Mark K

Very pretty shot.

http://nprillinois.org/post/will-safe-roads-amendment-hobble-state-parks#stream/0

Not really. That's like a midrange St. Croix or Loomis. Apparently you can modify an existing rod too.

looks like you build it into a rod.

Somewhere between a fish in a live well for an hour and readers subjected to to a complete failure fisherman/writer turned troll.

What a great idea. Not only a great idea for kayak fishing, but if one is just wading rivers.

The guy who caught this fish is buddies with my nephew. I met him a few times, very nice guy and totally a hard core fisherman. Pretty cool story here. Congrats Ryan! http://chicago.suntimes.com/sports/illinois-smallmouth-bass-record-in-lake-michigan-for-the-chase/

Poor fellow. 6000W is on the 102 side, but that would be where Willowpoint Rapids are. I am not intensely familiar with the 113 side but I know the 102 side like the back of my hand. Eric, you and I fished that stretch together, a long time ago. It's hard to imagine exactly where this accident occurred. Regardless, it's very sad.

It says here that he was walking the shoreline and fell in by 6000W and 113. http://www.wvli927.com/2016/10/18/bonfield-man-drowns-in-river/

Thanks. That is nothing short of breathtaking. Was hoping to see and photograph a Wisconsin timber rattler this year, but that never happened.

edit. Actually they might be polypropylene. Either way, very tough to get stuff to stick to them.

Notice some legacy ISA flies this box. A minty JudeBug has been added since.

I made this pretty cool flybox on the cheap on my lunch break at work. It took me about a half hour and I was winging it. It came out so nice, that I wished I had cut the foam a little more neatly. The foam i used was from Hobby Lobby. It's 5mm foam, the thicker stuff and it comes in all kinds of colors. It was under $2 for enough foam to do 1.5 fly boxes this size. Michaels has similar stuff, and while you are in there you might want to peruse the store for different styles of boxes. I used a Plano 3600 style box that has no dividers that I got at Cabelas for under $7. They have the larger style box for around $10. It's a high quality box with solid latches and not only are they made in the USA but right here in Illinois. These boxes are also sized so they fit conventional tackle bags perfectly, avoiding the fly fishing up charge. If you had the need to store a lot of flies, I think that might be handy. Tips for assembling the boxes: The foam has memory, so if you press the box in it will leave an impression; or you can use paper to make a template. Cut the foam small enough that it fits in the box easily. Otherwise, when you press it in the adhesive it will want to pop out. Use a steel straight edge and very sharp utensil, like an exacto-knife or utility knife with a new blade to cut the slits in the foam. I cut mine 1cm apart. Try not to bleed in this step. Plano boxes are made out of polyethylene (PE) or something similar, which is really resistant to solvents and it has a really low surface energy, so solvents in adhesives won't "bite" into it. That's why rubber worms are okay in them. The surface energy also makes it difficult to get stuff to stick. Think of when you wax your car, and water beads off you lower the surface energy, so water, tar, bugs, bird shit and....glue don't stick. So what I did was "rough up the surface" with sand paper, i then "flame treated" the surface.In industry, they do this before they print on PE. Think water bottle with print on it. You "lick" the surface with a blue gas flame. I used a bunsen burner and natural gas, but I think a propane torch, as low as you can get it would work fine. Just pass it over the surface really fast. The idea is that you are not melting anything. The gas flame changes the surface chemistry, and theoretically the glue should stick better. I did not test this though, I just did my box and it may not be necessary. Basically, if you have a propane torch handy, give it a quick lick if not skip this step and just sand the box a bit and wipe it down with alcohol. Try not light your self on fire in this step. I used 5 minute epoxy as adhesive. I mixed up 20 grams and smeared it around with a piece of corrugated cardboard. Then I pressed in the foam. I think I used more epoxy than necessary, but the lid is mighty rigid. Maybe thats not a good thing. However, as of a month this box is rock solid. But there are also contact adhesives to try and some amazing double sided tapes that are ridiculously strong. I think that evaporating solvents should be taken into account. Try not to get brain damage in this step. The outside can be decorated with decals, if that floats your boat. But I was thinking about a drying patch on the outside. I am not the first to do this. Google for more ideas.

http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Strike_King_Perfect_Skirt_Magic_Tails/descpage-SKPS.html For the sole reason that they don't rot and fall apart.

