notebook” magazine and delivers seminars throughout the state. His latest venture is Camp Smallmouth, a one-day, on the water instructional school designed to teach aspiring smallmouth anglers the where, when, and how as it relates to stream smallmouths.
Steve Jordan
Central Region Conservation Coordinator
Steve enjoys volunteering and working with other members on clean ups, kids casting events, fish tagging/stocking, mussel surveys and other conservation projects. Steve works for Tate and Lyle North America as a production supervisor. He lives in Oreana, Illinois with his wife. He has two married daughters and four grand children. Hobbies, spin/fly fishing/fly tying, photography, scuba diving, or just about anything you can do in or on the water.
Dan Draz
Vendor Coordinator
Dan Draz is an avid fisherman who moved to the Midwest from the Pacific N.W., where he predominantly fished for salmon, steelhead and sturgeon. Having grown up in Southern California, he has also fished offshore for tuna, dorado, yellowtail, wahoo, barracuda, shark, marlin, sailfish and a variety of saltwater bass. Additionally, he routinely fished the trophy largemouth lakes of San Diego County, landing largemouth bass to nine pounds. Dan is frequently seen fishing with this two young sons as they explore various places to fish in the Midwest and enjoys fishing for smallies in both rivers and lakes. Dan is a frequent guest on the Outdoor Notebook Radio Show, a freelance outdoor writer on the fishing experience and is currently working on content for distribution to national media outlets.
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