John Gillio

Not this bunch Mark. I have cooked them in the past and will again. They are pretty good eating and I don't feel bad about doing them in. Yes Eugene, that is exactly where I meant. Hopefully they don't find a way upstream.

Fished the Vermilion the other day. The water was very high, swift, and silver on almost every cast. Only landed a few fish but tiny silver scales were on the hook almost every time. The Silver Asian carp are thick in the river again. I ran into the same carp situation in the lower Fox too.

Some experimentation is in order here. Do fish prefer one brand of beer bottle cap over others. I will look into the situation with wheat beers. They tend to draw me in quite easily.

I thought this was an interesting short read. http://conservationmagazine.org/2016/09/one-reason-fish-smarter-think/

Heard about those storms on the news. Glad nobody was injured.

Very cool Jude. I haven't seen an otter in years.

D___ it Terry, I can't stop giggling.

Rob, sorry you have had limited luck with the fly. I wonder if maybe smallies just don't like feeding on gar (too hard to digest all of those tough scales and teeth). It would probably be super along the coast as a needlefish representation.

Thanks Rob.

Very pretty fish Rob. That Big Black Bug produces quite well for you. How do you work that thing? I have had little luck for smallies on top this year. I don't believe I have one yet and have fished them on three separate streams. Other species had been hitting them well up to a few weeks ago. I throw a variety of popping baits. The 2" bandit popper is my favorite when using the ultralight on small streams. On larger water I like a 2 1/2" Storm chug bug or a Heddon Chugger Jr.. I like a 4" Rapala I Skitter Pop for hybrids and often catch smallies while throwing it if they are in the vacinity. I usually work them aggressively unless the fish tell me otherwise. With the fly rod I use various cup mouthed poppers and crease flies.

Nice report. It is a pretty stream. I hope to fish it again someday. It has been a few years. Glad to hear it was a good time.

Sad.

Thanks Jude, nice report.

Hot day, cool report. Were any darters found?

Nice looking streams. I would have loved to fish it too,but the trip was trumped by a wedding.

Hey Rob, that's a very nice smallie. Is it from one of the small streams on our side of the line, or is it from across the border? Nice to hear the fly is working well. I'll have to pick up some micro cut zonker strips and give them a try. Funny about those hatches, since the bridge is out there are fewer of them here too even though the water keeps jumping up. I get in a couple days every couple weeks just before it jumps again. I think I've only had four smallmouth outings all year. Once was a skunk. The others produced well but not much of size. That smallie of yours looks very healthy. He surely isn't missing the hatches. Hopefully the river will drop with the traffic and you can get after them with that new leach of yours and fish uninterrupted. Nice to here you had a safe trip. When you left here with the bicycle group you got the attention of a local radio talk show host. A caller must have talked to some participants that had stopped at Casey's in Tonica. He said they were a friendly bunch, and the radio host reminded people throughout his morning show to drive safely and keep an eye out for cyclists. He was in awe of the miles you put on in a day.

Very nice fly and fish on the fly.

Looks like they're doing something with them.

Very nice photo Gordon, you captured the moment well.

Ed & Kevin are both correct. Before the Illinois river was dredged into basically a canal itself, LaSalle was the farthest a steamboat could navigate the river upstream. The canal was built so goods and passengers in the south could be linked to Lake Michigan, Chicago, and other communities in the north. Soon after the canal was built, the railways entered the scene. http://dnr.state.il.us/lands/landmgt/parks/i&m/main.htm

The Better Fishing Assoc. is sponsoring it's 18th annual kids fishing expo in Peru on Sat. May 21 at Baker Lake from 9:00 am - 2:00 pm. They do a fantastic job on this event. No preregistration necessary.http://better-fishing-assoc.org/ This is followed up by their 31st Annual Lock 14 Kids Fishing Tournament on Sat. June 18. (see same as above)

Yum!

Kevin, at Split Rock it is overgrown with tall reeds and is next to dry. The 100 yd stretch with water in it, in the photo, is just east of Split Rock. Pecumsagan Creek empties into the canal there and feeds that part of the canal a little before it spills off to continue on to the lake south of the canal. A dike just east of split rock, and west of the creek, prevents much flow into the Split Rock section.

Eric,I like the way you brought them to the forefront with the focus. Very cool photo. All we need are some Lego people. Rich, hopefully the concrete sections can be used somewhere. You're right, they would make some awesome luncker structures or maybe patches for a leaky canal.