Paul Trybul Posted September 21, 2009 Report Share Posted September 21, 2009 Just a reminder that we have a wade/shore fishing outing this Saturday at 8:00AM. It will be in Rockton, IL on the Rock River. The river in this area has a diversion dam and splits into 2 channels. One offers over a mile of walkable rocky shorline to fish. The other requires a medium to advanced level wade depending on the flow and how much water you like to cover. As long as the USGS gage is 3.9 ft or lower both areas should be fishable. Smallmouth bass will probably be the most caught species but I would be surprised if there weren't a few walleye, sauger, pike, white bass, or catfish caught on this trip. The meeting location is difficult to desribe. Feel free to send me a PM or call me at 815-703-2651 and I can e-mail or describe the detailed map I have printed out. So far only 3 other people have expressed interest so we still have plenty of room for more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Trybul Posted September 24, 2009 Author Report Share Posted September 24, 2009 We have had a bit of rain in the area and more importantly to the north since I last posted. This river has rose a good foot over the past few days. below is a link to the USGS gage: My link 4.5ft makes the wade below the dam challenging if not impossible to get to one of the good multispecies areas. Above the dam through the diversion "race" always has a consistant flow no matter what the main river is doing. This has the most consistant smallmouth fishing anyway. A high flow just limits how much water we can fish. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maineman Posted September 24, 2009 Report Share Posted September 24, 2009 Paul, since the river has risen so much, and we are going to fish the consistent stretch of water, will we still be wading, or is that the shoreline fishing you mentioned previously? Ron Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Trybul Posted September 25, 2009 Author Report Share Posted September 25, 2009 If the water is too high we would fish the shoreline along the controlled diversion part of the dam called "the race". I would bring waders but I may recommend you leave them in the car. "The race" is a man-made rip rap shoreline that runs for about 1.5 miles. It is not wadeable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maineman Posted September 25, 2009 Report Share Posted September 25, 2009 Thanks, Paul. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Trybul Posted September 28, 2009 Author Report Share Posted September 28, 2009 Thank you Ron and Bill for making it out on a drizzly morning. The fishing was a little slow but it was nice to see everyone catch some smallmouth. I think we ended up catching around 18 smallmouth bass between the 4 of us by noon. My father and I felt like calling it a day after lunch. Did you guys go back out? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillKreznor Posted September 29, 2009 Report Share Posted September 29, 2009 Ron and I waded/shore fished below that crazy dam for about an hour after lunch. Tried a few areas that looked like they should hold fish, but nothing brought to hand. We returned to the race for a short while afterward. I had a bite-off (pike?), and landed something I never seen before that I think might have been a drum. Rolled it up about 3:30. Thanks, Paul, for showing us around. The one and only photo I took is you bringing in a smallie while Ron looks on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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