Joe R

Yes Paul for sure I'm fishing the hardest to reach areas intentionally. I may drop gear off and hide it at a bridge dropping and have to find a place to park several miles away and then ride my bike back to a bridge and hide it, then just go up or downriver 2-4 miles. So yes I'm finding naive fish. I do the same on Des Plaines in Will county and it enables you to rack up big numbers of naive fish.

Let the Kish migration start. Based on recent trips I can tell you the NBK smallies have vacated Mchenry county and for the most part the east half of Boone county also. This year I've been focusing on notably upriver waters...very few fish even the bottom dwellers have vacated and lower count of baitfish also it seems. Just caught a few small pike and a couple largemouth. SBK is a different story. I fished some very difficult to access areas way upriver with shockingly extended deep water. Loaded with quillbacks, hog/white/redhorse suckers, carp, pike, and in rocky areas a lot of smallmouth. Does anybody care about this stuff? (LOL) My thoughts were there is a lot of smallie movement, sometimes heading far downstream to bigger waters. Just in my sampling of about 11 miles of way upriver water on the two branches I'm finding some areas vacated in recent weeks and some areas gaining a lot population in recent weeks. Going to keep playing with it to see if the smallies stick around in the way upriver areas where they seemed to be stacking already and hitting everything that moves.

My on the water play list has a couple of river songs.... This video should get you in the mood for fall wading. A favorite of mine when the water is high in spring...

I don't think I have an opinion either way but I have fished the deschutes a couple dozen times close to confluence with Columbia river as well as recent years in Redmond and Crooked Ranch areas. I can tell you further upstream the water can be pretty darn cold from mountain tributaries. It does warm up in areas for a couple months in summer its always in the sun and you could call it high desert. All I have ran into are salmonide species but just like the concern about pike in Alaska waters where they aren't native or bass elsewhere I guess even gamefish we like can be considered nuisance in areas.

Just added to my Google calendar. Very likely I will be there Tom.

Wow Im just floored from this. I dont know much about the asian carp and where they are besides Illinois river however now im thinking a couple lower dams on the fox should always remain. Id imagine the vermilion is to shallow for the carp likings but obviously they are in part of the lower range. I think ML rod that is not as fast action surprisingly has less chance to break since it can bend a lot.. take a stiffer fast action rod that is heavier and that is more likely to break.

Did a quick read of the Wisconsin report interesting, when I have time I will reread slower but I did see that they observed movement when water was around 60 degrees and the fish moved a long way. Skinnier water its all the more important to get out of dodge. There's about 45 miles of SBK between the confluence at Cherry Valley and Sycamore, I've floated or waded about 24miles of that length. Going to try and piece it out further to get up to 45 in a couple years I'm bound to find a few wintering areas. Only fished about 11 miles of the NBK...and there is about 27 miles of river between Cherry Valley and Marengo. Just a little personal challenge to get all the approx 72 miles of these branches I'm only roughly halfway LOL

To me the mid 40s temp is a magic number I had some stellar days in November and even a December day but that was some of the freaky warm spells bumped the water temps to mid upper 40s. Like I said I will be sampling some different areas in cold months and see if I can get my first float and fly fish

Well whether you call it movement or migration its just wordsmith but based on my fish sightseeing observations and fishing results over the last few years I have a pretty good hunch they are moving farther then you think. As you know its an umimpeded river system. Since I fish over the fall through the winter there is a particular area on south branch that has extended deep water areas that I think would be prime for smallies in winter. Starting in early early March, late March, April, May, and into the summer months I see a progresion of smallie bites from skunk, to 3 fish, to 8, to up to 50 in prime time. Noticed this on this same section similar in a 2 year period. Same goes on a section of north branch but I have also found a wintering area. I think there may be something more to do with just baitfish but certainly that is a factor. Im going to play around with fishing the river in the cold months sampling areas again. Im finding the same on des plaines river in Will county. Since I spend a lot of time on a 12 miLe stretch ive found a particular area that quality fish mass showing up in fall and are prevalent until spring. Warmer months very few in this area. There are no warm discharges within several miles of this area so nothing to do with that. My winter smallie fishing skills arent very good I have to admit but i find it an interesting topic enougb that I like to think about it and test it. The iowa telemetry study does indicate migration or movement.

