Paul Trybul

I'm not that excited about it. The rainbow trout are a non-native species that compete with the native species like smallmouth bass. The stocking program is meant to be put and take not maintaining a year round artificial fishery.

There are not a lot left, but the stocked rainbows hold over in the apple river and kent creek into the fall as well.

I love fall fishing and my patterns are a progression. They are all more generalities but some fall days its all good. I progress from craw imitators to minnow imitators or even live minnows as fall progresses. I progress from tribs & skinny water to basins and bigger rivers as fall progresses. I progress from fast water rock habitat to deeper slower wood habitat. Rock habitat can still be good but the fish start holding in wood a lot more. The other change I've noticed is the good early morning bite progresses into a good evening bite.

River smallmouth fishing is definately better in the fall IMHO. When I did the fishing log project, September was the peak month for both overall numbers and number of smallmouth bass 16" or better. August was 2nd best for total numbers of fish and October was 2nd for fish over 16". We can make theories on why but maybe its just better to know that "it just is better". I think all of the points mentioned before are all conributing factors and I'll add in lower more stable weather and river flows.

Taking only pictures and memories and leaving only footprints and great words to live by for the small stream angler. The Apple may be up a bit but it's still game on as far as I'm concerned. So far our group is still small if anyone else wants to join in.

Don't forget the ISA is having a fishing outing on the Apple this Saturday at 8AM. This is a RSVP trip and so far just 1 RSVP. The USGS gage did peak out at 18 feet for a river that normaly flows at 2.5 feet. This is the Apple though. Any other river and I would cancel for sure. I feel confident with the rest of the week of no major rain, the Apple should be in decent shape by Saturday. Call Paul Trybul at 815-703-2651 if you are interested.

I wouldn't bet against the numbers produced on an Apple outing. The size however will be much smaller that fish caught on the Kankakee. I guess it depends how you score it.

Events are scheduled by the Regional Coordinators. We have a lot of family obligations and other events to schedule around so we get these things done when we can. I hear the Chicagoland region is looking for a coordinator so you can step up and do some scheduling for next year. Forming a scheduling commitee and coordinating with other coordinators would only help take our orginization to a higher level. The Kankakee river and Apple river are about 4 hours apart so this offers events for members at both ends of our state. It's unlikely that I would attend a Kankakee outing and someone living along the Indiana border is pretty unlikely to attend an Apple river event. Keep in mind the Apple river trip is a RSVP trip. Please let me know if you plan on attending and if you are willing to lead a group. Paul Trybul 815-703-2651

As far as I know they have opened up the rivers to boating, fishing, and public access. I did read an article stating that they ruled out the ethanol spill from the train wreck but didn't have a reason. Part of the problem was this coincided with a mid 90 degree heat wave so the fish liquified quickly. Talk about a stinky mess. The fish kill was reported to start 2 miles north of Grand Detour and end around Prophetstowm on the Rock River. There was no reported dead fish on the Kish. I've been catching fish of several different species as of late on the Kish and have also been spooking big carp. The river is higher than I like it but still very healthy. Good luck catching that big bass. If you catch a smaller bluegill, try using that for bait for that 8 pounder. It may sound like cheating but it works for the big girls.

Try this link: http://www.wcfpd.org/Preserves/ Winnebago County has a lot of public park land along the Kish in the Rockford area.

That statement is so true on many things in life. It's good to hear from you Kevin. If you ever make it up this way I have an open front seat in my canoe waiting for you. Regarding the fish kill I have to say I'm disapointed this story has kind of died with no resolve. We have the technology to put a man on the moon and solve crimes that happened 30 years ago but we can't figure out what caused the largest fish kill in Illinois history. Damage was done and someone or something is responsible for it. It would be nice to know so it doesn't happen again.

Tyically I fish Rock river tribs while wading or canoeing during the summer. I don't really start targeting smallmouth on the Rock while fishing from my boat until September and the bite will last until early November. The river is OK to boat to Rockton now but it can be a prop eater up that way with low water. If you really want some success find someone that will let you launch on the pool between Rockton and Beloit. There are no public lauches through that section. The multi-species fishing is pretty untapped.

I have grown to prefer fishing rivers as long as the relative visibility is good. Why? River fishing tends to be more consistant. Fish as less effected by cold fronts. Fish are also in more predictable areas once you learn how to read the water. Lake fish can be here today and gone tomorrow and patterning fish can be tough. Patterns can change daily sometimes hourly. I also think river fish fight harder. They spend their lives battling current which makes them stronger and can use the current for a fighting advantage. For me, there is also something soothing and relaxing about the sound of water flowing through a set of rapids. Rivers also are a better way to get away from the crowds and get closer to nature.

If you think that is fun, try 2 feet of slimey thrashing pike with a facefull of teeth and trebles and no net.

