Norm M

any of the white signs left to post on rivers other than the Kankakee ?

http://www.windycityfishing.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=51050

It doesn't look good. I called Steve on his cell a few minutes ago to notify the IDNR .

if in parke county, go to the visitor's center and get a map of the covered bridges . some of the smaller towns have some interesting stuff . used to be a nice ice cream joint over by raccoon lake st park .

http://chicago.suntimes.com/sports/7/71/772467/fishing-floods-norm-minas-rocks

a man who is trying to become a multi species angler . I fish for bass, walleye, pike, musky, gar, bowfin, carp, suckers, catfish, rock bass, gills and sunnies, crappie, chubs[for bait], hybrid stripers, white bass and drum. Some more than others and not every species every year .

for cat stinkbait, I prefer punch bait to dips . cut bait , followed by mud leeches than crawlers drifted under a float is my preferred way of cat fishing .

There have been reports of brownish water and odd foam up in the Fox. I talked to an IDNR biologist today, says it's a brown algae bloom .

Sounds very promising

I'm ignoring the twins comment, how did baseball work it's way into this ?

Being I am a 2nd shift worker and don't own an alarm clock, I was wondering what time in the AM does stupid start?

Any help will be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Doesn't it usually start when the boss says something ? I work 2cd shift and own an alarm clock, stupid can jump up any time after it goes off .

This little thingy just might play a major role in my stupidness....------> DSCF6183.JPG

 

get thee behind satan. that thing is pure evil .

 

 

with a fuller beard, you could be Jude's twin brother .

nothing wrong with donning the waders to keep off the mud, the bugs and the poison ivy .

from ned himself

Is your river well out of it's banks, thinking about hitting a pond ? You will be missing out on possibly the easiest catfishing there will be all year. No need for a boat, no need to get in the water, fish from shore. How about seeing double digit cats so shallow that their backs are out of the water and tossing your bait ahead of them . You better have your drag set right and take your heart meds before hand. Big cats on short line in skinny water, heart thumping , arm throbbing action.

All you need are some hooks, some split shots and crawlers or mud leeches. Your favorite dip or punch bait works as well . Simply fish the flooded grassy areas where the cats are dining on crawlers with one rod and set another out a little further to intercept cats that are moving in or out .

If they are not up in the grass, simply drop back a little deeper in the slack area, many staging there .

How much easier can it get ?

helgies crawling out of the river by me

sad to here, enjoyed his company .

Eric

I learned many early lessons fishing CCFPD lakes and a local creek. Being young without much money, I got by with a ball head jig and plastics. The biggest thing was learning to have confidence in myself .

To all,

You can still fish year round with that simple set up on just about any local body of water and catch fish. It's fun to fish a multitude of lures, but I sometimes think that the beginners think it's necessary to do so because they see most of the experienced guys doing so . If they just concentrated on learning where the fish are , they would be way ahead of the game .

Mental Aspects of Fishing Success- Musings From a Lifetime of Learning

When I first set out to learn how to fish rivers there was not a lot of information availible on the
subject.There was no Internet-ergo no easily accessed websites like River Smallies or the ISA
forums where you have excellent information avaiible.The national magazines really didn't cater
to river fisherman with the exception of some minimally helpful trout articles.I finally found a
magazine-Fishing Facts on the newsstands with articles by Dan Gapen which were very
valuable.The local libraries had some books written by trout guys with names like Bates,
Brooks and Ovington. These books were helpful once it occurred to me that current was
current and learned to apply thier teachings to my style of fishing.

For the most part though it was getting out and doing it and learning from my mistakes,putting in
my time on the water.I was lucky enough to have a couple old riverrats take me under their wing
but only after I proved myself worthy in their eyes.It was through their efforts that things finally
started coming together.At the time I didn't understand why they helped but I was glad they did.
Now that I am older I realize they felt the same thing I am feeling now, the need to pass along
what I learned and not let it die with me.They were limited to passing it along person to person but
that is probably the best way to teach.I,however,have the opportunity to share with a much wider
audience through the RS forums.

There have been some sources of learning already acknowledged and others like InFisherman and
The Hunting and Fishing Library to name a couple to which I am indebted.There have also been some
individuals along the way who have contributed.One who desreves acknowledgement is my good
friend Phill Fiscella . He has the rare gift of really making me think about things and coming up with
truly innovative and interesting approaches to fishing.I would like to thank Phil now for all the great
conversations and times we shared on the water and wiil have in the future.

