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John Flannery

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Everything posted by John Flannery

  1. Jay, I use a spring loaded clip that attaches to a d ring on the back of my vest. You attach a split ring to a convenient spot on the net. Once you insert the split ring (keychain size)into the clip it pulls out with a tug. The magnet ones I have tried pull off too easy. Since I also shore fish, varying degrees of distance from the water, I sometimes need a long handled net. Last year I bought an EGO S2 Slider net. This net system has interchangeable handles that are a variety of lengths so you can use the same bag with different handles. I have one that double retracts from 27 inches to six feet. They also have one that goes from 18" to 36" if I remember correctly. the nice thing is that you can pull it off the clip, and extend it with one hand while fighting a fish. They are a bit heavy, but it has performed well for me.
  2. Working on an article for the next newsletter on fishing it in rivers. Started using it in 2012 in the pre-TRD days when we were gluing half ZinkerZ on mushroom heads. So versitile. Lots of ways to use it. Fun to experiment. The combination of the bouyancy and different delivery systems makes the only limit your imagination. Drop Shot, wood screw Nico rigs, swimming, whacky, bottom dragging, Trying it as a goby imitation for brown trout. I was at Cabela's right after they restocked in the spring. There were about 12 high school fishing team members filling their carts with TRDs. When they finished, like a plague of locusts, there was one pack of molting craw and two of bubble gum. Fun stuff.
  3. Very nice and compliments to Mike on one of the cleanest guide boats I have ever seen.
  4. Agreed, good for any gaged river in the continental US. I check it every time I fish a river. Has saved me a lot of useless driving.
  5. Glad to see action taken. From your posts it appears that a lot of people fish there. Glad they did something before a big fish kill happened.
  6. One extra tip that I thought of when I read Marks. The best way I found to teach them to set the hook is to have them hold the rod and hold their arm and the rod with your hands, setting the hook for them a few times. Speeds up the muscle memory a lot.
  7. John, your coverage of this has been fantastic. Bet the News Tribune would love using your excellent photos to cover this story. Maybe the paper changed names but I know they are the same org as the Wheaton paper, and they love having help in getting real news out. Using the press kept people honest in Wheaton and led to preservation of the Wheaton house.
  8. That is terrible. Is the Army Corps in charge of it?
  9. Thanks for the info, John. We will be going soon.
  10. That is great news. My wife and I are historic preservation people and love to see historic buildings saved and repurposed. Here in Wheaton, the home of Warren Wheaton, founder of the town, built in 1856, was going to be torn down and replaced with yet another Starbucks. Through a great deal of effort, including a letter to the CEO of Starbucks asking if he wanted his company known for tearing down historic landmarks, it was saved and is now a dental office. Thanks so much for the tour offer. Will definitely take you up on it the next time we are in the I.V.
  11. John, you made my day. My grandfather worked at Westcox from the late 30,s through the mid 70's. I was worried that especially after the never ending fire, they would tear it down. Glad to see it is being used and will definitely check it out. Thanks for the info.
  12. Back in those days, the local tavern was one of the social centers of society. A few of my early memories include having a coke with my dad, grandfather, or uncles at Essel's Tap in Lasalle , or Woodshanks or Johnny's Place in Peru. Now they would be calling DCFS if somebody took a little kid in a tavern. A better time, I think.
  13. We are the same age and my Grandfather lived on second street in Peru, right up the hill. I remember half gallon bottles of one of their brews at family events. Good times and good memories. I always loved visiting from the Quad Cities because my cousins could get Chicago stations. We had two tv stations in the QC. My cousins live in LaSalle, and one of their friends has a massive Star collection that dominates the whole house.
  14. You guys are all too young to remember Star Model and Star Union, brewed on Water Street in Peru on the banks of the then filthy, polluted and foaming Illinois River. I hope they did not brew it with river water, but according to my uncles, in addition to being cheap, it was bottled so "green " that it was widely known for it's laxative effects. I'm sure all the modern brews are great. Thanks for sharing.
  15. I have not. I did explore the area right before the Mazon goes into the Illinois. It gets narrow with a lot of twists and turns, then swampy. Definitely minimal wintering habitat. I have caught smallmouth around the rapids near Marsailles and near the remaining rocks from the demolished bridge in Peru. I should check out the river around Morris since that has to be where they go.
  16. Great information! On the migration issue, I really think fish do different things in different systems. I have a lot of experience on the Mazon, which has very limited access. On that stream, all of the bass winter in the Illinois . They migrate up usually in April, stay through spawning and go back down in October. I remember one warm fall I was fishing on Halloween. There were no bass in the normal summer spots, so I just kept wading downstream. The water was low and clear. Once I got to the deepest spot in that section , I found a hole that literally had hundreds of bass of all sizes in it. They were very inactive. Since the water was so clear, I could see pods of fish leaving as a group heading downstream. Just for fun I went back the next day and they were all gone.
