Bart Durham

Jonn, Wan't the Susquehanna on your bucket list of smallmouth fisheries to fish? I know its on mine. This is a shame and can hopefully be remedied. Makes me thankful to have seen all the healthy infant smallmouth in our local rivers this past summer and how fortunate we are to have thriving local smallmouth fisheries.

Beautiful scenery. Hard to believe its in Illinois but southern Illinois has some of the most picturesque scenery I've seen anywhere. Reminds me a bit of Apple River canyon. With rocky bottom and stone cliffs you would think smallmouth would thrive in the stream.

I've had nothing but positive experiences with the customer service at the Orvis Lombard store where I purchased my first fly rod and reel this past summer. Ron, may have to add the casting video to my christmas list.

Awesome looking fly Tom, could mimic a dying shad or crayfish, will be anxious to hear how it works!

Thanks Rob. Great article.

An article in Sun Times yesterday mentioned removal of Hoffman Dam on Des Plaines river last year has already improved fishing conditions on Des Plaines river. Also, a number of mature tagged smallmouth were released into the river, similar to release in Dupage River last year, in attempt to give kick start to smallie population regeneration in the river. Here is link to article written by Dale Bowman.

http://www.suntimes.com/sports/outdoors/15660410-452/fishing-outdoors-removal-of-dam-has-transformed-des-plaines-river.html

Like Mike, I found the fishing tough during my kayak float between the two parks. Did manage to catch two smallies, 14" and 15" on Honey Buzzbait. As others warned the river is very low and had to drag kayak a few times through shallow water. The weather was great and the leaves are starting to change color which made up for the conditions.

Tom's newly named fly, "foxy crawdad" has to be included in top local crayfish flies.

Thanks guys, just ordered my first assortment of flies. Always wondered what a meat whistle looked liked, now I know.

What are some of the better crawfish flies for our local rivers?

I joined the picnic following a float from put in just below Geneva dam. Fishing was slow in this stretch and I switched to white terminator spinner bait when action picked up a bit and I pulled in four smallies including 14" and 16". The water was extremely low which made kayaking difficult. The weather, however, could not have been better. I sure enjoyed the picnic and the delicious food and pork chop sandwich Steve prepared. Thanks to Ed and all for a great picnic and great time.

Ed, I cleared up my conflict and will be able to attend. I was thinking of doing a kayak float and fish early in the morning with end point at Glenwood for start of the picnic. Anyone interested in joining me and to help in kayak transport? Thought I would put in around St. Charles at sunrise?

Frank and I had a great time at the Riverbassin tournament. We caught fish throughout the day and had our share of heartaches as Frank had a potential 20" on the line pulling it into his kayak when his frayed line broke near the hook. We both got a view of the football head on the fish and it was by the far the biggest one of our catch. Despite the setback, I managed to get a 17" and two 15.5" fish and Frank did nearly as well. Unfortunately we were a few minutes late for weigh in and were docked several inches from our total which may or may not have made a difference. A hard lesson learned nonetheless. We used primarily Berkley power worms throughout the day. I trailed mine on a football jig and Frank used a weighted hook. We really enjoyed the ceremony afterwards and the cold beverage and fellowship with all the contestants. We look forward to participating in next year's event which will hopefully be even bigger and better!

Thanks Dave for organizing the trip and showing me around and some of the access points in the river. This was my first trip to the Apple River and I enjoyed the trip very much. Dave was able to figure out the bite and we caught smallies throughout the day. Dave hooked into a nice one here:

I have to say the Apple River may be one of the most scenic Illinois rivers I have fished. I hope to return soon. Here are a few photos from the trip:

Enjoyed meeting everyone yesterday for what turned out to be a great day to be out on the Fox river. Thanks Eugene for sharing the hula grub and spinner bait. Thank you Eric for letting me tag along and sharing some pointers. I brought my Coosa and got out in the afternoon for a short float and was fortunate to land this 18" moose on a white honeybuzz bait on shoreline eddy that did not want to be brought into the Coosa.

Polluter should be forced to pay for fish restocking fee as well.

I bet a big percentage of tubers are students from NIU and local colleges, so maybe focusing some educational efforts there will help?

Looks like the weather is going to cooperate after all. Look forward to meeting and fishing with all of you on Sunday.

Terry, I'm bringing my Coosa and will join you for breakfast at Cherry Valley Cafe? What time is breakfast?

Bart

One thing nice about kayaking is my kayak paddle has a tape measure affixed to handle that measures fish up to 40" in length, easy to use and quick.

Removal of dam means better fish habitat. Better fish habitat will attract more fisherman. More fisherman means more commerce for businesses in Yorkvville. Seems like a no brainer to me. Would be a shame to see the momentum stalled by Yorkville's failure to join in this project.

Jim, I thought you did a great job with calling numbers in the raffle!

I suppose this is good news for the DuPage river. Hopefully, the money can be used to help minimize the negative impact from municipal sewage discharge into the river.

http://triblocal.com/joliet/2012/02/09/joliet-joins-dupage-river-watershed-group/

Sorry about that Brenden, my bad. Any chance that some were caught on Sugar Creek near Crawfordsville or if not do you have any thoughts and impressions on Sugar Creek for smallmouth fishing?

What a great slide show with great pictures of smallmouth and river scenery. Not being very familiar with smallmouth fishing in Indiana, from what Indiana Rivers are most of the fish taken from, if I might ask Brian?