Mark K

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.

First thing that I think of is when fishing plastic a larger gap allows for for the bulk of the plastic while still leaving enough gap between the plastic and hook for a good hookset or rather the ability for the hook to freely penetrate with no obstructions.

 

I guess from a fly perspective this would translate into how much you guys bulk/build up the shank of the hook with whatever materials you are using to build your fly.

 

While maybe not directly related this topic made me thing about the walleye fishing we used to do in Canada lindy rigging leeches and using a #8 or #10 short shank hook. Rarely lost a fish and we caught big uns... not much of a gap there.

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.

Certainly an eye opener. Kudos to Tribune for its in-depth reporting on this issue. Let your elected State representatives know this law must be changed. Senator Durbin is now calling for changes.

Job killer (sarcasm).

Nice job, guys. I could not make it out there today or I would have. Have you all done this every year since it started? I think the first planting was 2003. Man, that's a LOT of water willows.

I bought these hooks in the early 2000s. Bass Pro used to carry them and they called them "Conservation Hooks". I think they were made by eagle Claw I bought a dozen or so, but never used them until today.

While I am am not nuts about mutilating fish for fun, I am a whole lot less nuts about mutilating my thumb, Which have done.

I caught 3 fish today. each was seriously pinned, but very easy to unhook with very little damage.

https://flic.kr/p/HsQrM5

Now that I think of it I have a 6 1/2 foot Medium (SJR782) Loomis IMX that I was going to hack 3" off the rear grip and turn it into a short rear grip, 6'3". It's a super sensitive blank, outrageously light and totally beautiful American craftsmanship. i used it like 5 times and it looks like it, the cork is still DNA free, without ever being cleaned. I'll give you a great deal if you are interested. I have a 6 foot ML SJR721, an old one which has a very short rear grip, that's one of my favorite rods. I was going to have Eric at Corens shorten the rear grip, to match the 6 footer, but if someone bought the rod off me i would recommend fishing with it first.

Speaking of fishing with it first. I bought my son Max this really nice Gander Mountain 6 1/2 medium rod "Vortex" and I got him this GM reel to go with it. I paid $30 bucks for the rod and another $30 for the reel. They are normally like 60 but you just have to catch the sales.

I borrowed it from him on occasion to fish at lunch when at work. Seriously, for the type of fishing I described, it's outstanding especially if you use a light braided line. I don't know how long the reel is going to last, but fishing with it is pure joy.

Thats probably your best bet, figure out what you like and don't like.

What would you recommend for a good "all around" smallie spinning rod?

-Forrest

No such thing. But if you like to throw light plastics, like flukes and assassins, smallish topwater like poppers and walk the dog type stuff and rapalas and smallish cranks then something like a ML would work.

The actual rod length is kind of meaningless, because the placement of the reel seat dictates how much rod length you actually get. Personally I hate a long rear grip when I throw topwaters and I think it's particularly clumsy in a kayak. But not something I can't work around.

St Croix is making a line called Avid X that has a short rear grip, and I am probably going to get the 6'9 or build a rod similar.

I cast a Lews Pro the other day. It was just cleaned and tuned by some dude up in Rockford. I was highly impressed.

that is awesome.

In the 90's I used to fish the I&M in Morris, Gebhardt Woods. We caught lots of quality fish in there. I was told a dyke busted on the Dupage and all the water drained out and it pretty much went dry. A local netted a 7lb largemouth and let it go in the illinois.

like.

If you have any clever DIY storage hints, or better yet a picture. I would appreciate seeing it. Looking to stack two.

You know, damselflies, if I am not mistaken by definition actually rest with their wings folded back against their body when not flying. That alone would probably make it cast better with twisting.

signed.

I think that would certainly do the trick.

For panfish, specifically bluegills before any other pattern there should be sponge spiders and small poppers and Sneaky Petes. You can tie the sponge spiders fancier than they need to be, but seriously those el-cheapo white ones with the orange paint are just killer. i am going to make some nice poppers before spring, but I don't think i can make a nicer one than Boogle Bugs, which are 5 bucks each. But they are really durable and just a wicked fly.

For bass look at Gartside's Gurgler and also various poppers, Dahlberg Divers and bass bugs.

