John Flannery

Definitely a class act and a tireless promoter of the sports we all love and conservation. I know the era of newspapers is coming to an end, but the online sites are not the same. When you think of some of the great writers Bob was able to assemble over the years, it is impressive. Bill Osuch, Frank DeFrancisco, Gino Altiery, Rich Piet, Jonn Graham, and a whole lot of others. A lot of great local information. Glad to hear he is in the HOF.

Last May or June was the last issue. Bob wrote a thank you letter on the back page.Both Bob and his wife were having some health issues that made continuing the paper impossible. He said in the letter that he intended to continue his radio show. I am out of range for WJOL so I don't if he did or not. As a contributor with pictures and the monthly DesPlaines Lunkerbusters meeting notice, the paper will be sorely missed by me personally. The Lunkerbusters were the first club to use the ON to promote their meetings and many others followed suit over the years. The ON to me was like a monthly reminder of the Northern Illinois fishing community in a way. Bob should be inducted into the fishing HOF in my opinion.

Good point, Phil. My guess is that their capacity for memory is not more than a few minutes. Even after a hard fight, I have caught the same steelhead out of a hole 10 minutes after I caught him the first time on several occasions. When we had a cabin up north, my dad and I caught the same 18" smallmouth that had a split fin nine times in one summer.

So sad to hear about Norm taking a turn for the worse. Speaking as somebody who goes way back almost to the very beginning of the club, there are few that did more to welcome new members, sponsor successful outings, and build the club up than Norm in the early days. When he stopped posting, I suspected the next news I heard would not be good, as he loved fishing and sharing his observations about it and his beloved Kankakee River, not to mention life in general. Both Norm and the family will be in my prayers. Seems like the old Kank is without it's guardian without OL' Creekyknees prowling her eddies. God Bless you, Norm.

I have been fishing the Ned Rig for four years now, starting with half strike king zeros super glued to Gopher Tackle mushroom jigheads. I have been fishing a long time and have never seen bass respond to anything like they do to this. I have seen neutral bass that won't respond to an unweighted worm chase this thing and hit it. The Z-Man system makes several improvements. First it eliminates the super glue. The trd also floats so if you fish it on the bottom it stands up like a feeding minnow or craw in a defensive posture. True you will catch more small bass as well as big crappies and gills but the big ones hit it just as well. If you have not tried it do it. It is the closest thing to a sure thing I have seen in 55 years of fishing.

Agreed. I have been to all 18 and it just keeps getting better. Great job everybody. Have a great season! Time to get after Brutus.

Thanks for your technical expertise, Norm. During the shallow water fishing this spring, I have watched bass respond to this presentation like nothing else I have seen, including fish seeing it from 10 feet away, chasing it down and nailing it-consistently. Don't know what they think it is, but they almost can't resist it.

Hi guys and gals. Just wanted to share a presentation that has been working great for me on both largemouth and smallmouth in fairly clear water. Called the "Ned Rig" after Ned Kehde who refined it, written about in In Fisherman. Jack Schafer of Outdoor Notebook told me about it. Consists of half of a 6 inch Strike King Zero (the elastex makes it last longer) with the fat end rigged on a 1/16 oz Gopher Tackle Mushroom jig head in blood red, green pumpkin and similar colors on the plastic. Straight slow retrieve with twitches. Super glue will help keep the plastic in pl ace. So far I have yet to see a bass that did not at least take a swipe and have stopped fishing grubs and senkos.Also might help use up those beat up plastics.