John Gillio

I lied, one more thing, Canal Port has very good steaks and is my wife's favorite.

I would say the Skoog burger is hard to beat. Their fish is also better. The rest may be up for grabs. I would give Duffy's more points for atmosphere. To confuse you even more: Canal Port also has good food and a friendly nice atmosphere. Just a mile or so out of town on route 6 east toward Ottawa is the Cajun Connection, Voted one of the best restaurants in the Peoria, WEEK Channel 25 viewing area, by their news team. Cajun food is their specialty. The best prices are at Joy and Ed's. It's probably the oldest establishment in town with the least atmosphere, but the food isn't bad, the soups are very good,and they serve breakfast. If you like to eat, Utica isn't a bad place to be. That's all I have to say about that.

I'm quite sure there are no eggs yet. Occasionally one of the eagles is in the nest and appears to be making adjustments. Getting things in order I suppose. There are a few other nests in the area along the Illinois and Vermilion Rivers. I haven't checked along the Fox near Ottawa but I wouldn't doubt their existence there too. It is cool to see them year-round and on a daily basis.

That is one reason I love fishing rivers. Each cast has the potential for a surprise at the end of the line. Flatheads do like dam faces as well as log jams, root balls, boulders, or undercut rocks and shorelines.

Here is a shot of some nesting eagles. The nest is on the west side of route 251 and is seen as you are heading north, just before you start down the hill toward the Peru bridge. The river is frozen over and the eagles are congregating at the Starved Rock lock and dam. I saw about a dozen eagles on a single tree Friday at the Lock and Dam Visitor Center. There are a good number of eagles up and down the river in this area.

Fish catchers, no doubt. They all have a great look.

Nice looking flies!

Congrats on the purchase Terry. You would have fun with any decision you made. It will be a new adventure and will put you on water you would never have been able to reach on foot. Happy floating!

Rob, you are surely a brave man to say stripping basket out loud and in bold print.

Rob, I have only used my spinning gear from the kayak. I'm still working at getting that down.

Andy, your gallary has some great shots. Looks like there is no shortage of big fish there. Sounds like you are enjoying your job, the country, and the food. It would be cool if you and Tom could get together and share some stories and some recipes. I'm told that Thailand is a beautiful country. I hope this summer's visit home allows for some smallie fishing on that favorite Illinois stream of yours. Jonn, I remember seeing that article before. Nice write-up and pics! Being we both have a special spot in our hearts for different stretches of the same river, we should wet a line together sometime. From talking with you in the past it sounds like we also both hit some of the same little creeks. Tom, I do hope to visit your restaurant someday, your menue looks great. Thank you all for the nice words.

Andy, a friend of mine fishes flatheads in another nearby body of water. He also fishes for them only at night. I have fihed with him a few times. You describe it well. When I was fishing for them,I was leaving the river by dark or getting started at daybreak. I fished for them mainly with artificials so I was constantly casting and was often on foot searching them out. Is that a snakehead in your profile photo? They sound like they could be an interesting catch.May I ask how you ended up in Thailand? Eric, You are walking among some river monsters up your way too (other than those monster bass you manage to catch with an uncanny consistency). I ran into a fellow who was targeting them when I was up that way this past summer. Mike, be sure that Rodent can hug the bottom . Rob, my most productive spots are all off limits these days . Good thing I'm addicted to fishing in general and not just flatheads .

Many of you may have had learning experieces similar to this one. I would like to here them if you have. Smallies have almost always been in my blood, but I was also intrigued by the tales told by local old-timers about the big flathead catfish that made a home in my favorite little smallmouth stream. After seeing old photos of some of these brutes, and after losing what I felt could only have been huge cats while fishing for smallies with my ultralight gear, I decided I wanted to catch one of these big cats. I learned as much as I could from the few old-timers I knew. I found that they were eager to teach me techniques as long as I didn't ask about specific fishing spots. When I finally decided I was ready to give it a serious try I picked up a medium power 7' baitcasting rod and a reel thet could handle 20-40 pound test line and went out in search of the elusive big cats. The thought of catching a 20-50 pound fish from my home waters was exciting to say the least. It wasn't long before my knowledge of the river and that gained from the old-timers lead me to success. I became quite proficient at hooking and landing the big cats that were only legend to me until now. I know this sounds like a catfish story, and I suppose it is. However, the large catfish I was catching taught me something about smallies. Big smallies like big baits. Untill I started fishing for big cats, 18" smallies were my biggest and throwing 2" lures was the norm. While fishing for big cats I caught quite a few smallies that were 18" and bigger. My catfish baits ran from 4"- 9" in length, and these were small compared to what other catfish guys were using on other streams. I was amazed at what a 20+ inch smallie would try to eat. I didn't even think they existed in my little river. I'm not saying big 20+ inch smallies will not hit small baits, they will. My heaviest smallie hit a 1 1/2 inch crankbait. What I am saying is that big baits attract larger fish more often than smaller baits do. I know this is a smallmouth forum, but the following pictures are of a few flatheads taken from my home stream which is best known for its fiesty little smallies and 1 1/2- 3 pound channel cats. The second to last shot was messed up as I had dropped my camera...oops. Some of my artistic talent finished off the part of the fish that was blacked out.

Nice ones Tom!

Nice Jonn!

Looks good Josh.

Colt said it well. The lighter weight rod will handle a larger fish quite well because of its length. Throwing a larger fly with a lower weight rod would be more difficult. The rod weight is more important for the size fly you are throwing than the size fish you are catching on the Kish.

Nicely done! Thanks for the info on the crease flies.

Very pretty, simple flies Rob. I imagine their flutter would be very enticing. I was planning on tying some crease flies this winter. What is the name of the foam you use?

Very nice bugs Rob. Merry Chritmas.

Impressive ties Tim. Thanks.

Thanks for sharing them Tom.

Nicely done Tim.

Nice craws Tim. I especially like the looks of the first one.

Great looking flies Tim.