The best thing you can do for yourself to be more successful is to develop a sense of confidence in
your abilities.You should be able to believe that YOU WILLCATCH A FISH ON EVERY CAST and to
sustain that belief no matter what.If you go in with the attitude I'm not going to catch fish that will
become a selffulling prophecy.Learning to believe in yourself and that you will catch fish is not easy
to do.It is worth the effort as once you have the attitude you will succeed you are more alert and
attentive to your surroundings.Your mind will not be wandering, you will see and feel more strikes,
thus catching more fish.

In my opinion the next best thing you can do is to keep learning, all the time,everytime.You should
learn from both success and failure.I believe you can learn more from failure than success even
though it is human nature to remember the good times and forget about the bad times.When you
have success do your best all the factors involved and write them down if necessary.When you fail
remember what you tried and analyze it for ways to change and improve.You should question your
usual ways of thinking as well as trying new techniques and changing locations.You need to bear in
mind that you will never know everything and that learning will be a lifelong process.

Another thing that helps is to make a gameplan before you get in the water or start casting.Learn
to read the water and decide in advance where to wade, the route to be waded,where to cast and
what you will use in each spot.I would reccommend a plan to throughly cover the water if that is how
you fish.If not, than make yourself happy and use what floats your cork.I would suggest something on
the order of:shallow fast-shallow slow, deep fast-deep slow and then strain the mid and upper parts of
the water column.

If your initial efforts fail,don't keep stubbornly pounding the water.It is better to take 5 or 10 minutes to
think things through and review your options before proceeding.It may well be that your intial plan is the
best option but by stopping you may notice changes in the conditions that warrant changing your plan.If
you are fishing with someone else they may have insight gained from experiences different than your
own that could help make for a successful day.

You should pay close attention to your surroundings as natural cues can be important and extremely
helpful.You should consider the total environmental package:changes in bottom content,depth,contour
of the shoreline or islands,water clarity, water velocity, water temperatue,wind direction, cloud cover or
shade to name a few.The presence of woody cover, weeds, boulders or man made objects should be
noted.You should learn to watch for the movement of forage and note the types in the area.If you learn
to see feeding activity of fish or even the flash or shadow of their movement you will benefit greatly.You
should strive to notice birds feeding over the water,bug hatches,weeds moving without the benefit of
the wind or anything that may give you a clue as to fish location or attitude. Look around you and pay
attention to plants blooming or wilting or animal activity that will be a much more reliable indicator of
similar fish behavior in the future than man's calendar.

Let's consider thinking about the fish themselves for a bit as after all that is ultimately what we are
after.Fish don't have intelligence as we know it but rely on instinct instead.Yes.you may be smarter
than the fish but they have had the best of all of us,probably more than we care to admit.Fish
instincts let them know such things as when and how much to feed,when to switch locations or
food sources and when and where to spawn.They do this as a result of changes in such things as
local climatic conditions,intensity and duration of light,temperature,seasons[theirs not ours],and
water level or clarity.There may well be other influences that we don't know or completely
understand.

There are also different kinds of fish interactions that need to be considered as well.These would be
the relationship with their prey,relationships with other species that compete for food or habitat,
relationships with fish higher on the food chain that may eat them and their relationship with man
through fishing pressure.

The presence of food may be the most important factor to consider outside of the time frame when
they are spawning.Very simply the fish that are easiest to catch are those that are closest to their food.
If these fish aren't activelly feeding than probably soon will be.If food isn't present or nearby the
gamefish generally won't stay near that cover or structural element for any great length of time.

If there is another species that can out compete the bass for food or utilize the habitat more
efficienly they will take over that environmental niche and limit the areas the bass can use. By
the same token if there are no competing species the bass can use a wider range of niches in that
watershed.

When the bass are not the top of the line predator in the food chain that can limit when or where the
bass can be found or when they feed.These limitations can have a profound effect on your fishing
success. Anyone who has fished my flow can attest to the smallies shutting down when the gar
start activelly feeding.

You may not have considered man as an influence but as pressure increasesit can have much more
effect than many give it credit for.I have had the experince of heavy fishing pressue causing a shift in
the times fish become active in particular locations.In some cases it could cause fish to relocate to
less desirable but less pressured locations.Keep both of these ideas in mind the next time that the
classic bass holding spot that everyone knows and fishes doesn't produce.