I use plastics for smallmouth about 80% of the time during the summer. They are so versitle and you can fish most of the water column and at a big range of depths. The best part is you can rig them snag free. For me cranks and spinners are frustrating when there are weeds, wood, and rock. That just happens to be where 90% of the fish are. Rigging is the key with fishing plastics effectively. Keeping it simple you can get by with 4 hook designs. 2/0 or 3/0 bass hooks, slider head jigs from 1/8oz-1/4oz, weighted keeper hooks, and leadhead jigs in different weights and hook sizes. The 1st 3 you can fish with the hook buried in the plastic to keep it relatively snag free. The best tips I can give you is to use enough weight to allow you to make some contact with the bottom depending on current flow and depth. Also use a hook that has enough gap to get a good hookset based on the thickness of the plastic that you are using. A hook that is twice as wide as the plastic works for me. Use a rod and line strong enough to bury a good hookset. The other advantage to fishing plastics is you can fish them slow. This really pays off on days when the bass just aren't chasing lures. Seems to be like that 80% of the time I fish which may explain why I use plastics that often. Some days you have to fish them as slow as you can stand it and then slow it down some more. Try some stick style baits, flukes, tubes, hula grubs, and curly tail jigs and you should have some success.

I was searching the internet for articles relating to the Rock River fish kill. I came across this interesting article. http://www.pjstar.com/sports/x737344505/LA...ver-was-caustic The quote of most interest to me was: "The first step came Wednesday when 50,000 smallmouth bass fingerlings were stocked near Byron above the kill area. “Over the next few weeks those fish will distribute through the kill zone and start the recovery,” Sallee said. Beyond that, restocking will depend on funding and demand on the fish hatchery system." That quote was from Dan Sallee from the DNR. 50,000 little smallmouth is a good start to rebuilding the resource. These fish can easily migrate into the Kishwaukee where they will find clearer water and less big flatheads willing to gobble them up. That pool actually covers about 20 miles of unobstructed water plus tributaries like the kish and kilbuck.

That is good news for the Kish. It may be one of those cases where the ethanol floated and it just took a few lowhead dams to stir it up enough to start killing fish. Still tragic news for the lower Rock river. I watched some of those youtube vidoes. I also spoke with some of the local DNR at one of the last shockings. They had mentioned some strong populations of smallmouth bass in the grand detour and Prophetstown's areas showing up in shockings. It looks like that area got hit the hardest. It was speculated that there were some possible state record walleyes through that section of the rock river along with 60#+ flathead catfish. I don't fish that area but it is still a shame for the resource and those who enjoy it.

I'm not a survey expert so I'm not 100% sure the direction of water flow for that accident in the SE corner of town. The closest little streams or ditches that come to mind would be the stream that flows out of the little pond behind MC Sports or the little creek that flows in at Espensheid. Either way it is a bad situation for a lot of people and the natural resources. We can vent and maybe that will help a little. Hopefully the impacts were minimal and responsible party will do the right thing and make a generous donation back to restore the resource.

Today's Rockford paper says the ethanol train wreck and the fish kill may be linked. If true, that would mean fish kill on the lower part of the north branch and all of the main branch of the Kishwaukee river in addition to the Rock river.

Alot of good tips posted here already. I'll add one more which has helped me especially with new river that I have never fished. Below is a picture of a sample gage: The triangles show the median water discharge over the past 68 years. This basically means the average water level for that time of year. On June 16th the water flow was close to average and I image the fishing conditions were pretty good that day. The median level is 217 cfs and the current level is 1,270 cfs. That is over 5 times the normal flow of water which can't be safe for wading. For the wading fisherman you would want water levels than are near or below the triangles. For a canoe/boat fisherman you may be looking for something different. Low water may mean you need to get out and drag your canoe through every riffle or run the risk of loosing your prop. It's been a while since we have had to worry about that around here.

I read that in the Rockford paper today. We did get some heavy rains over the weekend. Enough to wash out some train tracks in Rockford and cause a huge ethanol tank explosions. This has the makings of a manure retention pond wash out. Just speculation at this point.

Incredible story Norm. You never know when that opportunity comes up to be the hero. Some people freeze, panic or just don't know what to do. Others seize the moment without hesitation and know exactly what to do without thinking about. Instinct just kicks in. It's a good thing for that young lady that you knew what to do.

It is true I did not mention ethnicity. At least 1 of the people in the group was caucasion for what it is worth. It really doesn't matter because poachers come in all shapes, sizes, colors and creeds. I also think in a free country with our freedom of speech we can ask someone a question. They aslo have the freedom of speech to tell you to get bent, but kicking your ass would be a crime. Again I wasn't advocating anything just telling what I thought was an interesting story. I think Mike hit the nail on the head about what really matters when it comes to making an impact on the resource. I also wish this guy with all his bravado would direct his energy with a more conservation minded passion instead of just trying to send guys home from his favorite fishing spots. The world does need more people with bravado and passion for things as long as it is directed constructively.

Good point. This confrontational guy looked like he liked to work out. His arms were about the size of my legs. He may have been one of those types that was hoping someone would take a swing. I'm sure there is a way to ask someone if they have a fishing license in a nice way.

I have to admit that this guy's style is a little outside of my comfort zone as well. After all how many people embrace confrontation? What would you do if they had a bucket full of smallmouth bass undersized and between April 1 and June 15th? Do you confront them or do you quietly call the DNR and sit back and wait? I really wasn't advocating anything just telling a story of something I witnessed that got me thinking and how far you can take being a stuart of the river.