ronk

Sci Ang Expert Distance 5F+7Fflylines. Both used but show no signs of wear.Cost $64 new.$30 per or $50 for both.If interested send me a message or call me at 815-439-1809 evenings if unable to get thru during the day.

2 flylines for sale.5wt+7wt. Both used but show no signs of wear.Both are Sci Anglers Expert Distance with mono loops attached.$30 per or $50 for both.If interested send message or call at 815-439-1809.

Went to the Fox looking for carp as well as smallies since J.S' report of carp taking caddis.Fished from 1pm-6pm.Few caddis around but found a pod of carp feeding on land based seeds etc that were being blown onto the water by the very strong winds.Cast a hopper into the pod for about a half hour.No takers but did foul hook 3.As usually happens when foul hooked all 3 were eventually able to pull free leaving only one of their scales behind on the hook.Better results with the smb.Hit 6.3 were small +3 were nice, a 16",an !8" and another that was 17 or 18" that got away.All were caught pounding the shore with a big black blockhead bassbug.Casting it in that wind certainly tested your casting ability using a 6wt.Was pleasantly surprised to find the river easily wadeable at a low summer time level.

Just as I thought.Think I'll head there tomorow with my 6wt and some caddis patterns.Thanks for the headsup!

Fished for smallmouth for the first time in awhile on 5/20 with the river having gotten to a wadeable and clear state.Fished 3 areas from 2-6pm with my 6wt. Caught 5 with only 1 reaching the teens at 16" all on bassbugs.On 5/22 fished 1 of the areas I'd fished on the 20th and 2 other areas.Fished both surface and sinking flies with my 4wt. Not only did I go fishless but as I was finishing up I fell in losing a nice pair of sunglasses! As I trudged back to the car with a cupl gallons of water in my waders I told myself that its days like that that make you appreciate the good days that much more. The water temp was in the mid 60's where it's hovered for over a month.Seems like that might be too cold for ideal spawning and together with the strong currents could result in a poor spawn this year?I saw no nests this year in an area where there were many the previous 2 years.More and more silt continues to build up especially in the slackwater along the shorelines. Doesn't seem to be originating in the main branch itself. Is it washing down from the east/west branches?

Can you describe what they look like i.e. size shape color? If they resemble small tan colored moths they're not mayflies but caddisflies which are increasingly common on the rivers in our area an indication that they are becoming less polluted from toxins.

I prefer to move around a lot from spot to spot rather than linger in order to try different flies on the theory that warmwater species whether in still or moving water are opportunists and if feeding will most often not be selective unlike trout which very often are.While there are of course exceptions I believe most of the time covering more "fishy" spots will produce better results than fewer spots with more flies.

From 1984 -2000 there were only 2 years when I didn't drive to the Rockies to trout fish for 2- 3wks.After the financial beating I took when the market crashed in this millenium those trips are gone for good with the price of gas going forward.I'm even reluctant to go as far as Wisconsin or Michigan for trout or steelhead as I used to do a cupl times a year.Now about as far as I go is 30 miles to trout fish at the club I belong to in the Spring and Fall or to b-gill or lmb fish at Mazonia.Living in Plainfield I only have to drive 1-12 miles to fish anywhere on the Dupe,11-15 miles to fish the Fox in the Yorkville, Oswego or Montgomery areas,and 17 -20 miles to fish the Kank from Wilmington downstream.I own a '94 Chevie Lumina Euro which looks and runs like new and gets 28 mpg even at 148,000 miles.

I'll do the Dupe anywhere in Plainfield

The ones with red eyes are those that have previously been caught and phot'd before release. You know.... the redeye thing.

I'm confused.You said you were using a line that sinks at the same rate as a 350 grain, and were reaching bottom in 14 -18'.A 350 has a sink rate of 7 ips in stillwater.At that rate it would take at least 25-30+ seconds to reach bottom and perhaps a bit longer in moving water if as seems likely current impedes the sink rate.

Norm, That was what I advocated in my post on this topic,a weighted fly or splitshot with an unweighted fly instead of sinking lines in moving water.The forner method will get the fly down faster in typical river depths of 5-8' and there's no need to swich lines etc. if you want to also fish shallow or on the surface.

unless it's splashed down with a poor cast a flyline landing on the water shouldn't spook a fish unless he's just under the surface as when taking dry flies or emergers when he's also looking up.even the leader can spook him and the angler may have to use long fine tippets making sure only the tippet passes over the fish when casting upstream.this happens frequently in trout fishing which is much more technical than the "chuck and chance it " kind of fishing we do for warmwater species where the most important thing is finding the fish.in the better sections of good trout streams there are usually thousands of fish per mile.the challenge isn't finding them but fooling them.

with the seemingly endless # of fronts moving thru going back all the way to january this may be a season of limited stream opportunities.should give the fish some respite from all the fishing pressure.every cloud has a silver lining.am grateful for the good fishing i had in march and april when the river was in a more fishable state.

