Paul Trybul

From a smallmouth perspective that is a like a boulder field of dreams. If you build it, they will come.

Terry that is very nice the way you have documented this with vidoes and before and after photos.

It looks like the perfect watercraft for a stream smallmouth chaser.

For all of you bird watchers and photographers, I have a closer to to Chicagoland lead. I've been traveling between Rockford & Dixon lately along Rt 2 which runs parallel to the Rock River. Most of the River is frozen but in the open areas I have spotted many bald eagles and other large birds of prey. The other ones are proabably immature bald eagles. The main locations have been the hot water discharge between Byron and Oregon, below the Oregon dam and below the Dixon dam or the trees just downstream of the Dixon High School. There is no way to get close to the ones by the discharge. Your best photo opportunites would be off of the sidewalk on the Rt64 bridge in Oregon, IL. 90% of the time I drive by I see one perched in the trees on the islands near the the rt64 bridge. Don't sue me for gas money if you drive out and don't see any but you definately have a good chance right now.

That's one of the great things about smallmouth bass fishing. They are such an opportunistic predator that can be caught on a wide variety of baits. My all time favorites are: chug bug, lucky craft pointer, senko style stick baits, yum crawbugs, chompers hula grubs, and berkley powerleeches. At one time or another all 6 of these lures have produces special days when other lures couldn't come close.

I will be there. I'll even buy some pizza for you guys.

That is a pretty good price considering the accessories. If it was a SOT I'd be all over it plus I already have an underutilized floatilla in my crowded garages.

Thank you for the tips. I'll pick up a sammy 100 and join the party. I did find last year at times a smaller topwater outproduced bigger topwaters. It probably had more to do with the forage size/profile on the lake I was fishing. Since I am going back to that lake in 2011, I wouldn't mind having a sammy 65 or 2 in my arsinal.

Jonn, If you bring 2 used sammy 65's to the blowout, I'll buy them from you.

This is the time of year I go through my fishing tackle, inventory what I have, and think about restocking for next year. I was thumbing through Bass Pro's 2011 Master catalog and checking out the Lucky Craft line of hardbaits. I will sing praises for the Lucky Craft Pointer as the best suspending jerkbait I've ever used. At the prices they charge, they better be good. I can see the value in spending more money on a premium suspending lure because good ones are finely tuned suspending perfectly horizontal right out of the box. Cheap suspending jerkbaits tend to float or sink slightly or don't run true at higher speeds. I'm sure the Lucky craft rattletraps and crankbaits are good but how much better can they be than cheaper alternatives? The lure I have my eye on is the Sammy. I tried some walk the dog action with a Heddon super spook Jr. I found it to be a leaf magnet and had trouble getting it to run true. If I invest in a Lucky Craft Sammy, would it help a beginning walk the dog angler get the hang of it? If it is anything like the pointer it should run true right out of the box. Any tips on sizes and colors? The 2.5" size or 3.25" size should be perfect for smallmouth. No other manufacturer seemed to make a walk the dog style topwater less then 3.5".

I didn't think there was anything wrong with the original wood launch that was there for years.

No matter where I fish, I am always trying to learn more. This year, I discovered suspending jerkbaits. I used Rapala Husky Jerks a couple of times in the past with unremarkable results. This time, while fishing with Paul Trybul I saw how great Lucky Craft Pointers and Rapala X-Raps can be. I'm sure this is not anything new to many of you, but I'd been on a major senko kick for years and just ignored everything else. If I'd have stuck with my usual soft plastics presentation, I'm sure I would have caught fish, but the X-rap bite was just so much better, it turned a good trip into a great one. One of the keys Paul taught me was to jerk the bait a couple of times, pause, crank, and repeat. Worked like a charm. This will be a featured part of my arsenal from now on.

 

What new tactic did you learn this year?

I have to give the ISA and more specifically Jonn Graham credit for my introduction to the suspending jerkbait. I want to say Jonn spoke glowingly about the power of jerkabaits at an ISA blowout along with f&f and other cold water smallie techniques. Jonn even helped me pick out my favorite color and size which is the chartruse shad for the Lucky craft pointer 65. For x-raps I like olive green. It's not just for smallies. I've put a spanking on the lazy green bass in the spring on suspending jerkbaits, along with crappie, white bass, and pike. Pike waters and lucky craft pointers are not a good mix. Things can get expensive fast. Other jerkbaits work but the lucky craft is finely tuned with near perfect horizontal balance during the pause. For $15 a pop they better be good. If you think about it though, how many dozens of minnow or packs of plastic would I have had to buy to catch all of the fish I caught on one lucky craft before it fell victim to a toothy critter. Probably well over $15. All that said it would not be my choice for "if you had only one lure what would you choose" but it definately has a place in my arsenal.

