Mark O'Donnell

Hi ISA Guys, Thank you for the education! Mark O'Donnell

Hi ISA guys, I've only used cheap sunglasses due to the fact that I usually lose a couple pairs every year! However if polaroids make that much differenecr I think I could find a way to be a little more aware of where I put them! What is a good brand? How much should one expect to pay for quality? Thanks, Mark O'Donnell

Hi ISA Guys, What if we were to turn every monthy meeting into a lure swap as well. Every attendee could bring oh! 3-5 lures that they surely don't care about or use anymore. Then we put our names in a hat, and draw them 1st one picked takes one, then down the line in order. Repeat process until done. It might improve attendence? Mark O'Donnell Probably not good or appreciated at places like Gander Mountain, etc. Mark O'Donnell

Hi ISA Guys, If you wanted to know who owns the adjacent land around this area try to find a county plat map. I got one years ago for Will County through the Farm Bureau. Unfortunately, many times land is bought in "trust" and then you won't know. It is rumured that many of Mayor Daley's cronies bought land near Peotone for the same reasons! Mark O'Donnell

Don, a little more detail, Aux Sable Creek had few rapids and is basically a lazy flowing stream, still scenic however. Hickory Creek, the day we were on it was a little high but not too bad, a few log jams and a few quick turns. My partner, a few weeks later, wrapped his canoe around a tree and was fortunate he didn't drown, not recommended after significant rains. If the Chicago Paddling Council still has them, we used a Canoe Guide for access for the Aux Sable. PM for info on that if they don't produce that anymore! Mark O'Donnell

Hi Don, On Hickory Creek, we put in at the Rt. 45 bridge in Frankfort and took out at Vine St in New Lenox. On the Aux Sable, we put in just downstream from the Rt. 6 bridge and took out just before the I&M canal. This was at least 20 years ago. Mark

Hi Mike, I have canoed the following streams (Kankakee, Fax, Mazon, DuPage, Aux Sable Creek & Hickory Creek), and have found the lower Fox River to be the most scenic close to home. It's a good starter for kids as well! Mark O'Donnell

Hi ISA Guys, Heres an a few paragraphs from an article called "The Dead Chicken Tour" that I have in a magazine that came out in 1992. Let's hope things have improved! They call it "el Tour de Pollo Muerto"-the Dead Chicken Tour. As congressional staffers passed a polluted ditch during a visit to industries on the Mexican border, a chicken walked by, keeled over, shook violently and expired before their eyes. The macabre encounter in May instantly became lore amoung some enviromentalists and community activists in Brownsville, because it played to their fear the pollution along the Rio Grande was deadly in a far more serious way. What has them scared are dead babies, not dead chickens. In Brownsville and surrounding Cameron County, the southernmost tip of Texas, the rates of certain birth defects of the brain or spine have been well above normal for years, recently reaching three times the national average. Just across the Rio Grande in the Mexico city of Matamora, the rates are roughly four times the U.S. average. No one has proved why. State investigators looked for a year, but came back shrugging their shoulders, saying information on pollution was too sketchy to suuport firm conclusions. But critics chrage that toxic chemicals or pollution from the factories that line the river are to blame. New state and federal studies, focusing on enviromental factors are just beginning. Some of the research targets the manufacturing plants on the Mexican border. Some takes the measure of the legendary Rio Grande itself. source of much of the drinking water in the Brownsville-Matamoros area. It has become a conduit of disease, more of a sewer, than a stream, according to a report issued in April by American Rivers, a national river conservation group. The report concluded that the Rio Grande river "poses a greater threat to human health than any river sysytem in North America. Mark O'Donnell

Hello WolfB, Thanks for following up, even if results were not what you had hoped for. Nothing ventured, nothing gained! In the next month, I hope to explore the Green River and perhaps a revisit to the Galena River. I will posts my findings (ot lackthereof) as well. Mark O'Donnell

Yes, I think I have only missed one! Mark O'Donnell

Hi ISA Guys, I understand that the state of Illinois purchased this property a while back. Does anyone have any idea what is going on or planned this this area? Mark O'Donnell

WolfB, Hope you got a chance to check it out. The Gazateer says it has smallmouth! Please post with what you discovered! It is always nice to hear about new waters! Mark O'Donnell

Hi Steve, I remember seeing two along Hickory Creek and the Mazon River at least 20+ years ago while canoeing! Mark O'Donnell

Hi ISA Guys, If you have read any of the Kankakee posts you would have seen I have been using the Smallie Beavers quite a bit over the last month. It does not take too much to make these soft plastic baits unusable, they tear up pretty easily. I had a handful and wondered if they could be repaired carefully using a heat gun on them. It worked great and fused them back together just fine. Just keep it away from the tails, when done drop in a glass of cold water. I did mine on my picnic table on top of a piece of tin foil. This method could probably work on most soft plastics. A hair dryer might work as well, if you don't have a heat gun. Mark O'Donnell

Hi ISA Guys, How do you guys rig the above mentioned weedless and for keeping it on the bottom (weghted)? Thanks in advance! Mark O'Donnell