Most flyfishing is done casting acrosstream.One advantage to flyfishing across currents is that upstream mends can be made which allow the weighted fly to land downstream of the line/leader giving it a chance to sink to the desired depth as long as that depth isn't too deep or the current too swift. Perhaps a benefit to carp being in a stream as long as a wader doesn't spook one into a headlong panic downstream is that if he kicks up some silt or disturbs the water a bit wading downstream the smb will pay it no mind since carp usually cause those kind of disturbances and smb become used to them and might even take them as a signal to feed.One of your state's finest streams has been overrun with recreational canoeists since the 70's when a canoe rental business was started.While all those canoes were a pain in the butt there is a theory that the smb became so used to them that they actually started feeding in their wake? In all but the smallest streams wading downstream should not disturb many of the fish your targeting if you stay towards the bank when fishing midriver and in midriver when fishing the bank

Don, Re your last post I don't want to drive all the way to Algonqin from Plainfield at $4 a gal.I'd rather help John when he does the south end of the river.I'll email him.Hopefully a few of the far west or north guys will show up to give you a hand.

Craig, In relation to the direction of the current what kind of casts were you guys making?

Norm, The leader sinks too slowly to have any affect.

I'm putting my house in Plainfield up for sale if they ever ban wading on the main branch.

Sinking lines are fine in stillwater where the depths they can reach are limited only by the patience of the angler in waiting to reach those depths.But I agree with Tim H. that a weighted fly on a 9' leader is more effective on moving water where "deep" is usually 5-8'.A well weighted fly will sink as fast as a spinfished jig approx. 1' per sec. or approx.3-4x as fast as an unweighted fly on a sinking line rated for 6-8wt flyrods and even faster than one rated for lighter rods.This enables it to reach the desired depth well before the end of the drift whereas the unweighted fly/sinking line won't.In extreme currents it might be necessary to combine a weighted fly/long leader with a sinking line to get/ keep the fly deep. While weighted versions of flies such as nymphs designed to be fished dead drift may not be as realistic as unweighted versions and so may not be as readily accepted by discriminating fish such as wild trout, streamers designed to be actively fished have more action when weighted with barbells(clousers etc.)or with a splitshot pinched on the leader at the hookeye.(To keep the shot on the leader use a loop knot pinching the shot to both strands of the loop.) While casting either a sinking line or a weighted fly requires a different technique and is more difficult than casting an unweighted fly/floating line it becomes easier with practice especially with a haul which is something everyone fishing warmwater/saltwater species should learn.It's these kinds of challenges flyfishing offers that make it so much more fascinating and rewarding than any other kind. P.S.If any of you guys have read any of my posts beginning in mid March with 44 degree water temps you see how effective a weighted fly on a long leader can be.

Norm, No doubt some of us are better at the subtleties than others.What about the affects of time of day, angle of the sun,cloudy vs sunny?

Most of the fishing I do does not involve casting upstream or downstream but across stream.I don't see any significant benefit to wading either up or downstream except on the smallest streams where wading upstream would be required.Since it's just common sense to avoid fighting the current(just ask the fish) I prefer to fish my way downstream whenever there's a land based way to return.If there isn't I prefer to fish upstream in order to have an easier downstream trek back.Of course on big rivers you can always fish one side of the river going one way and the other side going the other way.I also don't see why it would be any easier to see fishy looking spots wading upstream and don't we all tend to fish good sections of stream often enuf to know where those fish holding spots are?

With the river high,murky and ripping decided the best chance to catch any smallmouth was to head to an area I dicovered last year that holds a lot of little ones especially with many of the bigger ones spawning.It took about 30 minutes to get to the area some of it wading in the river against the current and only about 45 minutes to fish it since the strong current severely limited the fishable spots within the area.Caught 7 smallmouth on bassbugs and as expected all were little guys.Was glad the wade back was with the current.The wading staff was indispensable both in getting to and from the area and also while fishing in the current that's particularly strong in this area.

I'll help olut if I can be teamed up with someone who has a vehicle large enuf to hold the posts etc.Let me know.