John Gillio

I imagine the high waters the last few springs could have had an affect on the spawn. The river can be like chocolate in the spring after a good rain.

Thank you Mike, for picking up the ball.

Not much development happening on the lower part of the river. Actually sedimentation seems to have slowed considerably. Farmland isn't plowed right to the river's edge like it once was. The river has cleaned up fairly well. Steve, cut the beard off and I'm back in my late thirties . I guess I like the "aging fine red wine" look. Aside from a few summers, I've had the beard since about 1982.

Thanks Rob, I think I'll give it a try. I have an Asian friend that tells me they are quite good also. He says they can be caught with hook and line using boilies. There are many recipies, but a simple effective one is made with chicken feed and flour. Make a thick paste with the seed and flour then roll it into small "pinky nail" sized balls. Drop these into boiling hot water a few minutes and they get rubbery. They stay on a single hook much better than doughball does. For those who prefer the fly rod, they can be taken inconsistantly with a size 22 hook,scud-like flies, and a very fine tippet. The problem is that here in the states they are under fished and reach much larger sizes. In Asia they are a major food source and rarely reach five pounds, from what I'm told. I know for a fact that they fight like a salmon, with long hard runs. If things keep heading in the direction they seem to be headed, I'll be fly fishing for flying fish.

Rob, I believe that is true. I've read that about them. Shad and shiner populations in both rivers are way low from what I can tell. I am seeing more gobies in the Illinois, though they are invasive also. As I had mentioned crayfish pops seem to be way up, but that could be due to a drop in the smallie population. I never thought I would like to see the return of commercial fishing in the area, but it may be the only thing that puts a dent in the carp population. They can grind as many of those things into patties as they want. I hear they are a fairly good tasting fish when you get past the bones. Much less fishy tasting than the European carp. It would be nice to find a profitable market for them. Fish patties ,fish meal, fish oil, the Chines fish market,fertilizer, pet foods, etc. should be able to turn a profit for someone. Nice action shot with the carp jumping out of the bucket. Or, was that two carp with one shot? I've been seeing quite a few bow fishermen in the area. Spring Valley even has some sort of bow fishing/Asian carp festival. Do you have any good recipies for Asian carp? I'm always snagging the things accidentally. I may as well give one a try. I did taste a smoked one and it was quite good.

Manny, I agree about the crayfish. The forage base has changed some but there is still alot of bait in the Vermilion. The river appears to be healthy in that respect, for the time being. Maybe they do mess up the spawn beds. They can sure kick up the bottom when they get excited. I also wonder if they suck up small fry or white bass eggs as they tumble along the river bottom. They seem to like to swim upstream with their mouths open. Yes ,I am looking forward to getting together on Sat. I'll give you a call Tues. or Wed. and we can set something up.

I totally agree Eric. I once saw a fellow in a John boat pulled up along the shore of the Illinois River. He was catching whites one after another with a little pinky jig. Every fish went right into the bottom of the boat. I don't think one was over ten inches. He said he thought he might have over 500 fish in the boat and that he caught them all from the spot he was sitting in. I didn't doubt his estimate one bit. I asked him what he was going to do with all those fish. He said his wife was going to grind them up and can them to make fish patties.

