Mark K

I hope so Frank, but I doubt it. A few years ago in the Florida Keys I visited a sanctuary for wounded wild birds, mainly egrets, herons and spoonbills. It's a very cool place a must visit for nature geeks. I got some awesome shots there. Anyway, they had a whole bunch of displays with x-rays of dead birds with tackle in their gullets. I can't imagine a bird passing a hook.

CLICK HERE

Shari, First let me express heart condolences on the loss of Alyssa's father. I can't imagine how painful it must be for your family. The Illinois Smallmouth Alliance has advocated the removal of dams on the Fox River. Mainly for environmental reasons but also because of the safety issues as well. If there will be another rally, be sure to let us know. I will certainly try to be there and with a little advanced notice, we might be able to get a few members out there and spread the word. Mark

I'm talkin' to you guys that fish the Fox here... Regrettfully, I can't make this. I'm just swamped with stuff to do at home and the round trip drive drive would eat up most of the morning. This crept up too fast and I was unable to get my act together at home in time. If you fish the Fox, I implore you to stop out there and show these people your support. Getting rid of the dams would most likely have the biggest postive impact on YOUR river. This is more important than any clean up or planting. If the state wastes our money on this "improvement" , it's here to stay. This very well be our last ditch effort. If you can spare a few minutes PLEASE, GET OUT THERE.

Great story Paul. The thing to do when that happens is to start using bluegills as bass bait, if legal. Not to change gears...But, your story brings up something that happened to me when I firsts got really serious about fishing in '84-85. I was fishing that little drainage on the north side of Tampier Lake. Not the actual lake just east of there. Caught lots of nice bluegills. One such critter got deep hooked. Having read a whole bunch of stuff about catch and release I clipped the line and released the bluegill. About 5 minutes later it was doing the death dance. A heron showed up and downed it. A few feet from me. Before I had time to react. Bluegill tag end of mono hook and all. I want to think it passed the hook and all, but reallistic thinking tells me I killed a Great Blue Heron.

On Saturday, June 17 at 9:00 am, at the dam. There will be a rally in support of the removal of the Yorkville Dam. Shari Walsh, mother of Craig Fliege's daughter Alyssa, is organizing the rally. Representatives of Friends of the Fox River will be in attendance. We encourage everyone who believes that dams represent a threat to the biological health of the river and are an unnecessary hazard to public safety to come and show their support.

I have been been getting a few PM questions that I think would be beneficial posted in public: Mark- I am planning on attending the planting in violet park. I've tried to do some river cleanups but the kids always end up getting sick or something...but this time I think that I'll be able to make it. Do you need people in the water or do you need people do do things that are on the shore... I could bring my daughter and her and I could do the shore voluteering or I could come alone and bring my waders and be in the river...let me know what will be more beneficial. It would be more beneficial to have you in waders and young children should probably sit it out till they get a bit older. If your daughter is old enough to grasp the purpose of our project and you think that her participation would benefit her or the project she would be welcome. Scout aged children have done these projects. Bear in mind. It is a rocky shoreline with plenty of opportunity to run into trouble. So, I'll leave that descision to you. Mark I've been asked about directions. I can't get any of the mapping services to pull up the park. Keep watching for a day or two. I'll have a map.

Habitat Kid... It's all about habitat. Take a few hours to help us improve habitat on the Fox River. FOR DETAILS ON THE 2006 WATER WILLOW PLANTING CLICK HERE

Just a reminder. The water willow planting project will be on July 15th in Violet Patch Park on the Fox River. A good turnout of members will be critical to the success of the project. We suffered a lapse in communication when the web boards and so far the volunteer rate is not where it has been in the past. There is no doubt in my mind that the project will be a success, but for things to progress quickly we'll need some more volunteers. Show your commitment to conservation and join us on the 15th. If you think you can make it please send me a PM or an E-mail. Thanks- Mark Kasick