The thing I learned or at least stood out to me more this year is: If you want to catch more fish, you have to fish where the fish are. It seems simple but this year out of around 120 days of some fishing, more than 1/2 of my fish caught came during 9 of those 120 days.

I've kept a fishing log for 10 years now. I find it to be very helpful. It is also enjoyable to go back during the winter and look back through it. It brings back a lot of good memories. Yes good memories of consistent 20-30 smallmouth days on the Kish. Unfortunately distant memories. I could go back and look but I think there was only 2 of those in 2010 on the Kish for me. It has helped me develope patterns and techniques based on time of year, water levels, and temperatures. Most importantly it helped me accumulate trial and error information that helps put me in the right place at the right time with the right pattern. It's still fishing so all this information does not guarantee success. I'm just trying to put some odds in my favor. Rivers change, silt scours from one area and deposits in a new one. A good tree gets washed away while a new one falls in a different prime area. Sometimes its just as simple reminder of I haven't fished that spot or that river in a while. I did pretty good there a few years back around this time of the year.

There is a downside. My significant other uses it as exhibit A on how I'm a fishaholic and I need more balance in my life. I don't ice fish so I figure it all balances out after winter.

Could we have hijacked a thread off topic as much as this one? I'm glad you guys are having fun with it. I actually find mushroom hunting to be a very enjoyable outdoor experience. It's a little bit like being a blue liner in the joy of discovery and what lies behind that next tree. I should leave a disclaimer though. My opinion on mushroom identification based on your photos are not 100% and should be consumed at your own risk. Eating wild mushroom does come with risk of poisoning and you should do your homework and use sober judgement. We don't want anyone taking the long dirt nap like the late Jim J.

Don,

That one looks like an edible mushroom. It is called the chicken of the woods or also referred to as a sulpher shelf. That color really makes them stand out in the woods. Its not my favorite of the wild mushrooms but at this time I rank it 4th. It has a mild woody flavor and a firm texture. It does take on other flavors easily. Some people sautee it with chicken bullion and use it as a substitute for chicken.

Jim,

I looked up your mushroom in my book and it looks like a pheasant back which is also called a Dryad's saddle. The book says its edible but it gets leathery fast.

I'm not sure about those mushrooms guys. I'd keep them out of your omletes unless you know for sure.

Jim, you sound impressed. Are you thinking about taking up flyfishing?

I heard it quoted on this site awhile back and I complete attend the school of "death before mono". I'll include a full spool of flourocarbon in that category too. I'm also talking about river smallmouth fishing. If you go with a 8 or 10# fireline or powerpro, you will be fine in most bass fishing situations in our region. They will not be line shy and you won't get seriously outfishing by your partner using mono or even a flouro leader. Well you actually might get outfished but if your using a 8-10# superline but it won't be because of the line.

I also don't understand why some of you guys gear up with 20# superlines. In my opinion that is overkill for smallmouth fishing. I can see if you're fishing largemouth in heavy slop or bigger fish like carp, pike or catfish but not river smallmouth. That 20# stuff doesn't cast as well, is very hard on your rods and reels and won't break off very easy when you get the big snag.

I can really only make a case for mono on super clear high pressured lakes and trout fishing and that would only be on certain days. I've caught smallmouth bass in the crystal clear lakes of Sylvania and brook trout in the clear mountain streams of Wyoming using 8# fireline no leader, no problem.

Mike, the cooking possibilities are endless and these fall mushrooms have a mild natural flavor and the ability to take on the flavor of whatever you cook them with.

The giant puffballs I don't do anything with because I don't care for the taste and they can upset your stomach. I do let the kids punt them around like a soccer ball which they love to do. The shaggy manes and the hen of the woods are my 2nd & 3rd favorite wild mushrooms both behind the morel. Both have a mild but pleasant flavor and at least for me can be easily identified from poisonous mushrooms. The shaggy manes are fragile and turn black and ink out quickly so they have a very short shelf life. You pretty much have to eat them right away. I slice them in 1/2, sautee in butter and they are delicious. The shaggy mane typically grow in grassy areas where the soil has been disturbed at some point. I find them along bike paths and parks where the earth had been moved. The chicken of the woods & the hen of the woods are very hearty and firm in texture. There is some work involved in trimming and cleaning. On a typical hen about 1/3 of it I'll eat and the rest gets trimmed off. The tips or lobes are the most tender and flavorfull. The hen of the woods can be sauteed in chicken boulion and used as a substitute for any chicken dish like fajitas & tacos. You can also just sautee it in butter and enjoy it straight up. The hen of the woods grows at the base of large dead or alive oak trees and usually have full growth around the 1st frost.

