Bart Durham

Please join us on Tuesday, February 23rd at 7:00 pm for what promises to be an enjoyable evening with Wisconsin fishing guide, Abe Downs of Great Northern Fly Fishing. Abe will share with us his experiences in guiding and fly fishing for smallmouth and muskie in Wisconsin's northern waters over many years with a Q & A to follow. Below is the Zoom meeting link to attend same: Join Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83986895579?pwd=Z0dlb0huRUxxY05NM1pvYjRhM0s2QT09

Please join us for what promises to be an entertaining evening with ISA member Gordon Patriarca who will discuss his years of experience in fishing some of Wisconsin's best Smallmouth streams and the start of his new Wisconsin fish guiding service to be followed by a Q &A session. Below is the zoom link to attend same: Join Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82977479022?pwd=R3d6S240bHdaMzJTbnlycWNEa09PQT09

Volunteers remove more than 9,000 lbs of trash from one of the dirtiest rivers in the country

Fantastic news!

Van, good to know, please share with us pros and cons of your zoom tying experience. ISA is purchasing a special camera for the close up tying demonstrations. We hope to do several this winter. I look forward to hearing about your trip out west last fall.

ISA will host its first zoom fly tying session on Sunday, January 24th at 6:00 pm. ISA member Jim Wright has kindly agreed to demonstrate the "Fuzzy Minnow" fly. This is a phenomenal smallmouth fly. Materials needed for this fly tying session include the following: A size 1 predator hook; a sculpting flash fiber brush (in shrimp color); white buck tail; white strung maribou; 6mm tabbed eyes; Jim mentioned he purchases the fiber brush from Mad River Outfitters (Columbus, OH) Here is the zoom link invite for the fly tying session: Topic: ISA Zoom Fl

So sorry to hear about this, he is a legend.

Welcome aboard Ryan! In addition to what Kevin mentioned, Tim Holschlag has another excellent book entitled "Smallmouth Fly Fishing, The Best Techniques, Flies and Destinations" Another great resource is Bob Clouser's "Fly Fishing for Smallmouth in Rivers and Streams" Lots of great reading resources to get you through this Pandemic winter and prepared for spring fishing!

John, I can't help you with finding another pedal drive, but I'm trying to learn more about them and I'm curious what you liked about the pedal drive vs. paddle and whether you think a pedal drive would be good for fishing use on our local rivers?

A well deserved honor indeed, congrats Mike!

Some good news to report. Dam removal projects in Illinois are moving forward. See attached article from Chicago Tribune: https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-illinois-dam-removals-20201013-jtcb2h3hpfhkhfgugacsw64lcu-story.html

Pleased to report website issue on mobile device has been resolved.

Thanks for the heads up Eric, we're looking into the issue and hope to have it resolved soon.

They’re not otters, but endangered mussels in Illinois play a crucial role as environmental sentinels. ‘They all have a story to tell.’.webloc From Chicago Tribune

There is an area on the lower DuPage River near the campground below the breached lake south of Shepley Road that was at one time full of tires that needed removal. I haven't floated that area in awhile and maybe they have since been removed or washed out but that would be an area worth checking out. Not a bad area for smallmouth fishing either. Shhhhh.