Andy C

Kings are dead by now. There will be steelhead and browns in the river all winter though. If you want kings, it seems early to mid September may be prime time. I much prefer catching the big browns and steelhead to salmon.

Great news!

Sneaky Pete for me. I always err on the larger size

Take him somewhere where he can skip stones, catch frogs, splash around in a small stream and hopefully catch some fish. Do your best to keep him interested!

I am glad you didn't listen! I'd take that as a life lesson, my wife reminds me all the time when she is "right".

Old red is still alive and well. I've put enough river miles on it that it was in need of skid plates. I put these on about a month ago. Please ignore the clutter in my garage, it's a work in progress and haven't even finished unpacking since the move. Before photo. I cleaned up the areas that had worn through the outer layer of royalex and filled with two part epoxy

Look at the tailings pond at the top portion of the screen. It dwarfs the city of Galatia.

Thanks for sharing. It is a disgrace that this kind of thing was allowed to happen. Illinois is littered with examples like this, and often times the company responsible is long gone, leaving the mess to taxpayers.

I have. The lower end of the streams are affected by the pool level of the smithland pool of the Ohio river. The lower end of the streams become embayments with frequent oxbows and sluggish flow. Some great crappie fishing in those oxbows and flooded trees and a great run of temperate bass in the spring. Big grand pierre was always a fun trip. Put in at HWY 146 and paddle down towards the Ohio for oxbow crappie and bass. There are some smallmouth starting to take hold in the Ohio proper in the smithland pool and upstream, but few and far between. Some big stripers and great sauger fishing though!

Bay creek is small and has only LMB and sunfish above Millstone lake. Some beautiful areas in bell smith springs with deep clear pools. Long stretches will have water flow only under the gravel. The lower reach below the lake has some spotted bass, but quickly turns into tupelo and cypress swamp as it nears the ohio. Not worth the effort IMO. Let me know your plans before you head down there and I will point you in the right direction.

I am not sure. Salmoides is latin for salmon.

Big creek. The gravel bars on this creek also have obsidian rock scattered among the chert gravel! Hick's dome is an ancient dormant volcano and the obsidian is evidence of the volcanic history of the area. Certainly unique when compared to all other creeks I have ever fished!

More Lusk creek.

Ill post some pictures of the creeks as I find some free time over the next couple of days. I have floated and waded nearly all of the shawnee creeks from whitewater to dead low summer conditions where the water disappears into the water willow jungles. LUSK CREEK below Rockhouse

I spent 9 years working for the fisheries department at SIUC after I finished my master's degree in aquaculture there (as well as my undergraduate degree in zoology), so I have fished nearly all of the streams down there and have spent a lot of time on the shawnee streams so I can elaborate. Personally, I would not say that the habitat is similar in all of the Shawnee streams. The first thing you should know about these streams is the geological region they lie in has very little limestone, it is mostly sandstone and clay. Sandstone does not hold ground water well, so the base flows of the streams can vary widely over the course of a year. I regularly saw the flow rate on lusk creek and other streams fall below 0.5 CFS throughout the summer. This leads to high water temperatures from the headwaters to the mouth at the Ohio. Many of these streams are characterized by short steep riffles or ledges and long deep pools. Nearly all streams in the area are like this, and although there are some very small springs in some areas, the volume from them is not sufficient to keep water temperatures down from June-September. Smallmouth do not compete well with spotted bass and largemouth in streams with high water temperatures, especially in areas with habitat that is less than ideal for smallmouth. Some great LMB and spotted bass fishing if you can find the right areas. I have caught LMB over 22" in Lusk and other area streams, and spotted bass to 17". Big creek is the exception because it has several springs that keep base water flows throughout the year, and the geologic region that it drain's (Hick's Dome and Karber's ridge) has lots of limestone under the ground. Limestone dissolves, forming karst areas and this forms springs due to hydraulic pressure. Water temperatures in the creek stay below 85 degrees due to spring inflow and abundant shade and the fact the overall water volume is low and the majority comes from springs. The stream itself does not form long pools, rather short pool areas with good riffles and runs which keep the water shaded. Smallmouth, spotted bass, and largemouth are found there, but the lower water temperatures and favor the smallmouth. The limestone also dissolves calcium in to the water which is something that smallmouth bass love. If you look at the latin name of smallmouth bass, it describes this very well. Micropterous Dolomieu (think dolomite, which is a calcium magnesium carbonate). Smallmouth bass and limestone go hand in hand. In the southern midwest, without limestone in the watershed there may not be any smallmouth.

No smallmouth in Lusk. Largemouth and spotted bass. Great Crappie in spots, and whites/hybrids/stripers on the lower end at times. Never know what you’ll catch there. Great whitewater too!

I will send you a PM with some good areas in SO IL to try.

Lucky you! When I am back home visiting family around Monmouth, that is the area I typically drive to if my brother's and I are going to do any smallmouth fishing. Thanks for the photos! That area is a very unique portion of Illinois.

Hmmm....Starved rock and Hennepin canal?

The rare and elusive jackalope.

I spend a week up there every year. Why can we not leave good enough alone!

I really like the thingamabobbers, but use the cheap foam adjustables from time to time as well. Great for the FNF!

It's always good to emphasize the proper way to hold a bass as well. I hate seeing those broken jaw photos.