  17. Great info, Phil. Something I can add to the discussion is that I have had my five best days on the Kankakee fishing up in the creek mouths when the river is high ,muddy and rolling and the creek itself has already dumped it's water into the river and starting to clear. It's almost like most of the smallmouth (and walleyes as well) that are normally spread out in the main river find their way in there, becoming highly active on crankbaits. Has to be timed just right, but it is a great pattern.
  18. That is hilarious. I can relate. I have one neighbor who has gone to "native plant landscaping" aka ten foot weeds in August, so I have Canadian thistles invading from that side. The neighbor on the other side has a lawn mostly consisting of creeping charlie, so I am fighting that back there. The creek at the back of my yard has a healthy stand of garlic mustard that keeps invading, and finally the guy across the street has so many dandilions it looks like he painted his yard yellow. Surrounded.
  19. All great advice. As somebody who has 15 years of experience taking mentally ill 10-15 year-olds fishing every week during the warm months, (over 500 trips) , I have learned a thing or two. (Not that your friend's grandkids are impaired, but I have seen most things that can happen). First and foremost, there is regrettably a lot of liability exposure in something like this. My co workers thought I was nuts to set up a program like I did, but I am committed to the sport and believe it has therapeutic value . Safety is a major priority and I insisted that all kids wear safe sunglasses, hats, enclosed shoes and long pants and sleeves unless it was really hot. I also did an age appropriate safety orientation, not enough to scare them but enough to know that hooks and fish spines are sharp, and that you need to know where your hook is at all times to prevent hooking somebody. Then casting practice like Rich said ,especially teaching them to cast sidearm and check behind them before casting. If you can frame it in responsibility terms like shooting a bb gun the kids really buy in . All hooks should be barbless at least at first. No treble hooks. The venue is huge all kids want action at first and don't care about species or size. I was lucky enough to find a place with a nice dock with abundant bluegill, minimal weeds and a railing. Imagine corralling 5-8 kids with bipolar, adhd, and autism without that! Look for a place like that and prefish it yourself to ensure some success. 15 years of experience resulted in the following rig: light spincast rods with six pound line, very small clip bobbers ( pear shaped tangle less) 1/64th or 1/32th oz. Jigs with small crawler pieces or maggots . The jig instead of a regular hook prevents fish swallowing the hook, preventing the trauma of killing a fish and ruining the day . Keep it short and leave when they are catching and they will want to come back. If they get bored and start focusing on other things, go with it . Make it all positive. Even though you go barbless, get a pair of long handled curved hemostats to grab the hook, flip the fish and release them with a shake, and you won't get hooked in the hand or finger. Kids are somewhat unpredictable at first till they get their coordination down. You are a great human to take this on. Hope my experience helps. It is a lot easier with one or two kids. Good luck and good fishing!
  20. Back to the Ned Rig. Durability wise, in April I caught 46 smallmouth, and 13 rock bass on one TRD in green pumpkin goby and a half Strike King Zero in green pumpkin on two Mister Twister Weighted Keeper Hooks in 1/16th and 1/8th in extremely rocky areas. Lost nothing, Still using both. Though the plastics are a little beat up, they seem to work better the more beat up they get.
  21. The orange /gold J-11 used to be a top choice for early season trolling on Lake Michigan. Now you need to change out both the split rings and the hooks, because even a bigger coho can straighten one or the other out. I have had pretty good results with Daiichi and Gamakatsu replacement trebles but it is annoying to have to replace them when you are paying 8 bucks for the lure in the first place. The split rings are incredibly flimsy .
  22. Right about the hook quality, Mike. Definitely need to sharpen them. The other slight adjustment I make is to slightly file down the size of the barb which results in better hooksets and makes it easier to release fish that get the hook in a hard area of the mouth without tearing them up. I still have a barb , but it is smaller. Slider heads are great, too Eric.
  23. Don't fish the Kankakee as much as I used to, but the area I have been fishing on the Dupage is very rocky as well. The only weighted keeper hook I have lost in the last two years was due to a bite off. Mister Twister makes them . The 1/0 1/16th oz, and 2/0 1/8th should fill 90% of your river fishing needs. The hook size keeps increasing with each step up in weight, which makes the heavier ones only good for bigger plastics like Erie Darters or big grubs. If you are using it for the Ned Rig, make sure you push the hook all the way through the plastic and make sure the aren't any strands of elaztech holding the hook back or it will interfere with good hooksets. Then just snug the hook point up against the plastic, exposed and you are in snag -free business. Having left more lead on the bottom of rivers than my body weight, I' m glad I learned this from Ed Mullady, and had it reinforced by Norm Minas years ago.. Since then , I can fish snaggy areas and not have to carry 10 pounds of lead in my vest or spend half my day retying. Just make sure you check your line for nicks, because you will have to retie a lot less. Hope this helps.
  24. This is really helpful, guys. I'm planning on getting one this summer and thought I had made up my mind . This provides a lot of food for thought. Thanks.
  25. Agreed on Aquaseal. Developed a seam leak from rubbing three years ago. Used it all the way down both inside seams and it is still holding.
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