Most of my fishing as a young boy in the 1960's was with my father. We fished the Illinois and Vermilion rivers, mostly for carp and bullheads. We did fairly well for those species. The best fishing however, was in the area backwaters. They were full of bullheads and bluegill. They also held some bass and bowfin. As I remember, every spring there would be hundreds of dead winter killed shad or river herring along the shores of the backwaters. The other fish didn't seem to be affected by these winter kills. What I remember most about the Il. River, when I was very young, was all of the suds floating downstream on the rivers brown water. Giant formations of suds would form below the Starved Rock dam. The Vermilion was also usually muddy. Dad would have me look for hellgrammites and crawdads in the shallows for bait. I never did find these fabled hellgrammites, and the crawdads were scarce. Dad would tell me stories about the river being full of hellgrammites and crawdads when he was a kid. He would fish the Vermilion for crappie, catfish, smallmouth bass, and white bass and would do quite well. He said the rivers used to be full of American eels that would be 1-2 ft. long. I had never seen an eel. As time passed into the 1970's I was old enough to go fishing on my own or with my buddies. The Clean Water Act was passed in 1971, and the rivers began to clean up. White bass returned to the Illinois river. The smallies and catfish became more plentiful in the Vermilion. Crawdads returned to the river and the rocks provided homes to all sorts of insect nymphs. The rivers filled with giant schools of emerald shiners, shad, and river herring. I would wade the Vermilion during a shad run and would have to take the shad out of my shoes so I wouldn't have smashed fish in them when I got home. Fishing for white bass and crappie became phenomenal on both rivers. I would even catch the occasional walleye or northern pike. My dad was amazed at the river's turnaround. As we moved into the 1980's, the Illinois became a world-class white bass fishery and the state started stocking sauger back into the river and they took off. Simultaneously, the big yellow bullhead and then the brown bullheads disappeared from the rivers only to be found in the backwaters. I was told that baby bullhead were a favorite food of the sauger. The rivers were still teaming with whites, cats, crappies, herring, shad and shiners. While walking the sea wall at Starved Rock in the late '70's and through the '90's on any spring or fall day, you would see anglers with stringers of 100 or more white bass. The Illinois River had become a world-class sauger river. A two to four hour wade on the Vermilion River would produce 40-100 smallies, most of which were nine to twelve inches but were very healthy looking. By the 1990's I started hooking some nice smallies on the Vermilion. Hellgrammites made an appearance in the river and the crayfish were plentiful. From the early 1990's to just a couple of years ago, the Vermilion was very good to me for size as well as numbers. Almost every year produced at least one 20" fish; three at 21" or better. Fish from 12" to 19" were common. At this time I got interested in flathead catfish fishing after hooking a few accidentally while smallmouth fishing. Through the '90's and early 2000's, I spent much of June through August dredging up big cats up to close to fifty pounds. Live bait was my choice for catfish until a surgery didn't allowed the bait bucket to carried with me. I became quite good at luring the big cats with artificials. This led to another discovery. Some very large hybrid stripers were living in my favorite little river. For some time, I was fortunate enough to be able to fish a few areas that produced lunker cats, smallies and hybrids. I would carry a medium power rod for the big cats and a light power rod for the others. Crappie and bluegills were also in the mix from the same areas. After 2000 large numbers of Asian carp began to enter the rivers. The shiner numbers dropped considerably and now very few emeralds are ever seen. The last few years have also seen a crash in the shad and river herring numbers. The white bass population has dropped tremendously. The sea wall at Starved Rock sees very few white bass being caught. Good catches on the Vermilion are ten to twenty fish when fifty or more were common. The sauger and hybrid stripers are still doing well but they are stocked fish. The year 2006 brought an end to my fishing a favorite stretch of the Vermilion due to new regulations by the cement mill that owns the property. At this point, much of the lower part of the river is closed to even raft, kayak and canoe traffic. Most of my good catfish spots are lost to me so my focus is back to the smallmouth bass which has always been a major fish of interest to me. Finding public access to the lower Vermilion has become very difficult. Much of this is due to the mess left behind by those who have little or no respect for the property of other people who at one time so generously allowed their land to be used by the public. Creek fishing can still be good in the area but the creeks often have problems too with pollutants and access limitations. The back waters I once fished as a child have silted in and are dry or only hold water for part of the year. Many new opportunities have arisen with the building of cooling lakes for power plants, the flooding of quarries and many more farm ponds which have been built. 2010 and 2011 have seen much lower numbers of bass in the stretch of the Vermilion between Streator and the river's mouth. A good smallie day is about a dozen fish. Asian carp have moved all the way to the dam at Streator. Could this be the reason for the sharp decline of game fish in the Illinois and lower Vermilion Rivers? Is it coincidence that the rise of the Asian carp population coincides with the decline of the white bass an smallmouth bass population or are there other factors at play? Or is this just me, an old gray-bearded fisherman losing his mojo?

I have also fished a less expensive rod the ten years or so that I have been fly fishing. Until this year my go to smallie rod has been a 9 ft. 7 wt. Cabela's Three Forks Rod teamed with a Prestige 2 reel and line. This year I upgraded to a 9 ft. 7 wt. Echo Ion with the same reel and line as mentioned above, only newer. I throw mostly larger clouser type flies and poppers on a wt. forward floating line. I do like the Echo.

