Kevin Dells

Interesting topic boys, seeing as i had one nice sized one go belly up on me today after the unhooking process. So while were on the topic of ethics i"ll explain the situation because i am a little upset as well even after a great day fishing. I was using the senko today with great results,#2 hook Not debarbed until after i lost the smally in report. After that i debarbed every hook. The smallies were engulfing the senko but extremly lightly,the fish i lost i didn't even feel him bite! I had weighted it about six inches up due to a stiff wind and it blowing my line around quite a bit so i was trying to keep it down with the weight. My question is when this is happening do you switch baits even if the bait your using is racking up exceptional numbers of fish? I tied on a hula grub and it was like the fish werent even there,went back to the senko with the debarbed hook and another one engulfed it but the hook i had debarbed so it did little damage coming out on this attempt. What do you do not catch fish on a lure not producing or keep fishing the bait that is working even though their engulfing it. As i mentioned a few factors attirbuted to the problem,one being fishing a lot of rock in a small stream with lots of overhanging limbs,(not being able to set the hook quick enough) And the heat as most smallies were just sucking it in instead of rocking the snot out of it like they usually do. I use a good quality St.Croix with 6 lb.test line, i can feel when a crayfish farts in wisconsin with it but today the strikes were soooo light even though the numbers of fish were so high! They were hungry,just not jumping on it as they normally do! Fishing report Small stream in Northern Illinois 27 smallies ranging from dinks to a 17 1/2" brute. Quite a few 14"s. Pumpkin seed 4" senko with a 1/8th ounce bullet weight. Paul Trybul if you read this,the trail we walked back to the car on wednesday after fishing, it keeps going in a LONG way! Take it someday,cross the creek and keep going back in,Nice water! And yes the water levels were much lower and clearer. That stream is packed full of smalleys,i had a 15"er swim right up to my kneecap and stare at it like it was bait! Strangest thing!

Jim Jozwiak im Jealous but soon won't be! The French Broad i have heard great things about and Asheville is only an hour and a half if even that so you can bet i will be there often. Did your go to baits produce down that way or am i going to need a trip to Gander when i get there for that special down south bait? Any pics there guy? Im actually wondering if you used the Asheville guide service which i might just do to learn spots and techniques a little faster. C"mon Jim clue me in a little. How did you do? How bad is the snake situation down there did you run into any Copperheards or Cottonmouths, i like snakes when somebody hands them to me and their not poisinous but those are some serious snakes! Craig of course i remember you!! Jeez you haven't been gone that long! I am so going to take you up on that offer,i will drive out for a weekend for sure just let me get settled in and im there! Georgia is not that far,it will be like a trip to wisconsin for me with incredible schenery. Actually just stopped out and talked with my brother he's heading out to the Smokey's for some backpacking in August,looking over the trail maps just got my blood pumping! Dana im not sure of the difference except Shoalies like Craig stated grow bigger and they have huge eyes!

Water works wonders and if you use to much the river can always use a little extra!

Thansk guy for all the kudo's! Joz it was my pleasure,i meet some great guys up this way and I"ll never forget Sylvania!

So i called Gary Lange on sunday and we were talking fishing in the southland. Gary graciously sent me a few links to start my searching and came across this message board of guys from Georgia and North Carolina. I gotta say after purusing these boards and seeing the pictures i am so stoked to be heading down, i think their smallie rivers are better than ours and were in an area that is suppossed to house more smallies that the south. They also have a bass they call a Shoalie,first i have ever seen one but man are these things beautiful. The pics are of BasserDrew he runs the message boards. The second pic is of a 4 pound ten ounce smallie and the first pic is a 5+ pound Shoalie,check out the stripes on the shoalie! Incredible! They run class 2& 3 rivers on sit on top kayaks and fish the sweet spots in the mountains,how great is that! Can you imagine fighting fish this big in a river moving that fast on unltralight gear! Momma,wheres my bags!

