DaveF Posted September 13, 2011 Report Share Posted September 13, 2011 For the Verm. and Salt Fork outing we will meet at the Oakwood truck stop at 8:00A.M. Please respond to this site if you plan on coming. As of Middle Fork is wading and the Salt may be canoeing. Contact Dave or Rob. See ya soon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bruce petersen Posted September 13, 2011 Report Share Posted September 13, 2011 What is the date of the outing? Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fredmo Posted September 13, 2011 Report Share Posted September 13, 2011 Can't make a Sunday event, other than church, but I'm curious if it is possible to float the Middle Fork in a Pack canoe? I really miss getting over to that river. Bruce, if you check the calendar on the general ISA site, it is set for Sunday, the 18th. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norm M Posted September 14, 2011 Report Share Posted September 14, 2011 right looks like i can make it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob G Posted September 14, 2011 Report Share Posted September 14, 2011 Fred, the Middlefork is too low at the moment for a reasonable float but the Salt Fork may be high enough. I'll have more info in the next day or two so check back and I have no problem with running shuttle service if at all possible. Wading will be no problem on either branch. Event Date: 18-September 11 (Single Day Event) This will be a Central Illinois fishing event open to all to be held on the Salt Fork and Middlefork Rivers near Oakwood, IL. We will be meeting at the Oakwood Truckstop Restaurant on the southwest side of the Interstate 74 at 8:00 AM. For more information, please contact Dave Franklin or Rob G Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob G Posted September 15, 2011 Report Share Posted September 15, 2011 Got a chance to scout the rivers this AM and both are of course low even after the rain we received yesterday. You will definitely not be able to float the Middlefork but the Salt Fork is a possibility BUT one would need a kayak or canoe that drafts in little water and be willing to get out and drag it at times. I am more than willing to help shuttle their vehicles if they are so inclined to float the Salt Fork. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dana Lee Posted September 15, 2011 Report Share Posted September 15, 2011 I will probably be there. Never been. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norm M Posted September 16, 2011 Report Share Posted September 16, 2011 definitely, got the day off, be there unless a horde of hot women kidnap me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dana Lee Posted September 16, 2011 Report Share Posted September 16, 2011 If you run into said horde, tell them I want my money! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob G Posted September 16, 2011 Report Share Posted September 16, 2011 Hope to have a nice turn out. I have a lot of water I can put people on without running into one another. If you can make it but will have a difficult time arriving at the designated restaurant by 8:30 AM, please PM me and I'll give you my phone number so that you can contact me and I can get you set up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted September 19, 2011 Report Share Posted September 19, 2011 Fished two areas on the Big Vermillion with Norm Minas and Larry Craig. Fishing was slow but we had good company. 4 or 5 smallmouth 1 musky 1 musky bite off and a couple follows and a catfish. Breakfast was great it was nice to put some faces to names and share information. 3 smallmouths were caught on flukes the musky on a shallow crankbait. I missed a nice fish on a tube. I read somewhere that you're suppose to loosen your drag after fishing I just skipped the part about tightening it up next time you go. Thanks for organizing the trip. Phil F Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob G Posted September 19, 2011 Report Share Posted September 19, 2011 Well 6 of us met for breakfast and as Philf stated above, we shared information and it quickly became obvious that I have a lot to learn about even my own local waters. We all decided who would fish with whom and where everyone wanted to go and I took Dave F from Heyworth on the Middle fork/Salt fork. Dave, who is 68 is a fishing machine, Mr. slow and steady. We got on the water about 9:15 AM and came off at 6:15 PM. I'm not sure we stopped casting all day, even throughout the rain, as he really worked me over. In the end it was slow, I caught 11 smallies. The largest was only 13" and the others were approximately 10" and less, probably of the same hatch. It displayed the problem with our local waters and that is the flood blown hatches of recent years past. Nothing even looked at my topwater offerings and everything was caught on streamers. Water temps were 62 deg. and have dropped a bunch in the last two weeks. Steve caught 2 but he was off the water by 12:30PM. Below is a photo of Dave F. casting at a large rock in the river, the same exact slab that he caught his first 20"er at 12 years ago to the month. Unfortunately, lightening wouldn't strike twice at the same spot but we had a great time and look forward to our meetings and fly tying gatherings coming up this fall and winter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norm M Posted September 19, 2011 Report Share Posted September 19, 2011 my two biggest smallmouth came on a 1/4 oz scrounger head jig with a magmum fluke tight to some riprap by a bridge abutment.quite honestly, i was looking for musky, it was downstream a bit from where phil got his musky , but i'll never complain about a 17 and 18 inch smallmouth. theother smallmouth came on a bandit 200 off a seam, it was about 10 inches. I caught a 12 inch channel cat on an 1/8 oz scrounger head jig with a berkley power pulse worm. it came out from below a log and slammed it. i also had a number of hits off the same rig in that area but nothing grabbed it solid. one of the hits looked like a small white bass holding on the tail as i lifted it out of the water. i had a musky grab the tail of a regular size fluke rigged weightless on a 5/0 gammy. it was hanging by a small branch in a slack water area loaded with wood cover, the same area the cat was in. It let the fluke go the first time, i cast back and it got it solid the second time. It ran into toward the hevy wood, i tried to stop it and it bit me clean, no leader. I had another musky grab a rattlebait briefly on the edge of a seam, on long enough to see it was a musky, then it let go, guess i didn't get a good enough set, all on me. What amazed was the sheer number of places that I know from decades of river smallmouth fishing that should have held bass that simply did not produce. many times Phil, Larry and I all weorked them over with a number of techniques, all to no avail. We fished a lot of good water that should have produced and simply did not, why I could not say for sure. Shoot when the musky action is almost more than the bass action, something just ain't right. My thanks to Larry for doing the driving and Phil for his knowledge of access areas. I enjoyed breakfast and getting to put faces to names although I'm sure my looks spoiled thiers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveF Posted September 25, 2011 Author Report Share Posted September 25, 2011 Sorry for getting a report in so late. It was sure good to see some friends I have not seen in a few years and enjoyed talking and hashing over previous outing. I feel the same way Norm feels about finding good smallie hot spots that should have held fish and working them over both Rob and me and coming up empty. Rob finally got one on the way back to this spot and it finally produced. It was a awesome day and the fishing was good but the catching was slow. Rob is a excellent partner and very good guide. We found some awesome spots but empty. maybe next time. Thanks guys. Hope to see ya soon. 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.