John Gillio

Foiled again! Was hoping for a carp outing but rains upstream jumped the river back up a few feet from 8:00 am Sat. to 8:00 am today. The river is still rising. Bob at Vermilion River Rafting has a smile on his face today as he thought business may be ending for the season. I on the other hand . Check out the river level scale on the bridge in the photo above to the photos below.

Another thumbs up here. I especially enjoyed Tom's article. All well done.

Only fished this area for smallies once this year. I had numbers but half were 8" and less. Only two over 11", one at 13" and one at 17". River has been a bit high until now. Have been spending my time closer to Oglesby. Game fish have been lacking so I have changed my focus to Grass carp with the fly rod.. Lowell area to takeout has been full of rafts, kayaks, and canoes.

Flows between spring and fall usually look like this:

You have drawn quite a picture in my mind Terry. That brings back memories of them bouncing off of me and my fly rod. That was not a pleasant experience. Off the subject of insects, I just got back from the weekly Friday evening veranda party at Starved Rock Lodge. The band was The Lizzie Neal Blues Band, from the Rockford area. They were phenomenal. That was a pleasant experience. If you are a music lover and haven't seen them, check them out if you get a chance.

According to the U of I extension there are either three or six species of periodical cicadas, depending on the expert you talk to. These are divided further into different broods, so every year there is an emergence somewhere in Illinois. Henderson and Warren counties will see the majority of them this weekend. Those emerging in the northern counties will appear again in 2024, and is the largest emergence of cicadas anywhere. They say that fish will gorge themselves with them and be hard to catch because of this.

We had it here in 2007. I'll have to look into how that works.

If you are in one of the 7 counties in Illinois that will have an emergence of the 17 year cicada, you may be in for some good topwater action. The last I saw this in LaSalle county it caused the grass carp in the river to go nuts on black poppers that were drifted to them like dry flies to trout. It was one of the best times I had on the river with the fly rod. I don't know if smallies feel the same way about cicadas as grass carp do, but it could be fun this summer for those who have the opportunity to fish the hatch.

Looks like a winner!

Nice point. He obviously isn't all he thinks he is. I would guess a native brook trout never set fin in the 3K.

Kudos to Eric. Nicely done.

I like the idea of a Flig. It is hard to argue against either jigging or swinging a Flig. I'm sure it works well under a flig float also (the true meaning of FnF).

With so many materials being used in tying these days, and lead being a staple in the tying of streamers, I'm not sure there is a difference. My father's favorite fly was a pinky jig. I guess he considered them one in the same.

Only if your practice fly is made of feathers .

Sounds like you enjoyed yourself. Nice post.

I believe in some people's minds there is a hierarchy in the world of fishing that goes something like this (with many divisions within each group): 1. Those who fish with split cane flyrods and feathered dry flies only (in which case the fellow on the river with you would be a lowly peasant if he were not toting a Thomas and Thomas). 2. The flyfisherman. 3. The bass fisherman in the fiberglass bass boat. 4. The baitfisher in his john boat. 5. The spin or baitcaster walking the shoreline. 6. The bait fisherman on the shoreline relaxing on his fishing chair with a beer in hand (I suppose a microbrew of some sort would give you more status than a Schlitz). 7. The trot liner. 8. The jug fisherman. 9. The limbliner. 10. The yo-heaver. 11. The hogger, noodler, or whatever you call it when you stick your hand under a rock and grab the fish (Jude, help me with this one). I personally have no prejudice here as I have been seen doing most of the above. Unfortunately I have never fished with a Thomas and Thomas and I am too chicken to stick my hand under a rock.

Oh!... I thought you were just showing off your good looks and well groomed whiskers...

Maybe even a beer can bobber and a worm.

Very nice fish Rob. I like the up shot photo too. Looks like another nice swap.

The house is high enough to not be affected by flooding even after the record high river levels of the last few years. The birdbath/spa definitely needs some work.

Steve, I too am very sorry to hear this news. My prayers are also with you and your's.

Thanks guys. Tom, I'll have to start carrying some smaller nymphs with me. I would have had a blast. There were some nice sized fish in the mix. The suckers fight well too and may take a nymph, With those bright red fins they are a nice looking fish.

One person's garbage seems to usually be another's treasure.

I have been out a number of times fishing various streams from the shoreline this year with my spinning gear. I have yet to focus on smallies I was after white bass on today's outing. It was my first wade of the year, and my first flyrod outing of the year. I waded about a half mile stretch of river. The entire area was loaded with rough fish, none of which seemed to want a fly. They all had something else on their minds. There was a lot of splashing going on. The waves of rough fish would only part slightly as I waded along. The vast majority of fish were smallmouth buffalo. There were also small pods of redhorse suckers scattered throughout the buffalo. Here and there I would spot a solitary Asian carp. I couldn't see white bass in the mix but was able to hook into a couple dozen of them along with a nine inch smallie. I was on the water for three hours and amazingly only snagged one buffalo. I didn't expect to get to the river today, especially for my longest outing of the year, but I am glad I did. This portion of river is fished quite heavily, but today I ran into only two other anglers. The solitude and the distant hooting of owls helped make my day. The two other anglers were both toting flyrods.They seemed to be enjoying the river as much as I was. They focused their time on fishing one of the few deeper pools in this area and said they also were picking up a few whites . Pretty cool to see more native fish in the river than invasives for a change.

The National Bowfishing Alliance along with the IDNR are hosting the annual," Director's Shoot State Bow Fishing Championship" on the Illinois River at Starved Rock. Dates for the event are July 19-20. Entry fee is $30. Grand prize is at least $1000. From what I understand, there are seperate shoots during the day and at night. Lots of prizes. Sounds like fun if you are into bowfishing. You can register at eddevries@illinoisbowfishing.net.