Jay D

A lot of that was old news. What I'm waiting to hear is how bad the forever chemical contamination is when the state finally gets up to speed with it's sampling.

Thanks for all the links. The story that ran in the Tribune the other week was very unsettling. In short, we're essentially being told it's unwise (and being discouraged) to eat our local freshwater fish. The contamination is essentially nationwide, and only worse in the Great Lakes region. https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/environment/ct-toxic-forever-chemicals-fish-20230117-5fygn4fikndmti33g3vmhy6raa-story.html

Yes indeed! To make matters worse I have another block of EVA foam on the way in orange. I'd be willing to make some of that available as well, in bulk or plugs.

Thanks to all for the input. I’ll snag a box of those Mustads and get back to tying.

Now that I look at the blockhead, I'm inclined to agree with you. That's from last year when I first started tying poppers. That size hook seemed to work well enough on the smaller cylindrical poppers I use on stream smallmouth, but for the blockheads it looks like I need to size up. The photo shows one of the block heads, plus a size 6 Mustad that I use for Shenk Streamers and a Lightning #4 popper hook I should try. I never really grasped hook sizing numbers as they seemed less than consistent, but I just need experiment and tie, tie tie...

Sure thing. Blockhead poppers are easy to tie, however if you're cutting your own foam heads that's the challenge. It takes practice and a very sharp blade to cut them cleanly, evenly and consistently. Being a woodworker I'm planning on making my own cutting jigs, something of a mitre box to cut them consistently. There's a commercially made one available for the cylindrical plugs, I'm going to start with making that style. As far as foam popper selection goes, I mostly plan on using 1/2" cylindrical poppers as I mostly fish a shallow, clear creek. Tim Holschlag recommended saving the noisier blockhead poppers for the bigger waters. I will be throwing a mini blockhead on my creek as well. I'd keep the popper body size and style in mind for the type of water you'll be fishing.

Update: The topwater bite is on, folks. I still have plenty of foam blocks and plugs to trade. I would like some white and chartreuse blanket yarn if someone is so inclined... Tight lines, Jay The Fishin' Musician

I was a member of DRIFT a few years back and he was one of the guest speakers. His presentation proved to be the most valuble (to me) of all the speakers. His methods and fly selection really helped to change my game on Hickory Creek and continues to.

Here's something recent: http://freepressnewspapers.com/content/city-officials-dnr-meet-over-wilmington-dam I don't see that low head dam being much of a barrier to Asian carp.

I work on violin family instruments (violas, cellos, basses) exclusively. I also work on bows, which are periodically re-haired with horse hair (tail). It helps to be a fly tier when doing that job...

Yep. The best way I've found to get large blocks of EVA foam is to buy yoga blocks on eBay, They run about $5 each including shipping and can yield dozens and dozens of blockheads and popper plugs. I resaw the yoga blocks into slabs on my bandsaw, which does a beautiful job of slicing them. If I want plugs the $3.50 plug cutter set from Harbor Freight does a fine job of cutting them out on my drill press. Cutting blockheads is a lot trickier, but with practice and a good, long sharp utility knife its doable. Nothing against the fly shops, but I aint paying no $1 a piece for a block head, when purchasing materials in bulk they're about 4 cents each.

Instrument repairs and sales of imports is my main gig, building is a hobby, as selling your own instruments you can't make any money at.

Well, my tying room/bench is actually my workshop where I make violins, but it has to do double duty. It's something of a sh*t shambles at present. Right now fly tying is taking priority, but that's likely going to turn over in the coming weeks.

I currently have an over abundance of Bernat Blanket Yarn in School Bus Yellow. I wouldn't mind trading some for chartreuse or white. If I was just tying mop flies I'd just pick up a dust mop head or wash mitt, but I'd like longer pieces for tying Shenk Streamers, so I'd like to lighten the excess of yellow yarn for some additional colors. I also have a few nice chunks of chartreuse and yellow EVA foam chunks if someone happened to have some orange pieces. These could be cut into blockheads, plugs or whichever.

The article states that they haven't made much of a migration past I-55. I'm guessing they're in there. I know one was caught out of the Kankakee a few years back, maybe 5 or 6 years ago.

Just read that. I was reading an older thread regarding Hickory Creek, and someone had mentioned the Pilcher Park dam was potentially blocking the movement of carp upstream. I hadn't considered Asian carp. Hickory Creek flows into the Des Plaines right at the base (just below) of the Brandon Rd. Lock and Dam in Joliet. I'm not sure of the potential of an Asian carp migration through shallow riffles, but that would be one potential argument against the removal of the Pilcher Park dam.

Just watched the video, looks like a good one to try. The challenges with the Shenk Streamer are that you need to get it weighted right (at least the version I tie), the rabbit fur is messy and a challenge to wrap properly, then you have to trim the crap out of it. A great fly, but takes a good bit of practice to tie it well. I'm going to grab some of the yarn and give the Shannon Streamer a whirl. For those interested in the Shenk Streamer, here's a good tutorial:

Thanks Bart. I am indeed a tier, and would like to know more about your ZOOM meetings. I tend to fish the creek with 3 flies, Chernobyl Hopper, Wooly Bugger and my secret weapon, the Shenk Streamer. I like to keep things fairly simple and one of those usually does the job. I used to belong to DRIFT and Tim Holschlag's presentation was very helpful, one of these days I need to master the crawfish hop.

Greetings all. My name is Jay and I'm a SW suburban resident and longtime fisherman of Hickory Creek. My preferred weapon of choice is a fly rod these days but do manage to bait fish for panfish at the Lemont Quarries a good bit over the summer. I'm glad to see there was discussion here in recent years regarding a clean-up. Much to my dismay someone decided to have a numbered rubber ducky race in the creek maybe 2-3 years ago, which left numerous unclaimed toys along the creek. I reported it to someone at the New Lenox municipality (water district) and didn't get a response. Never did find out what that was all about, or who sponsored that. At any rate there are any future talks of a clean up I'd be willing to get on board and offer my time and thoughts. Not sure what's happening with the possible Pilcher Park dam removal, either. I haven't heard any discussion of it in the past 5 years. I personally have mixed feelings about it, and I'm curious as to how a removal would affect the fishing upstream of Pilcher. There have been rumors of pike in the creek, even upstream of the dam, persisting for years, in addition to solid documentation of sauger below the dam. I fish well upstream of the park and have seen no pike, however someone I know claims to have caught a bass he believed to be wounded by a pike. Overall it's a nice creek and it is a bit of an underrated gem, I feel fortunate to have it close to home.