John Gillio

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.

Dave, it looks like I will also be there. See you soon.

Smallmouth numbers do seem to be down considerably in the lower stretches of the river. I'm surprised about the water quality though. Past reports that I have seen have given better marks for the lower stretch than that between Streator and Pontiac. I have not, however, seen a recent report. The Asian carp popullation is massive downstream from Streator. My thoughts are that this may be having an effect on the smallie population. In many areas they go balistic if you step on a rock too loudly. I have seen quite a few bow fishermen in this stretch and they seem to be taking quite a few shots. I would say there is no problem with the carp population. I'm on the water a couple times each week, mostly on waters downstream from the Red,White, and Blue Bridge. Any ideas where the contaminants are coming from, if they exist? I would hate to see a good river go bad again. It has improved tremendously since the early seventies.

The Vermilion is not on Illinois short list of navigatable rivers.

Manny, that is fine. Let me know a time and place to meet you. Thanks for saving me the trip.

Yuck! I would contact all three agencies and anyone else who may in any way be able to help.