Bart Durham

Reminder, the Dupage River Sweep is on May 20th, or 10 days from today. The Conservation Foundation is looking for a headcount for ISA participants for planning purposes. The event will take place on Saturday, May 20th between 9 am and noon along the entire stretch of the Dupage River. The ISA will be assigned a stretch of the river I am suggesting we take the Hidden Lakes area along the East Branch in Bolingbrook. So far we have 2 ISA members participating. Please accept my "ISA Challenge" and come out and help in this worthy project. Let me know if you can help or have any questions.

So as not to conflict with the rescheduled Kish float we will push this float trip back one week to May 13th. We should still be outside the spawning season, especially on the Fox. After this float we will concentrate our efforts on Lake fishing until mid June to give River smallmouth a rest during spawning season. Hopefully we can schedule a lake outing in late May early June.

Still a lot of work to be done, especially on the Fox, but great progress has been made in this area. http://www.dailyherald.com/news/2017042 ... y#autoplay

Berkley Jigger Craw?

We had five ISA members, Scott F, Bill C, Mark L, new member Dan, and myself, take part in yesterday's impromptu float trip on the Dupage. You couldn't have asked for more perfect conditions with 70 degree temps on a sunny day with little wind. The fishing was spotty early in the day which we attributed to the cold nights we've been having. Later in the day things started to pick up with the rising temps and Mark and I found a wading spot that produced several large smallmouth including a 18.5" behemoth I thought for sure was a brutus. Alas, until another day. We ended up with 15 smallmouth and a largemouth most caught bouncing jigs off rocks on bottom next to current. Thanks to those who showed up on late notice for a very enjoyable outing. Here are a few pics from the outing:

The Dupage River Sweep hosted by the Conservation Foundation will take place on May 20, 2017 between 9 am and noon. We, the ISA, have officially signed up to help with the cleanup effort. As I mentioned in the President's Page from the last newsletter I am challenging all ISA members to take part in a river clean up effort this year. This is a great way to start things off. Depending on how many members we can get to participate, we will plan to take certain sections of the river. I am most familiar with the Bolingbrook to Plainfield stretch and will plan to concentrate on this area, I know John mentioned he would like see some attention given to the Butterfield Road/McDowell Woods area of the river. I am planning of utilizing my Towee boat for the clean up effort. Our goal is to get 20 ISA members to participate and hopefully we can get more. Post here if you can help. The Conservation Foundation will be giving us final plans and instructions a week before the cleanup.

Mark Lutz has mapped out a nice stretch of the Fox River for this float that will take us through some prime smallmouth water. More details to follow but area will be between Aurora and Oswego. Will plan to meet for breakfast near put in and then set up shuttle.

I know its last minute but for those interested I'm going to float the Dupage on Sunday and feel free to join. The Dupage is coming down nicely in the Bolingbrook area should be in good condition to float on Sunday. Will meet at the McDonalds parking lot at Boughton and Weber in Bolingbrook at 8:30 am to set up shuttle. In the Spring you have to get these float trips in when you can. Let me know if you can make it.

Let me know what date you decide for the Kish float. Mark and I are trying to schedule a early May float trip for a Chicagoland float but don't want to conflict with the Kish float (I'm selfish and want to make the Kish float also) Water levels are coming down around here. Great smallmouth fishing is right around the corner!

Thanks to everyone who attended last night and donated to a great cause. Great pics Terry, I think Tim was a big hit!

The Conservation Foundation will be conducting their annual Dupage River Sweep on May 20, 2017. I'll be posting more info on this in the future but am hopeful we can get a group of volunteers to participate this year. Mark your calendars.

Thought our fly fisherman might enjoy this short video: http://www.greatbigstory.com/stories/magic-in-the-icy-stream-fly-fishing-in-iceland-s-glacial-rivers#

Sulking Sculpin looks like a delicious smallmouth candy!

Those beautiful West Virginia trout streams I see so often on Curtis Fleming's Fly Rod Chronicles appear to be the most likely streams placed in jeopardy by this recent Congressional action. I better try and get there before its too late.

What are these people thinking? Can you imagine what our land, lakes and streams would be like without the EPA? Can we leave it to business to regulate itself and protect our environment? We see what happened when that occurred before the creation of the EPA. Organizations and members like ours are going to have to be more vigilant than ever in helping to protect and oversee our lakes and streams.

Thought rod builders might find this old film interesting. https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1170780463017200&id=897739483654634&refsrc=https%3A%2F%2Fm.facebook.com%2Fwoodworkingextreme%2Fvideos%2F1170780463017200%2F&_rdr

Great pizza, great smallmouth talk and great time had by all. Thanks Ed for organizing this.

Many a smallmouth caught from that boat with great stories to boot. I'm sure Scott will carry on the tradition well and get as much joy out of the boat as we have. What do you have your sights on now Mike?

Very nice article. Thanks Jim.

Look forward to seeing everyone on Wednesday!

Thank you Craig for all your efforts on this!

Wish I could make this one but will be out of town this weekend, should be a great float. Best of luck to everyone!

Thanks to John, Jeremy at Dupage Fly Shop, Tim at Orvis and all who helped make this another great event. I was intrigued by the spey casting demonstration put on by Doug Taylor but unfortunately was not able to try it out. Maybe next year. Here are a couple of photos taken during the picnic.

Was pleased to see a teenager fishing under a bridge on the east branch of Dupage yesterday with a go pro attached to his chest.

Just got off the phone with Bob Marcilus of Outdoor Notebook and spent the last hour talking about smallmouth bass fishing and promoting the ISA. Really enjoyed doing the show with Bob who is a great guy. Hopefully the show will be available by podcast later this week on WJOL to anyone that wants to hear the show.