Dick G

Hey guys, do you see how easy it is to wade fish and clean up at the same time. I will guess that a plastic bag of litter would go a long way toward pacifying an angry farmer, land owner or park ranger if you are accidentally wading in an area of questionable access.

Just a reminder, these post spawn fish are thin and weak. Land them as soon as possible. I played this guy through 5 or 6 jumps and he looks a little tired.

Out on a favorite stream Friday afternoon I came across this.

A drongo and his mate chucked a sickie one day and went smallmouth fishing. They filled their esky with a slab of tinnies and some cut lunch. They drove beyond the black stump to a secret smallmouth spot.The mozzies and the bities were everywhere. The lads were Aussie saluting all morning, and they went fishless for 6 hours. Finally, they each tied on a yabby. On the first cast, the one who was not the full quid said, "Crikey, I've got a fair dinkum smallie!" "No," his mate said, "That's a brown eyed mullet." The other spit the dummy and proclaimed,"That's what you get when you fish the treatment plants!" When told with a Crocodile Dundee accent this joke really kills.

For the northern Illinois area I use the Rand McNally 7 County Street Guide along with the Gazetteer. Right now I am looking at 4 public parks along the Dupage River that are not shown in the Illinois Atlas. Boy, does this give me some ideas. On the way to the ISA meeting at Strictly Fishing today, I can get off the Expressway on and head a little south on the frontage road and then take the dead end road west to the parking lot of the Community Park. I'll be only 50 yards from the river near a spot where big smallies roam and I'll..............Wait a minute! I forgot. this is Illinois in April and it's cold and the river is raging, and its snowing in Kansas , and it's coming this way and taxes are due! Aaaarrgghh!!! illinois

My son took this picture of a great horned owlette on the Northern Illinois campus in Dekalb last week. Mom was not far away in the same tree. It is believed that the young owl is a freshman, majoring in outdoor education.

I had a three year streak going until I went without smallie this March. It is not "real" fishing in the winter months because you have to fish the treatment plants. It is interesting though, to fish throughout the winter and early spring and track the arrival and departure of the many varieties of fish that visit a pool fed by a constant stream of water warmer than the main river. Smallmouth, largemouth, crappie, bluegill, catfish, carp and creek chubs all seem to be the dominate fish at different times, only to disappear for weeks or months. Now, unlike Don, I never had a streak of big fish. A lot of dinks in the winter to keep the streak going. The streak just sort of happened. It became a reason to get out of the house and into nature, but it also helped to stretch the season. Last fall I was out fishing open river water at the end of November and having a great day. The next day we got the big snow storm on December 1st and that started the treatment plant season for me.

Steve, is that a cottonmouth or a copperhead? I thought the cottonmouth was a dark, almost black snake with the white throat-known also as the water moccasin.

Put me in the 120 and over club. The all day marathon wades can add up the hours quickly. I find it very difficult to get all geared up, drive to a stream and only wade for a few minutes. There is always one more hole, one more set of riffles, one more rock pile, one more log jam and one more island around the next bend in the river. Of course, each river has one more bend in front of you as you end your day of fishing.

The article mentioned smallmouth as one of the fish that will benefit from this project. This "ditch" flows into Spingbrook Creek. There are largemouth, crappie and bluegill in Springbrook. I'm surprised to hear about the smallmouth. I don't know if the article is saying smallies are present now, or would find the newly restored waterway a suitable home.

Thanks for the work getting these pins out there. It's nice to get a little something for the effort.

Hey Tim, for us non scientists, does this conversion for Celsius to Fahrenheit work? Take 10 C, double it and add 32, and you get 52 F. This idea is from my foreign language teaching wife. If this is not in the ballpark, what is the Fahrenheit equivalent of 10 degrees Celsius?

Mark K gave me a good lead on a barely used sot kayak. It is a Wilderness Systems Tarpon 120, fishing model. I am picking it up this Saturday. My wife says no more fishing stuff for a while. I'll have to dig up worms from the garden all summer. No more Craw Bugs or Senko baits!

Thanks for the input guys. I am going to check out some different kayaks this summer. Maybe the ISA should have a kayak only outing on one of the smaller streams in the area.

Do any of you yak guys or canoe guys have any thoughts on the open, sit on top kayaks. I saw one on line that mentioned drain holes. When fishing from a kayak or small canoe my first thought is to use it as a mode of transportation to get to spots where I want to get out and fish. After several stops with a canoe, it seems that you are battling a lot of water in the boat. Are these open kayaks stable? Do they weigh more because of the extra material used for the deck? I figure after I fall a couple of times getting in and out, I will need those drain holes! With shore access becoming more and more an issue on many of the streams I like to fish, I think I have to take a serious look at a yak or a small canoe that I can tote by myself.

Rich, I can work Saturday or Sunday all day. Let me know if you still need help. Dick G

Gregg, Strictly Fishing, site of a future Chicagoland ISA meeting has them.

The 3" Berkley extra scent (walleye) grub in pumpkin color on a plain 1/8th jig head. The only problem with this product is that it catches every type of fish that swims, although I have never caught a walleye on one come to think of it. The Yamamoto IKA in green pumpkin on a wide gap hook with a bullet weight or on a wide gap Slider head. Even though it looks nothing like a crawdad, because of its solid body it gets right to the bottom and hugs the rocks. Smallmouth and largemouth love this bait. The 3 and 4" Senko (or Yum Dinger) on a wide gap hook with or without weight, depending on depth and current. Pumpkin color of course. The Senko casts a mile and works really well in clear water even though it appears to have little or no wiggle to it. All of the above can be fished in black/blue color in murky water (think Fox).

There is some good news on this front. The County Forest District has purchased 117 acres adjacent to Big Rock Creek by Jericho Road. The proposed road has been removed from this area. There was an article in the Tribune about this a few days ago.

East Branch Dupage River last January

The fall issue of Chicago Wilderness magazine has a special report on the clash between suburban sprawl and nature. Of course nature comes out second best. The new Prairie Parkway will cross Big Rock Creek 5 times. The authors note the degradation of Blackberry Creek because of urbanization and contrast that body of water with the pristine Big Rock Creek.BRC is listed as a class A stream.The article has a neat picture of a fisherman with a smallmouth. If you have not fished this "secret" little gem, you had better do it soon. As the article states: "The highway will degrade stream health, destroy the bucolic character of the area, and diminish the quality of outdoor recreational opportunities."

For some fishermen, a dink a day will do. But a few dinks, a dank here, a denk there will still add up to a sizeable TIF(total inches of fish). As reported by Dale Bowman in the Sun Times this Wednesday, the TIF system is now being used in WSCR's golf-fish tourney.