With experience and time on the water you may reach the point where you have an understanding
of how fish behave in your body of water,well most of the time.The fish have a way of humbling you
if you get too cocky.I know I'll never be able to understand everything about the fish. I also know that
I wouldn't want to reach that point as it would take all the fun out of it.Would you really want to know
ahead of time what is going to happen and to catch a fish on every cast? Believing that you can do it
helps to be a better fisherman but actually doing it would be a reciepe for boredom.I'll take the
challenge presented by having something new to learn as it helps keep things fresh and interesting.

What holds us back as fisherman? How about the self imposed obstacles with which we limit our
potential.If we fail to use our senses to the fullest or not let our imagination work for us in
problem solving,we will not achieve the success we desire.Pre concieved notions of what should be
and the reluctance to reconsider those notions can hinder your success.Clinging to outdated
fishing lore and not making an attempt to educate yourself will severely limit your potential to grow
as an angler.I would also suggest taking manufacturer's claims with a grain of salt or two.We should
strive to make learning a lifelong process that allows us to continually improve our chances of
success.

One of the more important things you can do is to figure out what makes you happy and what you
want out of your fishing expeiences.When you put your efforts into learning how to fish effectively in
in the style you are happiest with you will learn faster and retain more.If you try to be something you
are not because of what you percieve others expectations of you than that will take the fun out of it.
It is more important to make your own choices and please yourself.Now, that is not to say that you
shouldn't try to expand your knowledge by trying different techniques or methods- if you want to. It
is just that I believe you should learn what pleases you the most first.You should bear in mind that
what pleases you can change as you grow as a person and an angler.

Please realize that you will never know it all and don't get frustrated by that fact. I believe there
should never be a final limit to be reached but instead a neverending quest for knowledge to be
gained.For me, the continual challenge is what keeps things interesting. I know I have made this
point several times but in my experince it is extremely important.

Finally we should be grateful for what we have as fisherman.We shouldn't necessarily judge the
success of our trips by the size or amount of fish we catch.I believe we should enjoy the total
experience, the surroundings, the company or the solitude as well as the challenges meet and
overcome. Please just enjoy the simple fact that you could get out and fish.

Peace be unto you.
Norm Minas aka Creekyknees

 

I experienced the same thing on my creek. Before heading out I did notice that there was a spike in the PRY12 gage. Then after

arriving at the creek and seeing how high and stained it was, I just figured the DeKalb area (south of Rockford) must have gotten hit with a storm.

Now you are telling me the north was up also. Where the heck did it rain? There was no rain in the area that I know of. Let's blame Jude.

Blaming Jude is something new ?

it was in there, a few years back . no objection to a reprise .

HA! I think Bill K, Jim S, and myself know what kind of "bottled of water" they were handing out. Been there done that.

there was some water in that brew at the start, they just simply added some healthy stuff like hops for the added flavor .

We as river fishermen are affected by current in all aspects of our fishing experience. How many

of us really understand how it functions and how it affects our fishing? This will be the first in a

series of articles I plan to write about current, current situations and objects in the water that

affect current flow. The fisrt article will be the primer, so to speak, of the series.

To start with, gravity moves water downhill, this movement is what we call current. The steeper

the gradient, the faster the current flow. Riffles and runs are what we associate with this faster

flow. What we think of as pools are places where the gradient decreases and/or there is an

obstuction that slows the current. The gradient is the inclination or slope of the land's surface in

the direction of the flow.

The velocity of the flow is affected by several other factors. They are discharge, which is a

quantity of water passing through any cross section in a given unit of time and the form-ratio,

which is the proportion of the depth to the width of the stream. Water temperatures have some

effect as warm water is more fluid than cold water. In straight flows the maximum velocity

occurs in midstream near the surface. In bends the maximum velocity occurs near the surface

on the outside of the curve.

There are two types of flow recognized in limnological texts. Laminar flow is more or less

defined as all the water moving in a parallel course in one direction. These texts state that

laminar flow is seldom found in nature. Turbulent flow is defined as multiple eddies in a

variety of sizes with all the water moving in all directions as the main flow goes downstream.

This mixing of the water is caused by friction with the air-water interface, the bottom of the

river, the shoreline and any obstructions in the water's path. This friction that slows the flow

and the upper water that moves faster rolls and mixes the water which aids in the distribution

of oxygen from top to bottom. The difference in flow rates from top to bottom contributes to

the bow in your line as you fish.

Fish hold on the bottom of rivers because the drag of friction on moving water significantly

lowers current velocity. This creates an area you can think of as a slack water zone. The

slackwater zone is a place where fish can hold and conserve energy. They can hold until

they need to move for reasons of survival, i.e. predation, changing water levels or spawning.

