Eric

It's so cool that you have the tech and aren't afraid to use it. Nice stuff!

I agree Terry. And some out there have no clue how to use a product, or take care of it.

I cut my teeth on the South Branch and used to fish Genoa through Kirkland exclusively. Nice stretch and good for wading or kayaking. The smallmouth are plentiful and so are the northern pike, and even an occasional walleye towards dusk. Mepp's in-line spinners, small, shallow-running crankbaits, spinnerbaits, buzzbaits and your favorite soft plastic crayfish or minnow imitators will find the fish. Bridge pilings, timber, edges of lily pads, rock and deeper cuts will hold fish. Numbers days on the Kish can be amazing if you time it right. Go often and explore throughout the seasons.

At the Blowout I had a nice gentleman come up to me to talk buzzbait fishing, specifically the Honey Buzz. He gave me a nice tip that really, would apply to any buzzbait. He said to fish it "naked" without the skirt, which alleviates skirt tangle and fouling the blade, increasing your number of "useful" casts. Makes sense, as this has always been an issue for me when fishing the Honey Buzz. He added that some folks will just fish a single twister tail on the hook to give it some more eye candy and action. Thought those were good tips.

I find a small local shop that sells used gear (even lures) and show up and say Merry Christmas and give it all away. They love it and can make some profit off selling your used stuff. There's always someone out there that wants it. I did this at Booth's Bait & Tackle in Aurora a few years ago and gave the guy 7 decent rods and a few reels. He was very thankful. You could also put a short ad on Craigslist and say it's free with pickup.

Friendly reminder... Don't forget to check the expiration date on your craft's registration sticker. If you're currently displaying a 14 sticker, you're probably expired. You can purchase a new sticker for $6.50 at the customer service register at places like Gander Mountain, Dick's Sporting Goods, etc. Be sure to have your craft's hull ID # with you. Best bet is to give the clerk your IDNR customer number (found on your fishing license), have them look you up in the system, and start there. If you have all your info ready, the process takes 5 minutes or less.

There's a handy online tool that will help: http://www.picresize.com Shoot for 800 pixels wide (landscape), JPEG, with best quality.

Great! The publisher, Bob Maciulis is a strong supporter of the ISA.

He liked the Salmo Hornet, Salmo Zipper, and Sebile Vibrato.

Quite a while ago when mobile phones were first becoming popular, my buddy Kevin and I were drift fishing the Dupe in my kayak and my anchor caught some rebar in swift water and sucked the front of the kayak under, which quickly filled with water, dumping Kevin and I (and all our gear). Kevin's Blackberry got soaked and like Mike G., he very carefully dried it out and fully recovered it. I didn't even have a mobile phone at the time! The good old days! I was able to take the shoreline downstream and get ahead of all our gear and recovered all but one wrapped sandwich. We were both soaked and it was a cool mid-October day. We toughed it out the rest of the float and managed 5 nice smallmouth with two 18".

Some pics I took with my iPhone. http://illinoissmallmouthalliance.net/2015/2015_Blowout/content/index.html

Thanks to all who came out and supported our organization. It was a fun evening that ran very smoothly. Nice to see all the familiar faces and chat about fishing. Thanks to everyone who donated their time and/or prizes to make our event a success!

Tom, Consider a simple SquareSpace account with e-commerce. Think your colorful, quality creations would sell worldwide.

Mark, In iMovie, tap the clip and notice the volume slider beneath it. Slide it all the way to zero and it will mute the sound from the clip. You can still add voiceover, sound effects or an audio track on top of it. The attached example screen shot off iPhone shows the clip with it's native audio muted.

Nice job. Once the video is playing, click the gear icon in the lower right of the video GUI and set the quality to 720P HD to see a more detailed video. iPhone's do a nice job on video.

Thanks for this Kevin. An interesting and alarming read.

A lure coming downstream will often draw fierce reaction strikes from fish as it's moving naturally with the current and they have to react quickly as it passes by. A lure coming upstream will often draw fierce reaction strikes from fish as it's kept closely controlled to areas they inhabit, i.e., the strike zone. Both the above and everything in between are called "fishing."

I like the head shape, skirt and hook size on this one. It's what I'd normally use on the Fox with a Big Hammer Tail or Strike King Shadalicious. Would trim the skirt about 1/3 off for more tail waggle.

Jonn, How did you do at the show? I haven't float-n-flied at all this winter. Work and family are keeping me super busy!

That "wheel in the keel" is a neat feature. Seems smart.

Meetings at Pal Joey's in West Chicago where 25-30 guys showed up to watch a presentation, drink a few beers and eat pizza. Jim's bridge fishing presentation. Jonn's float-n-fly presentation at the Blowout. Planning my first Blowout with Joz and Scott at a Starbucks on a chilly December evening in Danada Square in Wheaton. The newness of it all. Taking Jonn Graham fishing in my kayak in "my neck of the woods" for the first time and completely slaying them! Going way back ... ISA members / fishing friends from the internet that I barely knew showing up at my dad's wake to cheer me up and even bringing some lures. ISA guys stopping by the house to congratulate me and have a few beers the night my son was born. Going to Joz's 50th birthday party shin-dig! Way, way, way, back -- just out of college and fishing the South Branch of the Kishwaukee River just about every weekend. Mostly going solo. Fishing beneath the Geneva dam and learning the Fox.

That is really sad. Stuff like this and the Big Sandy Hog Farm are tough issues and just leave me scratching my head. Wish there was more we could do to turn back the clock rather than sit by and watch our world deteriorate.

Our Fly Fishing Director & Exec Board Member John Loebach kickin' it at Silver Lake at Blackwell. Love the IDGAF look.