Are you going eat them?

Yeah he was, Scott. I never got to be really good friends with Bob, which I regret, but, Actually, I was the conservation guy for the ISA and all that planting stuff probably would not have got going that early, if it were not for him and others. I used to call Bob up to pick his brain for newsletter stuff, regarding the Willows. He was always really professional and I always felt like he was being really honest about everything. " This works, this doesn't." "Here we had this success, here it didn't work". I always felt like it was a privilege to pick this guys' brain since I am kind of geeky and into bugs and critters. He was really into the Water Willow plants. Having been a "Kank-Rat" for more than a decade walked thru many a huge colony of those plants , just taking for them for granted. Now looking closer, you see how tight minnows hang to them, how many insects emerge when you walk thru them on a summer evening. I am not being sappy either, check it out if you don't believe me. One fond, early ISA memory was a meeting we had at a pizza place on rt38, it was a really cool night, with good pizza and beer.. Bob gave a talk about studies they did about dams. If I remember right this was a little before the ISA membership just exploded. He was really great speaker, you could hear a pin drop in the place while he was talking and eyes glued to the presentation. I always felt like he did that job, because, he was the guy to do it.. sometimes.. thankfully it works out that way. Afterwards he hung around and chatted and he was really nice and pretty funny. We did quite a few plantings afterwards and he always was really pleased with the individual work ISA guys did, I remember him commenting on how the guys "were perfect" and how they would pile up gravel to build a little requiem from the current. "they are the perfect people to do this" In the really limited amount of time I dealt with Bob, he made a HUGE impression on me that will be passed another generation, and really countless others, so THANKS so much for your dedication and my heartfelt, deepest condolences to your family and friends.

Next thing ya know they be on my lawn.

So my son, a freshman in HS actually brings his rod and gear to school once a week. They have a club and then a Tournament team. So far with the club they have an outing once a week. Not sure if my kid is interested in the tournament thing. we'll see. They didn't have stuff when I was in HS :-( Been pond hopping a lot. As, I was telling Eric s. the other day. I keep seeing these uber serious kids bass fishing. Most of them carry two rods, a backpack...and the absolutely, positively must have... Go-pro to put it on You Tube, I guess. Personally I think it kind of cool.

awesome shot.

So, when I throw poppers, and bigger divers for whatever reason i get horrible line twist. Never imagined I could get line twist with a fly rod...but then again I also never imagined I could tie a knot in my leader in mid air. I am not sure how common line twist is with a fly rod but it's a given if I am throwing a bigger popper. I read on these boards...somewhere.. someone posted (I think Ron K.) about using tiny barrel swivel. Spro makes them and you can buy them online or at Gander Mountain. BPS does not carry them, I am fairly sure that Cabelas in Hammond has them. So I tied one on at the end of an 8ft, 12lb leader then a foot long tippet of 12lb fluorocarbon (the only 12lb line I had on hand). I threw the bigger Boogle Bug, on my 8wt for a couple of hours and got absolutely ZERO line twist. Insert Halelluia Choir! I think it was sinking my popper a tad but the fluorocarbon probably contributed to that and... whatever it worked fine, not an issue and probably an advantage with a lot of flies. I am hoping to introduce Kankakee river smallies to the Jude bug this weekend. I fished a darn good pond with my older boy, who was spin fishing. He killed them, I mean killed them with gulp helgies on a tiny jig under a tiny bobber...er ah...strike indicator. :-) I got nice gill, and two dink largies. Nothing was big enough to post a pic of. The gills would not leave my popper alone, it was just too big. We both had a pretty good time.

Great responses! Thanks all.

Looking for a 10 X 10ish to 12 X 12. Reasonably light, and compact under $300. This is for car camping, but the possibility off a canoe trip exists. Also one of those screen tents that you can put over picnic bench to escape skeeters and rain. If any have worked for you and lasted please let me know.

Yeah, this is true and probably accounts for the reasoning for increasing hook gaps, to clear big bulky baits. But the original reason was to increase the likelihood of a hook up, not to hold on to the fish better. Back when I was growing up (oh no, I said it) they used to tell you to bend the point out to open up the gape.

Wow that is a beautiful looking fish.