Paul Trybul

Back in the day I would make the drive down to Pekin, IL and fish Powerton Lake  between Christmas and New Years. It used to be great smallmouth fishing by the warm water discharge but something changed. Does anyone catch smallies out of Powerton anymore?

I caught a handfull of smallmouth bass yesterday, if that gives anyone hope.

I love the winter fishing passion. It's tough in winter conditions but the peace and tranquility can be worth the effort. There could be a window this weekend to fish in milder conditions. You don't have to worry about other people in your spots.

All this talk about the B&G but do they have one of these?

Count me in either way.

It will too cold for your birthday suit

The temperatures are actually going to pretty decent on Friday & Saturday. There is a chance of rain unfortunately. Is anyone going to try to get out and fish on Friday? I know I won't be getting up early to be fighting the crowds while holding my wife's purse just to save a few bucks.

I have to eat breakfast so I might as well eat with you guys.

I've done best with chatterbaits in conditions where the water is stained and the fish are feeding relatively shallow.

Death before mono. 8-10# braid or superline will work well in most smallmouth river conditions.

We have breached this subject a few times. The laws in IL are pretty outdated. You can debate there are Federal laws that provide access to any river that can be floated. In IL however you might need a lawyer to have that debate for you. The Kish supports a Canoe outfitter so if there were trespassing problems they would have a tough time running a business.

I saw them float by the cabin on Saturday and they launched right after us at the T.I. launch on Sunday morning.

Thanks for leading a group Joe. I was thinking about staying our longer to see if some tougher access areas had more biting fish. Unfortunately when I got back to my car and checked my phone it had about a dozen missed calls and messages. Turns out the jerks in my fantasy football league changed the draft day from Sunday to Saturday but forgot to tell me.

We had a nice turnout for our Kishwaukee River wade outing on Saturday.

Thank you for all who participated. We met for breakfast to get fueled up for our wade while telling fishing stories. Then we broke up into 3 groups with a group going to each branch of the Kishwaukee.  I had a diverse group of ages and fishing styles so I led a group of 4 on the main branch. It offered relatively easy access and let everyone spread out giving plenty of space to the fly fisherman.

I'm not used to fishing that slow as we picked apart a one mile stretch over 6 hours. Numbers were pretty low but I did get 3 decent ones in the 16"-16.5" range on a whopper plopper.

We also had an encounter with 2 huge snapping turtles in an epic wrestling match.

These 2 were going at it for quite a while and were still at it when we left. I wasn't about to get in the middle and try to break it up. 

I'm getting some calls on the Kish outing so it looks like we will have a decent turnout. The rain has been pretty light in the Rockford area so everything should be a go for tomorrow.

My wife and I spent 4 days, 3 nights up at the ISA road trip cottage.

A big thank you to Norm Perkins for gifting a few days of the trip. Thank you to the rest of the crew for letting my wife and I stay in the honeymoon suite with the private screened in deck  and Jacuzzi tub. It was a very enjoyable trip with outstanding weather, conversation, food, fishing, exploring, and general comradery. Norm was just arriving as we were leaving and I did get to pick Ken's brain a little before he left. Here was the crew that I stayed with:

 Although I did some fishing this was more of a relaxing and exploring type of get away for the two of us. We spent every night around the campfire having a few drinks, telling stories, and joking around.  

A nice section of river is right in the back yard of the cottage. The first morning I woke up to catch the sunrise for this view.

I caught maybe 60 bass over the trip. The best 2 came within view of the cottage. These were 19"+ fish and it speaks to the quality of the location.

I did a long float with Mike on a day my wife went to visit her Aunt in Wausau. It is a nice section of river and we did ok. You had to work for your fish but I put the time in and was rewarded with around 2 dozen with 3  that were 18" or better.

The next day we all went out and floated a section and worked out a shuttle. Fishing was slower but there were plenty of nice smallmouth caught.