It's also nice for the wine and cheese lovers. I've only fished the Wisconsin R. once. It was quite a few years back. I fished below the dam near Prairie du Sac and landed a bunch of white bass. I was amazed at the size and number of the sturgeon I was seeing, leaping full length out of the water. I was sure one would land in one of the many boats fishing the area that day. Hope you enjoy your trip.

Thanks for the "heads up" on this.

Thanks for the nice comments guys. I really enjoy this part of the state. It's quiet and friendly. Jude,I don't believe Tower Junction serves breakfast. Jack, Tower Junction is just east of the intersection of County Rt.1(State Rt.80) and U.S.Rt.18, near the little town of Montfort. There are a series of wind towers on the south side of the road. It is about halfway between Dodgeville and Fennimore. If you travel to the intersection you will also find Rt.1 Popcorn and a few other shops. Ron,give the prime rib a try. It melts in your mouth. The lamb chops are good too when they are available. Another good eatery is Monk's in Crossplains Just west of Madison on U.S.Rt. 14.

Sue and I took Our annual two day trip through southwestern Wi. The colors are already starting to fade but it is a beautiful area. Here are a few shots. A spring creek headwaters. A spring creek. Spring creek trout Great food and prices along with a friendly atmosphere. Some fruits of the trip.

Very observant Eric. Maybe even a rock bass, Old googleyes himself.

My wife tells me I spend so much time fishing that I'm starting to look like one.

Ron, it looks like you fish the same areas I do. Some of the prettiest browns I've seen have come fro those streams. The ripple in the second to last picture is where I spooked a huge brown one late Sept. day. I put him at about 10 pounds. I also had a rainbow hooked from the log pile that was under the bridge the same day. I estimate him to be about 7 pounds. He got tangled in the branches and then broke off. I have landed quite a few nice 18 inch browns from these small streams over the years. I wasn't able to make it up there this year, but I can almost get that exhilarating feeling of being there from your photos. Thanks for sharing.

Manny, thanks for the boot goop. It did the trick.

I agree with Eric and Jim. It seems that on cloudy days a lure with a yellow belly often produces well. Pearl, black and yellow are mostly what I throw.

Bruce,Otter Creek looks very promising but I have not fished it west of rt. 23. I have not fished the Sandy Ford area in a long time but have heard that this stretch has been poor the last few years.I just talked to a fellow who fished it in a Kayak all the way down to Lowell with only a drum to show for it. He said he did see quite a few carp. If you fish it I'd be interested in hearing how you do.I fished the next bridge downstream three times this year without a single smallie. It was once a good area but has been poor for bass the last few years.

Our group had two fish landed. Both by Jim, who landed two creek chubs on a piece of corn. He was thinking outside of the box. It looks like Harold is the master. I guess that's why he ended up with the mystery steak. There was some good conversation, and I enjoyed the outing and the company. Hope to do it again.

Just talked to someone who talked to the EPA about the lack of fish downstream from Streator. It appears that there have been quite a few reports of this problem the past couple of years. The river was tested a number of times last year but always after the river had risen. No unusual amounts of contaminants were found. If there were any they had been diluted or flushed downstream by the rising waters. Streator sewage is the only discharge into the river in that area, I am told. The EPA plans to do some testing Monday also. He says he will let me know what the results are.

Good job Terry.

Thanks Mike. John is my favorite outdoors author. I do not have his newest book as of yet but I'm sure it will be worth the buck.

Just wondering if the July /August Bulletin is out yet. My subscription is up in Dec. Hoping I didn't miss anything. I always look forward to seeing each issue.

Yes ,the area near the mouth of the river is considered navigable. It was used by the cement mill to bring in coal I believe. The loading dock had not been used used for quite some time. Then some idiot burned it down. The mill has had many incidents on their property over the years. After the mill closed the river, Representative Mautino had sponsored a bill to make the river navigable up to one of the bridges upstream from the mills property.The bill was allowed to die after the mill made an agreement with the DNR to make the area by the dam safer. The DNR will decide when the river opens.