There is some great fish data that IOWA DNR maintains that make it easy to access fish sampling data. In the research I done I was surprised how many rivers that state has and for the eastern half of Iowa they flow down from Minnesota and turn towards the Mississippi eventually. I timed it terrible with storms and rising water but I had a good 4 hour outing on the Iowa River near Iowa Falls and it fished well for smallies and pike. Spending time on Kish and doing exploring of upriver areas on south and north branch and finding a lot of fish. I didn't have luck in March upriver besides one area. Next March I will do some more exploring but I'm fairly sure there is a lot of movement to winter favorite spots late fall.

I've been doing some internet searches on Iowa rivers. After I drop my son off at college later this week in Ames I was going to do some river fishing in Iowa and "fish" my way back home over a 2 day period. In my internet search I stumbled upon this article that talks about migration. I'm sure many of you more knowledgeable folks know they migrate already to some extend but personally I don't know much about it besides I know that on the Kish, for example, I know where I can do better in colder water where they drop down and then in spring where they may not have made it back to the upriver sections I fish and the fishing is consequently poor (well there are certainly less fish I believe)... Anyways.... http://www.gameandfishmag.com/fishing/fishing_bass-fishing_ia_0409_02/

Great pics, I love fishing small streams like that even if large fish are less prevalent. Great wildlife pics.

Cathching up.... so mid July? Im still scarred from memories of taking off in a plane and listening to the airplane headphones when "lost in love" was playing from air supply. Thanks but no thanks for making me remember that....

I will pack up the yak and gear late tonight when I get home...if I can get out the door by 7am I will try and show as it sounds fun. Seems I'm picking up garbage most every outing as it is might as well do it "officially". If I can't get the early start (life) I will do a solo trip later in the day.

I guess I need to look at the events tab more often, I probably haven't looked at it since Pizza. I missed Breakfast and Yellow Signs it seems. Now I know what is meant by yellow signs.

Sorry to hear that Terry, tough stuff, but look back on the fondest of memories. Every time I lose someone it just makes me want to live life to the fullest just a little more.

Yes ditto thanks for setting it up so I can finally meet folks I wont remember all the names but Tim, Paul, Terry, frank, and Ben to name a few. And Jude of course but I met him on a river two years ago and to test my memory he had a broken piece of plastic grub on a jig and was explaining the virtues of chug bugs.

50 and sunny there between 1 and 1:30 unless the bite is very good. I don't leave cooperating fish...

Seeing as I haven't met anyone I will try and make it float north branch 9am-noon try and coerce some teeth than punch in coordinates of pizza place and show up.

Curious...would you go over 6 on any night? I don't sleeping in a tent (I enjoy tent camping rain or shine). Or are you trying to limit to 6? I may be able to do the open slots on that open weekend but I may need to do a college drop off then is school starts monday.

Sign up for deal flyer with Sierra Trading Post and you can monitor them for deals on higher end and lower end waders. A decent low cost brand is Allen if you look they actually have decent buyer reviews. You have less options on sizes with Allen brand but I like the couple that I bought. I brought some breathable stockingfoot waders for $50 dollars and beat the heck out of them with long shoreline bushwhacking. I bought another pair that had a bunch more with extra oversized pockets for little over 100 dollars and those have been used also and no issues.

Darn, have class that night (UGH). Hopefully it rains, the power goes out, or whatever and you reschedule for the following Wednesday (I'm laughing).

I regret to say I can't attend. no choice but to move out of state travels to that fri-sunday weekend as taking my daughter for a college visit and then stopping to see my son at college in iowa. just the way the dates had to line up that fit for them. i will be fishing moving waters until not navigable due to ice so i'm open to fishing other weekends in that awesome region of many moving waters both big and small. as long as they are reasonably safe from hunters. i already had a close call with farmers shooting riverside a couple weeks ago. practicing i guess. last nov/dec i dealt with duck hunters more than i wanted to.

I guess I need to look at events tab. I fished way upriver N.B.K Saturday if I was wading with you guys I wouldn't have had to portage 100+ times over a log strewn river in my kayak. What a chore but fun fishing dumb fish who never seen a fisherman before.

If you go to turkey run go to near by Shades state park also. Turkey run has nice hiking trails but I prefer Shades canyon trails more so in some respects. Camping is nice either place and turkey run inn is nice I have stayed there also. Nice area be careful when driving Amish buggies area. Whether hiking canyons or canoeing sugar a favorite area of my family