Thank you all for the reply's!! Wow what can i say. It's funny but almost everybody had written a little about what they experienced while fishing or fixing a river with me, i never would have imagined it turned out that way the day I contacted Joz for the first time. I had asked him if the ISA would help me sponsor a clean up, his response was a quick yes, but i was later to find out it came with a price. That price ended up being a very good price to pay and i was glad to return the favor. The price to pay was to take hold of the Northwest area and represent it as an officer and to recruit newcomers and contact the members from this area that have been quiet for years. It was dam hard work to say the least, lots of hours trying to say the convincing words that would lead future ISA members into the already awesome group. But one by one guys started to listen to my word about not only fishing but conservation as well, there were more like me out there, guys that not just love the outdoors, those guys are a dime a dozen! But guys with a true passion of their surroundings in the outdoors, not just fishermen and women but stewards of their waters,people who cared what was happening to their waters and were willing to step up and do something about it! I recently asked Rich just before my recent hardship came along if i could get back into being an officer again, Rich sorrily denied as at this time we have many officers. After looking further Rich was right many people had stepped up as officers and this tells me that this is a great thing as officership meens many people with concerns for our rivers and the fish that swim in it. Not just a few people like when i first joined on but many were now concerned and had stepped up to help. You see i drifted a little from the ISA with my other love of running Haunted Houses but everytime i went to the river i marveled in her beauty and it kept me coming back to the ISA just to see what was going on. I found after a year or two of absence i had still remained good freinds with the guys up this way and still am and always will be. This is not goodbye but more a see you soon. In that message to Rich i even told him that i didn't fish that much but i still wanted to help do conservation projects,funny how fishing became # 2 to conservation projects in my book but im glad it did!! After doing the Kish Log Jam removal and having so many people stand by my side to make that happen, thats what really hooked this fish! Seeing it today put me on the stringer and took me home! Sounds like im writing from the heart dosen't it, well I am! Which is what each and everyone of you guys do when you log on or give an hour of your time to the waters you love or show a youngster how to fish, you show your hearts and what very big hearts they are! Kudo's to all of you Gentlemen, you are all #1 in my book. Paul,Brian O and Gregg my dearest fishing companions, i leave Miss Kish in your hands guys,take care of her she's a great river, keep fighting for her! Gary L i am going to take you up on that offer for help with your freind i really would like to know more before i get there, if you could send his # that would be excellent. And to you i say it has truly been an honor guiding you into the Jungle, i still remember the smile on your face the day you caught that huge bass and we named that hole after you, it will always be and has been since,"Gary's Hole" and yes we still catch nice bass there today! There a whole slew of people that even far from me made a huge impact on me as a member. Joz, Scott, Jonn G, Norm,Ed K, Craig R, Pete P and Rich M. You guys have been the lifeblood of the ISA for years, Thanks for pushing me to pursue it. You guys showed me that the right people can make a difference! Theres even a couple of guys that i bumped heads with at first, Eric and Mike Clifford. Eric you and I got off on the wrong foot from the get go but i think we both saw each others efforts and realized we were fighting together, we never said it but i know theres a great respect there now! Mike you and I had some words boy back in the CLF days!! Funny how things turn out huh Mike? Look at you now a very good leader and you and I hold a huge passion for conservation! Glad we bumped heads,Man! I leave in a month for my new destination in life. One thing i know for sure the first thing im going to do is introduce myself to the preserve people when i get there and let them know who i am and what i do. Then im going to find me a nice little river, call her mine and cherish her even if it only has green fish in it,because it's not only about the fish, it's about the beauty of the river! That i learned by becoming an ISA member. Godspeed Guys! I"ll write soon. Kevin"Microburst" Dells

Well guys work has gotten so slow up here in Illinois that the family has decided to try another state. We are moving down to North Carolina end of July. I would like to say thanks to everybody that i have meet or talked to through the ISA. I know the last ten years of smallie chasing wouldn't have been the same if i didn't have such a great group of guys to share the adventures with. Yes i will be stuck chasing the big ugly green fish now, but i can do it year round without wearing a parka! Thanks again it's been great working with everybody! Kevin"Microburst"Dells

Man law #36 People sponsoring ISA outings are NOT to be held responsible for floods, typhoons, Microbursts,Tornado's or any other acts of nature. If they got to cancel three outings in a row im sure it's not because they have been standing with the garden hose in the river all summer,Mother Nature did it don't yell at me!

Man law #35 Pertains to old guys wearing neoprene walking on unsafe shorelines, in the case of myself and guys like Gary Lange. Younger anglers wading with older anglers may not laugh when shorelines give way and the old guy dumps into the creek! In the famous words of Pee Wee Herman"I meant to do that!" The younger angler should show heart and help get the old guys head out of the mud! Not laugh at them as they drown! Someday soon your vision will also go to pot, young guy laugh while you can!

