John Loebach

Fished for an hour with no results even though fish were rising - seems to be my luck with topwater.

Members demo patterns & tie along, bring your thread & tools, materials provided. New to tying this is a great way to get started or just drop by to watch.Monthly meetings(most) on the 4th Monday from September to May. We meet at 6pm start tying shortly after at One More Cast fly shop 6525 Joliet Road, Countryside. See you at Joseph's tomorrow. * Delete icon Delete * Edit icon

Thanks for joining us afterwards to fish Steve. I got 4 12-13" plus a couple small rock bass, all but one on a Clouser swimming nymph. Fish were active for about an hour then stopped. Good that it picked up again later. Great pics, if we do this in spring we will find even more stuff.

You are right on target, Steve. I'll be there early as well to test the topwater bite before the sun hits the water.

If accurate its probably a Lake Michigan fish from the lower portion by Sturgeon Bay. Seems like someone would have publicized it before now, though.

I sharpen & check hook points after every snag & check on my thumbnail, if it slides its not sharp. A couple of strokes with a flat fine diamond hone on the sides towards the point & finish with the top (outside)never the inside. I have had patterns retired after the point starts to crowd the bend - that means that most of the time I get the fly back - strong leaders & knots. Retying is sort of an obsession as well. Anymore I prefer Mustad bronze vs. high end stuff because I sharpen them all eventually.

Seven of us wade fished the downtown Oswego area with mixed results. Three of five flinging flies blanked (including me) Stan had a few,did not see Ron K & RonG did well with spinning & plastics. Overcast, water 65 degrees, moderate flow 12" + visibility. Looks & feels like fall the next 3 weeks should be prime. Time to take advantage of it!

Meet at Hudson crossing park at rte. 34 at 8am.If you are floating rather than wading we will arrange to get you to the put in upstream. Be a little early for help with the shuttle of boats. River levels are coming down nicely- should be a good time to try this stretch.

Event Date: 06-September 09 8:00 (Single Day Event) This outing will be a float or wade outing. There are plenty of areas to wade fish at the starting and finish locations. Bring your own watercraft to this outing. If you have an extra canoe or kayak please let me know in advance! We will meet on the west side CHANGE LOCATION - in Oswego at Hudson crossing park at 8 AM. From there we will float and fish either 3.5 miles to Hudson Crossing park or 6.5 miles to Saw Wee Kee park. (where we will park enough vehicles in advance) Both parks offer excellent take out points for your watercraft. I've floated this stretch many times. It offers a variety of structure, many islands, some solitude and usually some darn good fishing. Hope to see you there! Anyone in please post. I plan to wade fish but will help shuttle or stage cars for those who want to float. I suggest we meet at Oswego if wade fishing only - its in the middle of this stretch. John

Look under events or the calendar, two events in Chicago region on the same day. Ron G graciously negotiated access at the Onion Pub (June pond outing) AND volunteered to run this outing in the north burbs. I had scheduled the last Bassbugger fishing outing for the season on 9/20 but bumped it to 9/19 to bolster the turnout for our annual cleanup. Both great opportunities on both ends of the region. Choose one & come out it'll be cold sooner than any of us want!

Just posted this on events & combined the Bassbugger outing that I had scheduled for 9/20. I'll be there, post if you can make it - the more the merrier!

Scheduled in the bulletin for 9/20, moved to encourage more help on the NAIA cleanup day - Meet at the concession at the state park at 8AM Norm will help assign areas to clean up. With a good turnout we can start fishing in a couple of hours. Lunch provided by NAIA back at the concession at noon.

Ron Grand has again lined up access to a private pond for largemouth & bluegill. This outing will start at 7am & conclude by 11, followed by lunch at the owners restaurant at this site. Permission is limited, so contact Ron G if you are coming. Location northwest suburbs, pond good size, good shoreline access, catch & release. Rain date 9/20. RSVP by pm to Ron G.

Nice! Lets hear how it handles a fish(or 5), you lucky dog.

I know I'll see quite a few Bassbuggers supporting this educational event on Saturday 8/22 at Herrick lake. Mike wants a couple of us to tie some flies or pins - if you are coming please bring your vise & tools, we will have materials. If several of us share this then the shifts will be short & we can all help kids fish as well. Any thoughts to add, Mike?

I'll be there, Mike. We will keep a couple of Bassbuggers tying. Should I bring safety pins so we can tie shirt or hat pins for the younger kids?

Ron, yes big bugs, poppers or lead eyed sinkers. The Sage rods literature is as you have described regarding use. They are specialty tools not as suited to wading as to bank shooting from a drift boat. Still fun to try them out even if you may not need them. See you next time.

Thanks to all who attended - largest draw at an outdoor Bassbugger event on my watch. Stat 34 signed in & we probably missed a few, 13 featured new short rods in demand( rack empty) for 2 1/2 hours til the rain moved us on to lunch. More than 13 members rods available as well. Thanks to Joseph & his reps we were testing Sage Bass series rods as well as TFO, Reddington & Ross. Also two new Bob Clouser TFO models that arrived on the market for the first time last week. Joe Cornwall (Fly Fish Ohio. com) came the farthest & brought some very nice glass rods with him. I'd like some feedback on which model was your favorite. Mine was first the Sage Bluegill & almost a tie for first the TFO TiCRX 7-6" 8 wt. - Best value or great backup rod the Ross 6 wt. Very timley & educational event, if you missed it look for the Cast & compare outing in October.

Just got in. Thanks, Don. Yes waders or wet feet for this one.

I agree Jim, fishing was great. Wish I saw the big carp that Spiz got. I fished with new member Steve R. & he got a decent 13"er. I saw alot of wakes in shallow lift areas as it got dark but only landed one dink. Typical of late.