My favorite fly by a long shot is a downsized Murdich Minnow. I met this guy while fishing the Mazon, nice guy. We ended up chatting and he gave me a baby murdich that he tied. That fly stayed on my leader for the rest of the summer till it disintegrated. It was only 3 1/2 inches or so. All you had to do water see the fly in the water and you'll know why it catches fish. They shed water real nice and really the full size Murdich really isn't that hard to cast, I was just doing so well in numbers and enjoyment on my 6 wt with the small one.

the key to the murdich is the polar fiber causes a wake that makes the flashabou and deer hair wiggle when you strip it.

Steve

I assume you mean the section north of 131st. We did float it but the main section produced more bass Tampier produced fast fishing in winter for small gills in midday.We'd than head over to Saganashkee to fish for the big ones near sunset.

How about Sag Quarries?

My 1st fishing experience was when i was about 7 when my mom & aunt took me to Marquette Park.Catching a cane poll bluegill i fell in love with the sport that day.When he got out of the service my dad & uncle & I began panfishing on the Chain along with perch on the Lake. My 1st bass came in my early teens from Saganashkee Slough in the Cook Cty forest preserves on a hula popper surface lure.Wow!! When I got a car a few yrs later I started fishing Sag almost exclusively.That place was fishing heaven loaded with 2-4lb bass, 9"gills & for a few years big pike where boats were not allowed while wading & floattubing were. The result was that I & the few other buddies who floatubed had the entire 350 fish filled acres to ourselves. In winter we joined the scores of ice fishermen there. There was also very good bass fishing at Tampier Slough. For 10 yrs in the 60s & 70s the forest preserve lakes afforded me the best fishing of my life.After my parents moved to Indy in the late 60s I also fished central Indiana's stripits & newly formed impoundments for bass/gills along with its streams for smb primarily Sugar Creek & the Flat Rock River which was loaded with crawfish. I introduced my teen age brother 14yrs my junior on those trips teaching him to flyfish as well.

For a # of yrs I participated in TU's summer long events teaching ffing to various boy/girl scout troops and i continue to assist Orvis Lombard to do the same to newbies on summer weekends every year.Btw anyone interested should contact them for info about their classes which are free.

Dude, you aren't an InFisherman, you are a renaissance man!

Good stories Mark. Sounds like we grew up in the same part of town; I used to take the bus back from Marquette Park with mayonnaise jars of tadpoles and crayfish. My Dad took us to fish all the CCFPD lakes as well. He had a lot of patience with us. We fished when we wanted and explored the rest of the time. Our first camping trips to the K3 hooked me for life on rivers and creeks.

 

My Dad wasn't a great fisherman when we first started, but he devoted the time and we all got better together. It's a bond we still share today.

 

Your boys will be writing about you someday, if not already. Good stuff.

Gage park for me Steve, 54th California. Yes. Fishing' poles on the "Green Limousine" for me too.

Point I was getting to there is teaching someone to fish, is not going to happen in an afternoon. i see well intentioned people totally put people off on fishing for the rest of their life. Here is an example. A relative asked if my boys could tag along on their kids cub scout troop. I was okay with it. they told me there was one kid there that in the last 4 years they had done this he had never caught a fish. I thought that was peculiar since the lake they were on was awesome. I fished there a lot. Our company is right next door so I used to go there at lunch. It's just crawling with nice fish.

So I come to pick up my kids the next morning. My relative told me the skunk happened again and the catch overall that day was pretty pathetic. this kid was maybe 10? let me tell you he was convinced that it was his fault. So I grabbed an ultralight with a tiny jig and a small bobber. I had some gulp baits. I took both him and his dad and explained to his Dad, how this all works. I told the kid you are going to catch at least 10 fish right now, twice as many as anyone else. Do you believe me?....No.

first cast he catches his first fish. A nice gill. Then he goes on to catch 9 more one was a really big gill before a thunderstorm rolled in and we had to leave. his Dad took pictures and all and this kid was freaking beaming.

did it inspire a life long desire to catch fish? I don't know. And I bet a million bucks his Dad didn't listen and buy the magic set up and taken him since. point here is that kid was convinced that either fishing sucked, or he sucked at it or both. That's why I think if you are going to take someone fishing you need to make sure they are gonna catch fish.