JimR

Drove through this area over the weekend taking the family to see Santa at Bass Pro Shop's Outdoor World in Gurnee. WoW, what a great fishing area. Every turn I made there was yet another lake staring me in the face. You've gotta love the Fox chain. Swamps, streams, and back waters were abundant as well. Reminds me of Wisconsin. Maybe I'll have start looking at some Antioch real estate

UN-FREAKIN-BELIEVABLE. That guy is the true meaning of badass. Kinda like Tom Brown.

I would love to be there. Sounds like just what I need... But I'll be working. Sorry fellas.

You better believe it. Too bad most of the "blue lines" off of the rivers in my area arn't fishable. Beautiful none the less however.

I agree with you about the honor system comment Scott. The biggest hurdle in this idea was how to keep the fish healthy. That would be the most important thing. Also at least one of the two partners would have to have a digital fish scale so that we could get a reading on camera.

I want to know what you guys think about this, and if this could be done, and if any of you may be interested. A bass tournament on one of these shallow rivers we all talk about. Pick a stretch of river, maybe a mile or so and let everyone start wading or kayaking or whatever downstream. You would have to decide wheather or not to travel downstream to get a good spot by yourself thus missing out on all the water in between, or fishing all of it bit by bit potentially next to other anglers. Bass could be kept in baskets that float in the water with us as we go downstream. There would of course be a time limit that everyone would have to meet. What say you?

Anyone ever fish Kent creek here in downtown Rockford? I drive past it several times a week and parts of it look pretty good.

If I had to pick a lure for lake or river fishing, I would have to say a Zoom smoke shad or pearl Fluke.

I also think that the main reason for the smaller fish is habitat. Also forage. I have never seen more crayfish in my life as I have in some parts of the Kish. That is a difficult prey to digest for a low protein content as compared to bait fish such as killy fish, fingerlings, chubs, shad etc. I read in an In-Fisherman article that once a fish reaches about 1.5-2 pounds it actually loses weight eating crayfish if that is the bulk of it's diet. I've also however seen huge schools of fingerlings swimming up stream. And caught plenty of 3-4 inch LM on my spinners.

I know most of you are river fisherman, and that not everyone is from this area but I wanted to let you all know that I'm hosting a bass fishing tournament on October 16th on Pierce lake. 25$ a person (50$ a boat) in two man teams. It is to raise money for breast cancer research. If anyone is interested you can post or message me and I'll give you more information and a sign-up sheet.

Thanks for the info. That's awesome, I can only see the fishing on the Kishwaukee getting better.

What would you guys think if the DNR instituted a catch and release only season on smallmouths during the spring spawn? Personally it wouldn't affect me if they were always catch and release. Do you think that the kish has the habitat and forage to hold and grow that many big smallies if it was all catch and release? Perhaps that's the reason why the Kish is so full of dinks now (however fun those dinks may be), and those 3-5 pound smallies are so rare.

Yeah that was it. Thank God. Hmmmmm? I feel I should have known better.

The Kishwaukee river completely kicked my but yesterday. Got stormed on (they said slight chance) within the first 15 minutes, got knocked over in deep water and my waders started filling up, got the crap startled out of me by a huge water mocc that swam right by legs from behind me, and I caught zero fish in 6 hours. I did however find a couple of new spots that should hold a fairly good population of fish. Like they say, "even the worst day of fishing is better than the best day of working". Unless you fish for a living that is. Go Bears.

Awesome, thanks for the tips guys.

I agree. I would love to get out on a kayak sometime. I promise not to chase any lost lures into a deadfall and almost dround, scaring the %@$# outa my guide (Dad told me the story). I'm actually heading out right now, I'll let you guys know how I do. Tight lines.

Thanks, I'm planning on it. Waiting for my next check. It's funny, I found a bulletin from 4 years ago under my bed that I picked up at a fishing and Camping expo. Inside the cover it named some of the chairman and members involved in the differant districts. The guy in my district was Jude Torre who just so happens to be my dad's boss. How funny, so I decided to check out the website, and here I am. Thanks Jude by the way, you must have been at the expo, the bulletin was yours and you had written a big article in it that caught my eye.

I'm new to fishing shallow rivers for smallmouth, and it's great. Besides the exciting fishing and beauty of nature, every outing is a new adventure. Essentially all of my local smallie river (the Kishwaukee) is new to me, so every trip out is an adventure. I wade, as my boat runs too deep for the river, and often venture far off from where I start. I feel like I'm fishing these spots for the first time ever, as if no man or women has ever set foot in that water before. I almost never see anyone else around. I rue the day I run out of untouched (by me) Kishwaukee river water. I guess I'll have to move.

Hey all, I'm new to river smallie fishing but it only took one outing out on the Kish about 3 months ago to get me completely twitterpated with it. I'm a convert (grew up fishing Wisconsin lakes), and well, theres just no good public lakes around here short of an hour drive. My question is; do you just bite the bullet and retie 12 times a day, and do you think that a swivel destroys the action of lures in the current? I'm use to bringing a few rods with me to the lake and just grabbing one, and that doesn't work when your wading up/down stream a mile. Thanks for your help. Great community.