Paul Trybul

Me too Norm. There are better and less stinky ways to catch catfish. Fresh chicken liver, leeches, cut bait, and live stunted bluegills round out my top 4 mid summer baits for catfish. You are probably at the tail end of a mullberry bite. Catfish is king on the Rock River. In years with high water, a lot of those cats make it up the Kish.

Congrats on retirement. I have about 20 years of the rat race to go.

Terry, What are you going to go over the Belvidere dam in a garbage can at flood stage? That would be pretty stupid.

I'm pretty sure Japan bombed pearl harbor and then it was pretty much over after we dropped some nukes on them. I'm also pretty sure the smallmouth won't bite in the NW region when the water drops down to 33 degrees. Anything is possible and every river system is different but I am going to spend my time on other persuits. I would love to see some pictures of smallmouth with snow in the background or ice chunks floating down the river. I have some in my archive but they are from powerton lake or other warmer water discharge area.

Knock yourselves out guys. The water temp gage on the Rock in Byron reads a crisp 36 degrees. The air temp isn't going to even get above freezing until next Saturday. River bass fishing is over for me. I think there are still opportunities for pike, walleye , trout and you can try that ice fishing thing pretty soon. I will patiently wait for 45 degree water temps for my pursuit for river bronze.

I'd like to go, signed "the walrus"

I'll be there. I was going to bring a waterproof camera, posters, seine net, minnow bucket and a small 10 gallon fish tank. Fishing gear is always in the trunk of my car from March through November. I'll also meet in Cherry Valley to enjoy the B&G and cheerful service. Brandy would make a good wife but my life, my lover, my lady is the sea or a river filled with smallmouth.

Thank you to everyone that attended the Apple River outing last Saturday. We has 7 anglers attend, Paul T, PaulT SR, Allen R, Samantha R, Mark G, Terry D, and Sarah(taking the photo). We split up in groups and fished different sections. The flyfisher folks fished in one group and they did pretty good. I think Samantha caught the biggest at 16". Sarah and I caught around 5 in the 14-15" range but couldn't catch anything larger. We met back up for lunch and did a little fishing in the afternoon. The afternoon fishing was not as good as the morning fishing. I'm interested to hear if Allen & Samantha found a good afternoon bite. Probably over 100 smallmouth caught in the group while enjoying some of the best scenery northern IL has to offer.

The water gage is under 3.0ft and falling with no rain in the forecast. I think we are good to go. So far we have only had a few members RSVP. Still spots available if you are interested in fishing an area of IL untouched by the glaciers from the ice age.

You guys are going off on a tangent. The goal is a 20" caught somewhere in the state of Illinois in the year 2014. This is a pretty high standard. I've caught a lot of smallmouth out of IL waters over the past 30 years but only 2 of them were 20". Some of this depends on where you fish. I also have never fished the Kankakee or Powerton in its hay days. Good luck to all on their quest for the 20" smallmouth.

I've been to Punta Cana but I didn't get any fishing in. I did do some research and I did find 2 fishing charter boats that offered some off shore fishing trips. I wish I had brought a rod. The resort I stayed at had a reef with a ship wreck on it a little ways off shore. They offered free kayaks and you could paddle out to the wreck. You get a little culture shock the first day or two after noticing that the beaches are tops optional in Punta Cana.

I agree that the diameter of the line is not something that a river fish will notice. One thing to consider in the type of lure you fish and how the diameter of the line effects the action. It could be twitching a jerkbait, walking the dog, and the depth a crankbait will run can all be affected by the line you use.

Thank you Mike for braving to elements to be our flyfishing expert. And thank you for the 2 year renewal. I hope you had the opportunity to chat with my father there. He is retired like you and lives in Rockford if you ever need a fishing partner for your lake.

I'm thinking 21" & 5 Lbs 2 oz. A beast of a river smallmouth

That is true about the way they manage the native & non-native species. I was fishing one of the rivers catching brook trout. They encouraged us to keep them since they were non-native. No reason to waste the resource and attract bears. We kept two and cooked them over an open fire. Fresh trout from a cool clean mountain stream is actually pretty good. We were fishing a location on the Yellowstone river that ran through some open grassland. There was a nice worn trail leading up to the river. I was fishing away and focusing on the river not paying much attention to whatever was going on behind me. Heard a noise and turned around to see a herd of buffalo. That worn trail leading down to the river also had a worn trail leading up the bank on the other side. We were fishing the river crossing spot. We quickly headed down river and a few minutes later the herd crossed. There are some different risks and challenges fishing out west. You can't find a more beautiful backdrop to fish in than Yellowstone National Park.

Thanks for the info. I use Netflix so I will check it out. I visited Yellowstone and trout fished some of the rivers within its park. It truly is a special place on this earth, a greatest hits of what you see from the western 1/2 of the US. I highly doubt they canoed the "entire length of the Yellowstone river". By the picture I took while there, there is no way they canoed through Yellowstone's grand canyon or portaged around it. It would still be a wonderful adventure just to float its safer sections.

I'm exited to have Jonn come to Rockford. He brings a wealth of smallmouth fishing knowledge. This knowledge he gained from countless hours over many years of chasing smallmouth bass throughout the Midwest. Jonn can speak intelligently about spin fishing, flyfishing, cold water fishing, lure making, paddling and wading techniques. I have a feeling Jonn will spend some time talking about cold water smallmouth fishing. This will give us some tips to bring those first smallmouth of 2014 to hand after the ice breaks away from our local rivers.

Hey Terry, are you still wet wading?

Some of the reason were mention already. From me a person that has scheduled outings for many years the reasons are: unpredictable cold weather and the liabilities that comes with the risk of someone falling in getting soaked and experiencing hypothermia.

I'm still wet wading as of 10/4/2013. It's been a mild fall. That may change after Saturday.

There is an article in the Rock River times about it.

Those were some nice ones you caught at the end of the trip. By the picture it looks like the same area we caught the pike. Maybe the bass moved in after the pike moved out?

Thank you Terry for organizing the trip. This is one of the better turn outs I've seen for a float outing. High winds and falling leaves were the challenge of the day. It was nice having Sarah as my canoe partner. Not only is she easier to look at but she's not a fishaholic like most of us. She spent quite a bit of time keeping the canoe in position so I could fish. We did take turns keeping the boat in position which was a luxury you solo kayakers didn't have. We caught around 20-25 smallmouth along with a good sized bluegill and a 27" pike. All of our smallmouth were 13" or less and we didn't even loose a big fish. Sarah fished with a slider and plastic and I stuck with a 2.5" Sammy all day. That was frustrating at times trying to walk the dog with a huge bow in the line and even white caps on the river. I must have plucked 50 leaves off of it too but when it was in the right spot and clean it would get hit. We did invite the 27" pike home for dinner.

They are calling for a chance of rain in the afternoon but not until 3pm and its only 30%. I'm going 1/2 day anyway so the weather should be perfect.

Yes as far back as today.