Wild mushroom eating does come with risks so do your homework before you go out in the woods and start consuming.

Here was my latest hen of the wood haul:

I didn't catch crap but I sure did enjoy the view.

That's pretty much what I've been doing. I've even found myself wandering off looking for fall mushrooms. The last few weeks have been good if your into that sort of things. Shaggy manes, giant puffballs, and some giant hen of the woods. They all seemed to pop at once.

I have fished it before. They used to do the spring stocked trout at Page Park every spring. This year they stopped doing it and moved it to 4 lakes. Not a bad idea because opening weekend was elbow to elbow guys at the handful of deeper pools that congregated the trout. There is a small dam on it about 1/2 mile upstream from where it dumps into the rock and that's not exactly in the safest part of town. I've done OK on it in the spring but it is very low and clear this time of year.

 

Or pull out a crawbug and catch a bunch including this years personal best.

 

If you have had success with a yum crawbug then you have had success tube fishing. Isn't the crawbug a hollow tube with little extra detail?

Terry you know I fish the Kish a lot and I do see quite a few people out fishing but mostly on the weekends. I also see alot of footprints in the sand so I know most places see some type of pressure. Maybe all those footprints are yours Terry. I rarely see anyone keeping smallmouth bass. I can only recall once this year and it was like March 30th and this guy had about a 17" smallmouth on a stringer at Henchcliff. What can you do it was a legal fish?

As far as stocking goes, I think that is only neccessary after a fish kill like what happened to the Rock River last year and Kishwaukee back in the late 80's. Otherwise I think habitat restoration would go alot farther than throwing more little smallmouth in that could alter the ntural genetic strains of that river.

Did the snake look like this?

The Kish is a farther north than the natural range of the water mocassin. The snake pictured above is the northern watersnake. They are not aggressive and relatively harmless. If you stepped on one it would probably bite you but they are not poisonous.

Isn't twitterpated from the movie Bambi? The part when spring is there and they get distracted by the females. What's that have to do with smallmouth fishing rivers? There was one time I was fishing the kish and 3 young ladies floated by in a canoe. They decided to get out and stretch their legs on a sandbar just downstream. One was wearing a thong. That's the only combination of twiterpated and smallmouth fishing I can come up with.

As far as changing baits, I try to bring 2 rods and my 3rd grip rod holder. If you have 2 good lures, 1 that can cover the surface/subsurface and 1 that can get to the bottom, you should be good to go. There is no magic bait to keep retying and trying for. Its more about being in the right place at the right time with the right kind of presentation.

Signs of fall are here. What do you think the sudden drop in temperature is going to do to the fishin this weekend? When I get up Saturday AM it will be in the 40's.

On ‎8‎/‎30‎/‎2010 at 4:47 AM, Corey Jones said:

Terry's got no excuse! I gave him a tip before the trip on what my son and I were catching them on Thursday. The secret...a super fluke junior, tandem rig on a 3 way swivel. Cut 2 lengths of line, 1 at 8 inches the other at 12. It gives the illusion of chasing baitfish and is very effective right now! Was in this months Infisherman. I guess some people would rather watch others catch fish.

I've fished 3 way rigs before especially on the IL river for sauger. We would bait them, drop them straight down and pull or drift them. The question I have is how do you cast that rig? Any time I've tried to cast a 3 way rig it gets tangled. I can see doing a tandem dropshot rig. At least you can cast it without becoming a ball of wax.

It was nice to meet up with the gang for breakfast. Sarah had some business to attend to so I had the kids. My daughter wanted to sleep in but my boy wanted to go. After I got him on the water all he wanted to do was swim. He wanted to go home and get his mask and snorkle. So we did and then my daughter was up so we went to a more swim freindly spot. I ended up catching a few little smallmouths out of a hole. I then took a break and helped the kids catch crawfish. One bit me so I decided to get payback so I hooked it up on a plain unweighted hook and free swam it into the hole. 1st cast produced a very skinny 17" smallmouth. I bet this fish didn't even weigh 2 pounds.