This bottom slack zone is where most of the fish will be found most of the time. Where do

you think you should be fishing? The larger the objects on the bottom of the river and the

faster the current flow the larger this slack zone will be. These two factors- size of objects

and current velocity- can cause distrubances on the surface of the water that we note when

reading the water.

The Law of Fluid Dynamics also affects current flow. This involves Conservation of Momentum

if I understand the texts correctly. Basically what I got from this was that water does not like to

bend as it goes around corners and when the velocity of water decreases it's pressure increases.

Please don't ask me to go into great detail as that was rwo aspirin reading.

When water hits the front of an obstruction it stops and moves sideways toward the current flow.

It also moves both toward the bottom and the surface at this point. You may get a visible bulge

on the surface if when the speed decreases the increase in pressure is enough to push water

up in the surface. You can also get a slackwater pocket at the base of the obstruction due to

these changes. This pocket, if it forms, is a key feeding area for the most dominant predator

in that spot.

On the downstream side of the obstruction you get another slackwater area. This is because

water does not like to bend. The size of this slackwater area is limited only because the

pressure of the faster water going around the obstruction is lower than the higher pressure of

the slower water in the slack area. this causes a mixing of the waters as it moves from the

slacker water to the faster water. The turbulence from this mixing is what we think of as a

current seam. The slackwater area gets narrower as you look downstream because it's

losing it's energy to the lower pressure of the faster downstream flow.

A slackwater pocket forms at the base of a riffle[lift] on both the upstream and downstream

sides of the riffle. This pocket is an excellent feeding area especially in warmer water. As the

faster moving lower pressure water moves over the top of the slower moving higher pressure

water mixing occurs limiting the size of the slackwater area. This causes the turbulence

which is a familar sight to river anglers. On the upstream side of the riffle the bulge that is

present is a result of water being pushed up by the change in water pressure.

When a river bends the current picks up speed on the outside edge and a current seam

forms on the inside edge where the current slows. The faster current on the outside moves

sediment and carves away at the bed and bank of the river. This is why you have deeper

water on the outside of a river bend. The slower current allows sediment to be deposited

on the inside which is why the water is shallower and you get that familar point bar at

that location. if the angle of the bend is sufficient an eddy is formed. In this eddy friction

with the bottom and the shore further slows the current. This variety of current speeds,

depth changes, changes in the direction of the current and slackwater zones make this

a place for holding out of current and for excellent feeding opportunities.

Turbidity in a river is the presence of suspended solids in the water. Turbidity reduces the

transmission of light either thru scattering or absorption. This reduction in light can affect

water temps, the amount of aquactic vegetation, fish location and fish activity levels. From

what I read the amount of sediment load can affect current velocity in different ways due to

a number of different factors. The consensus seemed to be that with a higher sediment load

there would be a slight reduction in velocity once everything was factored in. Once again

this was two aspirin reading that would require lots of specific details to go any further.

Now for a brief primer in reading water. Start by looking at the surface for differences in

speed and the seams created by those changes. Look to changes in curent direction,

turbulence such as boils and bulges, slicks and changes in water color that denote

differences in depths, You should look for areas where the current narrows forming

feeding lanes that concentrate food washing downstream. If you can see a foam line

that is an excellent way to track feeding lanes. If multiple foam lines or feeding lanes

converge that can be a key spot for the most dominant predator in the area. Look for

objects in the water or in the shoreline that can deflect current influencing current

direction. Next look for objects in the water that can serve as ambush points for feeding

or for cover when fish are spooked by predators or careless, heavy footed fishermen.

Remember that boils on the surface indicate the presence of underwater objects

that can hold fish. These boils will be downstream of the object, just how far depends on

the size of the object and the current velocity.

I know this was a little technical but hopefully it will help those new to river fishing. It may

also offer new insights to crumudgedy old river rats.

Peace Be Unto You

Norm Minas aka Creekyknees

_________________

Good job, Norm. That story made me feel all warm and fuzzy. (Kinda like your beard.)

dudes with grey or white beards are the cream of the crop .

Way to go, Norm. Those are better results than the usual outing produces.Dan Basore spoke passionately about the ongoing need to share our sport with newcomers. Dale Bowman gave a great talk about urban fishing & the audience learned about some local well known opportunities. Your name came up when talking about one of your favorite cricks. Keep on teaching.

if it's the crick I'm thinking of, I'm still exploring it .

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?

Grasshopper better than master .