Dick G

Ed, I hope to be there. It looks like an interesting tour. Do you know if they are looking for any volunteers for assisting with their work in the streams of the area?

Looking forward to working with you and Craig on Friday.

Scott,

I can do Friday from 12 to 8 with Craig.

Pizza, beer and smallmouth talk. Sounds good to me.

It sure beat staying home and watching the Cubs play! Thanks for hosting, Tom. Thanks for planning, Ed.

Put me down for 4 days and a day with Mike Mladenik. The check is in the mail.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/naperville-sun/news/ct-breaking-bad-spiderman-insect-maker-met-20150827-story.html

Check out this Fly Guy's realistic bugs he sells to Hollywood. He may be looking for assistants in the future, so there are career opportunities for you Bass Buggers.

That is a great list of musicians who recorded there. It brings back memories of my "hippie" days when you could find fm radio stations that played an eclectic mix of rock, soul, jazz and country. Earth Wind and Fire, Carole King, Frank Zappa and Billy Joe Shaver all on one station. Very neat find.

I'll try to make it. Sounds like fun.

Norm,

Don't look at the radar today. It may cause consternation. Pretty soon you won't even have to leave your car. Just pull up next to the river, put down the window and cast. Just don't roll it down too far. Also, that hat has a few miles on it. You must have been wearing it since you were a kid.

Farmer Fitz dies before July 24 trial date.http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-plainfield-farmer-dumping-death-20150711-story.html

It's time to give up your day job and get on the pro tour.

Very interesting report Ed. I wonder if the ISA could get involved by offering some volunteer hours for helping to collect data?

Anyone using the rivers this week has to watch the gauges and use common sense. There have been four rescues on the Du Page River the last two days. One guy set off in an inflatable canoe without a life jacket and was rescued hanging from a tree. Another couple went for a float with their dog and ended up in the river. Two other incidents involved young people. Flood stage is not an ideal time to seek out some exciting whitewater.

Thanks for the informative answer Mike. Keep up the good work.

Thanks for the update Mike. Are there any other grants you can talk about? Will there be a full report in upcoming Bronzeback Bulletins? As an active supporter, I would appreciate some more info on the grants. For example, would a few more bucks insure another grant being funded, or are there not enough good projects out there to justify our backing? Inquiring minds want to know.

Nice looking site. I have already bookmarked it.

They should call it the Eric-ISA Outdoor Notebook. The ISA logo really stands out!

Norm, this is the same message that Dan Basore was talking about at the Saturday meeting at Bass Pro. How come that youngster is holding the bigger fish?

Very nice meeting, Ed and John. I enjoyed Dale's presentation. There was one particular urban smallmouth fishing spot that Dale showed the group of attendees that had it all: easy parking, easy walking and a spectacular view of the Chicago skyline. I am going to try that one. Also, Dan Basore made an impassioned plea for the need to get good quality, practical fishing gear in the hands of kids to get them excited about this sport and about being out in nature. He feels that the the future of fishing and a protected water source in this country need a new generation of youngsters who really enjoy participating in outdoor activities. I hope Dan posts his thoughts on this issue so the ISA members can see what needs to be done. Here is a picture of Ed with Dale Bowman.

There are some ISA officers who have fished this area in the past and have had some access agreements with the farmer perp; I think they should contact him and tell him enough is enough! I have a place downstate and I run into this redneck attitude frequently. I am treated as a trespassing "Yankee," and yet some of them dump appliances down the river banks and race up and down the riverbed in their ATVs. GRRRRRR!

I saw a feature on this morning's news about Lehr propane fueled outboard motors. They can be run on a small 16.4 oz Coleman canister or from a larger grill size tank. The small canister gives one hour of running time. The engines start in any weather, run pollution free, have no carburetor, don't gum up and need no winterizing. Sounds ideal for small watercraft like the Pond Hopper or a john boat. The 2.5 hp does cost $1,000 and the 5 hp is about $1,600.

I noticed in one of Eric's reports that he saw some crayfish moving about in the Fox. As our Illinois streams wake up for spring fishing, are the smallmouth looking for a larger meal, or are they still favoring smaller float-n-fly sized offerings? It would seem logical to start the season with smaller presentations and increase the size as the year progresses, with the largest baits offered late in the summer and into the fall.

On the other hand, the first bait fish and crayfish to become active after a long winter are going to be fairly big in order to have survived through the coldest months. So, wouldn't it make sense to start out with large baits in the very early spring, and then down size after the fish and crawdads have spawned later in the year, before returning to larger baits in summer and fall?

I guess another factor to consider is the presence of bug hatches. Last spring in Door County I saw many big smallmouth landed on what I considered to be small flies, while large plastics were not producing as well. Go figure.

So, is it the size of the bait in early-early spring that entices more strikes, or do temperature, depth, color and speed trump the profile of the lure? I'm going to do a little outdoor research this afternoon.

Ed,

A bit off topic, but I saw today that the Chicago Sun Times reported on your daffodils. Dale Bowman's column. A sure sign of spring.

That price was for an I Phone. It was much less for a less technological phone. I just wish they could salvage cameras. I've dropped 2 of them in rivers. The article was in the Tribune's business section today. Check it out.