Yesterday afternoon I was cycling in Juneau County, Wisconsin. I was travelling at a really good clip, down a deserted country road (County Rd M) through Juneau County Forest. the road was shrouded in pines and there was a deep culvert to my right that a stream ran through, parrallel to the road. Between the culvert and I was some fairly tall grass and vegetation. My profile was very low to maintain good aerodynamics and on roads that are smooth I can glide along almost totally silent. Point being, anything in the culvert couldn't see or hear me comming. Out of nowhere I saw a large black/brown bird come out of the culvert. It took off when I was about 20 feet behind it and by the time it rose to eye level, we were right next each other about 12-15 feet apart! It was an immature bald eagle, so close I could look him right in the eye and hear the wings flapping! For a brief time I think we were travelling at the same speed it looked suspended. In reality it lasted for probably a millisecond, but it was long enough to burn the image in my brain forever. When I first caught a glimpse of it I thought it was a redtail hawk, but when the wingspan was just huge. I could not believe it. And what a fierce looking face. Then just as fast as it happened the eagle took a sharp right and dissappeared into a clearing in the woods. I sat up on the bars and coasted for a few seconds in disbelief at what had just happened.

http://www.friendsofthefoxriver.org/yorkvilledam.htm

True Mike and important point, but the fact of the matter is if this angler decided to break the law most likely he would have easily gotten away with it. Though illegal-not at effectively enforced. The great thing here is that he wanted to release the fish. That is about as big of a success as you could ask for. IMHO more effective than changing laws....at least in Illinois.

Duh... I guess I got sidetracked. The reason I posted the pic of the fly was the color combination seldom seen in flies. Black with blue flash. It's actually gotten tough to find in conventional tackle. I have been doing well with this scheme for a while now. Both in fly fishing and conventional tackle. I feel that under most conditions it performs as well as any other color, probably because it seems to be so visible. I even will go so far to say that it will out perform typical crayfish colors when bass are feeding on crayfish. Give it a try.

Steve, Other hobbies, my new 3 hour daily commute as well as normal family obligations have cut into my fishing time. The days of fishing every day are over. With gas prices where they are at I can't justify the drive to the Kank for less than a half day. Besides, I like to fish the Kank when it is a lot lower than where it is now and has been. I've been to Mazonia a few times. Fishing was okay, but nothing worth writing home about. So getting out anymore isn't easy. That is one of the nice things about fly fishing. I can sit down and mess around at the bench for an hour, or practice a few casts on the lawn or at a local pond. Time spent still staying in touch with the sport that only makes real fishing time more enjoyable. My little guy loves fishing too, so he knows he can lay a guilt trip on me when he says me loading my stuff in the truck. He always wants to come with and knows the right buttons to push. "Where ya going Daddy???" Away goes the baitcaster out come the ultralights and wax worms. So consequently I'm doing a lot of bluegillin' at local ponds these days! I did not get any shots of the gills they were catching. I actually on saw a few. My wife seemed to be doing fine with out me so I waded down stream a bit. Weather was rainy on saturday and 90F and sunny on Sunday, ditto monday. Ticks were really, really bad. Gary-I love eating pike but I was only half serious about keeping it. I don't even know what the regs are and I typically don't carry a stringer. Maybe that will change.

Had a family mini vacation over the weeekend. We fished the Lemonweir in Mauston together. Fishing together, we did exceptonally well using slip bobber rigs and crawlers. My wife caught some dandy river bluegills. The ones I saw were easily 9". She is claiming larger ones. Later on towards evening I hit the river solo with my fly rod. I tied on a fairly big black and blue traditional clouser tied with an excess of blue Crystal Flash and Flashabou. Ever have the feeling that if you were going to get bit, it was going to be on the bait you just tied oon? Fired one nice cast, stripped the line twice and the rod doubled over. Just like on TV. Flip Pallot style! It felt like a good fish. Turned out to be a Northern, maybe 2 1/2 feet long. I saw that my fly was completely in his mouth so... i just waited for the inevitable. To my suprise, I actually had a hand on him, but the slippery little SOB got away. With my fly. Not used to handling northerns, I guess. Lucky for him. Haven't had pike fillets in a long time. Beyonfd that it was pretty cool to wrestle a him on a 6 wt. This morning I got up early, to "fetch breakfast" at the McDs in Mauston. By coincidece I had my waders with.. Repeat same scenario as above only fishing a Clouser Sculpin (Basically calf hair instead of deer hair, smaller, squatter). BAM! Not a monster, probably 16-17 ". But my first good smallie on a personally tied fly. What a rush!

Thanks for pointing it out Craig. I'll keep an eye out. Craig has been a consistent volunteer for the plantings as have a number of members. I greatly appreciate and count on that support. Thanks! Mark