This leads me to technique as these fish were a little particular. There was a lot of talk of the whopper plopper. So much so that my wife wanted to create a drinking game where everyone had to chug every time someone said whopper plopper. I tried the plopper plenty but only caught 3. They all happened to be 18" or better but its wasn't the best thing going. I was my most productive dragging bottom with larger profile natural colored plastics on sliderheads. After a riffle section when the river got deeper and slower, was the most productive for me. I focused on the middle 1/3 of the river and would work 2 rods. This isn't for everyone as you can easily become a hot mess fishing this way. I was able to avoid snagging for the most part along with not tangling and not having 2 fish on at the same time.

The last day my wife and I explored some waterfalls as there is about a dozen in the area. It is absolutely gorgeous up there hiking about some of the natural areas. Water levels are low right now and I'm sure the waterfalls would be more spectacular in high water conditions.

I did bring my rod on one of the waterfall hikes. I caught around 10 smallmouths out of one hole. I also caught 2 fish in one cast. I was reeling in a smallmouth and a northern pike attacked my smallmouth head first and would not let go. Would not let go to the point where I was able to grab the pike and separate the two even though the pike was never actually hooked.

I felt like I had a quality Northwoods experience and wish I could have stayed longer. I can't imagine there are too many places in the Midwest more picturesque to fish.

All the branches of the Kish look good for wading right now. They are calling for a little rain on Friday so we will need to monitor that. I'm looking forward to fishing with some fellow smallmouth enthusiasts. Hoping for good weather, good river conditions, and feeding fish. 

I know the ned rig was designed to pair up with the mushroom head jig. That doesn't mean you have to go that direction. I've been pairing the Elaztech plastics with the Charlie brewer slider heads and a dab of glue and I've been getting good snag resistant performance.

Due to a scheduling conflict the Kish wade outing has been pushed back 1 week to Saturday August 25th,.

Join us for a wade fishing outing on the Kishwaukee River. Mid-August offers the most stable conditions for wading this gem of a smallmouth stream. We will meet at the Cherry Valley Café at 8AM and break up into groups from there. There will be options to fish the north, south, and main branches of the Kish depending on current water conditions. Bring proper wading attire, sun protection, and water for hydration. Call Paul Trybul 815-540-7775 if you have any questions regarding the event

Although the river came up some, its not a complete disaster. If we can avoid any major downpours between now and next weekend, things should look good for a float

My father and I are interested.

Cancelled, rising river and more thunderstorms in the forecast.

They are calling for some rain to pass through tonight and then there are some scattered shower chances through out Saturday. It not perfect conditions but I'm still up for fishing if conditions allow. We do need to keep and eye on the river gages as a storm passed through the night before last years outing and the river jumped up 10 feet in a day. I feel good about anything below 4.5ft and falling. Anything above 4.5 foot and rising and cancellation is the safe choice.

Here is a link to the gage I go by:

https://waterdata.usgs.gov/il/nwis/uv?site_no=05419000 

Here is an opportunity to fish the scenic Apple River located in the far Northwest corner of our State. The Apple is located in a driftless area untouched by the glaciers. It offers scenic bluffs, rock formations and riffle, pool, run smallmouth habitat. This is a small stream so we will limit the number of participants. Call Paul Trybul 815-540-7775 to reserve you spot.

This is one of the few rivers in northern IL that is running relatively low and clear. At this point I have only had 3 people call to reserve their spot. We could do 2 groups of 4 or 3 groups of 4 with another experienced leader. I have room in my car if someone wants to meet in Rockford and carpool at 6:45AM.

I've done this before and it is a pretty cool experience. It's amazing how many quality fish of different species make it over the spillway.

I know I've been asked to participate in tournaments in the past. People that have fished with me tell me I have the focus and dive to be competitive. I did some soul searching and I feel that fishing competitively is not for me. I have nothing against these tournaments or the people who participate for me. I like the catch, photo, release element of these kayak tournaments and wish other bass tournaments used this format versus put a bass in a livewell all day, bounce it around a lake and then weight them in and release them all in 1 spot. 

For me fishing plays an important balancing part in my life. After 20+ years in outside sales, I get to scratch my competitive itch 5 days a weeks. Fishing is my escape from people, technology, and competition and I don't want that to change,