ronk

Checkiing the USGS website will tell you about ice conditions as well as cfs rates. When a stream has significant ice the cfs rates will not be shown.Instead the word "iced" will be shown. which is not currently the case anywhere on the Kish.

i believe the Fritz family are one of P'field's earliest settlers. He still has a sizeable farm here and unlike other farmers in the area he's resisted the get rich quick offers of developers. If he's heavily fined sadly he's likely to sell too.

Other than being unsightly I doubt the concrete is in any way harmful to the river, And it does act as a stabilizer to the Dupe's badly eroded banks.Unless there were actual pollutants also being dumped into the river which is doubtful much more harm routinely comes to the river from phosphates etc.I'd be more angered by the Plainfield Park District's stripping away the vegetation along the river's banks(which hopefully will no longer happen) and P'field's use of the river as a dumping ground for massive amounts of lawn clippjings from a field I observed a few yrs ago.

me too

Sounds interestimg

Mark Have there ever been any issues with the soles staying tight to the boot?

Given the election results it's likely things will only be getting worse for the environment.

Time was most ffers used either SA or Cortland flylines. But with all the other cos. producing them Cortland has really dropped off the table even though it continues to mfr a wide range of innovative lines in various price ranges. I believe an absence of a marketing strategy in the face of increasing competition is the reason.

Joe I've used neoprene bootfoots for years with water temps near freezing. They keep feet warm with little or no layering because they do not fit tight to the feet like stockingfoots do. A single pair of good wool socks is sufficient.Get your normal shoe size.For maximum warmth with minimal body layering get 5mms rather than 3mms.Felt soles give better instream traction but are miserable for walking thru snow.Therefore for streambeds that are not too slippery rubber soles are the best. A wading staff is good insurance against falling in winter conditions. If a fall happens neoprenes will allow less water to enter as well as maintaining better body heat. Neoprene fold back mittens keep hands warmer than fingered gloves.

That should be an annual event until Tom retires to go fishing whenever he wants.

Great video.The only thing missing was knowing how far those guys hiked that day.It's little wonder that many stretches of the streams in that part of the world are accessible only by helicopter

The reason for the increase in sand mines is sand is needed for fracking. Yet another example of less paradise/more parking lots.

Nice photo of the "suits". I didn't recognize Eric at 1st w/o his cap.

Those 5mm waders are available with felt soles from Cabelas. Definitely a better choice than the lug soles to avoid a fall into freezing water temps provided snow isn't an issue. Felt soles act like a snow magnet. Literally.

I disagree. Might be just a difference in our casting styles. John like to hold a longer line in the air.I've found that with the proper graphite rods tts cast heavier flies & poppers very well. Tts are also considered the best lines for roll casting and mending. The front taper of the line can be shortened a little in order to cast the big stuff even better.

It's remarkable how many flylines are now being marketed: muskylinessalmonlinestroutlinesbonefishlines etc. whose primary purpose I think is to catch ffer $ not only for the lines but also for all the xtra spools needed to hold them. i use only 2 types of wf lines. For hardmouth species like bass that are basically incapable of breakijng the thicker stronger 0x-2x leaders used for them I've used Airflo lines because they don't stretch hopefully resulting in a better hookset in those mouths to which fish are almost always lost because the hook lets go rather than from a breakoff..For more powerful fish like steelhead,salmon & saltwater species capable of breaking even those heavier leaders and for trout where weaker 4x-6x leaders are typical a flyline that does stretch is best to reduce breakoffs.For them I like Triangle Taper flylines designed many years ago by the great Lee Wulff. It casts & mends as well as and I think better than any line out there.I think I'll start using it exclusively as over time it doesn't seem my catch rate for bass has been any better using Airflo although they are more durable. The Airflo I've used extensively for the last several years for smb looks almost like it just came out of the box.

Dick You could've watched the game at home than gone up on Monday and stil havel had the river to yourselves as the results of that game would've kept most Packer fans celebrating in bars til at least mid week

Brian All's well that ends well.

Norm Going to a heavier weight rod will allow for better casting. a heavier weighted sinking line(actuallysinktip rather full sinking for stream fishing) to get down faster & stay down. But in virtually all stream fishing situations a floating line is preferable with the desired sink rates achieved by varying leader length and/or fly weight along with mending if needed.A floater allows for much more flexibility when fishing various depths & current speeds and also allows for a quick change to topwater fishung.

The 2wt is an Orvis rod I got in the late 80's for bluegills. I believe it's still the lightest ever made. Kudos to Tim & Tom for getting out in the river and putting on a beautiful demonstration of distance casting.

With all the 6-9wt bass rods that'll be there I'll be bringing a cupl 2-4wt trout/panfish rods.

Eugene did say that in checking things out the day before in preparation for our outting he found the fish to be active. Sometimes that old saying is true

90 percent of any kind of fishing is putting a fly/lure/bait whatever the kind to a fish,ie location ,location location.Unlike trout I don't believe bass particularly stream bass with the harder conditions they face can afford to be selective as to type/color as long as it looks like something to eat & enters his "strike zone" except in very specific circumstances such as when K3 bass are on the white fly hatch for example.I think this is especially true in murky water,Fox/Rock etal. Years ago there was a similar discussion on our site wherein some anglers argued that big lures were needed to consistently catch big bass.While it's likely that a big bass would prefer a big meal it's also highly unlikely that he'd pass up a smaller one hoping for a bigger one to come along."A bird in hand....".As more ffers came into the club with their reports of big bass caught on flies smaller, often much smaller, than their spin/baitcasting counterparts I think that argument was put to rest. I do agree that after a fish or 2 are caught in a spot the other fish if any in that spot might become reluctant towards that fly.Changing might overcome their reluctance. I primarily change flies to achieve the strike zone bass are in ie switching to a subsurface fly if it seems bass aren't topwater interested, switching from a mid depth fly like a streamer to a deeper pattern like a crawfish if the fish are bottom oriented (& vice versa) and than switching those flies to stay near bottom in different depths/current speeds.

Studs are ok in carpeted boats.Otherwise either the boots with interchangeable soles or Cabelas felt sole Zip boots at only $45 for the boat.

Unless I'm mistaken Vibram was among the 1st rubber soles on the market and w/o studs did poorly compared to felt in slippery streams.You're a lot younger and steadier on your feet than me.I wouldn't trust any studless rubber sole in slippery streams which does not include the Vermillion as I recall from my outiings there with you.But than again I prefer studs even with felt.Last April while wearing felt neoprene waders for warmth which for some reason are not available with studs from Cabelas(which makes no sense since falling in cold conditions is the worst) I slipped and wound up drinking a lot of Dupage R water before I was able to struggle to my feet.