A month or so ago we were joking about tying locust fly's for the fishing this summer as the hatch is upon us of the 17 year locust. Over the past few weeks i have visited many Forest Preserves due to the flooding for locust observing instead of fishing. What i have found so far without a whole lot of foot searching beyong parking lots concerns me. 3 major Preserves have very large hatches right in or near the parking lots themselves. Deer Run where the ISA north held an outing a month or so ago is absolutley swarming with them, the whole entire tree line along the river and parking lot is being eaten up (tree's) from these pesky creatures. The same day i was at Deer Run i had warned a gentleman walking his dogs before they left the lot of how thick they were, he and his dogs decided to take the prarie trail insted of the river trail to avoid the hatch. An hour or two later they returned and i spoke to him again. He told me as they walked they came across an anceint Oak Grove that was so loud from the noise that he wanted ear plugs,he guessed around 80 decibels. Turns out as we talked more that he is a pilot for United and he said it was louder than standing near a plane. From my observations in and near the parking lots there has already been major damage to tree's,mostly the leave systems of the tree's. Problem here lies in the fact that yes those tree's have lost their leaves, will they survive without the leaves until next year. Without leaves the tree's will starve for sunlight and moisture which leaves provide them. Deer Run is a preserve that opened up a few years back,beautiful preserve. The parking area the district had planted several new oaks in the turn around trying to produce a grove for picknicing,these Oaks have been totally chewed up by the locusts. So i wonder when it's all said and done just how much forest will we loose because of this? Gypsy Moth's look out you have competition! Lastly i wonder as a freindly service with the preserve districts which the ISA has had with our sign postings how could we help them out while were fishing. Heres my idea. If your driving near a preserve or fishing one, turn down the car radio and listen and make a mental note as to where you hear them, if you spot them make a mental note as well. By using a topographical mapping site such as Topozone.com print out an ariel veiw of that preserve and highlight with a marker the patches you have found them and drop them off at local Forest Preserve District Offices. Im sure this is something the districts are watching and are also worried about and as short staffed as all Illinois departments are they could use the extra help locating these pests and to also watch the area's being attacked in the near future to see what damage becomes of these area's. Im including a few photo's, one is the locusts themselves(very hard to photograph by the way as the wings move so fast your camera will NOT focus on them,you have to turn the auto focus off to even have a chance!) This one picture took over 50 shots to even get! The second and third pictures are the Oak Grove that was planted a few years back and the damage thus far. (Note the eaten leaves)

I was down in the Plainfeild area yesterday. The canoe launch on 135th street dosen't have a white sign, the yellow is still there. Im not down there very often so somebody from that area might take a look along that stretch and see what it needs.

Fishing Spider! Jim's been taking home Smallie's! Read the signs Man! Nasty looking arachnids Boy's Nasty for sure!:: Shivers:: And Steve i would have at least broke the paddle beating that guy up.

I did the same thing to my St.Croix last year and replaced the tip, it was not the same. I bought another St.Croix and kicked my own butt for doing it!

Amen brother!!! Naked is good too, that way you don't have to dry anything but.....nevermind!

Just my opinion but Blago is a total idiot! Im going to say something simple and to the point about an idea Blago threw before us years ago. The wonderful toll system he so wonderfully endorsed and spent billions on. I have driven the tollways for the last 20 years, have sat in deadlock for all 20 years. So Blago comes along and proposes this new system with I-pass, traffic will move along much faster with this new system he sells. UMMMM... BS!! What it does is moves you quicker into construction zones which is never ending and always will be never ending. The system will never work if there are dead spots on the roadways. Until they design a roadway that never needs repair, we will only keep having deadlock. Hence, why i think I-pass is just another way to rape people out of their money. Not only did they create more construction zones putting in this fancy new system, they are charging people with out from our state and other states double. How is that right? I took vacation down to North Carolina last summer, along the entire trip i only hit a toll in West Virginia and that was only one 30 cent toll. 1400 miles and only paid 30 cents. Got back to Illinois and paid 6 dollars in tolls just to get through Chicagoland. Like i said he's an idiot! They could have at least built a place to pee at the I- pass booths if you needed to go with all the revenues they take in every year. No they speed you through straight to deadlock to sit for an hour easy everyday! I traveled down to the Lemont area last week,sat on I-88 for almost an hour and a half near the Naperville road and Route 53 exit construction, i think i saw three different guys standing on the passenger side of their car relieving themselves during my sit. I can't blame anybody for relieving themselves along the roadways in Illinois. I often wonder how the women deal with this situation! The least they could do is drop a depends in your car window as you go through the I-pass that way your prepared to sit for hours! Morning Coffee Thats a JOKE!

