Kev-mo Posted June 6 Report Posted June 6 Sorry for the late notice.... Bart and I have been talking about doing an outing but between the weather, water levels, spawn etc. we haven't wanted to preplan. Which brings us to now. Weather and water dependent we are planning a float on Saturday June 8 at the Kankakee state park. Meet at Davis Creek at 8:30 am to shuttle and float to Warner Bridge boat ramp. Wading could also be an option depending on the levels and we can point people in the right direction. Please post here if you plan to attend so we can plan. Thanks, Kevin Quote
Chris Popp Posted June 6 Report Posted June 6 For those of us that don't live on the South Side, where is Davis Creek and Warner Bridge? What is the estimated float duration? Quote
Kev-mo Posted June 7 Author Report Posted June 7 Hey Chris. I can't remember exactly where you are but I believe it's near Busse. Google maps shows Davis Creek being about an 1 hour 20 minutes from Busse. I did the distance feature on Google maps and it's about a 7 mile or so float. As you know a float could be as long or short as you want it to be.. The water has come down a bit and is currently flowing at 4770 CFS. This means can you get out and wade a bit and you can wade in general but you're probably not crossing the river and you'll need to know your own limits. It's better wading at 3000 CFS and below. Quote
Chris Popp Posted June 7 Report Posted June 7 Thanks Kevin. I did look it up after I sent the request and found the same. I was seriously thinking about joining in. I don't have many Saturdays open and would have welcomed the adventure. While blocking the time for the 3 hour round trip drive and 5-6 hour float is difficult on short notice, it would surprisingly have been doable this time. Unfortunately I have some hand issues I'm seeing a Doc about next week, So, in spite of best intentions, I shouldn't put myself in the middle of a river and suddenly have trouble paddling. Hopefully you'll schedule another at some point and I'll be able try again. Have fun! Quote
Jim Peterson Posted June 7 Report Posted June 7 I would Love to go. I do not have a kayak but I will try to wade . Jim Peterson Quote
Kev-mo Posted June 8 Author Report Posted June 8 Jim, come on down. We can suggest areas to go to wade Chris, sorry about the hand and hope it gets sorted. Yeah sorry about the short notice. We’ll do another Quote
Bart Durham Posted June 10 Report Posted June 10 The stars aligned for ISA members that attended Saturday’s ISA outing on the Kankakee River as fishing conditions were nearly perfect with overcast skies, moderate temperatures, good river flow and low wind (until afternoon). In addition the cicada hatch was dropping many cicadas in the river.. i fished with a fly rod and used one fly the whole trip, a white bugle bug popper. The smallmouth couldn’t resist it. Had a hot stretch in the morning, had a bit of a lull midaday, and action heated up again around the islands toward the end of the float, when I picked up my two biggest smallies, at 19” apiece. it was great getting back on the water again with ISA members. I enjoyed meeting new ISA member Ian, who told me after trip it was his best day of bass fishing ever.. Ken S and Kevin had great fishing as well. A phenomenal fishing day, thanks to those who attended and helped out with shuttle and take out. ill try to get my photos posted when I can figure out how to minimize them. Quote
Bart Durham Posted June 10 Report Posted June 10 Here are some photos from the trip https://tinypic.host/image/IMG-0492.DZO4o6 https://tinypic.host/image/IMG-0487.DZOLb1 https://tinypic.host/image/IMG-0469. https://tinypic.host/image/IMG-0490.DZOzPz https://tinypic.host/image/IMG-0482.DZO7MU https://tinypic.host/image/IMG-0480.DZOQT2 https://tinypic.host/image/IMG-0478.DZO6J4 Quote
Kev-mo Posted June 10 Author Report Posted June 10 Quick recap of the day. We had 4 attendees, me. Bart, Ken, and new member Ian. We all floated. Ian had never caught any smallmouth before but that was short lived as he had a small fish on rather quickly. We did hear a story from Ian about a giant Texas gar so looking forward to that picture once he can post. It was beautiful day for a float until the wind kicked up later in the afternoon. It made downstream progress a bit challenging…and the float itself was a bit long. It all worked out, just personally a skosh tired Sunday. The rain held off until we were done, just got a little wet loading up. I probably hooked around 20 twenty fish and landed 75%. All on lucky craft shallow crank. Got a double which is always fun. Lost a giant and by giant I mean a 19/20-inch fish. That’s always not fun but at least I saw it. Lost a couple of other good ones that felt really good. Altho even the small fish were pulling hard. Looking forward to more outings and we’ll give more notice next time. I’m sure Ken or Bart will put up something in the fishing reports as they got a few good ones. Thanks for coming out guys! Quote
KenS Posted June 11 Report Posted June 11 Like they said, it was a great day on the river. I was surprised there were so few people out. I caught most of mine on my go to summer ned rig. I however caught my biggest two 18s on a Fat Ika and a Zman baby goat fished on top. Lots of fish in the 15 - 17" range Quote
John Gillio Posted June 11 Report Posted June 11 Looks like it was a fun day. Like the markings on that fourth fish Ken. Quote
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