John Gillio

I feel the same as rich about the jigs. As far as throwing these things on a fly rod, to each his own. I've thrown all kinds of things with mine, including tiny jigs, spinners and even tiny plugs.

Fluke.

I'm with Eugene on that one.

Nice Bugger! Goat hair .

Looks good!

Rob, yours is truly a classic. Hopefully you will be figuring something new shortly. I am sure the ISA members of Cardinal Nation are already thinking about it, but know not to speak too soon.

Sharp looking setup.

Well done Ryan.

I'll be wet Saturday morning.

I love tossing the three weight. It will definitely make the trip with me.

Sounds like you guys had a good time. I've been wanting to fish that area for many years and just haven't gotten there. It is high on the bucket list. I hope to join you on next years trip. The camping thing sounds fun in itself. Those are some pretty sunfish Rob. They rival anything in any water.

Fantastic!

It's hell getting old and forgetting the names of all those secret spots. Good thing you still remember how to get to them. It's funny how the best fishermen have the worst recall of names and places. Thanks for the info.

I believe it is most likely the case since they have declined as the carp have greatly increased. The gar here are much smaller than they once were and the game fish catches are way down too.

Great looking flies Jonn. Do you ever see schools of small shad in the Vermilion above Streator at all. There were once swarms of them in my neck of the woods . They have all but disappeared, along with the emerald shiners that were once so common.

Dan, I have had access to that area most of my life, but the mill has cut off access to all but a choice few. They have been fining people who are caught on their property. You may drift the river, but dropping an anchor or getting out to wade is a no no. They can do this because they own both sides of the river, thus they own the river bed. It was once an easy 5-10 min trip for me to some fine water. It would be nice if the DNR could somehow get ahold of the river to allow waders in, but that doesn't look very likely. The only access areas,unless you know a land owner, are at the bridges and through Matthiessen State Park. Much of the park borders the mills property, so care must be taken to stay clear of it. Pretty much everything from just above the wildcats to a few hundred yards downstream of the narrows, downstream from the dam, is off limits to fishermen.

I have to agree with Tim about the personal preference thing, as well as all else he said. I've used cane poles, bait casters, spinning gear, and the fly rod. All hold a special place in my heart. I can only speak for my own personal preferences. Number one, it is fishing, and rivers that are the true addiction for me. I had a flyrod for many years before I was in the right state of mind to use it much.. I had to be in a slow down, relaxed mode, thinking more about my casting and whatnot than on catching fish. This was very difficult for me at first. Frame of mind was the key for me. Now I love my flyrods. I have also become proficient enough that I can think more about the catching of fish than the cast. I move along much faster with the flyrod these days, as I said earlier, I usually like to cover some ground. This said, my spinning gear is still my favorite. This may be due to the fact that I feel most comfortable in my ability with this gear. As for the wading, once again, I like to move along. When with other anglers I do hold back. I too feel it would be rude to jump ahead. When with friends that don't get out as much as I do, I get a bigger thrill out of seeing them land a nice fish than landing them myself. When alone I am usually in a keep it moving mode.

Nice Sam. Thumbs up.

That is one huge carp!

Rob, it should go on the list. In my mind a fine trip should definitely be revisited. By the way, I just tonight talked to a fellow who said he was with a friend who snagged into and landed an Asian carp that was easily 100 pounds. He seemed to be an honest chap. I may have to revisit the Asian carp thing again being my best smallie so far this year was 14 inches.

Sounds like I'm alot like Dick. I usually fish new waters much more slowly than those familiar to me. On new waters, I still seem to move faster than those fishing with me. I want to cover ground, see what's around the bend, and find aggressive fish. I am slowing down with age though, and on some days working the same hole a little longer doesn't seem like such a bad idea.

It was hard for me to just take pictures of the water. No time to take out the rod even though one lives in the car. I'm really working at getting things done so I can take advantage of some nice fall weather and fishing.

Quick change artist. We are back to this again.

Dick, You are so right. I am very fortunate to have a few close-by areas that I can make a quick run to.

This summer and last I had two goals in mind. One was to fish with more members. The other was to fish new waters more often. Due to back to back extremely busy summers, both goals have only slightly been touched upon. The "busy" isn't coming to an end soon so I apologize to those whom I thought I might be able to get out with. Hopefully by fall my once sacred Saturday mornings will be sacred again, and I will be able to make some plans. Earlier this summer I was fortunate enough to get together with Rob G. one morning as he was passing through the area. We met at a local restaurant during a rain shower. After a nice chat over a small breakfast, the rain passed and we were able to get on the river for an hour or so. Conditions were far from the best but Rob managed to catch the only four bronzebacks of the day. My two fish were of the white variety. As I recall all fish were caught on twisters. Rob is a real class guy even though gar balls are a part of his diet. I hope to get together with him many more times in the future. Last summer I fished some sections of the Millstone R. in New Jersey and the Fox R. that were new to me with some success in both. This year I focused on the Delaware and Raritan Canal on my New Jersey trip. My wife works there for a week each summer. I go along to visit friends and spend the afternoons fishing while everyone else is at work. Due to conditions on the canal this year, I fished only with poppers. The main target was largemouth bass. I did surprisingly well for the middle of the afternoon landing quite a few small bass, some pickerel up to about 16", and some respectable red breasted sunfish. I also took advantage of a trip to the Quad Cities Airport to drop Sue off to catch a flight to New Orleans. Before heading home I spent three hours fishing the Rock river. The idea was to wade for smallies, but that changed when I noticed schools of white bass in casting distance from shore. It was a hot afternoon so I decided to stay on shore and out of my waders. The whites wouldn't touch my twisters or tiny tubes, so I switched to silver Mepps spinners and caught a crary number of them in my first hour on the river. They were lacking in size so I decided to fish the shoreline for smallies . I picked up 4 dinks on twisters and a crank. The shiny crank also took a couple larger whites. My final hour was spent fishing for sauger. I worked a deeper hole with a pearl tube on a 1/4 oz. jighead and took a couple nice whites and 4 nice sized sauger.