Then voting them out is what needs to be done! Fishermen shouldn't have to stand by and watch their fisheries get bombed by pouchers as Mike Clifford stated about the activity's taking place on the K2 with pouchers. If i don't do my job im fired,case closed. Why shouldn't it be the same way for these people when something so valuable and delicate is at stake. I understand where your coming from, but if people don't do something about it,it will always be the same and nothing will ever be right.

Then that would be the time of year to dress in camo with a digital and hide in the tree's and take pics of people carrying them out. Follow them to the car and photograph the liscence plates as well,turn in to nearest CPO! Jeez Mike if you see it turn them in, the fines are almost enough to make them think twice. You"ll feel really good about it too.

Nice Job! I have yet to still get my first fly rod smallie,got a few bluegills and a really nice largemouth in Sylvania on it but still no smallie's!

That would have freaked me out just a bit! I often wonder with how much time i spend on the river and the area i cover when im going to find something i really don't want to.

I have already found cicada carcasses in my yard but no noise yet

Al sorry these places are not closer to home but what people have suggested so far are all great choices. Almost a top ten list if you were to ask my opinion,All those streams in missouri,awesome. Paul mentioned the porcupines also another awesome destination. My suggestion for hiking,backpacking, and smallie fishing combined also not very close to home at all is the Kekebic Trail in the Gunflint Trail on the east side of the Boundary Waters. I have only hiked ten miles of this trail on a rain day that kept us out of the canoes, but was impressed a lot. The trail i believe runs 80 miles total and meanders past lakes, streams, and of course woods. It does have primitve campsites along it's pathway. Beautiful country!

Cmon, it's just a little bug! But that little bug makes me itch just thinking about it, i know how you feel Mike. Seriously Waders are a pretty good answer but not the answer. Like somebody said they travel with you. The day after i went to the river i had one crawling across my dashboard, i figured he hitched a ride with me or my tackle box as my vest has been retired so im carrying a soft side box for now. Smashed the living dog poop out of him and he still got up and crawled away! Picked that little bugger up and introduced him to route 90 at 75 mph's,didn't stick around to hear what he thought! Since so many people have noticed it and im not imagining it would it be a nice public service to contact the local FP districts and mention it, they may not know it's this bad and could possibly post warning signs at the gates. Thoughts?

Been out fishing three times this year to 3 totally different areas,all three times came out with ticks!! Guys this is an extremly bad year for ticks, i cant stress that enough. I was actually going to start a topic but Don beat me to it,if he is having the problem near him i would have to say it's statewide. Is was just down to the river yesterday checking the river levels and a couple were walking there dogs down the park road, they got about 1000 feet and went right back to their car which i was parked near. The woman was looking the dog over so i asked and she said yeah the dog had four ticks on him in a matter of ten minutes,thats why they turned back. Its that bad, their even on the road into the park!

Dam i wish i would have seen this! I would have been there for sure. Nathans still holding the reins huh? Good for him!

Im sure most of you remember one of the ISA's largest conservation projects a few years back, the Kishwaukee Log Jam removal. Well it's been a few years since we completed that work and i have to say guys the river in that section is incredible now! It's absolutley awesome! The whole park is coming along beautifully with the addition of the canoe lauch and picnik area on the north side. I would like to report that the river in this stretch has many new pools and riffles,has to be ten times the oxegyn levels it had before we started work and it's a clean area now. I remember seeing so much garbage twined into those two huge jams,it's nonexsistant now. Kudo's to everyone that helped on that project!!!! Man i can't say enough how truly proud i am when i go visit that area and think i helped play a major part in making that happen. We changed an entire ecosystem for the better,its incredible! I wonder if there is any way to archive back and find the original pictures from before we started the work, i would love to post follow up pictures to show what we accomplished before and after. I think everybody would be impressed and a lot more projects such as these could happen more often. By the way, i have been scouting more areas that have problems. Distlliery Conservation area i know is under budget, i have been to the meetings and Jason the guy they gave that area to restore was shut down for almost every grant money he asked for. He was asking for prarie restoration moneys,he was denyed. If youve been out to Distillery lately you will see a great section that is quickly eroding away(the high dirt banks). I shot some photo's yesterday i will post soon that shows the walking trail along the river has just about completley washed away, the same bank a few hundred feet downstream has washed away to the point that they may lose the canoe launch area as the roadway is just about to be eaten up as well.(ten more feet and it's gone.) I wonder if this might be a future ISA fix? Rock purchase to help stop the eroding banks? I would more than willing to help put that project together if the ISA did so chose to do so. Either way i wanted everybody to know how great the Potawanomie FP area looks, Great Job gang! Be proud i know i sure am!